The Wagoners' Memorial is a war memorial in

Sledmere Sledmere is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, about north-west of Driffield on the B1253 road. The village lies in a civil parish which is also officially called "Sledmere" by the Office for National Statistics, although th ...

, in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

in England. The unusual squat columnar memorial was designed by

Sir Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet Colonel Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet (16 March 1879 – 16 February 1919) was an English traveller, Conservative Party politician, and diplomatic advisor, particularly with regard to the Middle East at the time of the First Wo ...

and built in 1919–20. It became 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 ...

in 1966, upgraded to Grade I in February 2016. The memorial stands near the

Eleanor Cross, Sledmere A replica Eleanor Cross was erected in Sledmere, East Riding of Yorkshire, in 1896–98. The tall stone structure was constructed by the Sykes family of Sledmere. Engraved monumental brasses were added after the First World War, converting ...

, a copy of the Eleanor Cross from

Hardingstone Hardingstone is a village in Northamptonshire, England. It is on the southern edge of Northampton, and now forms a suburb of the town. It is about from the town centre. The Newport Pagnell road (the B526, formerly part of the A50) separates ...

, which was built as a village cross in the 1890s and converted by Sykes into a war memorial for the men from his estate.

Background

Sykes was the son of Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet. He served in the Princess of Wales' Own Yorkshire Regiment in the Boer War and later as lieutenant colonel of the 5th Battalion,

Yorkshire Regiment The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot) (abbreviated YORKS) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, created by the amalgamation of three historic regiments in 2006. It lost one battalion as part of the Army 2020 defence ...

. He was MP for the local constituency of Kingston upon Hull Central from 1911 to his death in 1919. He inherited the baronetcy on his father's death in 1913. The 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement is named after him. Sykes received permission to raise the Wagoners Special Reserve as a Territorial Army unit in 1912, signing up farm labourers and tenant farmers from across the

Yorkshire Wolds The Yorkshire Wolds are low hills in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in north-eastern England. The name also applies to the district in which the hills lie. On the western edge, the Wolds rise to an escarpment wh ...

for war service as drivers of horse-drawn wagons. Sykes held wagon-driving competitions for his wagoners. During the First World War, 1,127 men from the corps were called up to serve in the Army Service Corps and the Royal Engineers. Most were sent to serve on the Western Front in France, with little or no military training, and given the important logistical task of moving essential materiel: food, ammunition and equipment. Wagoners also served in Italy, Salonika and the Middle East. Sykes attended the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, but contracted

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case wa ...

and died in February 1919, before the memorial was completed.

The memorial

The memorial is to the west side of Sledmere, north of St Mary's Church, and near the Sykes residence at

Sledmere House Sledmere House is a Grade I listed Georgian country house, containing Chippendale, Sheraton and French furnishings and many fine pictures, set within a park designed by Capability Brown. It is located in the village of Sledmere, between Driff ...

. It was designed by Sykes, and is said to be based on a Saxon memorial in the crypt at

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...

. It stands high, with an octagonal plinth of five steps leading up to squat stone column of Portland stone, with stone carvings, with conical canopy and pinnacle, once topped by a cross (now lost). The central column is surrounded by four narrower columns, supporting a carved entablature, and inscription on the frieze. The masonry was built by

Alfred Barr Alfred Hamilton Barr Jr. (January 28, 1902 – August 15, 1981) was an American art historian and the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. From that position, he was one of the most influential forces in the development of ...

and the

naive art Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may ...

sculptures made by Carlo Domenico Magnoni, curving around a central column in three sections, similar to

Trajan's Column Trajan's Column ( it, Colonna Traiana, la, Columna Traiani) is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Ap ...

, showing scenes from the history of the Wagoners, from Sykes enlisting them, through them being called up, travelling to France, and graphic scenes of conflict. It was described by

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

as "curiously homely". The memorial is also inscribed with a five-verse poem in the local dialect. The memorial was unveiled on 5 September 1920 by Sir

Ivor Maxse General Sir Frederick Ivor Maxse, (22 December 1862 – 28 January 1958) was a senior British Army officer who fought during the First World War, best known for his innovative and effective training methods. Early life Ivor Maxse was the eldest ...

, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command. The ceremony was attended by 2,000 spectators, with a guard of honour from the 5th Battalion,

. The last wagoner veteran died in 1993.

References

*
Waggoners' Reserve Memorial
Imperial War Museum
Waggoners memorial, Sledmere
yorkstories.co.uk, 2007
The 'Wolds Wagoners' who left farms for war
Yorkshire Post, 22 September 2014
Wolds Wagoners: Remembering East Yorkshire's courageous First World War heroes
Yorkshire Press, 19 January 2015
Wolds Wagoners Memorial, Sledmere, UK
waymarking.com

Western Front Association {{coord, 54.0698, N, 0.5819, W, source:wikidata, display=title British military memorials and cemeteries Buildings and structures completed in 1920 Grade I listed buildings in the East Riding of Yorkshire Grade I listed monuments and memorials Monuments and memorials in England World War I memorials in England

Background

The memorial

See also

References