The Georgetown Cenotaph is a war memorial in

Georgetown, Guyana Georgetown is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is t ...

, located at the junction of Main and Church Streets. The Cenotaph was unveiled on August 14, 1923, by the then Governor,

Graeme Thomson Sir Graeme Thomson (9 August 1875 – 28 September 1933) was a British civil servant in the Admiralty, who served as a colonial civil servant and then governor in several British colonies. Admiralty clerk Graeme Thomson was educated at Winche ...

, and the first Armistice Day observance took place at the Church Street Monument on 11 November 1923. On the four faces of the base of the Cenotaph are inscribed the four words - Devotion, Humanity, Fortitude, and Sacrifice. The Cenotaph is a national memorial to Guyanese soldiers who lost their lives in the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and Second World Wars. Guyanese soldiers served and fought in such far off places as Egypt, France, Belgium, and

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. After the end of the Second World War in 1945, Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day or Remembrance Sunday, and observed on the first or second Sunday of November. Since 1956, it was internationally agreed to observe Remembrance Day on the second Sunday of November. Before 1923, the site where the Cenotaph now stands was occupied by an ornate drinking fountain which was erected in 1867 to mark the completion of the Water Works in 1866. That drinking fountain, no longer functional, now stands on the green opposite St. Rose's High School in Church Street, just a few hundred feet from its original location.

References

{{Buildings in Guyana Buildings and structures in Georgetown, Guyana Cenotaphs Monuments and memorials in Guyana World War I memorials World War II memorials Historic sites in Guyana British Guiana in World War II World War II sites in British Guiana