Streatham War Memorial

War memorial in London

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Streatham War Memorial

Streatham War Memorial is a war memorial to the war dead of the London district of Streatham in the two World Wars. It was unveiled in 1922, and is sited near the northwest corner of Streatham Common, London Borough of Lambeth, England.

## History

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A Streatham War Memorial General Council was established in 1919 with plans to build a large Hall of Remembrance in Streatham to commemorate the 720 servicemen from the district killed during the First World War. The memorial council bought land on the Chimes estate near Streatham Common, but lack of funding meant the ambitious scheme was not implemented. Instead, the plan was changed so that the Chimes building would become a servicemen's club, with a memorial garden and war memorial. Limited funding also prevent this plan from being realised, and the building was sold to the United Services Club in 1922, other land was sold to London County Council, and the proceeds were used to build the war memorial. The selected designer was Albert Toft.

The memorial was unveiled on 14 October 1922 by General Sir Charles Monro, 1st Baronet, with a dedication by the Anglican Bishop of Southwark, Cyril Garbett. The ceremony was attended by a crowd of 6,000 people. The war dead were listed on Roll of Honour held at Streatham Library, but the document has been lost.

The nearby club building was damaged by a V1 flying bomb in July 1944 and demolished. The grounds became a housing estate, with the memorial confined to a small garden The memorial was extended to commemorate the war dead of the Second World War, and it was re-dedicated in on 8 May 1959 by the Mayor of Wandsworth, Councillor Ronald Ash. The war memorial garden was transferred to Lambeth Council in 1971. It was Grade II listed in December 2016.

## Design

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The memorial comprises a square column of white stone on a tapering base, topped by a life-size bronze statue of a soldier. The soldier stands in service dress with his head uncovered and bowed, with his hands resting on a reversed rifle resting on his left boot. At his feet lie an army jacket, a steel helmet and a gas mask. The sculpture was based on Toft's Boer War memorial in Ipswich, and he included identical statues in the First World War memorials he designed for Stone, Staffordshire, Leamington, Warwickshire and Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire.

The plinth bears the inscription "TO / OUR GLORIOUS DEAD" and two bronze wreaths resembling Transport for London roundels, the top one inscribed "1914–1918" and the bottom one inscribed "1939–1945". A bronze plaque added in 2010 reads: "IN HONOUR OF / THE MEN AND WOMEN OF STREATHAM / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE / OF THEIR COUNTRY IN TWO WORLD WARS / 1914–1918 AND 1939–1945 / AND IN OTHER CONFLICTS / At the going down of the sun and in the morning / we will remember them / FROM THE PEOPLE OF STREATHAM 2010" (quoting lines from Laurence Binyon's "Ode of Remembrance").

The memorial stands on a square of grass surrounded by iron railings and a paved area. Plaques set into the paving in front of the memorial commemorate the award of the Victoria Cross to three men from the district: Frederick Henry Johnson, Geoffrey Cather and Alfred Fleming-Sandes.

A civilian war memorial is also located in the memorial gardens. The memorial is a contemporary sculpture by Ekkehard Altenburger erected in 2006 which takes the form of plain stone obelisk carved from Irish blue limestone from Kilkenny on a plinth of the same material inscribed with a quotation from a poem by Rohit Sapra: "Grief has no boundaries". This memorial commemorates all people from Streatham affected by conflict or wars.

* Suffolk Soldiers Boer War memorial, Ipswich

* Leamington War Memorial

* Stone War Memorial

* Streatham War Memorial

## References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Streatham War Memorial.

* Streatham War Memorial, National Heritage List for England, Historic England
* Streatham War Memorial, War Memorial Register, Imperial War Museum
* Streatham War Memorial, London Remembers
* Streatham Citizens' War Memorial, London Remembers
* Streatham War Memorial, War Memorials Online
* Streatham War Memorial, heartstreatham.co.uk
* Ekkehard Altenburger - list of commissions Artist's website

