Kingston upon Thames War Memorial
| Kingston upon Thames War Memorial | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
.jpg) | |
| For men from the town of Kingston upon Thames who died in the First and Second World Wars | |
| Unveiled | 1923 |
| Location | 51°24′37″N 0°18′18″W / 51.4104°N 0.305°W |
| Designed by | Richard Reginald Goulden |
IN HONOUR OF THE MEN OF THIS TOWN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WARS 1914 – 1919, 1939 – 1945. | |
Listed Building – Grade II* | |
| Official name | Kingston upon Thames War Memorial |
| Designated | 6 October 1983 |
| Reference no. | 1080054 |
Kingston upon Thames War Memorial, in the Memorial Garden on Union Street, Kingston upon Thames, London, commemorates the men of the town who died in the First World War. After 1945, the memorial was updated to recognise casualties from the Second World War. The memorial was commissioned by the town council and was designed by the sculptor Richard Reginald Goulden. It depicts a naked warrior carrying a flaming cross and wielding a sword, with which he defends two children from a serpent. Goulden designed a number of such allegorical memorials, including others at Crompton, in Greater Manchester, and at Redhill, Surrey. The Kingston memorial was designated a Grade II listed structure in 1983. This was revised upwards to Grade II*, denoting a building or structure of particular importance, in 2016.
History
The town of Kingston upon Thames received its first charter in 1200. It retains close links to its historic county, Surrey, although it is now the administrative centre for the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, a borough of Greater London.[1] During World War I, the borough librarian began to maintain a record of the men from the town killed in the conflict and, at the war's end in 1919, the council determined to commemorate the dead by commissioning a memorial.[2] The commission was awarded to Richard Reginald Goulden[3] in 1920.[4] Goulden himself fought in the war, as a captain in the Royal Engineers until he was invalided out in 1916. He had trained as a sculptor at the Dover School of Art and at the National Art Training School, followed by a pre-war career as a teacher and artist.[5] In 1920 he won a prestigious commission to design a memorial to the staff of the Bank of England who had died in the war.[6] His chosen subject was St Christopher carrying a child, and this allegorical approach, which Historic England terms manhood defending, became a regular motif in his work, as it is at Kingston.[2] The ceremony of dedication for the memorial was held in 1923 and was led by Frederick George Penny, the town's member of parliament.[2]
Description
The memorial sculpture is in bronze. A nude warrior carries a burning crucifix aloft in his left hand, while his right holds a sword which he uses to strike a serpent. At his right side are two small children, whom he is protecting.[2] The base of the statue bears lines from the second stanza of Laurence Binyon's poem For the Fallen; "AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE / SUN AND IN THE MORNING / WE WILL REMEMBER THEM".[4] The stepped base of the memorial is carved granite[7] and records the names of the 624 men of the town killed in the First World War. The column inscription was revised after the Second World War to include mention of the town's dead from that conflict, but the names of individuals were not inscribed on the memorial.[3]
See also
- Grade II* listed war memorials in England
- Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
- List of public art in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
References and sources
References
- ^ Cherry & Pevsner 2002, pp. 307–8.
- ^ a b c d Historic England. "Kingston upon Thames War Memorial (Grade II*) (1080054)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
- ^ a b "Kingston Upon Thames WW1 And WW2". Imperial War Museums.
- ^ a b "War Memorials Trust". www.warmemorials.org.
- ^ "Richard Reginald Goulden - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951". sculpture.gla.ac.uk.
- ^ "Memorial to Fallen Colleagues 1914-18". www.bankofengland.co.uk.
- ^ "Kingston upon Thames WW1 and WW2 - War Memorials Online". www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk.
Sources
- Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). London 2: South. The Buildings of England. New Haven, US, London, UK: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300096514.
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External links
Media related to Kingston upon Thames War Memorial at Wikimedia Commons- Images of the memorial at The Victorian Web
