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==First World War memorial==<br />===Background===
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[[File:PLA Building facing Trinity Square - geograph.org.uk - 74940.jpg|thumb|left|The Port of London Authority building at [[10 Trinity Square]] is one of several nautical buildings in the area.]]
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In the aftermath of the [[First World War]] and its unprecedented casualties, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain and other countries affected. In particular, the [[Imperial War Graves Commission]] (IWGC) assumed responsibility for commemorating all casualties from the British Empire. The commission was established in 1917, and one of its first principal architects was [[Edwin Lutyens|Sir Edwin Lutyens]], an English architect who made his reputation building [[country house]]s and later designed much of [[New Delhi]]. Lutyens acted as an unpaid advisor to the IWGC during the war, in which capacity he made several visits to France to make initial plans for organised cemeteries. The war had a profound effect on Lutyens; following it, he devoted much of his time to memorialising its casualties. He designed [[The Cenotaph]] on [[Whitehall]] in central London (which became Britain's national memorial to the two world wars) and many other cemeteries and memorials for the IWGC, including the [[Thiepval Memorial]] (completed 1932).<ref name="NHLE WWI" /><ref name="CWGC history">{{cite web|url=https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-cemeteries-and-memorials/90002/tower-hill-memorial/history|title=Tower Hill Memorial: History|publisher=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]|accessdate=2 May 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=34638|title=Lutyens, Sir Edwin Landseer|first=Gavin|last=Stamp|authorlink=Gavin Stamp}}</ref><ref>Lutyens, p. 153.</ref>
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The IWGC and its founder, [[Fabian Ware]], were determined from the outset that all casualties should be individually and equally commemorated, regardless of military rank or social status. Where it was not possible to provide a headstone (for example because a body could not be recovered), a casualty's name was included on one of the commission's large memorials, such as Tower Hill. The [[Admiralty]] did not initially believe that the IWGC's remit extended to sailors lost at sea and planned its own commemorations, but after negotiation it was agreed that the commission would take responsibility for commemorating maritime casualties as it did with those who died on land.<ref>Summers (2010), p. 39, 45.</ref><ref name="Crane 198">Crane, p. 198.</ref> The commission's charter defined its scope as "members of the military and naval forces of the Crown"; in 1921 the commissioners resolved that this extended to the Mercantile Marine and other civilian organisations who were engaged in the war effort.<ref name="Longworth 97">Longworth, p. 97.</ref>
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[[Merchant navy|Merchant shipping]] and fishing fleets played a vital role in supporting the British war effort throughout the First World War, both by resupplying the [[Royal Navy]] at sea and by delivering food, products, and raw materials to the United Kingdom. Merchant ships were regularly sunk by the [[Kriegsmarine|German Navy]] from the outset of the war, particularly after Germany commenced [[U-boat Campaign (World War I)|unrestricted submarine warfare]]. By the end of the war, more than 3,300 British- and empire-registered merchant ships had been sunk, with the loss of more than 17,000 lives.<ref name="NHLE WWI" />
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===History===
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[[File:Merchant Marine memorial, Tower Hill (01).JPG|thumb|right|The colonnade viewed from the east entrance to Trinity Square Gardens]]
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The IWGC sought advice on the form of the memorial from the seafarers' unions, who consistently requested a memorial in the form of a home for aged seamen or similar, but the commission was set against functional memorials in the belief that they became associated more with their function than with commemoration. It rejected the request, overruling its own advisory committee in doing so, on the grounds that its charter did not allow it to fund the ongoing costs of an institution. It insisted that merchant seamen would be commemorated on a monument.<ref name="Longworth 97"/>
