The Tower Hill Memorial is a pair of Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials on the south side of Trinity Square Gardens, on Tower Hill in London, England, commemorating sailors from the Merchant Navy and fishing fleets who died in the First and Second World Wars and have "no grave but the sea. The first, the Mercantile Marine War Memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1928; the second, the Merchant Seamen's Memorial, was designed by Sir Edward Maufe and unveiled in 1955.
Video Tower Hill Memorial
First Word War memorial
following the end of the war, the IWGC commissioned Lutyens to design a memorial to the 17,000 merchant mariners killed in the conflict. The commission first intended to site at Temple Steps, on the bank of the River Thames. Lutyens designed a massive arch, reminiscent of the Thiepval Memorial, which he was designing for the IWGC at around the same time. This was approved by London County Council, but the Royal Fine Arts Commission (RFAC) objected on two grounds: first, that Lutyens' proposal would involve the demolition of an arch built when the Thames Embankment was constructed; and second, that the memorial would be better suited to a site further downstream, east of Tower Bridge, where it would be seen by ocean-going vessels which could not travel west of the bridge. Both Lutyens and Fabian Ware, the founder of the IWGC, attempted to persuade the RFAC to reconsider but to no avail. As a result, the IWGC chose a new site on Tower Hill, still west of the bridge but further from the river.
Further complications arose when it was discovered that the site was occupied by a statue dating to the time of George III, which meant that the trustees who owned the land could not give full consent for the memorial. A special Act of Parliament was required, which received royal assent in mid-1927. The building work was undertaken by Holloway Brothers (London) Ltd and the memorial was unveiled by Queen Mary (deputising for her husband, King George V) on 12 December 1928. The unveiling ceremony was broadcast live on the radio in the queen's first use of the device.
The main structure is in Portland stone, with bronze plaques and wrought iron gates. It takes the form of a Doric temple, raised on a platform slightly above street level, oriented east to west and situated in Trinity Square Gardens on Tower Hill, within sight of the Tower of London.
The First World War memorial takes the form of a vaulted corridor, 21.5 metres (71 ft) long, 7 metres (23 ft) wide and 7 to 10 metres (23 to 33 ft) high. Inside are 12 bronze plaques engraved with 12,000 names. Those commemorated include Victoria Cross recipient, Archibald Bisset Smith. The largest single loss of life commemorated on the memorial is the more than 350 British mercantile marine service personnel lost in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915.
Maps Tower Hill Memorial
Second World War memorial
The Second World War memorial takes the form of a semi-circular sunken garden located behind the corridor, to its north. It contains the names of 24,000 British seamen and 50 Australian seamen, listed on the walls of the sunken garden. In the centre of the garden is a pool of bronze, engraved with a compass pointing north. Between the two memorials are two columns with statues representing an officer (western column) and a seaman (eastern).
Not all Merchant Seamen who died during wartime, and have no known grave, are commemorated here - they may be commemorated elsewhere, for example, the Liverpool Naval Memorial.
The Mercantile Marine First World War Memorial was unveiled by Queen Mary on 12 December 1928 and the adjacent Second World War extension by Queen Elizabeth II on 5 November 1955.
Later history
Lutyens' First World War Memorial became a listed building in 1973, upgraded to Grade I status in October 2015. The adjacent Merchant Seamen's Memorial was separately given a Grade II* listing in 1998.
See also
- Grade I listed war memorials in England
- Grade II* listed war memorials in England
- List of public art in the City of London
- The Unknown Warrior
- World War I memorials
References
External links
- Media related to Tower Hill Memorial at Wikimedia Commons
- Tower Hill: 'Lest we forget' (includes an index of all the ships named on the memorial)
Source of article : Wikipedia
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