Bexhill War Memorial

Summary

First World War memorial with a statue of Victory designed by Louis Frederick Roslyn RBS; unveiled on 12 December 1920, with Second World War additions.

Reasons for Designation

Bexhill War Memorial is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a substantial civic memorial with a finely modelled bronze sculpture of Victory designed by the distinguished sculptor Louis Frederick Roslyn.

Historic interest:

* as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20.

History

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was a result of the huge impact the loss of three quarters of a million British lives had on communities and the official policy of not repatriating the dead, which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss. The majority of these were funded through public subscription.

One such memorial was erected in Bexhill. It commemorates the local service personnel who died during the First World War and was erected by the Bexhill War Memorial Committee at a cost of £1,400. This had been raised through public donation, following an appeal in the local press in November 1919 by Bexhill mayor and architect George Herbert Gray (1856-1929), designer of the Peace Memorial on Sea Road in 1919. The war memorial in the form of an obelisk with a bronze allegory of Victory designed by Louis Frederick Roslyn, was unveiled on 12 December 1920 by Brigadier General Henry O’Donnell. Following the Second World War, a memorial plaque and the names of the fallen from that conflict were added to the monument and were ceremonially unveiled in May 1949. Supplementary names were added in 1950.

Louis Frederick Roslyn RBS (born Louis Fritz Roselieb, 1878-1934) was a London-born sculptor of German ancestry. At the Royal Academy Schools he was awarded the Landseer scholarship and a travelling scholarship, becoming a member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 1914 and a Fellow in 1923. In 1915 he enlisted and in 1917 joined the Royal Flying Corps at the School of Military Aeronautics. Despite anglicizing his name in 1916, he was barred from combat service and instead applied his metallurgical skills electro-plating parts for aeronautical engines. Roslyn was among the most prolific sculptors of war memorials, with over two dozen examples known. Notable works include the Grade II*-listed memorials at Oswaldtwistle, Rawtenstall and Darwen as well as memorials outside England at Port Talbot, Portstewart and Trinidad. Many of these feature allegories of Victory with identical casts often reused across several locations (Archer, G 2009, p213). The dynamic pose of Victory at Bexhill was also employed at Buxton and Wetherby.

Details

First World War memorial with a statue of Victory designed by Louis Frederick Roslyn RBS; unveiled on 12 December 1920, with Second World War additions.

MATERIALS: Portland Stone and bronze.

DESCRIPTION: the monument stands on the seafront and forms the focal point along the central axis of Sea Road. It comprises a tall, stone obelisk with a bronze sculpture of Victory on the south face, surmounting a stone plinth with a three-stepped base. Victory is personified as a winged female figure holding a laurel wreath aloft in her left hand and a lowered sword in her right. The figure faces the sea towards the Western Front and stands in a dynamic contrapposto pose with clinging and billowing drapery further accentuating her movement. L F Roslyn’s signature can be seen at the base of the sculpture and the dates 1914-1918 are inscribed on the pedestal below. On the north, east and west faces of the obelisk there are bronze plaques recalling, in relief, the names of the fallen from the First World War, listed alphabetically by surname in order of service, regiment and rank.

The names of the fallen from the Second World War are remembered on plaques on the north, east and west faces of the plinth. On the south face, beneath a double bronze swag motif, there is a bronze plaque with the inscription: IN PROUD AND GRATEFUL MEMORY OF / THE MEN AND WOMEN OF BEXHILL WHO GAVE / THEIR LIVES IN THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM / 1939-1945 / AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING / WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

The memorial is enclosed by a late-C20 low brick wall to the north, south and west which is not of special interest and is excluded from the listing.

Sources

Books and journals
Archer, G, The Glorious Dead: Figurative Sculpture of British First World War Memorials (2009), p213

Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 11/07/25 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/246738
War Memorials Register, accessed 11/07/25 from https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/2095
War Memorials & Commemoration, accessed 11/07/2025 from https://www.bexhillmuseum.org.uk/access-centre/bexhill-remembers-first-world-war/war-memorials-commemoration/
War Memorials & Remembrance, accessed 11/07/2025 from https://www.bexhillmuseum.org.uk/access-centre/second-world-war-2/war-memorials-and-remembrance/
‘Bexhill on Sea War Memorial’, accessed 05/08/2025 from https://www.roll-of-honour.com/Sussex/Bexhill-on-Sea.html
‘Bexhill War Memorial’, Bexhill Heritage Local List (draft 2025), accessed 05/08/2025 from https://locallist.bexhillheritage.com/wiki/Bexhill_War_Memorial

Other
‘Bexhill War Memorial Impressive Unveiling Ceremony’, Bexhill-on-Sea Chronicle, 18 December 1920, p3
‘Bexhill War Memorial Urgent Appeal by the Mayor’, Bexhill-on-Sea Observer, 8 November 1919, p4

End of official list entry