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The commission first intended to site the memorial at Temple Steps, on the bank of the [[River Thames]], for which it commissioned Lutyens. The architect designed a massive arch. The proposed structure would have consisted of two {{convert|54|ft|m|abbr=off|adj=on}} stone piers of linked, alternating arches (reminiscent of the Thiepval Memorial, which he was designing for the IWGC at around the same time) joined by a large beam, itself supported by two [[Doric order|Doric]] columns between the arches. This was approved by [[London County Council]], but the [[Office of Works]] rejected it on the advice of the [[Royal Fine Arts Commission]] (RFAC), which 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 Ware attempted to persuade the RFAC to reconsider but to no avail. Lutyens was furious, feeling the merchant seamen had been relegated to "some hole in the corner because they happened to be low in social status"<ref name="Crane 198"/> and that [[Reginald Blomfield|Sir Reginald Blomfield]] (a member of the RFAC and a rival of Lutyens) was acting out of spite.<ref name="Crane 198"/><ref>Ridley, pp. 348–349.</ref>
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Lutyens described the RFAC's opinion as "bosh", and suggested to Ware that they should continue regardless and force a confrontation. Ware was more diplomatic, and the IWGC chose a new site in Trinity Square Gardens on [[Tower Hill]], still west of Tower Bridge but further from the river.<ref name="NHLE WWI">{{NHLE|num=1260087 |desc=The Mercantile Marine First World War Memorial |accessdate=6 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="WJ 410">Ward-Jackson, p. 410.</ref><ref name="Skelton 94">Skelton, p. 94.</ref><ref>Amery, p. 154.</ref> This site was considered appropriate because it was within sight of the Thames, albeit not on the riverbank, and the area already had maritime connections, including the headquarters of the [[Port of London Authority]] at [[10 Trinity Square]], [[Trinity House]], and the church of [[All Hallows-by-the-Tower]] (itself home to many nautically themed memorials).<ref name="NHLE WWI" /><ref>Pevsner, p. 610.</ref> Philip Longworth, in a history of the IWGC, remarked that the location meant the commission's only memorial in London "would never be seen by most Londoners, still less find a place in the national consciousness as did Lutyens' stark monument on Whitehall". (The Cenotaph was not commissioned by the IWGC.)<ref>Longworth, pp. 98–99.</ref> 
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Trinity Square Gardens was [[Crown Estate|Crown land]] administered by trustees. Although the trustees suggested they would not object to the memorial, they did not have the power to give full consent and a special [[Act of Parliament]] was required. The bill was laid before [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] in December 1926 and received [[royal assent]] in June 1927, becoming the Mercantile Marine Memorial Act. The building work was undertaken by [[Holloway Brothers (London)]] and the memorial was unveiled by [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] (deputising for her husband, King [[George V]]) on 12 December 1928, her first solo engagement of the sort. The unveiling ceremony was broadcast live on the radio in the queen's first use of the medium. Despite taking place in torrential rain, the unveiling ceremony was attended by a large crowd, who cheered the queen as she was driven away.<ref name="NHLE WWI"/><ref>Ward-Jackson, p. 411.</ref><ref>Skelton, p. 95.</ref>
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===Design===
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[[File:Merchant Navy Memorail - interior from west 04.jpg|thumb|Interior of the colonnade, showing the vaulted ceiling, rusticated walls, and chequerboard-patterned floor]]<br />[[File:Hooge Crater Cemetery shelter building 1.JPG|thumb|A shelter building at [[Hooge Crater Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery|Hooge Crater Cemetery]], which Lutyens also designed for the IWGC, has been compared to the Mercantile Marine Memorial.]]
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The main structure is in [[Portland stone]]. It takes the form of a [[Vault (architecture)|vaulted]] [[colonnade]] or pavilion reminiscent of a Doric temple but open at both ends.<ref name="NHLE WWI"/> After the [[Arch of Remembrance]] in [[Leicester]], it is Lutyens' second-largest war memorial in the United Kingdom, and is the only British First World War memorial dedicated exclusively to merchant seamen.