Moreton-in-Marsh and Batsford War Memorial stands in

Moreton-in-Marsh Moreton-in-Marsh is a market town in the Evenlode Valley, within the Cotswolds district and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Gloucestershire, England. The town stands at the crossroads of the Fosse Way Roman road (now the A429) and the ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England, and is a memorial to those of Moreton and Batsford killed in the First and Second World Wars. The erection of the memorial on the High Street began in November 1920. It is built of Hollington stone from Staffordshire, and stands high. The work was carried out by R. I. Boulton and Sons of Cheltenham to

Guy Dawber Sir Edward Guy Dawber, RA ( King's Lynn, 3 August 1861 – London, 24 April 1938) was an English architect working in the late Arts and Crafts style, whose work is particularly associated with the Cotswolds. Biography Edward Guy Dawber ...

's design. Carved at the top of the memorial are the figures of St. George and the Dragon from the model prepared by the

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, Allan Wyon of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The total cost was around £700, raised primarily from public subscriptions. The memorial consists of an octagonal flight of five steps, upon which stands a sur-base containing panels and surmounted around the top by the

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the w ...

"In grateful memory of the men of Moreton and Batsford who gave their lives in the Great War". On four panels are inscribed the names of the forty-four men who died. On a fifth panel was later inscribed "These men also gave their lives 1939-1945" with the names of seven men who fell in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. On the sur-base is superimposed another base block with cusped and traceried panels containing the arms of the County of

and of St. George emblazoned in colour and gilt. Above this rises an octagonal shaft crowned by the carved figure of St. George and the Dragon. The unveiling took place on the afternoon of Saturday 26 March 1921, when there was a large crowd from Moreton and the surrounding villages. Over seventy of the local branch of the

Comrades of the Great War The Comrades of The Great War were formed in 1917 as an association to represent the rights of ex-service men and women who had served or had been discharged from service during World War I. Comrades of The Great War was one of the original four e ...

paraded under Captain Henderson, as did the

Girl Guides Girl Guides (known as Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909 when girls requested to join the then-grassroot ...

under Miss D. Southorn, the

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

under Scoutmaster Haines, and nurses from the VAD Hospital at Kitebrook under their Commandant, Mrs Pritchard OBE. Sir Gilbert Wills of

Batsford Park Batsford Arboretum is a arboretum and botanical garden near Batsford in Gloucestershire, England, about 1½ miles north-west of Moreton-in-Marsh. It is owned and run by the Batsford Foundation, a registered charity, and is open to the public ...

gave a brief address before the monument was formally unveiled by

Lord Redesdale Baron Redesdale, of Redesdale in the County of Northumberland, is a title that has been created twice, both times in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was firstly created in 1802 for lawyer and politician Sir John Mitford (later Freeman-Mi ...

. In 2001, a further "peacetime" casualty was added to the memorial. In 2018 the name of a female SOE agent killed in a concentration camp in 1944 was added. The book ''Moreton in Marsh & Batsford War Memorial'' by war memorial researcher Kenneth Fowler was written about this War Memorial and all those commemorated upon it and includes the military burials in

cemetery.

References

{{coord, 51, 59, 27.9, N, 1, 42, 11, W, scale:100000, display=title Monuments and memorials in Gloucestershire Buildings and structures completed in 1921 British military memorials and cemeteries Moreton-in-Marsh