Mells War Memorial is a First World War memorial 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 ...

in the village of Mells in the Mendip Hills of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, south-western England. Unveiled in 1921, the memorial is one of multiple buildings and structures Lutyens designed in Mells. His friendship with two prominent families in the area, the Horners and the Asquiths, led to a series of commissions; among his other works in the village are memorials to two sons—one from each family—killed in the war. Lutyens toured the village with local dignitaries in search of a suitable site for the war memorial, after which he was prompted to remark "all their young men were killed". The memorial takes the form of a marble column topped by a sculpture of

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...

slaying a dragon, an image Lutyens used on two other public war memorials. At the base of the column, the names of the village's war dead are inscribed on stone panels. The memorial is flanked by identical rubble walls in local stone, on top of which grows a yew hedge. Low stone benches protrude from the walls to allow wreaths to be laid. Additional panels were fixed to the wall after 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 ...

to commemorate that conflict. The memorial was unveiled on 26 June 1921 by Brigadier-General Arthur Asquith, whose brother is among those commemorated on it. It 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 ...

and since 2015 has been part of a national collection of Lutyens' war memorials.

Background

In the aftermath of 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 ...

, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain. Amongst the most prominent designers of memorials was architect

, 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". Before the war, Lutyens established his reputation designing

country houses An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

for wealthy patrons, but from 1917 onwards, he dedicated much of his time to memorialising the casualties of the war. He went on to design

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 ...

on Whitehall in London, which became the focus for the national Remembrance Sunday commemorations and the

Thiepval Memorial to the Missing The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the ...

of the Somme in France, among many other memorials and cemeteries. According to Tim Skelton, author of ''Lutyens and Great War'', "if there was one village above all others that would have a war memorial designed by Lutyens, it would be the village of Mells".Skelton, p. 81. The war memorial is one of multiple buildings and structures by Lutyens in the village. He was a friend of two prominent local families, the Horners and the Asquiths, through his collaborations with Gertrude Jekyll on country houses and gardens early in his career. Gertrude's sister-in-law was Dame Agnes Jekyll, the sister of Lady Frances Horner, who was the incumbent owner (with her husband, Sir John) of

Mells Manor Mells Manor at Mells, Somerset, England, was built in the 16th century for Edward Horner, altered in the 17th century, partially demolished around 1780, and restored by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 20th century. The house, along with the garden walls ...

, a manor house in the centre of the village dating originally from the 16th century. Shortly after their first meeting, Sir John commissioned Lutyens for renovations to the Horners' London town house. Lutyens first visited Mells in 1896 at the request of Lady Horner (with whom he became close friends), who commissioned him to rebuild the house, and later for several other works related to the manor. The Horners' son, Edward, was killed at the Battle of Cambrai on the Western Front in November 1917 and is among those named on the war memorial. The family separately commissioned Lutyens to design a memorial to him in St Andrew's Church—a large statue of a mounted cavalry officer (by

Alfred Munnings Sir Alfred James Munnings, (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959) was known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken critic of Modernism. Engaged by Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund, he earned several presti ...

), which stands on a plinth by Lutyens based on the Cenotaph. In the same church is a memorial to

Raymond Asquith Raymond Herbert Asquith (6 November 1878 – 15 September 1916) was an English barrister and eldest son of British prime minister H. H. Asquith. A distinguished Oxford scholar, he was a member of the fashionable group of intellectuals known as ...

(the Horners' son-in-law and the eldest son of the prime minister,

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

), designed by Lutyens and executed by

Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...

. Raymond was killed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Both men are listed on the village war memorial. By 1916, seventy-four men from Mells had left to fight, and several women, including Lady Horner, were working as nurses in France. By the end of the war, 21 men had been killed and multiple others wounded. Among the returned was the curate of St Andrew's Church, who earned the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

for saving a wounded soldier.

Commissioning

Mells' war dead were first commemorated by a stone tablet on a wall in St Andrew's Church, designed by the Kensington School of Art and listing the names of 14 villagers.Dakers, p. 209. The idea for a larger, public memorial originated with the Horner family, who called a public meeting to discuss the possibilities. The participants first considered whether the memorial should be something with a utilitarian function or something purely monumental. Suggestions for utilitarian memorials included benches, a fountain, a garden, and a children's playground, but they felt that the memorial should be something to be looked at and admired. After discussing various potential locations, including St Andrew's churchyard, they decided that the memorial should be on the road in a prominent position where it would be obvious to passers-by. As with most of his war memorial commissions, Lutyens walked around the village in August 1919 to examine possible sites for the memorial. He was accompanied by

Katharine Asquith Katharine Frances Asquith (; 9 September 18859 July 1976) was an English landowner and patron of the arts. During the First World War, she served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. She was the wife of Raymond Asquith and the daughter-in-law of ...

