Twickenham War Memorial, in

Radnor Gardens Radnor Gardens is a small public riverside garden and recreation ground in Strawberry Hill, south of Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It has a First World War memorial, a grass area, a bowling green and a children's play ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, London, commemorates the men of the district of Twickenham who died in 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 ...

. After 1945, the memorial was updated to recognise casualties from 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 opposin ...

. The memorial was commissioned by Twickenham

Urban District Council In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local gove ...

in 1921. It was designed by the sculptor

Mortimer Brown Mortimer John Brown (27 April 1874 – 1966) was an English sculptor. Early life and education Mortimer Brown was born in Fenton, Staffordshire, the son of a brewer and potter's agent. He was educated at Hanley School of Art and the National ...

, and is Brown's only significant public work. The memorial is unusual for its representation of a jubilant soldier returning home. It became a Grade II* listed structure in 2017.

Site

The area around

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

had been a favoured site for wealthy Londoners to construct country houses since medieval times. Cherry and Pevsner note that, after

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, "no other London borough has a greater wealth of major palaces and mansions than Richmond upon Thames".

Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...

died at his palace at

Sheen Sheen may refer to: Places * Sheen or West Sheen, an alternative name for Richmond, London, England ** East Sheen ** North Sheen ** Sheen Priory * Sheen, Staffordshire, a village and civil parish in the Staffordshire Moorlands, England * Sheenb ...

in 1377. Henry VII replaced that building with Richmond Palace, which was further developed by his son

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

until the latter gained possession of the even grander

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. The building of the palace began in 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, the chie ...

in 1525. In the 18th century the area saw the development of more modest riverside retreats for the aristocracy and the upper classes. Among the earliest, dating from 1724, was

Marble Hill House Marble Hill House is a Neo-Palladian villa, now Grade I listed, in Twickenham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It was built between 1724 and 1729 as the home of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, who lived there until her ...

, designed by Roger Morris for the Countess of Suffolk.

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

was a regular visitor to Marble Hill and built his own villa nearby. These villas were firstly constructed in a

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

style, echoing the villas of the Veneto, but by the mid-century early examples of the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

began to appear, most notably

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

's Strawberry Hill House. A lesser Gothic example was Radnor House, the grounds of which now form part of

History and description

The park in which the memorial stands was formed from the grounds of Radnor House and

Cross Deep House Cross Deep House was an 18th-century house, on the banks of the River Thames in Cross Deep, Strawberry Hill, south of Twickenham town centre. It was demolished in 1906 and the remains of its grounds form part of present-day Radnor Gardens. Et ...

by Twickenham Urban District Council in 1903. At the end of the First World War, in common with many local authorities, the council decided to erect a war memorial to commemorate the dead of the district. The sculptor

won a design competition in 1920 and was commissioned to undertake the work. Brown had trained at the Hanley School of Art and the National Art Training School, followed by study at the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

. The memorial represents a life-size soldier, cast in bronze by the Singer & Sons foundry. The figure is depicted walking in service dress and greatcoat, holding a rifle in one hand, with the other hand lifting up a cap to wave above his head. The statue is unusual for showing a "joyful returning soldier, in contrast to the more conventional attitudes of watchfulness or mourning". The

Cambridge War Memorial Cambridge War Memorial is a war memorial on Hills Road, Cambridge, outside Cambridge University Botanic Garden. It comprises a bronze statue of a marching soldier by Canadian sculptor Robert Tait McKenzie, known as "The Homecoming" or sometim ...

has a similar composition of a soldier marching home cheerfully holding a helmet, and the Lancashire Fusiliers Boer War Memorial in

Bury, Greater Manchester Bury ( ) is a market town on the River Irwell in Greater Manchester, England. Metropolitan Borough of Bury is administered from the town, which had an estimated population of 78,723 in 2015. The town is within the historic county boundarie ...

, is an earlier example of a memorial sculpture of a soldier holding aloft his headgear in celebration. (Both are listed at Grade II.) The main statue stands on a tall square plinth of

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 ...

, which has bronze plaques set in four sides and a dedicatory inscription on the south side which was amended after the Second World War to recognise the dead of Twickenham in that conflict. Three of the bronze plaques are figurative relief sculptures showing: three airmen (to the west); two women, one a nurse and the other a

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

volunteer (north); and two naval officers and a rating (east). The plaque commemorating the contribution of women to the war effort is "uncommon". The naval plaque was stolen in 2011 and the current plaque is a replacement installed in 2012. The borough's coat of arms appears on small bronze plaque on the south side of the plinth, above the inscription: 1914–1918 / TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY / OF THE MEN OF TWICKENHAM / WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR / THEIR NAME LIVETH EVERMORE / AND TO THOSE / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES / IN THE WAR OF / 1939–1945. The memorial was sited to form a vista towards the

Star and Garter Home The Royal Star and Garter Home on Richmond Hill, in Richmond, London, was built between 1921 and 1924 to a design by Sir Edwin Cooper, based on a plan produced by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1915, to provide accommodation and nursing facilitie ...

for disabled servicemen, previously located on Richmond Hill to the northeast. It was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Robertson, 1st Baronet, on 2 November 1921, at a ceremony attended by a band from the

Royal Military School of Music The Royal Military School of Music (RMSM) trains musicians for the British Army's fourteen regular bands, as part of the Royal Corps of Army Music. Until August 2021, the school was based at Kneller Hall in Twickenham, however it moved to HMS ...

Kneller Hall Kneller Hall is a Grade II listed mansion in Whitton, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It housed the Royal Military School of Music, training musicians for the British Army, which acquired the building in the mid-19th century. I ...

nearby and a large crowd sheltering under umbrellas against the continuous rain. The memorial was designated a Grade II* listed structure on 5 April 2017.

References and sources

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links