War Memorials

The last veteran of the First World War has long since died, and those of the Second are getting ever scarcer, yet public interest in war memorials continues unabated. The tragic impact of world events on local communities over the past century has demanded memorials to keep the dead in mind, and pay tribute to their sacrifice. War Memorials were erected in their thousands after 1918: bronze Tommies and stone wayside crosses became commonplace, and can attain high levels of artistic refinement. Britain's great cities raised magnificent monuments, as did regiments, railway companies, schools and private families. Among them are truly outstanding works of monumental art by sculptors such as Charles Sargeant Jagger, Gilbert Ledward and Eric Gill. Others took practical form: a swimming pool or a village hall, or stained glass window. Their range and variety are huge, and their quantity is uncountable: no agreed tally exists. Going back to medieval and Napoleonic antecedents, this survey incorporates new discoveries and insights into these eloquent reminders of the greatest wave of commemoration ever seen in this country.