* v
* t
* e

Albert Toft

Sculptures|

* South African War Memorial, Cardiff (1909)
* King Edward VII Memorial (1913)
* Streatham War Memorial (1922)
* Royal Fusiliers War Memorial (1922)
* Hall of Memory, Birmingham (1923)
* Oldham War Memorial (1923)
* Thornton-Cleveleys War Memorial (1923)

Related|

* Alfonso Toft (brother)

* v
* t
* e

Public art and memorials in London

Portrait sculpture

| British/English
royalty|

* Boudica
* Alfred the Great
* Richard I
* Queen Eleanor (Charing Cross)
* Edward VI
* St Thomas' Hospital: bronze
* stone
* Charles I
* (Interregnum: Oliver Cromwell)
* Charles II
* Chelsea
* Soho
* Stocks Market†
* James II
* William III
* Kensington Palace
* St James's
* Anne
* St Paul's
* Westminster
* George III
* George IV
* King's Cross†
* Trafalgar Square
* Duke of York
* William IV
* Duke of Kent
* Duke of Cambridge
* Victoria
* Kensington Palace
* Victoria Memorial
* Prince Albert
* Albert Memorial
* Memorial to the Great Exhibition
* George V
* George VI and Queen Elizabeth
* Elizabeth II (planned)

|

Arts|

* John Betjeman
* Marc Bolan
* Robert Burns
* Thomas Carlyle
* Charlie Chaplin
* Geoffrey Chaucer†
* Agatha Christie
* John Donne
* Henry Irving
* Michael Jackson†
* John Keats
* Guy's Hospital
* Moorgate
* John Milton†
* George Orwell
* Joshua Reynolds
* William Shakespeare
* Heminges and Condell Memorial
* Leicester Square
* Park Lane†
* Arthur Sullivan
* Oscar Wilde
* Chelsea
* Covent Garden
* Amy Winehouse

Explorers|

* James Cook
* Yuri Gagarin

Merchants|

* John Cass†
* Thomas Guy
* Quintin Hogg
* Robert Milligan†
* Hugh Myddelton

Military|

* Lord Alanbrooke
* Lord Baden-Powell
* Ferdinand Foch
* Charles George Gordon
* Earl Haig
* Henry Havelock
* Lord Kitchener
* Lord Montgomery
* Lord Mountbatten
* Charles James Napier
* Admiral Lord Nelson (Nelson's Column)
* James Outram
* Lord Roberts
* Viscount Slim
* Duke of Wellington
* City
* Hyde Park Corner
* George Stuart White
* Lord Wolseley

Nurses|

* Edith Cavell
* Florence Nightingale
* Mary Seacole

Politics|

| British|

| Prime ministers|

* Clement Attlee
* George Canning
* Winston Churchill
* Parliament Square
* Woodford
* Lord Derby
* Benjamin Disraeli
* David Lloyd George
* William Ewart Gladstone
* Lord Palmerston
* Robert Peel

|

Other politicians|

* Robert Clayton
* Robert Clive
* Duke of Devonshire
* Charles James Fox
* Henry Bartle Frere
* Sidney Herbert
* Wilfrid Lawson
* Simon Milton (Paddington, St James's, Southwark)
* Marquess of Westminster

International|

* Simón Bolívar
* Mahatma Gandhi
* Bloomsbury
* Westminster
* Charles de Gaulle
* Haile Selassie†
* John F. Kennedy†
* Abraham Lincoln
* Nelson Mandela
* Karl Marx
* Peter the Great
* José de San Martín
* Jan Smuts
* Trajan
* Volodymyr
* George Washington

Religion|

* Thomas Becket
* John Henry Newman
* John Wesley
* St Paul's
* Shoreditch

Science and
engineering|

* Joseph Bazalgette
* Isambard Kingdom Brunel
* Sigmund Freud
* James Henry Greathead
* Nigel Gresley
* Edward Jenner
* Joseph Lister
* Isaac Newton
* Robert Stephenson

Social reformers
and humanitarians|

* Thomas Barnardo
* Millicent Fawcett
* Margaret MacDonald
* Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst
* Sylvia Pankhurst
* Robert Raikes
* Raoul Wallenberg