<ref name="Skelton 94"/><ref>Ward, p. 167</ref> It is raised on a platform slightly above street level, oriented east to west and accessed from the street by a set of five stone steps at each end. The structure is {{convert|21.5|m|ft|abbr=off}} long by {{convert|7|m|ft}} wide and up to {{convert|10|m|ft}} tall. It consists of three [[bay (architecture)|bays]] on either side, created by eight alternating square [[Pier (architecture)|piers]] and six pairs of round columns. The eight piers are clad in rectangular bronze panels to give the impression of [[Rustication (architecture)|rustication]]. The panels (divided into 24 numbered sections) contain the names of missing mariners, ordered by ship name and then alphabetically following the name of the captain or master. The vessels of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets are listed separately. Above the bays is a Doric [[entablature]]. The low, pitched roof has shallow parapets on either side and [[gable]]d ends; on top, in the centre, is a large square [[Attic style|attic]] which supports a large stone drum. The attic is similar to Lutyens' original design for the [[York City War Memorial]], which featured a [[Stone of Remembrance]] rather than a drum. The sculptural element is the work of [[William Reid Dick]], who worked on several other war memorials, including the [[Menin Gate]] in [[Ypres]], Belgium.<ref name="NHLE WWI"/><ref name="CWGC design">{{cite web|url=https://www.cwgc.org/find/find-cemeteries-and-memorials/90002/tower-hill-memorial/design|title=Tower Hill Memorial: Design|publisher=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]|accessdate=1 May 2018}}</ref><ref name="WJ 410"/><ref>Saunders, p. 78.</ref><ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=32813|title=Dick, Sir William Reid|first=Sarah|last=Crellin}}</ref>
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The memorial's main dedication is in bronze letters to the front (south) of the attic: <small>TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND TO THE HONOUR OF TWELVE THOUSAND OF THE MERCHANT NAVY AND FISHING FLEETS WHO HAVE NO GRAVE BUT THE SEA</small>; above it are the dates of the First World War (1914–1918), which are also carved into the stone on north side. To either side are decorative bronze wreaths. On the inside, the floor is in black and white stone in a chequerboard pattern. On the north side, bronze spikes occupy the otherwise-open bays.<ref name="NHLE WWI"/><ref name="Boorman 182">Boorman (2005), p. 182</ref><ref name="IWM">{{cite web|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/12636 |title=Merchant Navy|website=[[War Memorials Register]]|publisher=[[Imperial War Museums]]|accessdate=5 May 2018}}</ref>
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The largest single loss of life commemorated on the memorial is from [[Sinking of the RMS Lusitania|the sinking]] of the [[RMS Lusitania|RMS ''Lusitania'']] on 7 May 1915. Of the 1,200 dead, more than 350 British crew members are commemorated on the Mercantile Marine memorial.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Tower Hill Memorial|url=https://issuu.com/wargravescommission/docs/tower_hill_leaflet|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|date=25 October 2017|access-date=24 February 2018}}</ref> In total, the First World War memorial records the names of some 12,000 casualties.<ref name="NHLE WWI" />
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In his biography of Lutyens, Michael Barker described the design as "dignified classicism";<ref>Barker, p. 41.</ref> another Lutyens biographer, [[Christopher Hussey]], described it as a "classical shrine".<ref>Hussey, p. 474.</ref> Tim Skelton, author of ''Lutyens and the Great War'', notes the similarity of the colonnade to the shelter buildings in Lutyens' cemeteries in France and Belgium and suggests that the memorial would be "equally well at home on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] as in the heart of London".<ref>Skelton, p. 172.</ref> The resemblance to the cemetery buildings is also noted by the Dutch architect Jeroen Geurst, who compares it in particular to those at [[Hooge Crater Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery|Hooge Crater]] in Belgium and [[Serre Road Cemetery No. 2|Serre Road]] in France.<ref>Geurst, pp. 56, 92.</ref> In the opinion of the historian [[David Crane (historian)|David Crane]], the memorial never recovered from its "miserable start" and is consequently the least well-known of the IWGC's major works following the First World War.<ref name="Crane 198"/>
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<gallery mode="packed" heights="200" caption="Plaques bearing the names of the dead from the RMS Lusitania, the largest single loss of life to be commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial"><br />File:Merchant Navy Memorail - plaques - Lusitania A-P.jpg<br />File:Merchant Navy Memorail - plaques - Lusitania C-D, H-K, M-O.jpg<br />File:Merchant Navy Memorail - plaques - Lusitania W-Y.jpg<br /></gallery>

