London Society of East Anglians War Memorial, Liverpool Street Station

Summary

London Society of East Anglians war memorial, unveiled in 1920 and repositioned as part of the Liverpool Station remodelling in the 1990s.

Reasons for Designation

The First World War memorial of the London Society of East Anglians at Liverpool Street Station 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 East Anglian counties of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk and the losses suffered in the First World War.

Architectural interest:

* as an ornate and richly-carved war memorial tablet of clear distinction, carrying its original inscriptions and the amalgamated coats of arms of the counties to which the memorial is dedicated.

Group value:

* with Liverpool Street Station, within which it is prominently positioned at upper concourse level, and with the former Great Eastern Hotel, to which it is attached.

History

The concept of commemorating war dead did not develop to any great extent until towards the end of the C19. Prior to then memorials were rare and were mainly dedicated to individual officers, or sometimes regiments. The first large-scale erection of war memorials dedicated to the ordinary soldier followed the Second Boer War of 1899-1902, which was the first major war following reforms to the British Army which led to regiments being recruited from local communities and with volunteer soldiers. However, it was the aftermath of the First World War that was the great age of memorial building, both as a result of the huge impact the loss of three quarters of a million British lives had on communities and the official policy of not repatriating the dead, which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

The London Society of East Anglians war memorial was unveiled in July 1920 by the Lord Mayor of London to commemorate the men of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire who fell in the First World War. The memorial was paid for and erected by the London Society of East Anglians and positioned prominently on the façade of the Liverpool Street Station offices of the Great Eastern Railway, so chosen as the ‘gateway to East Anglia’ for most travellers from London, as The Times recorded (14 April 1920, p11). The memorial was repositioned to be sited adjacent to the Great Eastern Railway memorial, affixed to the north elevation of the former Great Eastern Hotel (on the upper concourse of the station) as part of the remodelling of London Liverpool Street in the 1990s.

Details

London Society of East Anglians war memorial, unveiled in July 1920 on the façade of the Liverpool Street Station offices of the Great Eastern Railway Company and repositioned adjacent to the Great Eastern Railway memorial on the upper concourse as part of the station remodelling in the 1990s.

MATERIALS: black granite backing with carved Portland stone tablet.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial is affixed to the north face of the Great Eastern Hotel at the upper concourse level of the station. The memorial takes the form of an ornate classical tablet with a central oval medallion carrying a carved inscription that records: ‘THIS MEMORIAL/ TO THE MEN OF/ NORFOLK, SUFFOLK, ESSEX/ AND CAMBRIDGESHIRE/ WHO FELL/ IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914-1919/ IS ERECTED BY/ THE LONDON SOCIETY/ OF/ EAST ANGLIANS’. The tablet is flanked by laurel wreaths with a classical female head and the arms of the four counties above, all picked out in colour and set into a broken pediment with the flag of the Society at the apex.

Sources

Books and journals
Boorman, D, At the Going Down of the Sun, (1988), 26-27
London Society of East Anglians Memorial in The Times, (14 April 1920), 11

Websites
War Memorials Register: London Society of East Anglians, accessed 14 September 2022 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/11790

End of official list entry

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