Sport|

* Harry Kane
* Bobby Moore
* Upton Park—with Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters and Ray Wilson
* Wembley

Fictional
characters|

* Paddington Bear
* Peter Pan
* Sherlock Holmes

See also|

* Talking Statues
* Statues in London on Wikimedia Commons

Other monuments and memorials

* 7 July bombings
* Queen Alexandra
* Anti–air war
* Bali bombings
* Lady Burdett-Coutts
* Lord Cheylesmore
* Cleopatra's Needle
* Conscientious objectors
* COVID-19 pandemic
* Michael Faraday
* Firefighters
* W. G. Grace
* Great Fire of London
* Golden Boy of Pye Corner
* The Monument
* Heroic self-sacrifice
* Journalists
* Police
* Queen Elizabeth Gate
* Silver Jubilee Crystal Crown
* Star and Garter Home
* Stratford Martyrs
* Suffragettes
* Victims of the Atlantic slave trade (planned)
* Virginia colonists
* Wellington Arch
* Wellington Monument
* Whittington Stone
* Windrush generation
* Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae)
* National Windrush Monument
* Mary Wollstonecraft

War memorials|

| Pre-C20|

* Animals in War
* Guards Brigade (Crimean War)
* Gurkhas (1816–)
* Marble Arch
* New Zealand Campaign (1863–1864)
* Siege of Cádiz
* Westminster School

|

Boer Wars|

* 61st Battery Royal Field Artillery (Woolwich)
* Barnet Boys School
* Royal Artillery (The Mall)
* Royal Marines

WWI · WWII|

* The Cenotaph

* Africa and the Caribbean
* Australia
* Battle of Britain
* Belgium
* Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red
* Burma Railway
* Canada
* La Délivrance
* Flanders Fields Memorial Garden
* Malta
* Memorial Gates
* Merchant Navy
* Ships named on the memorial
* New Zealand
* Poland
* South Africa
* Submarines
* Women of World War II

Regimental|

* 24th Division
* Cavalry
* Chindits
* Civil Service Rifles
* Eagle Squadrons
* Fleet Air Arm
* Guards Brigade
* Imperial Camel Corps
* Machine Gun Corps
* Rifle Brigade
* Royal Air Force
* RAF Bomber Command
* Royal Artillery
* Royal Fusiliers
* Royal Naval Division
* Royal Tank Regiment

Local|

* London Troops

* Arkley
* Bromley
* parish
* Chingford
* Chipping Barnet
* Cockfosters
* Croydon
* East Barnet
* Enfield Town (3 memorials)
* Finchley
* Friern Barnet (parish)
* Fulham
* Golders Green
* Hampstead
* Hampton Wick
* Hendon
* Hornsey
* Islington
* Kingston
* Monken Hadley
* New Barnet
* New Malden
* Paddington
* Poplar
* Rainham
* Richmond
* St Michael, Cornhill (parish)
* St Saviour, Southwark (parish)
* Silvertown
* Streatham
* Twickenham
* Promenade de Verdun, Woodcote
* Wood Green

Corporate|

* Baltic Exchange
* Bank of England
* British Medical Association
* Dulwich College
* Old
* New
* Great Eastern Railway
* Great Western Railway
* Lincoln's Inn
* London and North Western Railway
* London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
* Pearl Assurance†
* South Suburban Gas Company

Holocaust|

* Victoria Tower Gardens (planned)