(Sir John and Lady Frances Horner's daughter and Raymond Asquith's widow) and a group of representatives from the village. Lutyens was moved by the villagers' personal loss and wrote in a letter to his wife, Emily: "My weekend was a spring day, fun and tears. All their young men were killed".Winter. p. 107. He told Emily he had "found a perfect site in the middle of the village, which no-one else found, or thought of, and with a little tact and patience it was carried by the villagers with acclaim".

Design

The memorial takes the form of a

Tuscan column The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with ...

of Purbeck Marble construction, on which stands a statue of

slaying a dragon. Lady Horner first hoped to have an original sculpture and approached several artists but all quotes she received would have exceeded the village's budget, so she instead commissioned a copy of a statue in the

Henry VII Chapel The Henry VII Lady Chapel, now more often known just as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of King Henry VII. It is separated from the rest of the abbey by brass gates ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

. The column stands on a tall, narrow pedestal in Portland stone that bears the inscription: , a verse suggested by

Robert Bridges Robert Seymour Bridges (23 October 1844 – 21 April 1930) was an English poet who was Poet Laureate from 1913 to 1930. A doctor by training, he achieved literary fame only late in life. His poems reflect a deep Christian faith, and he is ...

, the

poet laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

, in correspondence with Lady Horner. A cross is engraved immediately above. To either side of the pedestal are matching panels onto which are inscribed the names of the village's war dead. At the same height are flanking walls of coarsed, squared rubble from the nearby

Doulting Stone Quarry Doulting Stone Quarry () is a limestone quarry at Doulting, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. At present there are only three quarries quarrying Doulting stone. The largest, The Doulting Stone Quarry, was producing building stone in Rom ...

, set back at the ends and topped with a yew hedge. In front of each wall is a small stone bench that protrudes across the base of the column, and above the benches, fixed to the wall, are round plaques bearing the dates of the Second World War and the names of the village's dead from that conflict. The statue and the inscriptions are both the work of Eric Gill, who also carved the memorial to Raymond Asquith. Colin Amery, who chaired an exhibition of Lutyens' works after his death, describes the memorials at Mells as among Lutyens' finest. Lutyens was profoundly affected by the war and sought a new form of architecture to memorialise the

Lost Generation The Lost Generation was the social generational cohort in the Western world that was in early adulthood during World War I. "Lost" in this context refers to the "disoriented, wandering, directionless" spirit of many of the war's survivors in th ...

. He generally preferred abstract designs for his war memorials, of which he designed dozens, over allegorical or figurative sculpture or the overt religious imagery that was present in many First World War memorials. Mells is one of the few monuments in which he used such allegory (in this case, the statue of Saint George). It is the most intricate of Lutyens' civic memorials to feature a statue of Saint George, though his memorial inside

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin * Wellington College, Wellington, Ne ...

's chapel features a similar sculpture of George and the Dragon. Fordham War Memorial in Cambridgeshire and Hove War Memorial in East Sussex both feature less intricate bronze statues of George with a sword and shield. File:Mells War Memorial 2021-10-25 05.jpg, Left plaque File:Mells War Memorial 2021-10-25 03.jpg, Centre stone File:Mells War Memorial 2021-10-25 06.jpg, Column File:Mells War Memorial 2021-10-25 04.jpg, Right plaque

History

The memorial was unveiled at a ceremony on 26 June 1921. It cost £400 to build, which was raised by public subscription. The unveiling was performed by Brigadier-General Arthur Asquith, brother of Raymond Asquith, who is commemorated on the memorial. General Asquith was later instrumental in the creation of Lutyens' Royal Naval Division War Memorial outside the Admiralty building in London. Mells War Memorial was designated a grade II*

on 1 January 1969 and noted for its setting with the

village hall A village hall is a public building in a village used for various things such as: United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building which contains at least one large room (plus kitchen and toilets), is owned by a local ...

(which is also listed at grade II*) and the various other historic buildings in the village, including several by Lutyens. Listed building status offers statutory protection from demolition or modification; grade II* is reserved for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest" and applied to about 5.5% of listings. In November 2015, as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, Historic England recognised Lutyens' war memorials as a "national collection".

References

Bibliography * * * * * * * * * * * Citations {{Reflist, 30em Buildings and structures completed in 1921 Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip District Grade II* listed monuments and memorials Mells, Somerset Monuments and memorials in Somerset Statues in England Works of Edwin Lutyens in England War memorials by Edwin Lutyens World War I memorials in England

Background

Commissioning

Design

History

See also

References