Royal Artillery Boer War Memorial, London

Royal Artillery Boer War Memorial in London, 2013 (1)

The Royal Artillery Boer War Memorial is located on the south side of The Mall in

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

, close to the junction with

Horse Guards Road Horse Guards Road (or just Horse Guards) is a road in the City of Westminster, London. Located in post code SW1A 2HQ, it runs south from The Mall down to Birdcage Walk, roughly parallel with Whitehall and Parliament Street. To the west o ...

at the northeast corner of

St James's Park St James's Park is a park in the City of Westminster, central London. It is at the southernmost tip of the St James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less. It is the most easterly of a near-continuous c ...

. Unveiled in 1910, it marks the deaths of the 1,083 soldiers of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

who died in 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 Sout ...

from 1899 to 1902War Memorial: Royal Artillery Memorial – Boer War (WMR-11570)
War Memorials Register, Imperial War Museums, access date: June 26, 2017 It has been a

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 ...

since 1970. The memorial comprises several bronze sculptural elements by

William Robert Colton William Robert Colton (25 December 1867 – 13 November 1921) was a British sculptor. After completing his studies in London and Paris, Colton established himself with solid, career-long business relationships, secured admission to exhibit ...

, mounted on a central square plinth before a curved wall 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 ...

, all standing on granite platform with five steps up from The Mall to the north. Colton had already made the Worcester Boer War Memorial, erected in the grounds of

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, in Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified ...

in 1908, including bronze statues of a winged

Victory The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal Duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitu ...

and a soldier. The stone elements were designed by

Aston Webb Sir Aston Webb (22 May 1849 – 21 August 1930) was a British architect who designed the principal facade of Buckingham Palace and the main building of the Victoria and Albert Museum, among other major works around England, many of them in par ...

as part of his larger project to upgrade The Mall, which included a new façade for

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

, and a wider tree-lined road from the

Victoria Memorial The Victoria Memorial is a large marble building on the Maidan in Central Kolkata, built between 1906 and 1921. It is dedicated to the memory of Queen Victoria, Empress of India from 1876 to 1901. The largest monument to a monarch anywhere ...

Admiralty Arch Admiralty Arch is a landmark building in London providing road and pedestrian access between The Mall, which extends to the southwest, and Trafalgar Square to the northeast. Admiralty Arch, commissioned by King Edward VII in memory of his moth ...

. The memorial faces across the road to steps leading up to the

Duke of York Column The Duke of York Column is a monument in London, England, to Prince Frederick, Duke of York, the second eldest son of King George III. The designer was Benjamin Dean Wyatt. It is sited where Regent Street meets The Mall, a purposefully wide end ...

, the equestrian statue of Edward VII and the

Guards Crimean War Memorial The Guards Crimean War Memorial is a Grade II listed memorial in St James's, London, that commemorates the Allied victory in the Crimean War of 1853–56. It is located on Waterloo Place, at the junction of Regent Street and Pall Mall, approxi ...

Waterloo Place Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under ...

, which are on the same alignment. The tall plinth supports a life-size bronze statue of a horse representing the Spirit of War, being calmed by a winged

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...

of Peace holding an olive branch (the figure is sometimes described as Fame). Friezes of bronze plaques near the top and bottom of the plinth show war scenes in high relief, with the motto of the Royal Artillery, "UBIQUE" (everywhere) and "QUO. FAS / ET / GLORIA / DUCUNT" ("where right and glory lead"). Further bronze plaques are mounted as a frieze along the concave wall, bearing the relief inscription "ERECTED BY OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE ROYAL ARTILLERY IN MEMORY OF THEIR HONOURED DEAD IN SOUTH AFRICA 1899-1902". A stone pillar at each end of the wall bears a low relief plaque of a war scene below a bronze wreath around a single initial, "E "(left) and "R" (right). The sides of the pillars bear further plaques listing the names of 1,083 war dead, including some who died after the ceasefire on 31 May 1902, with 61 officers listed together on one panel in order of rank. The panels of names were originally installed horizontally on the floor of the granite platform: after complaints that visitors were inadvertently dishonouring the dead by treading on their names, the panels were resited to the walls. The memorial was unveiled by

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (Arthur William Patrick Albert; 1 May 185016 January 1942), was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He served as Gov ...

on 20 July 1910. The unveiling was preceded by a memorial service at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

, with an electric impulse sent from the cathedral used to drop the flags concealing the memorial. It is Grade II* listed on the

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 ...

. The heritage listing describes the monument as "a war memorial of clear architectural and sculptural quality, designed by two well-respected artists" (

and

William Colton William Colton (born March 6, 1946) is an American politician who represents District 47 in the New York State Assembly, which comprises Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Dyker Heights and Midwood. First elected to the Assembly in 1996, Colto ...

). Colton's design for the Staffordshire County War Memorial reused the sculptural group, on a tall stone plinth. After Colton's death in 1921, the Staffordshire memorial was completed by

Leonard Stanford Merrifield Leonard Stanford Merrifield (1880 – 25 April 1943) was a British sculptor, notable for the public monuments he created in Cornwall and in Northern Ireland. Biography Merrifield was born at Wyck Rissington in Gloucestershire and initially trai ...

in 1923. File:Victoria Park, Stafford - Staffordshire County War Memorial (33241491466).jpg, Staffordshire County War Memorial

References

Royal Artillery Memorial - Boer War
Royal Memorials Online
South African Royal Artillery Memorial
The Royal Parks
Memorialisation of the second Boer War in British public and private schools and its implications for WWI remembrance
Dennis Huggins, University of Roehampton, 2019, p.

The Victorian Web

roll-of-honour.com
War memorials: London: The Royal Artillery Boer War Memorial
Twentieth Century Society

External links

* {{coord, 51.50545, -0.13098, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 1910 establishments in England 1910 in London Buildings and structures completed in 1910 Buildings and structures on The Mall, London Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Westminster Grade II* listed monuments and memorials Military memorials in London Royal Artillery Second Boer War memorials

See also

References

External links