Revision as of 17:45, 25 September 2020


First World War memorial==
===Background=

File:PLA Building facing Trinity Square - geograph.org.uk - 74940.jpg

The Port of London Authority building at 10 Trinity Square is one of several nautical buildings in the area.

In the aftermath of the First World War and its unprecedented casualties, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain and other countries affected. In particular, the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) assumed responsibility for commemorating all casualties from the British Empire. The commission was established in 1917, and one of its first principal architects was Sir Edwin Lutyens, an English architect who made his reputation building country houses and later designed much of New Delhi. Lutyens acted as an unpaid advisor to the IWGC during the war, in which capacity he made several visits to France to make initial plans for organised cemeteries. The war had a profound effect on Lutyens; following it, he devoted much of his time to memorialising its casualties. He designed The Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London (which became Britain's national memorial to the two world wars) and many other cemeteries and memorials for the IWGC, including the Thiepval Memorial (completed 1932).[1][2][3][4]

The IWGC and its founder, Fabian Ware, were determined from the outset that all casualties should be individually and equally commemorated, regardless of military rank or social status. Where it was not possible to provide a headstone (for example because a body could not be recovered), a casualty's name was included on one of the commission's large memorials, such as Tower Hill. The Admiralty did not initially believe that the IWGC's remit extended to sailors lost at sea and planned its own commemorations, but after negotiation it was agreed that the commission would take responsibility for commemorating maritime casualties as it did with those who died on land.[5][6] The commission's charter defined its scope as "members of the military and naval forces of the Crown"; in 1921 the commissioners resolved that this extended to the Mercantile Marine and other civilian organisations who were engaged in the war effort.[7]

Merchant shipping and fishing fleets played a vital role in supporting the British war effort throughout the First World War, both by resupplying the Royal Navy at sea and by delivering food, products, and raw materials to the United Kingdom. Merchant ships were regularly sunk by the German Navy from the outset of the war, particularly after Germany commenced unrestricted submarine warfare. By the end of the war, more than 3,300 British- and empire-registered merchant ships had been sunk, with the loss of more than 17,000 lives.[1]

History

File:Merchant Marine memorial, Tower Hill (01).JPG

The colonnade viewed from the east entrance to Trinity Square Gardens

The IWGC sought advice on the form of the memorial from the seafarers' unions, who consistently requested a memorial in the form of a home for aged seamen or similar, but the commission was set against functional memorials in the belief that they became associated more with their function than with commemoration. It rejected the request, overruling its own advisory committee in doing so, on the grounds that its charter did not allow it to fund the ongoing costs of an institution. It insisted that merchant seamen would be commemorated on a monument.[7]

The commission first intended to site the memorial at Temple Steps, on the bank of the River Thames, for which it commissioned Lutyens. The architect designed a massive arch. The proposed structure would have consisted of two Template:Convert stone piers of linked, alternating arches (reminiscent of the Thiepval Memorial, which he was designing for the IWGC at around the same time) joined by a large beam, itself supported by two Doric columns between the arches. This was approved by London County Council, but the Office of Works rejected it on the advice of the Royal Fine Arts Commission (RFAC), which 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 Ware attempted to persuade the RFAC to reconsider but to no avail. Lutyens was furious, feeling the merchant seamen had been relegated to "some hole in the corner because they happened to be low in social status"[6] and that Sir Reginald Blomfield (a member of the RFAC and a rival of Lutyens) was acting out of spite.[6][8]

Lutyens described the RFAC's opinion as "bosh", and suggested to Ware that they should continue regardless and force a confrontation. Ware was more diplomatic, and the IWGC chose a new site in Trinity Square Gardens on Tower Hill, still west of Tower Bridge but further from the river.[1][9][10][11] This site was considered appropriate because it was within sight of the Thames, albeit not on the riverbank, and the area already had maritime connections, including the headquarters of the Port of London Authority at 10 Trinity Square, Trinity House, and the church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower (itself home to many nautically themed memorials).[1][12] Philip Longworth, in a history of the IWGC, remarked that the location meant the commission's only memorial in London "would never be seen by most Londoners, still less find a place in the national consciousness as did Lutyens' stark monument on Whitehall". (The Cenotaph was not commissioned by the IWGC.)[13] 

Trinity Square Gardens was Crown land administered by trustees. Although the trustees suggested they would not object to the memorial, they did not have the power to give full consent and a special Act of Parliament was required. The bill was laid before Parliament in December 1926 and received royal assent in June 1927, becoming the Mercantile Marine Memorial Act. The building work was undertaken by Holloway Brothers (London) and the memorial was unveiled by Queen Mary (deputising for her husband, King George V) on 12 December 1928, her first solo engagement of the sort. The unveiling ceremony was broadcast live on the radio in the queen's first use of the medium. Despite taking place in torrential rain, the unveiling ceremony was attended by a large crowd, who cheered the queen as she was driven away.[1][14][15]

Design

File:Merchant Navy Memorail - interior from west 04.jpg

Interior of the colonnade, showing the vaulted ceiling, rusticated walls, and chequerboard-patterned floor


File:Hooge Crater Cemetery shelter building 1.JPG

A shelter building at Hooge Crater Cemetery, which Lutyens also designed for the IWGC, has been compared to the Mercantile Marine Memorial.

