Twickenham War Memorial

War memorial in London

Twickenham War Memorial

United Kingdom
For men from the district of Twickenham who died in the First and Second World Wars
Unveiled| 1921
Location| 51°26′25″N 0°19′54″W﻿ / ﻿51.4402°N 0.3317°W﻿ / 51.4402; -0.3317

Twickenham, Richmond upon Thames, London

Designed by| Mortimer Brown

1914–1918 TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY OF THE MEN OF TWICKENHAM WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR THEIR NAME LIVETH EVERMORE AND TO THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR OF 1939–1945

Listed Building – Grade II*

Official name| Twickenham War Memorial
Designated| 5 June 2017
Reference no.| 1445040

Twickenham War Memorial, in Radnor Gardens, Twickenham, London, commemorates the men of the district of Twickenham who died in the First World War. After 1945, the memorial was updated to recognise casualties from the Second World War. The memorial was commissioned by Twickenham Urban District Council in 1921. It was designed by the sculptor Mortimer Brown, and is Brown's only significant public work. The memorial is unusual for its representation of a jubilant soldier returning home. It became a Grade II* listed structure in 2017.

## Site

[edit]

The area around Richmond had been a favoured site for wealthy Londoners to construct country houses since medieval times. Cherry and Pevsner note that, after Westminster, "no other London borough has a greater wealth of major palaces and mansions than Richmond upon Thames".[1] Edward III died at his palace at Sheen in 1377.[2] Henry VII replaced that building with Richmond Palace, which was further developed by his son Henry VIII until the latter gained possession of the even grander Hampton Court Palace in 1525.[3] In the 18th century the area saw the development of more modest riverside retreats for the aristocracy and the upper classes.[4] Among the earliest, dating from 1724, was Marble Hill House, designed by Roger Morris for the Countess of Suffolk.[5] Alexander Pope was a regular visitor to Marble Hill and built his own villa nearby. These villas were firstly constructed in a Palladian style, echoing the villas of the Veneto,[6] but by the mid-century early examples of the Gothic Revival began to appear, most notably Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill House.[7] A lesser Gothic example was Radnor House,[8] the grounds of which now form part of Radnor Gardens.[9]

## History and description

[edit]

The park in which the memorial stands was formed from the grounds of Radnor House and Cross Deep House by Twickenham Urban District Council in 1903.[9] At the end of the First World War, in common with many local authorities, the council decided to erect a war memorial to commemorate the dead of the district. The sculptor Mortimer Brown won a design competition in 1920 and was commissioned to undertake the work.[10] Brown had trained at the Hanley School of Art and the National Art Training School, followed by study at the Royal Academy Schools.[11]

The memorial represents a life-size soldier, cast in bronze by the Singer & Sons foundry.[12] The figure is depicted walking in service dress and greatcoat, holding a rifle in one hand, with the other hand lifting up a cap to wave above his head. The statue is unusual for showing a "joyful returning soldier, in contrast to the more conventional attitudes of watchfulness or mourning".[10] The Cambridge War Memorial has a similar composition of a soldier marching home cheerfully holding a helmet, and the Lancashire Fusiliers Boer War Memorial in Bury, Greater Manchester, is an earlier example of a memorial sculpture of a soldier holding aloft his headgear in celebration. (Both are listed at Grade II.)

The main statue stands on a tall square plinth of Portland stone, which has bronze plaques set in four sides and a dedicatory inscription on the south side which was amended after the Second World War to recognise the dead of Twickenham in that conflict.[10] Three of the bronze plaques are figurative relief sculptures showing: three airmen (to the west); two women, one a nurse and the other a Voluntary Aid Detachment volunteer (north); and two naval officers and a rating (east). The plaque commemorating the contribution of women to the war effort is "uncommon".[10] The naval plaque was stolen in 2011[13] and the current plaque is a replacement installed in 2012.[14] The borough's coat of arms appears on small bronze plaque on the south side of the plinth, above the inscription: 1914–1918 / TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY / OF THE MEN OF TWICKENHAM / WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR / THEIR NAME LIVETH EVERMORE / AND TO THOSE / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES / IN THE WAR OF / 1939–1945.

