City of Gloucester War Memorial

Summary

A war memorial, comprising a monument and a Wall of Remembrance, the monument erected in 1925 to designs by A P Frith, and the wall and surrounding precinct, by Waller and Son, added in 1933.

Reasons for Designation

Gloucester City 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 the city’s community, and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20.

Architectural interest:

* for its design, which includes a cenotaph of 1925 with an impressive sphinx sculpture by H H Martyn and Co, and an elegant Wall of Remembrance and forecourt by Waller and Son, added in 1933.

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 England. 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.

Gloucester made several attempts to raise a memorial to the more than 1,000 casualties from the Gloucestershire Regiment (The Glosters) in the years following the First World War, but it was not until 1925 that the memorial to the 1/5th and 2/5th battalions was constructed, and set up in Gloucester Park, in a prominent location at the corner of the park alongside a major road junction. The memorial took the form of a stone cenotaph, surmounted by a bronze sculpture of a sphinx, the emblem of the regiment. It was designed by Arthur Percy Frith, a local sculptor and carver, and the figure of the sphinx was supplied by H H Martyn and Co of Cheltenham, along with the bronze plaques affixed to the monument. The memorial was set on a platform with steps leading to it, and gates were created within the surrounding park railings. The memorial was unveiled on 28 March 1925 by Field Marshal Lord Plumer.

At the same time as plans were being developed for a memorial to The Glosters, a memorial for all those from the city who had been lost, in other regiments, was also mooted, though several attempts up to 1925 failed. Following the erection of the memorial to The Glosters, it was proposed to commemorate the other dead of Gloucester by adding to the new memorial, a move led by Col Noel Huxley Waller, MC, TD, member of the well-known local family of architects, who had himself served in the First Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. The scheme, designed by Waller and Son, added a concave, curving wall of remembrance, to which bronze plaques were to be affixed, creating a backdrop to the earlier cenotaph. The ground surrounding was raised to create a large triangular area with curved perimeter, reached by three flights of curved steps from street level. The work was carried out by Messrs James Byard and Sons. The additions were unveiled by the tenth Duke of Somerset, Henry Hugh Arthur Fitzroy Somerset, GCVO, on 23 October 1933, and dedicated by the Bishop of Gloucester.

Following the Second World War, there were various schemes for honouring the fallen, including a possible memorial hall and a theatre, but no agreed plan. In 1948, the City Council took responsibility, and arranged for the names of those who died to be added on plaques, matching those from the First World War, to the eastern side of the Wall of Remembrance. The revised memorial was unveiled by Lord Beaufort on 30 June 1949, and dedicated by the Bishop of Tewkesbury. The names of those who lost their lives in the Korean War were added later.

Details

A war memorial, comprising a monument and a Wall of Remembrance, the monument erected in 1925 to designs by A P Frith, and the wall and surrounding precinct, by Waller and Son, added in 1933.

MATERIALS: Portland stone, with bronze plaques and sculpture.

PLAN: the precinct describes a triangle with three curved sides, within which the cenotaph is placed centrally; to the south side, the area is bounded by the Wall of Remembrance. To the other two sides, the raised precinct is defined by kerbs.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial takes the form of a central cenotaph, dating from 1925, and the Wall of Remembrance, added in 1933. The cenotaph stands on a three-stepped platform, with a deep foot and tapering sides. The top steps in, and is surmounted by a cast bronze figure of a sphinx, the emblem of the Gloucestershire Regiment, whose dead from the First World War are commemorated on the cenotaph. The sphinx, and the bronze plaques, were made by H H Martyn of Cheltenham. The narrow north side has an inlaid, cast bronze laurel wreath. The broad east and west sides carry large, bronze plaques with raised, laurel borders which carry the inscriptions and names. One bears the inscription TO/ THE MEMORY OF/ THE FALLEN OF THE/ 1/5TH AND 2/5TH BATTALIONS/ THE GLOUCESTERSHIRE/ REGIMENT/ 1914-1918. Others are inscribed with the names of the dead.

Behind the cenotaph is a long, low, curving Wall of Remembrance, broken in the centre by iron gates, with saltire rails and the sphinx emblem, and clustered piers, topped by the cipher GR and a crown. The wall has a Moderne sensibility; it terminates at either end in a slightly tapering pier with a stepped cap, and the centre of each section steps up slightly in two stages. These raised sections each carry, in bronze lettering 1914-1918 / TO THE MEN OF GLOUCESTER. Beneath these, the walls carry bronze plaques commemorating all those from across the city in all services who died in the First World War, including the arms of Gloucester. In the lower register of the eastern wall are the later plaques added to honour those who died in the Second World War, under lettering giving the dates of that war. At the end of this row of plaques is a list of 17 women of the city who died during the bombing of Gloucester, with the inscription THESE WOMEN ALSO GAVE UP THEIR LIVES. There is a further plaque commemorating the city’s casualties from the Korean War.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the Wall of Remembrance stands at the rear of a precinct created as part of the same design, with the cenotaph and wall standing on ground raised above street level, and divided from the street by kerb walls of Portland stone with stone coping, extending from the terminals of the Wall of Remembrance and curving around to the corner of the street. The structure includes three flights of steps up into the memorial, those to the corner of the plot curving, and a paved walkway with a continuous step curving around the inner face of the wall.

Sources

Books and journals
Verey, D, Brooks, A, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire 2 The Vale and the Forest of Dean, (2002), 497

Websites
War Memorials Online: City of Gloucester War Memorial, WMO/103293, accessed 15.03.2022 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/103293/
Imperial War Museum war memorials register: City of Gloucester, accessed 15.03.2022 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/20766#

Other
Gloucestershire Archives GBR/L6/10/375: Contract between Gloucester Borough Agreements and Contracts – James Byard and Sons for construction of stone curbs and steps in the Park, part of the War Memorial (including architectural drawings by Waller and Son), 10 August 1933
A Study of The Origins and Development of Great War Memorials in the County of Gloucestershire (1917-1933) by Robert Taylor, 2012 (unpublished MA thesis, University of Gloucestershire)
Fifth Gloucesters: War Memorial Scheme Launched, Gloucester Citizen, 12 October 1923

End of official list entry

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