Stockbridge War Memorial is a First World War memorial in the town of Stockbridge in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in southern England. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1921; it is a grade II listed building.

Background

In the aftermath of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and its unprecedented casualties, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain. Amongst the most prominent designers of memorials was the architect

Sir Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memoria ...

, described by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

as "the leading English architect of his generation". Lutyens designed

the Cenotaph The Cenotaph is a war memorial on Whitehall in London, England. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, it was unveiled in 1920 as the United Kingdom's national memorial to the British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth dead of the First World W ...

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

in London, which became the focus for the national

Remembrance Sunday Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held on the second Sunday in Nov ...

commemorations, as well as the

Thiepval Memorial to the Missing The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the ...

—the largest British war memorial anywhere in the world—and the

Stone of Remembrance The Stone of Remembrance is a standardised design for war memorials that was designed in 1917 by the British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC). It was designed to commemorate the dead of World War I, to b ...

which appears in all large

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

cemeteries and in several of Lutyens's civic war memorials. The King's Somborne memorial is one of fifteen War Crosses by Lutyens, all sharing a broadly similar design; another,

King's Somborne War Memorial King's Somborne War Memorial is a First World War memorial in the village of King's Somborne in Hampshire in southern England. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1921; it is a grade II listed building. Background In t ...

, is situated in the nearby village of

King's Somborne King's Somborne is a village in Hampshire, England. The village lies on the edge of the valley of the River Test. Location King's Somborne is a large parish covers , of which are covered by water. Most of the ground is low-lying, with a high poi ...

. Prior to the outbreak of war, Lutyens established his reputation designing luxurious country houses for wealthy clients. Like many of his war memorials, the commission for Stockbridge originated with a pre-war client. Lutyens designed

Marshcourt Marshcourt, also spelled Marsh Court, is an Arts and Crafts style country house in Marsh Court, near Stockbridge, Hampshire, England. It is constructed from quarried chalk. Designed and built by architect Edwin Lutyens between 1901 and 190 ...

, a country house on the edge of the town, for Herbert Johnson at the turn of the twentieth century; during the First World War, Johnson and his wife Violet ran a 60-bed military hospital out of Marshcourt and after the Armistice, Johnson was adamant that Stockbridge and the neighbouring village of King's Somborne should both have a memorial to the war dead. Herbert Johnson chaired the war memorial committees in both Stockbridge and King's Somborne; he also donated the site for the Stockbridge memorial and made a significant financial contribution towards its construction.Skelton, pp. 80–81.

History and design

The memorial stands in the east of Stockbridge, on the

A3057 road List of A roads in zone 3 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island ...

near the junction with the A30. In

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

, it is one of Lutyens' fifteen War Crosses. It has a tapering shaft, to which the short arms are moulded close to the top, which sits on a splayed plinth. Below the plinth is a coved base, which forms a seat at the foot of the cross, similar to the memorial at King's Somborne. The whole memorial stands on four stone steps—square for the top two steps and circular for the bottom two. The names of the fallen from the First World War are inscribed on two sides of the plinth; the east side contains the dedication "OUR DEAD / THROUGH WHOM / WE LIVE / MCMXIV – MCMXIX". The west face was originally inscribed "THANKS BE TO GOD / WHO GIVETH US / THE VICTORY", but this was replaced in 2008 with a dedication for the Second World War: "WE WILL REMEMBER THEM / MCMXXXIX – MCMXXXXV". Black paint was added to the inscriptions in 2005 to improve legibility. The memorial was unveiled on 3 April 1921 by Violet Johnson. After Violet Johnson's death in 1923—partly brought about by her wartime work running the hospital at Marshcourt—Lutyens designed a memorial cross to her, which was placed in Winton Hill Cemetery in Stockbridge, and which is today a grade II listed building. Stockbridge War Memorial was designated a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on 7 February 1986. In November 2015, as part of the commemorations of the centenary of the First World War, Lutyens's war memorials were recognised as a "national collection" and all of his free-standing memorials in England were listed or had their listing status reviewed and their

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

list entries were updated and expanded.

References

* {{reflist World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England Monuments and memorials in Hampshire Grade II listed buildings in Hampshire Grade II listed monuments and memorials Buildings and structures completed in 1921 Works of Edwin Lutyens in England War memorials by Edwin Lutyens Military history of Hampshire Stockbridge, Hampshire