War Memorial
| Browse information by: Location Makers General Information Classification Object Parts Object Condition History References Photographs |  Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright for Photograph: Creative Commons |
Location
| Street: | Memorial Roundabout |
| Town: | Eastbourne |
| Parish: | Eastbourne |
| Council: | Eastbourne Borough Council |
| County: | East Sussex |
| Postcode: | BN21 |
| Location on Google Map | |
| Object setting: | Road or Wayside |
| Access is: | Public |
| Location note: | Junction of Devonshire Place and Trinity Trees |
| In the AZ book: | East Sussex |
| Page: | 161 |
| Grid reference: | K6 |
| The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks. | |
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Makers
| Name : | Henry Charles Fehr |
| Role: | Sculptor |
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General Information
| Commissioned by: | Mr. Alderman O’Brien Harding, J.P. Mayor of Eastbourne in 1919. |
| Commissioned also by: | Public subscription |
| Unveiling date: | 10/11/1920 |
| Work is: | Extant |
| Owner custodian: | Eastbourne Borough Council |
| Object listing: | Grade II: of special interest warranting every effort to preserve them |
| Listing date: | 10/01/2002 |
| Description: | Granite memorial with stepped base, surmounted by a bronze winged 'Victory' holding a laurel wreath in the left hand and a raised inverted sword in the right. Bronze plaques to north and south, decorated at the top with scrolled leaf designs and wreaths, and at the bottom, fish motifs. |
| Iconographical description: | Topped by a bronze statue, the ‘Angel of Victory’. The statue appears to have just alighted and has one foot on the globe at the summit of the pedestal. She carries in the right hand a turned down sword, signifying peace, and in the other hand she holds out a wreath of laurel. |
| Inscription: | WORLD WAR II Underneath wreath, raised letters, on same plaque: TO THOSE WHO DIED 1939 . 1945 WE WILL REMEMBER THEM Bronze plaque, south face, raised letters: THE TRIBUTE OF EASTBOURNE TO HER GALLANT SONS AND DAUGHTERS WHO WERE FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918 THEIR NAMES ARE RECORDED ON OAK TABLETS IN THE TOWN HALL |
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Classification
| Categories: | Sculptural, Military, Commemorative |
| Object type1: | Statue |
| Object type2: | War memorial |
| Object subtype1: | WWI and WWII |
| Object type3: | Sculpture |
| Subject type1: | Figurative |
| Subject subtype1: | Standing |
| Subject type2: | Allegorical |
| Subject subtype1: | Full-length |
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Object Parts
| Part 1: | Steps |
| Material: | Granite |
| Part 2: | Angel of Victory statue |
| Material: | Bronze |
| Height (cm): | 183 |
| Part 3: | Pedestal |
| Material: | Granite |
| Height (cm): | 305 |
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Object Condition
| Overall condition: | Good |
| Risk assessment: | No known risk |
| Condition 1 of type: | Surface |
| Condition 1: | Corrosion, Deterioration |
| More details: | Some light corrosion to bronze plaques. |
| Date of on-site inspection: | 14/04/2007 |
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History
| History: | As there were more than a thousand names of the Fallen from Eastbourne, it was decided to erect oak panels on which they would be carved rather than the original proposal to carve the names on the war memorial. The oak panels were produced by Messrs. G. Bainbridge & Son. Names and details were collected by Rev. H. Plume, M.A., and placed in a bound volume entitled ‘Town Hall Register of the Fallen’.