* Hyde Park
* Kindertransport
* Stolperstein

Post-WWII|

* Victims of Communism
* Korean War
* Iraq and Afghanistan

Blue plaques|

* Camden
* Kensington and Chelsea
* City of Westminster

Other works

| Sculptures|

* Atalanta
* The Barbican Muse
* Bellerophon Taming Pegasus
* The Bermondsey Lion
* Big 4‡
* Bull
* The Burghers of Calais
* Christ Child
* Cornerstone
* Crystal Palace Dinosaurs
* The Diver
* Dolphin lamp standards
* Dragon boundary marks
* Elfin Oak
* Enwrought Light
* Father Time
* Fulcrum
* The Gold Smelters
* Gorilla
* The Hampstead Figure
* Homage to Leonardo
* Icarus
* Labyrinth
* Liberty Clock
* London Noses
* London Pride
* The Meeting Place
* The Messenger
* Millennium Dial
* Monolith and Shadow
* The Naked Ladies
* The Neighbours
* Nelson's Ship in a Bottle
* Nike
* Paternoster Vents
* Peckham Arch
* Physical Energy
* Platforms Piece
* Pope's Urn
* Putney Sculpture Trail
* The Queen's Beasts
* The Rush of Green
* St Paul's Cross
* Sculpture in the City‡
* Skylon†
* Slipstream
* South Bank Lion
* Still Water
* Tortoises with Triangle and Time
* Traffic Light Tree
* Union (Horse with Two Discs)
* The Watchers
* The World Turned Upside Down
* The Young Lovers

Fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square‡|

* The End
* Hahn/Cock
* Nelson's Ship in a Bottle
* One & Other

Elisabeth Frink|

* Blind Beggar and his Dog
* Horse and Rider
* Paternoster

Barbara Hepworth|

* Meridian†
* Single Form (Memorial)
* Two Forms (Divided Circle)†
* Winged Figure

Henry Moore|

* The Arch 1979–1980
* Draped Seated Woman 1957–58
* Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65
* Large Standing Figure (Knife Edge)
* Locking Piece
* Three Standing Figures 1947

Eduardo Paolozzi|

* The Artist as Hephaestus†
* Piscator

The Line‡|

* ArcelorMittal Orbit
* Here
* Quantum Cloud
* Liberty Grip
* A Slice of Reality

Fountains|

* Buxton Memorial
* Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain
* Diana Fountain, Bushy Park
* Diana Fountain, Green Park
* Edward VII Jewish Memorial Fountain
* Henry Fawcett Memorial
* The Horses of Helios
* Guilford Place
* Matilda Fountain
* Poets' Fountain†
* Readymoney Drinking Fountain
* Revolving Torsion
* Roehampton
* St Lawrence Jewry and St Mary Magdalene
* Shaftesbury Memorial ("Eros")
* Lady Henry Somerset Memorial
* Victoria Park

Murals|

* Brixton
* Children at Play
* Cable Street
* Dulwich
* Old Kent Road
* National Covid Memorial Wall
* Poplar Rates Rebellion
* Poured Lines
* Sutton twin towns
* Sutton Heritage Mosaic

Banksy|

* From this moment despair ends and tactics begin
* Girl with Balloon†
* One Nation Under CCTV†
* Pulp Fiction†
* Slave Labour†

Land art|

* Northala Fields

See also|

* Art on the Underground
* Tube map covers
* Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm
* London Mural Preservation Society
* Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association

By location

* City of London
* Barking and Dagenham
* Barnet
* Bexley
* Brent
* Bromley
* Camden
* Croydon
* Ealing
* Enfield
* Greenwich
* Hackney
* Hammersmith and Fulham
* Haringey
* Harrow
* Havering
* Hillingdon
* Hounslow
* Islington
* Kensington and Chelsea
* Kingston
* Lambeth
* Lewisham
* Merton
* Newham
* Redbridge
* Richmond
* Southwark
* Sutton
* Tower Hamlets
* Waltham Forest
* Wandsworth

City of Westminster|

* Belgravia1
* Covent Garden2
* Green Park
* Hyde Park
* Kensington1
* Kensington Gardens1
* Knightsbridge1
* Mayfair
* Millbank
* Paddington
* Pimlico
* St James's
* St Marylebone
* Soho
* Strand
* Trafalgar Square
* Victoria
* Victoria Embankment3
* Westminster
* Whitehall

* 1 Partly in Kensington and Chelsea
* 2 Partly in Camden
* 3 Partly in the City of London

Key: † No longer extant, on public display or in London (see List of public art formerly in London) * ‡ Changing displays
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[C20]: 20th century