Our War Memorials: II-The Great Cities and Some Others page 2

At Aberdeen the Memorial Court has been incorporated with the long-desired extension of the Art Gallery, and forms part of that building. It is an octagonal structure in the Renaissance style, of the native granite, and is crowned by a lofty dome supported by four arches. Within, the floor, architraves and dado are of Italian marble. On the north side is a recessed marble shrine, where a bronze casket contains the Roll of Honour, printed on vellum.

Nearly £80,000 was expended upon these extensions, a large proportion of the cost being borne by the late Viscount Cowdray, who made himself responsible for the Hall and Art Museum abutting on Blackfriars Street. The hall itself is named after him. The architects were Messrs. A. M. and A G. Mackenzie.

A very large number of the principal towns possess memorials that were inspired by the famous Whitehall Cenotaph.

Manchester and Liverpool claim first attention in this group. Sir Edwin Lutyens himself designed the Manchester Memorial (of Portland stone), which stands on the site of the foundations of old S. Peter's Church, in S. Peter's Square. The central feature is a rectangular pylon, 32 feet in height, crowned by a sculptured bier containing the figure of a fighting man with his kit at the sides and feet and a great-coat thrown over the whole. On each of the long sides just below this is carved the arms of Manchester.

This memorial is one of the few in the kingdom that have included the device of the Great War Stone the Stone of Remembrance which is an almost universal feature of the British cemeteries throughout the fighting area. Here the splendid one-piece stone, 12 feet in length, is placed on a slightly raised platform just eastward of the base of the pylon, which in turn rests upon a surround of three steps. On the stone is cut the famous motto (chosen by Mr. Kipling) "Their Name Liveth for Evermore."

The Liverpool Cenotaph (unfinished in 1928) has a length of 35 feet, width 7 feet 6 inches, and height u feet, and it rests on a low platform with terminal blocks at each corner and steps between the blocks at the short ends of the platform. Slightly recessed in the long faces of the cenotaph are two bronze relief panels, one on each face; soldiers and sailors in movement in the one, and a concourse of mourners in the other. "A Great Company and a Mighty Army" and "And the Victory that day was turned into Mourning unto all the People" - so run the respective inscriptions. The end elevations of the monument are plain except for circular shields bearing the arms of Liverpool, with festoons of immortelles and the dates 1914-1919 inscribed.

In the procession of cenotaphs there is nothing finer than that provided by the great commercial centre of Glasgow. It has been placed in a small court, 57 feet by 30 feet, with low walls, immediately opposite to the imposing official entrance to the Municipal Buildings, facing west. On the east side, breaking the wall at the back, the cenotaph rises to a height of 32 feet. Immediately in front of it is the Great War Stone, and beyond that the centre of the court is covered by a great slab of granite inscribed with a palm leaf and the word " Peace." The west ends of the court wall are finished with monumental lions- symbols of empire on guard. The court is raised on the north and south sides, and the seats which are set against the walls on these sides are approached by three shallow steps.

Messrs, John Burnet, Son & Dick, of Glasgow, were the architects. Mr. Ernest Gillick and William Morris & Co., both of London, were responsible respectively for the sculpture and bronze work. The total cost was about £21,000.

At Southampton, Portsmouth and Bradford the names of the dead are inscribed on the monument.. The Great War Stone, rather than the actual cenotaph, is the central feature of Sir Edwin Lutyens's memorial at Norwich Within this is deposited a copper case containing the names of the fallen. Of the Ipswich Memorial-very finely displayed in Christchurch Park-the most distinctive feature is the large bronze trophy at the foot of the cenotaph.

The very impressive monument in Rickerby Park, Carlisle, was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, and commemorates the sacrifice of 10,000 officers and men from the city and from the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. At Dundee the pyramidal cenotaph on the " Law " is a landmark for miles around. It is of Cornish granite, with a bronze brazier.

Two capitals decided in favour of an "Arch of Remembrance." At Nottingham the memorial stands on a site in the Rock Garden and Recreation Grounds, and consists of a triple gateway of Portland stone flanked on either side by terrace colonnades overlooking the river Trent and the Rock Garden.

Sir Edwin Lutyens's arch in Victoria Park, Leicester, possesses much of the simplicity of the London Cenotaph, and-from the nature of its setting-a reverential solitariness. It stands at the summit of the approach from Lancaster Road-the monument has been called Lancaster Gate.

The flat arch of the Guildford War Memorial forms a new and effective entrance to the castle grounds. At Canterbury, York, Chester, Hereford and Winchester the Cross is the adopted form of memorial. There are two such monuments at Canterbury: the City War Memorial on the site of the old Butter Market, opposite the Christ Church Gate, and the Kent County Memorial, on the "Bowling Green" within the cathedral precincts. Near by, in a bastion of the city wall, stands a cenotaph accompanied by a tablet to the fallen. At York is a Cross of Victory designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. But more notable than this, in a way, is the Women's Memorial to Women's War Service. This is the famous "Five Sisters" window in the Minster.

A sculptured emblem of Victory is the main feature of the memorials at Leeds, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Exeter and Colchester.

Exeter possesses both town and county memorials. The bronze Victory in Queen Street-trampling on the Dragon of Tyranny and Wrong-represents the town memorial, and the county memorial is a Dartmoor granite Cross erected on the green opposite the west front of the cathedral.

Newcastle has a plethora of war monuments. The "Victory" feature occurs in the city War Memorial in Eldon Square-an equestrian group in bronze of S. George slaying the Dragon. S. George, one should mention, is the patron saint of the Northumberland Fusiliers. Another S. George group has been erected at Barras Bridge in honour of the 6th (City) Battalion of the same regiment; and a window in the cathedral has been dedicated to the 1st and 2nd Battalions In the cathedral, too, are memorials to the late Brigadier-General J. F. Riddell, killed at Ypres in 1915, and (a tablet) to members of the Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Association of Change Ringers who were killed. Finally, there is a fine monument at Barras Bridge, presented by Sir George Ren wick, Bt., of which the feature is a group of Tyneside workers flocking to the Colours'.

There remain a few memorials that hardly fall within any of the above classifications. At Lincoln is a striking piece of work in the form of a late Gothic monument, of hard white Ancaster stone, built to the design of Mr. Montagu Hall. Derby's memorial is unique in concentrating on the sacrifice of the mothers. It represents a British mother and her child, against a cruciform background, and is the conception of Mr. Charles Thompson, of Derby; the sculpture having been carried out by Mr. A. G. Walker. A feature of the Dover memorial is the six bronze urns sunk into the granite for the reception of flowers. At Bedford the choice has fallen on a statue of Justice in white marble-the work of Mr. C. G. Jagger-and Brighton's memorial consists of a colonnade of Portland stone with pergola wings, in the northern enclosure of Old Steine Gardens. The Plymouth memorial stands on the outskirts of the Hoe and is a semicircular enclosure built of grey Cornish granite, with a granite pylon and bronze female figure as its central figure. The ground plan at Salisbury is also semicircular, but with a wider sweep. The memorial faces the Blue Boar Row. At the back are the Herbert statue and the Council Rooms. Its central feature is a symbolical bronze group, on a pediment, representing war and victory.