Reasons for Designation
The Royal Army Medical Corps Boer War Memorial of 1905 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design Interest: As an elegant memorial of good quality workmanship and materials by a known sculptor and known architect.
* Historical Interest: As commemorating the fallen of the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Boer War, and as a remembrance of the work of the Corps and as a visually distinctive reference for those who serve or have served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, embracing the tradition of service and the regimental bond.
Details
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991/0/10060 GUN HILL
19-MAY-10 (West side)
Royal Army Medical Corps Boer War Memo
rial
II
A granite and bronze memorial to the members of the Royal Army Medical Corps who fell in the Boer War, built c1905 with a bronze sculpture by Sir William Goscombe John RA and architectural setting by RW Schultz Weir RA.
The Royal Army Medical Corps Memorial is a dignified and elegant granite design comprising a grey granite obelisk centrally set within a curved wall terminated by pillars and approached by three steps. At the top of the obelisk is the Corps insignia below which is inscribed, 'RAMC To those who gave their lives for their country'. At the base of the obelisk is a plinth inscribed, 'South Africa 1899-1902' on which is a bronze sculpture depicting two uniformed Corps members treating a soldier in a pieta composition. The flanking walls have vertically set bronze panels recording over 300 names.
HISTORY: In 1852, 8000 acres of low cost heath at Aldershot were purchased as the site of the first permanent training ground for the Army, large enough to run regular summer exercises for 10 to 12 battalions at one time. Here the new railways could provide easy access to London, Dover and the main naval arsenals at Chatham, Portsmouth and Plymouth. In February 1854 work had started on the construction of the barracks, and by 1856 North and South Camps, (later to become Stanhope and Marlborough Lines), consisting of regular grids of wooden huts, had been erected. Permanent barracks, named the Wellington Lines, were built between September 1854 and 1859. The lack of a wall around the barracks, formerly considered necessary for separateness and security, was an innovation and emphasised the difference between Aldershot and previous barracks, with their civil policing role. Aldershot was the first of the large-scale camps, followed by Colchester and Shorncliffe, and it included some of the earliest examples of a garrison church, library and gymnasium. Today there are only isolated buildings, and the overall plan of the camp has been lost to post-war redevelopment.
The British Army had attendant medical services from the time of the formation of the regular Army after the Restoration in 1660. At first each regiment had its own surgeon and assistant, but by 1898 the army's medical recources were combined into one organisation in the Royal Army Medical Corps. The RAMC developed during the Boer War and reached its zenith during the First World War. Latterly it has contracted and its main bases were the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Millbank and the Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot (Grade II), which have now closed. The memorial, built in c1905, lies close to the Cambridge Military Hospital and McGrigor Barracks (named after Sir James McGrigor who was Wellington's Surgeon-General), built to house the medical staff working at the Cambridge Military Hospital.
The Royal Army Medical Corps memorial features a well-crafted bronze sculpture by Sir William Goscombe John RA (1860-1952) who trained with William Burgess's studio and at the Royal Academy Schools. Burgess was one of the leading Victorian architects, a champion of the Gothic Revival, whose most important works were for the Marquess of Bute in Wales in the rebuilding of Cardiff Castle and the reconstruction of Castell Coch. John won the RA Gold Medal and Travelling Studentship in 1889 and was influenced by Rodin whom he met in Paris. The architectural setting of the memorial is well laid out by Robert Schultz Weir (1860-1951) who trained at the offices of R Norman Shaw and Earnest George and Peto. Schultz studied at the RA Schools and in 1887 also won the RA Gold Medal and Travelling Studentship and also worked for the Marquess of Bute. He became Master of the Art Workers' Guild in 1920.
SOURCES:
Douet J, British Barracks, 1600-1914: Their Architecture and Role in Society (1998), 130-133
English Heritage, Barracks Thematic List Review (1993) 19
Hantsweb, website of Hampshire County Council: http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/aldershot-museum/local-history-aldershot/barracks/mcgrigor-barracks.htm
(accessed 25/10/09)
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The Royal Army Medical Corps Boer War Memorial is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design Interest: As an elegant memorial of good quality workmanship and materials by a known sculptor and known architect.
* Historical Interest: As commemorating the fallen of the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Boer War, and as a remembrance of the work of the Corps and as a visually distinctive reference for those who serve or have served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, embracing the tradition of service and the regimental bond.
This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 6 December 2016.
