Royal Artillery

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Reference WMO/122319

Address:

Hyde Park Corner

Westminster

London

W1J 7JZ

England

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Status: On original site
Type: Freestanding
Location: External
Setting: Within a garden/park/churchyard/enclosure/Marketplace
Description: Serviceman/woman sculpture
Materials:
  • Stone Portland stone
Lettering: Incised
Conflicts:
  • First World War (1914-1918)
About the memorial: A large square pedestal with surmounting stone carved 9.2" Howitzer. The bronze figures of artillery men are featured on either side: a junior officer with a greatcoat and equipment at the front; an ammunition carrier facing east; and a cloaked driver facing west. The rear features the figure of a dead gunner shrouded in a cloak. On the sides of the pedestal are relief panels depicting gunners in action. Walk anticlockwise to to the left of this memorial to find the Australian memorial.Walk anticlockwise to to the left of this memorial to find the Australian memorial.HRH The Duchess of Cornwall marked the memorial as part of the In Memoriam 2014 campaign on 14th June 2012. There is a roll of honour with the names of those who died buried below the stone which carries the figure if a dead soldier. 49076 men are remembered in this memorial T Part of the memorial's carved reliefs, showing gunners operating a trench howitzer The names of his models for three of the statues are known: William Fosten for the Driver, another ex-gunner called Metcalfe for the Ammunition Carrier, and Lieutenant Eugene Paul Bennett, VC, who fought in the same regiment as Jagger. A set of plaques was added to the south of the memorial in 1949, commemorating the 29,924 Royal Artillerymen who were killed in the Second World War The Royal Artillery Memorial today is located in what Malcolm Miles has termed the "leafy traffic island" of Hyde Park Corner in central London.The monument is one of several war memorials which dominate the roundabout and its surrounds; it is directly opposite the Wellington Arch while at the north end is another memorial to the Duke of Wellington in the form of an equestrian statue. Other memorials in the vicinity include the Machine Gun Corps Memorial, the Australian and New Zealand war memorials, and the Commonwealth Memorial Gates. The Royal Artillery Memorial is 43 feet long, 21 feet wide and 30 feet high (13 m by 6 m by 9 m); the pedestal and the one-third oversized replica of a BL 9.2-inch howitzer, modelled on a gun in the Imperial War Museum, that sits on top of it are made of Portland stone] Cast by the A. B. Burton foundry, four bronze figures are placed on each side of the memorial: a driver to the west side, an artillery captain on the east, a shell carrier to the south, and a dead soldier on the north.Carved stone reliefs show various detailed military scenes from the First World War.The memorial's main inscription on the west and east faces reads "In proud remembrance of the forty-nine thousand and seventy-six of all ranks of the Royal Regiment of Artillery who gave their lives for King and country in the Great War 1914—1919".Beneath the dead soldier is the inscription "Here was a royal fellowship of death", a quote from William Shakespeare's Henry V, which was suggested by Jagger himself. Sculptor: Charles Jagger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mayfair & Hyde Park Walk: Charles Jagger, who designed this massive memorial, served in the infantry in WWI and was injured at Gallipoli and the Western Front and was awarded the Military Cross. After the war he became well known for his design of war memorials. This oversized Portland stone memorial depicts the realities of war with stark reality. It imposes a sense of strength and power on the viewer and draws you in to the detail of the figures as you have to walk round the edifice. The podium supports a “howitzer” (derived from Germanic word for catapault) gun. This is a relatively short cannon sending shells usually at a high trajectory. The reliefs are very detailed and the more you study these and the four bronze figures the more absorbing the memorial becomes. The figures are of a driver, an artillery captain, a shell carrier and a dead soldier. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Route: Walk anticlockwise to to the left of this memorial to find the Australian memorial. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Beneath this stone is buried the Roll of Honour of/those whose memory is perpetuated by this memorial/they will return never more/but their glory will abide for ever In proud remembrance of the/forty nine thousand and seventy six/of all ranks of the/Royal Regiment of Artillery/who gave their lives for King/and Country in the Great War/1914-1919 UBIQUE Abyssinia/Somaliland/Eritrea/Sudan/Madagascar/Egypt/Libya/Tunisia/Algeria/Italy/Yugoslavia/India/Ceylon/Burma/Malaya/Singapore/Sumatra/Java/ Hong Kong/The High Seas UBIQUE Great Britain/Frasnce/Belgium/Hollasnd/Luxemburg/Germany/Norway/Iceland/Greece/Crete/Dodecanese/Malta/Gibraltar/Cyprus/Palestine/Transjordan/Syria/Iraq/Persia/Aden

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Suggest information

Grade I (England)

https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1231613

1231613

Royal Parks

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English Heritage

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/