Dover Marine War Memorial stands in the old Dover Marine Station in the Western Docks,

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The port has effectively been closed for several years; it is currently used as a berthing station for cruise liners, and is only open when a liner is in dock.Dover Marine War Memorial and Roll of Honour.
Roll of Honour. Retrieved 17 August 2012.

Description

The memorial was created in remembrance of South Eastern and Chatham Railway employees who served during World War I. The Railway had 5,222 individuals who served of whom 556 had died. Standing on a granite plinth is a group of four figures cast in bronze, a sailor, a soldier, a bugler to the rear and rising above and between them the winged "Victory", a woman, holding aloft the "torch of truth". The memorial also consists of a wall inscribed with the names of those who fell in

World War I 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 ...

. Those remembered are the 556 men of the

South Eastern and Chatham Railway The South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies Joint Management Committee (SE&CRCJMC),Awdry (1990), page 199 known as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR), was a working union of two neighbouring rival railways, the South Easter ...

killed in the Great War and 626 men of the Southern Railway who died fighting in

World War II 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 war memorial was unveiled on 28 October 1922 by

Cosmo Bonsor Sir Henry Cosmo Orme Bonsor, 1st Baronet, DL (2 September 1848 – 4 December 1929) was an English brewer and businessman and a Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1900. Bonsor was the son of Joseph Bonsor of Pol ...

the Chairman of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Managing Committee and the sculptor was William Charles Holland King. In his career, King worked closely with

Gilbert Bayes Gilbert William Bayes (4 April 1872 – 10 July 1953) was an English sculptor. His art works varied in scale from medals to large architectural clocks, monuments and equestrian statues and he was also a designer of some note, creating chess piec ...

and was the sculptor of the statue of

Robert Owen Robert Owen (; 14 May 1771 – 17 November 1858) was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the cooperative movement. He strove to improve factory working conditions, promoted e ...

Newtown, Powys Newtown ( cy, Y Drenewydd) is a town in Powys, Wales. It lies on the River Severn in the community of Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn, within the historic boundaries of Montgomeryshire. It was designated a new town in 1967 and saw population growt ...

, finished after Bayes had died. King also sculpted the Great War memorial in

St. Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton St Peter's Collegiate Church is located in central Wolverhampton, England. For many centuries it was a chapel royal and from 1480 a royal peculiar, independent of the Diocese of Lichfield and even the Province of Canterbury. The collegiate chu ...

, and some statuary in the niches of the tower of

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full members of t ...

in Oxford.

Central bronze

Image: Dover Marine Station 8.jpg, View of the central bronze sculpture. Image: Dover Marine Station 2.jpg, The central bronze. Image: Dover Marine Station 14.jpg, Another view of the central bronze. Image: Dover Marine Station 10.jpg, Another detail from the central bronze. Image: Dover Marine Station 3.jpg, A detail from the central bronze sculpture.

Crouching figure

Image: Dover Marine Station 5.jpg, View of the crouching figure at the top left of the memorial wall. Image: Dover Marine Station 9.jpg, The crouching figure at top right of the memorial wall.

Inscriptions

Image: Dover Marine Station 4.jpg, View of the inscribed wall at the rear of the memorial Image: Dover Marine Station 6.jpg, Inscription at the base of the central sculpture. Image: Dover Marine Station 11.jpg, Another plaque explains the reason for the memorial.

References

External links

Dover Marine Station Roll of Honour: Background, images and honour rollThe Dover War Memorial Project; Information, transcriptions, and casualty commemorations for this war memorial and other memorials in Dover, Kent, EnglandUnveiling of memorial
(Science Museum Group) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dover Marine War Memorial World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England Port of Dover, Kent Military history of Dover, Kent Monuments and memorials in Kent Buildings and structures in Dover, Kent British railway war memorials