The Midland Railway War Memorial is a First World War memorial in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

in the East Midlands of England. It was designed by

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 ...

and unveiled in 1921. The memorial commemorates employees of the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

who died while serving in the armed forces during 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 ...

. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. Around a third of the company's workforce, some 23,000 men, left to fight, of whom 2,833 were killed. Standing on Midland Road, within sight of

Derby Midland railway station Derby railway station (, also known as Derby Midland) is a main line railway station serving the city of Derby in Derbyshire, England. Owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Railway, the station is also used by CrossCountry services ...

and backing on to the garden of the Midland Hotel, the memorial consists of a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenot ...

partially enclosed by a screen wall on three sides. Affixed to the wall are bronze plaques listing the names of the dead. On either side of the cenotaph is the Midland's coat of arms, enclosed in a laurel wreath. The crest is surmounted by a

catafalque A catafalque is a raised bier, box, or similar platform, often movable, that is used to support the casket, coffin, or body of a dead person during a Christian funeral or memorial service. Following a Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, a catafalque ...

with sculpted lion heads at the corners, supporting the recumbent effigy of a soldier, covered by a coat. Lutyens renders the soldier anonymous by lifting him high above eye level, allowing the viewer to believe it could be somebody they knew. The memorial was unveiled on 15 December 1921. The Midland also published a book of remembrance, a copy of which was sent to the families of all the men listed on the memorial. Later in the 1920s, the Midland Railway was amalgamated into a larger company and Derby's importance as a railway centre waned. Today, the memorial stands in a conservation area and is 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 ...

. It was repaired in 2010 after several of the bronze plaques were stolen and later recovered.

Background

Midland Railway

In the early 20th century, the

was one of the largest railway companies in Britain. The Midland had its headquarters in

, establishing itself there more comprehensively than any other railway company in any other town in Britain. It was the town's largest employer—at the turn of the century, it employed over 12,000 people in Derby alone. The Midland dominated the town; it erected dozens of buildings, including Midland station and the Midland Hotel. Railways remained the town's largest industry until the middle of the 20th century.Biddle, pp. 288–289.Galer, p. 132. Railway companies contributed heavily to the British war effort in the

. Many carriages were repurposed for use on

hospital train A hospital train is a railway train with carriages equipped for the provision of healthcare. Historically this has ranged from trains equipped to transport wounded soldiers, with basic nursing and first aid facilities on board, to fully equipped ...

s, railway works were given over for weapons manufacturing, and most troop movements within Britain were made by train. The railways also gave up large numbers of their employees for military service—across all British railway companies, approximately 185,000 joined the armed forces (almost half of fighting-age men employed by the railways, the remainder of whom were mostly in "

reserved occupation A reserved occupation (also known as essential services) is an occupation considered important enough to a country that those serving in such occupations are exempt or forbidden from military service. In a total war, such as the Second World War, w ...

s", required for domestic service). The Midland's workforce was reduced by a third as almost 23,000 men left for war. As a result, the Midland and other railway companies began employing women on a large scale for the first time. The company published a pamphlet, titled ''For King and Country'', in December 1914, giving details of Midland employees who had joined the armed forces by that date. Within a week of the United Kingdom declaring war on Germany in August, over 1,800 reservists had been called up, and hundreds more employees had volunteered; to be able to carry on its operations, the company began asking employees to obtain permission from management before "joining the colours". In the same pamphlet, the company promised to re-employ the men on their return, and to pay an allowance to their families while the men were gone. By the end of the war, 2,833 men from the Midland had been killed; their names are listed on the war memorial. Another 7,000 were wounded. The

is one of several Midland-related war memorials in Derby. A plaque commemorating the company's casualties from the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

is affixed to the wall on platform 1 at the nearby station. As Derby diminished in importance as a railway centre and the Midland's workshops and offices closed, it was joined by three other plaques listing the names of First World War casualties from individual sites.

Architect

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

, 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 w ...

as "the leading English architect of his generation". Lutyens established his reputation designing country houses for wealthy clients and later built much of

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, but the war had a profound effect on him. Thereafter, he dedicated much of his time to commemorating its casualties. He became renowned for

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 dead of the First World War, was rededicated in 19 ...

in London, which became Britain's national memorial, and for his work for the

Imperial 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 ...

London's Cenotaph was one of the most influential designs for First World War memorials; cenotaphs, many based to a greater or lesser degree on Lutyens' design, became a common form of war memorial in cities and large towns across Britain and the empire. Lutyens designed several others himself, including the Midland Railway's. They are among the most ambitious of his war memorial designs. Most are based heavily on Whitehall's, though with considerable variation between them.

Design

The memorial stands on Midland Road, within sight of Midland station and adjacent to the Midland Hotel, encroaching onto the hotel's garden. Of Portland stone construction, the memorial consists of a high cenotaph with rounded sides in the centre of a high screen wall. At the top of the cenotaph is a recumbent effigy of an unknown soldier, partially covered by his

greatcoat A greatcoat, also known as a watchcoat, is a large overcoat that is typically made of wool designed for warmth and protection against the weather. Its collar and cuffs can be turned out to protect the face and hands from cold and rain, and the ...

and with his

Brodie helmet The Brodie helmet is a steel combat helmet designed and patented in London in 1915 by Latvian inventor John Leopold Brodie ( lv, Leopolds Janno Braude). A modified form of it became the Helmet, Steel, Mark I in Britain and the M1917 Helmet in ...

and bayonet at his feet. The soldier lies on a

, beneath which is a sculpture of a lion's head at each of the four corners. Midland Railway War Memorial, Derby 07

Midland Railway War Memorial, Derby 14 (cropped)

Further down is a carving of the Midland Railway's coat of arms on two sides, which is enclosed in a

laurel wreath A laurel wreath is a round wreath made of connected branches and leaves of the bay laurel (), an aromatic broadleaf evergreen, or later from spineless butcher's broom (''Ruscus hypoglossum'') or cherry laurel (''Prunus laurocerasus''). It is a s ...

