Stockbridge War Memorial

Summary

First World War memorial, 1921, by Sir Edwin Lutyens with later additions for the Second World War.

Reasons for Designation

Stockbridge War Memorial is listed at Grade II for the following principle reasons:
* Historic interest: as an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community, and the sacrifices it made in the conflicts of the C20;
* Architect: by the nationally renowned architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944), who designed extant 58 memorials at home and abroad including the Cenotaph in Whitehall;
* Design: a simple yet elegant cross, with the unusual feature of a lower, coved, plinth which that splays out upwards to form a seat around the base of the memorial;
* Group value: with several listed building in the close vicinity

History

The memorial was unveiled on 3 April 1921 by Mrs Herbert Johnson, for whose husband Lutyens has designed the nearby Grade I-listed Marshcourt (used during the war as a sixty-bed military hospital) before their marriage. Herbert Johnson, a wealthy stockjobber, chaired the Stockbridge memorial committee, gave the land where the memorial was erected and reportedly largely funded it.

Mrs Johnson died in 1923, her early death brought about in part – as an inscription on a memorial to her at Stockbridge records - by running her wartime hospitals at Marshcourt and also in Stockbridge itself. That gravestone was also designed by Lutyens and is listed at Grade II.

Sir Edwin Lutyens OM RA (1869-1944) was the leading English architect of his generation. Before the First World War his reputation rested on his country houses and his work at New Delhi, but during and after the war he became the pre-eminent architect for war memorials in England, France and the British Empire. While the Cenotaph in Whitehall (London) had the most influence on other war memorials, the Thiepval Arch was the most influential on other forms of architecture. He designed the Stone of Remembrance which was placed in all Imperial War Graves Commission cemeteries and in some cemeteries in England, including some with which he was not otherwise associated.

Details

The memorial stands to the east of Stockbridge, on the A3057 close to its junction with the A30. It comprises a Portland stone War Cross with a lozenge-sectioned cross shaft set on a slightly splayed rectangular, plinth. That itself stands on a lower, coved, plinth which that splays out upwards to form a seat around the base of the memorial. There is a base of three broad, square, shallow steps, the upper two square and the lowest circular. The plinth is inscribed on the east face: OUR DEAD/ THROUGH WHOM/ WE LIVE/ MCMXIV- MCMXIX. The names of those who fell in the First World War are inscribed on both sides of the plinth.

The inscriptions were originally unpainted and the black paint was applied in 2005 to aid legibility. In 2008 a new inscription was added to the west face: WE WILL REMEMBER THEM/ MCMXXXIX – MCMXXXXV with names of those who fell in the Second World War below. This replaced an original inscription: THANKS BE TO GOD/ WHO GIVETH US/ THE VICTORY.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 26/10/2015

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 6 December 2016.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

140402

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Skelton, T, Gliddon, G, Lutyens and the Great War (2008), 80-1, 111, 155, 177

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 06/12/2016 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/40620
War Memorials Online, accessed 06/12/2016 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/83930

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