To make room for the memorial, the ‘Princess Alice Tree’ was removed, particularly as it was becoming structurally unsafe. The memorial was unveiled by General, Lord Horne, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., the well known commander of the First Army, an old artillery officer, who during the war invented the ‘creeping barrage’. Lord Horne first proceeded to the Town Hall where his Lordship unveiled the now famous tablets, which consist of sixteen panels containing 1,065 names of the fallen, with a central panel which bears the following inscription: THE GREAT WAR 1914 – 1918 THESE DIED THAT FREEDOM MIGHT LIVE. THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE Accompanied by the Mayor, members of the council, the Committee and others , Lord Horne proceeded to the War Memorial. The committee had organised the arrangements on a very complete scale. Cards of invitation bearing Union Jacks intertwined had been delivered to all the relatives whose addresses were known. The committee also invited all the ex-servicemen in the town, the Royal Field Artillery, the Royal Engineers, and Royal Naval Volunteers, the Blue Boys from Summerdown Convalescent Camp, the British Red Cross Nurses, the V.A.D. ambulance men, Cadets from five schools, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Guides and the Naval Cadets. The area around the Memorial had been carefully surveyed, measured and planned out, with indicated places for each of the above bodies, including also the subscribers. The orphans of the fallen heroes were not forgotten, 290 of whom marched from school with their teachers to their allotted place near the Memorial. A number of crippled and wounded soldiers were thoughtfully provided for in windows of a neighbouring building overlooking the scene. The total number thus invited was over four thousand. When Lord Horne and his party ascended the temporary platform at the foot of the Memorial, a truly magnificent sight presented itself. Almost as far as the eye could carry, the six fine roads radiating directly from the Memorial were densely thronged with people. In the veiling of the Memorial hung a huge Union Jack… A special form of service was conducted by the Vicar of Eastbourne, the Rev. Canon Streatfield, M.A., R.D., and the Rev. W. Macfadyen Scott. Alderman Sir Charles O’Brien Harding, J.P., Deputy Mayor, Chairman of the Commemoration Committee then invited Lord Horne to unveil the War Memorial. The Last Post was then splendidly given by the Eastbourne College Buglers, after which the Chairman, on behalf of the Commemoration Committee, asked his worship the Mayor (Mr. Alderman E. Duke, J.P.) to receive the War Memorial on behalf of the Town. The worthy Mayor then addressed the assembly, and accepted the Memorial and tablets on behalf of the Town, at the same time laying on the Memorial a very large wreath carrying red, white and blue ribbons on behalf of the inhabitants of the Borough, their homage to the gallant dead. At the request of the ex-service men and on their behalf, Lord Horne laid another large wreath on the Memorial. The National Anthem having been sung, there then took place the last, but by no means the least, impressive of the great features of the day. The platform was vacated, leaving the unveiled Memorial in ossession of the scene for the great march past of all the combined forces and units taking part in the ceremony. Lord Horne most readily led the leading companies of ex-service men first past the Memorial subsequently returning to the base… The occasion with its inevitable memories of inseparable loss and desolated homes must have recalled to the minds of some of the older generation the words of John Bright during the Crimean War in perhaps the most memorable speech ever delivered in the House of Commons, when he said: ‘The Angel of Death has been abroad, you can almost hear the beating of his wings at the castle of the noble, the mansion of the wealthy, equally as at the cottage of the humble’. The next morning found the Memorial literally covered with flowers and tributes of affection and remembrance, a scene of singular loveliness, more eloquent than the most gifted orator, telling how the heart of Eastbourne had been moved and stirred to its most profound depths. The magnetic attraction of the Memorial, in its setting of flowers, its beauty and pathos, drew people to it all day long for days and weeks together, speaking plainly of another and better world, a message which must have been of infinite consolation and comfort to the many that mourned, coming as they did from every road and street, or very nearly so, in the borough. The rare spectacle was shown of a town unanimous in its full and unqualified approval of the War Memorial and the brilliant success of an accomplished sculptor. |
| Hard archive file: | Yes |
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References
| Source 1 : | |
| Title: | 'Eastbourne A History' |
| Type: | Book |
| Author: | Surtees, John. |
| Date: | 00/00/2002 |
| Publisher: | Phillimore and Co. Ltd. Chichester. |
| Source 2 : | |
| Title: | '1883-1933 Municipal Eastbourne: Selections from the proceedings of the Town Council' |
| Type: | Book |
| Author: | Fovargue, H. West. (Town Clerk of Eastbourne). |
| Location: | East Sussex Record Office, Lewes |
| Date: | 00/00/1933 |
| Page: | 98-106 |
| Publisher: | Eastbourne Town Council |
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Photographs
Date: 14/04/2007 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |  Date: 14/04/2007 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |
 Date: 14/04/2007 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |  Date: 14/04/2007 Author: Anthony McIntosh Copyright: Creative Commons |
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