. The front of the cenotaph (facing Midland Road) is inscribed: TO THE BRAVE MEN OF THE MIDLAND RAILWAY WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR. The two sides are inscribed with the dates of the First World War in

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

s: MCMXIV † XIX (1914–19). Although generally described as such, the memorial is not strictly a cenotaph as the sculpture at the top is a human figure rather than an empty tomb. The screen wall forms rectangular alcoves on each side of the cenotaph, by deep. The names of the dead were originally carved into the stone but are now embossed on bronze plaques due to erosion. A small step allows children to view the names of the fallen close-up. The names are listed in alphabetical order with no indication of military rank or branch of service. At the ends of the screen wall are solid squares, each supporting a flagpole. The design for the cenotaph became the model for Rochdale Cenotaph, which was unveiled a year after the Midland's.Lambert, p. 179. Historic England describes the memorial as "an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this company and the sacrifices made by its staff in the First World War". Historian Ana Carden-Coyne described it as a "simple yet solemn memorial". The design uses shapes reminiscent of

classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect ...

, which Lutyens (influenced by his own

pantheism Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has ...

and his association with

Theosophy Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...

) preferred for its "abstract shape and intrinsic beauty", over explicitly religious symbolism such as a Christian cross. The recumbent soldier's position at the top of the pylon rather than at eye level is reminiscent of ancient tower tombs. His position high above eye level gives him anonymity, enhanced by the greatcoat covering his face, allowing the onlooker to believe he could be somebody they personally mourned. His position draws attention to the details on the pylon by making the viewer look up, allowing them to focus on the aesthetics of the structure rather than the violent manner of the soldier's death, giving idealised sense of heroism and self-sacrifice or "beautiful death" which Lutyens was keen to portray—with rare exceptions, the violent manner of a soldier's death was not generally considered an appropriate subject for sculpture in First World War memorials.

History

The memorial was built by J Parnell and Son Ltd and cost £10,309 (1921). Charles Booth, company chairman of the Midland Railway, unveiled the memorial on 15 December 1921 while the Right Reverend Edwyn Hoskyns, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, gave a dedication. The Midland did not invite the families of the dead to the ceremony, fearing that there would be insufficient space for them, but offered free travel passes to Derby for relatives wishing to visit the memorial after its unveiling. As well as the monument, the Midland Railway published a book of remembrance, a copy of which was sent to the family of each of the men listed on the memorial. The book contained a photograph of the memorial, along with details about each man's occupation within the company, their home depot or station, regiment, and military rank.Galer, pp. 131–133.Tatlow, pp. 3–4. In the foreword, the Midland's general manager, Frank Tatlow, described the memorial as expressing: The Midland and other British railway companies struggled to recover from the effects of the war. As a result, the Midland was amalgamated with its rival the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and several smaller railways in the Railways Act 1921 to form the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), whose 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 opposi ...

are commemorated on the LNWR's war memorial outside

Euston station Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...

in London. Both memorials are now the responsibility of

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

, which inherited them from British Rail (itself created by nationalisation of the LMS and most other railways after the Second World War). The Midland had planned to build a second memorial at its London terminus, St Pancras, but the plans fell through due to lack of funds. The artist Fabian Peake created a memorial there in 2018, unveiled on the centenary of the Armistice (11 November), inspired by job titles he found in the Midland's Book of Remembrance. A copy of the book of remembrance is held by the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant ...

. The memorial was designated a grade II*

on 24 February 1977. Listed building status offers statutory protection from demolition or modification; grade II* is reserved for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest" and is applied to about 5.5 per cent of listings. In November 2015, as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, Historic England recognised the Midland Railway War Memorial as part of a national collection of Lutyens' war memorials. The war memorial forms part of Derby's Railway Conservation Area, a collection of buildings around the railway station associated with the Midland Railway. Designated by

Derby City Council Derby City Council is the local government unitary authority for Derby, a city in the East Midlands region of England. It comprises 51 councillors, three for each of the 17 electoral wards of Derby. Currently there is no overall control of the co ...

, the conservation area recognises the historic interest of the area and imposes controls on development. The memorial was damaged in 2010 when several of the bronze plaques, listing the names of the dead, were ripped from the walls. Some were quickly discovered; others, apparently stolen for the scrap value of the metal, were recovered later. Two men responsible for the theft received prison sentences. The plaques were restored by Network Rail and the Railway Heritage Trust at a cost of £18,000, and a service of re-dedication took place on 17 December 2010 using the original prayer of dedication from the 1921 service, read by the Reverend James Lindsay. The theft prompted an initiative to treat the metal elements of all Derbyshire war memorials with SmartWater, a product which allows metal to be identified under ultraviolet light.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * (Via the Midland Railway Study Society) * * * * * * (Via the Midland Railway Study Society)

Citations

{{Reflist World War I memorials in England Cenotaphs in the United Kingdom Works of Edwin Lutyens in England War memorials by Edwin Lutyens Monuments and memorials in Derbyshire Buildings and structures completed in 1921 Buildings and structures in Derby Grade II* listed buildings in Derbyshire Grade II* listed monuments and memorials Midland Railway British railway war memorials