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Remembered Today:

Tower Hill Memorial, London


Kitchener's Bugle

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The Tower Hill Memorial is located on the south side of Trinity Square Gardens, close to the Tower Of London. The memorial commemorates those from the Merchant Navy and fishing fleets who died during both World Wars and have "no grave but the sea".

The memorial was designed by Edwin Lutyens with sculpture work by William Reid Dick.

The Second World War extension was designed by Edward Maufe with sculpture work by Charles Wheeler.

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2). The First World War memorial takes the form of a vaulted corridor, 21.5 metres (71 ft) long, 7 metres (23 ft) wide and 7 to 10 metres (23 to 33 ft) high. Inside are 12 bronze plaques engraved with 12,000 names.

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3). Panel Details.

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4). The Mercantile Marine First World War Memorial was unveiled by Queen Mary on the 12th December 1928.

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5).

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6).

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7). The WW2 memorial takes the form of a semi-circular sunken garden located behind the corridor, to its north. It contains the names of 24,000 British seamen and 50 Australian seamen, listed on the walls of the sunken garden. In the centre of the garden is a pool of bronze, engraved with a compass pointing north. Between the two memorials are two columns with statues representing an officer (western column) and a seaman (eastern).

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8).

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9). Relief Panel detail.

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10). Name plaque detail.

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11).

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Sadly and for reasons known only to the great and the good any merchant seamen who died in service during the conflicts but from a cause not directly due to enemy action for instance a storm at sea, hardly unknown, whilst in a convoy or sailing alone, are completely ignored and forgotten by a country dependent on its merchant fleet for survival in both wars. Compare this to the armed services where suicides, car accidents drowning while on holiday etc are just some of the causes of death which will qualify for inclusion on the so-called CWGC "Debt of Honour". This of course must mean that the numbers lost by the MN in doing their duty are well understated.

See this for an example there must be many more

https://www.flickr.com/photos/glosters/25962998210

Note that the three Royal Marine Light Infantry members on the ship are commemorated

Norman

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12).

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13).

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14).

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15).

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16).

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17).

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18).

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19).

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20).

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21).Lutyens' First World War Memorial became a listed building in 1973, upgraded to Grade I status in October 2015. The adjacent Merchant Seamen's Memorial was separately given a Grade II listing in 1998.

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It's a very impressive memorial, and a fitting mark of the service of the Merchant Navy in both World Wars.

it's located nearly opposite All Hallows Church, which was the Guild Church of Toc H, mainly because Revd. Philip "Tubby" Clayton was the vicar there between 1922 and 1962. The extension of the memorial to include the sunken garden with the names of the Second World War casualties caused quite a bit of disagreement about it's suitability, and "Tubby" Clayton was heavily involved in this.

It appears that he although he had strong links with the Merchant Navy, he didn't agree with the proposal at all, as he thought that the garden would take up space that would be better used as a recreational area for the people of Tower Hill, and what the East End lacked was open space. However, this was one fight which he lost, and the memorial was dedicated in 1955.

(Most of paragraphs two and three are taken from "A Fool For Thy Feast, The Life and Times of Tubby Clayton, 1885 - 1972" by Linda Parker)

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