The main structure is in Portland stone. It takes the form of a vaulted colonnade or pavilion reminiscent of a Doric temple but open at both ends.[1] After the Arch of Remembrance in Leicester, it is Lutyens' second-largest war memorial in the United Kingdom, and is the only British First World War memorial dedicated exclusively to merchant seamen.[10][16] It is raised on a platform slightly above street level, oriented east to west and accessed from the street by a set of five stone steps at each end. The structure is Template:Convert long by Template:Convert wide and up to Template:Convert tall. It consists of three bays on either side, created by eight alternating square piers and six pairs of round columns. The eight piers are clad in rectangular bronze panels to give the impression of rustication. The panels (divided into 24 numbered sections) contain the names of missing mariners, ordered by ship name and then alphabetically following the name of the captain or master. The vessels of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets are listed separately. Above the bays is a Doric entablature. The low, pitched roof has shallow parapets on either side and gabled ends; on top, in the centre, is a large square attic which supports a large stone drum. The attic is similar to Lutyens' original design for the York City War Memorial, which featured a Stone of Remembrance rather than a drum. The sculptural element is the work of William Reid Dick, who worked on several other war memorials, including the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium.[1][17][9][18][19]

The memorial's main dedication is in bronze letters to the front (south) of the attic: TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND TO THE HONOUR OF TWELVE THOUSAND OF THE MERCHANT NAVY AND FISHING FLEETS WHO HAVE NO GRAVE BUT THE SEA; above it are the dates of the First World War (1914–1918), which are also carved into the stone on north side. To either side are decorative bronze wreaths. On the inside, the floor is in black and white stone in a chequerboard pattern. On the north side, bronze spikes occupy the otherwise-open bays.[1][20][21]

The largest single loss of life commemorated on the memorial is from the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on 7 May 1915. Of the 1,200 dead, more than 350 British crew members are commemorated on the Mercantile Marine memorial.[22] In total, the First World War memorial records the names of some 12,000 casualties.[1]

In his biography of Lutyens, Michael Barker described the design as "dignified classicism";[23] another Lutyens biographer, Christopher Hussey, described it as a "classical shrine".[24] Tim Skelton, author of Lutyens and the Great War, notes the similarity of the colonnade to the shelter buildings in Lutyens' cemeteries in France and Belgium and suggests that the memorial would be "equally well at home on the Western Front as in the heart of London".[25] The resemblance to the cemetery buildings is also noted by the Dutch architect Jeroen Geurst, who compares it in particular to those at Hooge Crater in Belgium and Serre Road in France.[26] In the opinion of the historian David Crane, the memorial never recovered from its "miserable start" and is consequently the least well-known of the IWGC's major works following the First World War.[6]


  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Template:NHLE
  2. ↑ Tower Hill Memorial: History. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved on 2 May 2018.
  3. ↑ Template:Cite ODNB
  4. ↑ Lutyens, p. 153.
  5. ↑ Summers (2010), p. 39, 45.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Crane, p. 198.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Longworth, p. 97.
  8. ↑ Ridley, pp. 348–349.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Ward-Jackson, p. 410.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Skelton, p. 94.
  11. ↑ Amery, p. 154.
  12. ↑ Pevsner, p. 610.
  13. ↑ Longworth, pp. 98–99.
  14. ↑ Ward-Jackson, p. 411.
  15. ↑ Skelton, p. 95.
  16. ↑ Ward, p. 167
  17. ↑ Tower Hill Memorial: Design. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved on 1 May 2018.
  18. ↑ Saunders, p. 78.
  19. ↑ Template:Cite ODNB
  20. ↑ Boorman (2005), p. 182
  21. ↑ Merchant Navy. Imperial War Museums. Retrieved on 5 May 2018.
  22. ↑ The Tower Hill Memorial. Commonwealth War Graves Commission (25 October 2017).
  23. ↑ Barker, p. 41.
  24. ↑ Hussey, p. 474.
  25. ↑ Skelton, p. 172.
  26. ↑ Geurst, pp. 56, 92.
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