King's College School War Memorial
King's College School, Southside, Wimbledon Common, London, SW19 4TT
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1445698
- Date first listed:
- 03-Jul-2017
- List Entry Name:
- King's College School War Memorial
- Statutory Address:
- King's College School, Southside, Wimbledon Common, London, SW19 4TT
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1445698
- Date first listed:
- 03-Jul-2017
- List Entry Name:
- King's College School War Memorial
- Statutory Address 1:
- King's College School, Southside, Wimbledon Common, London, SW19 4TT
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- King's College School, Southside, Wimbledon Common, London, SW19 4TT
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Merton (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ2346570628
Summary
War memorial, unveiled 1921, in the form of a bronze sculpture of a youth holding aloft a laurel wreath, standing atop a Grecian pedestal.
Reasons for Designation
King's College School War Memorial is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on King's College School, and the sacrifices it made in the First World War;
* Design: as a well executed and expressive sculptured war memorial by Charles L Hartwell, standing atop an attractive Grecian pedestal;
* Group value: with the adjacent Grade II-listed Great Hall range to King's College School.
History
The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across the country. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead: therefore the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.
One such memorial was raised at King's College School in Wimbledon in honour of the school's Fallen. It was unveiled on 14 October 1921 in a ceremony attended by Sir Cecil Hertslet, KBE, school governors, and the peers and families of the Fallen.
The bronze sculpture was designed by Charles L Hartwell, ARA and intends to express 'spring and the aspiration of youth toward immortality'. It was stolen twice in the 1960s; on the first occasion it was abandoned in a corner of the school grounds. It was then replaced and secured to the pedestal with a steel tube, but stolen again a few weeks later and never recovered. It was replaced in 2003 with a bronze-resin replica made by Ian Bishop Designs of Farnham, Surrey, paid for by the School and the Old King's Club; this was unveiled in re-dedication ceremony held on 7 November 2003 by Sarah Robbins-Cole, the school chaplain. The pedestal section was designed by Arthur Stratton, FRIBA, architect and former KCS pupil. The memorial was re-positioned at some point in the mid-2010s.
Details
Bronze sculpture of nude male youth, hands held aloft and looking upwards; in his left hand he holds a laurel wreath of Victory. This stands atop a cylindrical Grecian pedestal, the uppermost section forming an urn-like element decorated with dentils and acanthus leave carvings. Five panels on the pedestal bears the names of the Fallen in alphabetical order. At its base is a tablet with a laurel wreath in relief, above which is an inscription in Greek, which translates as: "Theirs is the prize of fair-garlanded death."
This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 20 July 2017.
Sources
Books and journals
Kernot, CF, British Public Schools War Memorials, (1927), 228
Lloyd, Flan, Potkin, Helen, Thackara, Davina, Public Sculpture of Outer South and West London, (2011), 190-91
Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 9 March 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/12465
War Memorials Online, accessed 20 July 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/197611
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 27-Jun-2026 at 04:33:08.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.