The memorial was sited to form a vista towards the Star and Garter Home for disabled servicemen, previously located on Richmond Hill to the northeast.[12] It was unveiled by Field Marshal Sir William Robertson, 1st Baronet, on 2 November 1921, at a ceremony attended by a band from the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall nearby and a large crowd sheltering under umbrellas against the continuous rain. The memorial was designated a Grade II* listed structure on 5 April 2017.[10]

## See also

[edit]

* Grade II* listed war memorials in England
* Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
* List of public art in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames

## References and sources

[edit]

### References

[edit]

1. ^ Cherry & Pevsner 2002, p. 461.
2. ^ Ormrod 1990, p. 52.
3. ^ Cherry & Pevsner 2002, p. 483.
4. ^ Harris 1994, p. 105.
5. ^ Cherry & Pevsner 2002, p. 540.
6. ^ Tavenor 1991, p. 155.
7. ^ Clark 1962, p. 57.
8. ^ Cherry & Pevsner 2002, p. 520.
9. ^ a b "Radnor Gardens today". radnorgardens.org.uk. Friends of Radnor Gardens. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
10. ^ a b c d e Historic England. "Twickenham War Memorial (Grade II*) (1445040)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
11. ^ "Mortimer John Brown". Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851–1951. University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
12. ^ a b "Men of Twickenham". www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk. War Memorials Online. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
13. ^ "Metal thieves target war memorial". BBC News. 26 October 2011.
14. ^ "Men Of Twickenham". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 6 January 2020.

### Sources

[edit]

* Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2002). London 2: South. The Buildings of England. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300096514. OCLC 987268607.
* Clark, Kenneth (1962). The Gothic Revival: An Essay in the History of Taste. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0719531026.
* Harris, John (1994). The Palladian Revival: Lord Burlington, His Villa and Garden at Chiswick (Exhibition catalog). Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-05983-3.
* Ormrod, W. M. (1990). Edward III. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus. ISBN 978-0752433202. OCLC 255899460.
* Tavenor, Robert (1991). Palladio and Palladianism. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500202425. OCLC 1001148314.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Twickenham War Memorial at Wikimedia Commons
* Images of the memorial at The Victorian Web

* v
* t
* e

Cemeteries, crematoria and memorials in Richmond upon Thames

* Barnes Cemetery
* Borough Cemetery
* East Sheen Cemetery
* Hampton Cemetery
* Hampton Wick War Memorial
* Kilmorey Mausoleum
* Marc Bolan's Rock Shrine
* Mausoleum of Sir Richard and Lady Burton
* Memorials in Richmond Park
* Mortlake Cemetery
* Mortlake Crematorium
* North Sheen Cemetery
* Old Mortlake Burial Ground
* Richmond Cemetery
* Bromhead Memorial
* South African Memorial
* Richmond War Memorial
* Teddington Cemetery
* Twickenham Cemetery
* Twickenham War Memorial
* Vineyard Passage Burial Ground

* v
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* e

Public art and memorials in London

Portrait sculpture

| British/English
royalty|

* Boudica
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* Edward VI
* St Thomas' Hospital: bronze
* stone
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* (Interregnum: Oliver Cromwell)
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* Stocks Market†
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* Elizabeth II (planned)

|

Arts|

* John Betjeman
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Explorers|

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Merchants|

* John Cass†
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Military|

* Lord Alanbrooke
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Nurses|

* Edith Cavell
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Politics|

| British|

| Prime ministers|

* Clement Attlee
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* Parliament Square
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|

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
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* Jan Smuts
* Trajan
* Volodymyr
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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
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* Royal Artillery
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* 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|

* Animal series
* 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

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* London
* Visual arts

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