The form of monuments

[Clive Maier]

I am interested in the forms that memorials took. I am talking here about commemorative monuments rather than utilitarian memorials such as hospitals, parks, halls and public clocks. Some guidance was provided by specially constituted bodies such as the Royal Academy War Memorials Committee and the Scottish War Memorials Advisory Council. The former organised an exhibition at the V&A in 1919. The Civic Arts Association also produced a number of publications on the topic between 1916 and 1919, and there was even a privately published volume of suggested inscriptions. I have not yet been able to study these sources but for the most part it seems that the form of the memorial was essentially a local decision. The will of the community was almost always expressed through and shaped by an organising and fund raising committee but it also seems clear that form of the memorial would have been circumscribed by the size of the community and its capacity to raise funds. Only the larger and wealthier communities could run to figurative sculpture or the hardest and most durable stonework. Cutting letters cost money too, and that may be why many memorials only list names and not the details of rank or unit that would be so helpful today.

These circumstances suggest to me that there may have been stock or semi-stock memorial designs aimed at keeping the cost down for smaller communities and I would like to know if that was the case. If so, I don’t think this could have been instituted by monumental masons. They were essentially local rather than nationwide concerns at the time, and there would have been resistance to a local cluster of similar monuments. It could have happened though, if architects and designers had published plans that committees or masons nationwide could select from.

I have attached a drawing of the memorial in my home town of Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Everything about it is octagonal with the exception of the ring on the Celtic cross. I would very much like to hear from anyone who knows of a monument elsewhere that bears any resemblance.

[Dragon]

Have you seen 'Memorials of the Great War in Britain: The Symbolism and Politics of Remembrance', by Alex King?

I found that an intriguing and revealing account of the process of collective expression.

Also, but a little less relevant: 'The Silence of Memory: Armisitice Day 1919 - 1946' by Adrian Gregory.

Both published by Berg.

Gwyn

[HERITAGE PLUS]

You will also find ' WAR MEMORIALS FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE PRESENT' by Alan Borg interesting. It includes a good deal of info on WW1 memorials and their designers. 200 photos including many WW1 memorials.

[Tom Morgan]

There's also Derek Boorman's "At the Going Down of the Sun" - a very good illustrated introduction to British First World War Memorials. And "Monuments of War" by Colin McIntyre is a very readable social history.

Tom

[Myrtle]

Clive

"Aftermath - Remembering the Great War in Wales" by Angela Gaffney is also a very useful book.

I was interested to read your view that small communities could not afford figurative memorials as there are many small villages in Wales with figurative commemorations and many of these communities were far from wealthy; however they often had very well experienced stonemasons and sculptors in their midst.

Myrtle

[Clive Maier]

My grateful thanks to everyone who responded. I hope a portmanteau reply will be acceptable; it seems the best way to draw the topic together. Despite the high expertise and goodwill of the forum, nobody has been able quite to resolve the questions. We don’t know whether stock memorial designs were really significant and there has been no mention of any memorial with a resemblance to the one I am working on at Southborough. Admittedly, that was a very long shot at finding evidence of stock designs. I did find one with at least a degree of similarity at Histon and Impington.

Dragon, Heritage Plus, Tom Morgan and Myrtle kindly directed me to sources of information. I have the Alex King book, and I have read those by Borg, Boorman and McIntyre. I had heard of the Gaffney book but have not seen a copy. The Gaffney apart, none of these books – at least as I recall them – answers the stock design question. I read them without taking notes, so I will have to revisit them to make sure, but I am beginning to think it will be necessary to go back to primary sources to find out about stock designs.

Dragon also recommended Gregory. The book goes on my wish list but it may not help on stock designs.

Many thanks to Heritage Plus for emailing me a fine journal article on war memorials in Sussex villages. This shows that Beckett and Sons (presumably monumental masons) drew the attention of one community war memorial committee to a monument that the firm had erected for a neighbouring community. Beckett and Sons may have meant this purely as a reference, or they may have been proposing building the same memorial again. In other words a stock design. I think the evidence is inconclusive but the author notes that this is “… suggestive of the way that schemes influenced each other in adjacent parishes.” I had assumed that neighbouring communities would have been keen to differentiate themselves. I still think they would. The same article mentions G. Maile and Son (also monumental masons?) providing particulars of a variety of crosses that could be adorned by the Crusader’s sword. This seems to me to be strong evidence of semi-stock or modular designs in which standard components could be mixed and matched to create a variety of monuments at a lower cost than bespoke solutions.

I am grateful to Myrtle for correcting me about the less wealthy communities. It is often those with least, like my parents and the people I grew up with, that are the most generous. I think it must be right that the form and materials of the memorial would be broadly related to the money-raising capacity of the community, but I agree with Myrtle that this is not necessarily related to the wealth of the community.

[Greenwoodman]

In my experience (limited) of recording for the NIWM, memorials come in all shapes and sizes. The ones that do seem to be similar are the cast concrete figures of soldiers that occur reasonably frequently. I'd be interested to know if you turned up the manufacturers of these figures.

In fact it might be worth contacting NIWM, and putting your question to them, if you haven't already done so.

(NIWM is accessible here:-

National Inventory of War Memorials

This extract taken from their website:-

Memorial commissioning procedures, the organisation of commemorative ceremonies and the impact of mass death at a local level can also be explored along with issues of national identity, sculptural practice and community organisation.

This page could also be useful

Burial & Remembrance

The sub-heading of memorials contains at least one reference to War Memorial design, and Remembrance/Commemoration may also be of some use.

Gaffney is available from Ray Westlake at the reduced price of £9-95 - I usualy access Ray's site through Tom Morgan's (the millionaire - congrats, Tom) Hellfire Corner site.

Hope this helps

[Clive Maier]

... In fact it might be worth contacting NIWM, and putting your question to them, if you haven't already done so.

(NIWM is accessible here:-

National Inventory of War Memorials

... This page could also be useful

Burial & Remembrance

The sub-heading of memorials contains at least one reference to War Memorial design, and Remembrance/Commemoration may also be of some use.

A visit to the National Inventory of War Memorials is on my 'To do' list. I wish it was online. Do you know whether it includes any sort of classification and recording scheme for typical memorial fetaures?

The other link amazed me. I had no idea that the IWM catalogues had gone online. Thanks so much for letting me know.

I have not been here long and I have to say this. The GWD forum is an absolute knockout not only for the amazing aggregration of knowledge but for the generosity with which it is shared and the grace with which it is debated. I only hope I can give a little in return.