When Princess Anne visits Southport to rededicate the town’s War Memorial, she will be staggered by the sheer scale of the Monument – and the hundreds of names inscribed inside.
HRH The Princess Royal will lead the ceremony on Friday 29th September 2023 to honour the 100th anniversary of the creation of one of the biggest war memorials outside of London.
Southport’s tribute to the fallen will be 100 years old on 18 November this year.
During World War One, between 1914 and 1918, it is estimated that nearly 10,000 men and women from Southport served with His Majesty’s Forces overseas or at home, out of a population of 72,500.
The Roll of Honour in the four Cenotaphs of the Memorial included no fewer than 1,133 names when it was officially unveiled.
At the time, they called that bloody conflict ‘The Great War’.
When the Earl of Derby KG, GCB, GCVO officially unveiled Southport War Memorial on Sunday, 18th November 1923, he said: “May these Memorials raised not only serve as a memorial to the dead but as a warning against future wars.”
Southport War Memorial
Just 16 years later saw the start of the Second World War, with hundreds more names of Southport war dead added to those of the Great War.
Others have been added since, including those who died fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan in the present century.
When Southport War Memorial was unveiled in 1923, the Earl of Derby was assisted by 320 children whose parents had been killed in the war.
The children, aged between five and 14 years old, marched in the procession two abreast, carrying wreaths, many of them having their dead fathers’ medals pinned to the front of their coats.
The relatives of the fallen in the crowd saw it packed with mothers, fathers, wives, sisters and brothers of Southport’s war dead; then laid wreaths and flowers in their memory.
One little boy placed a tribute on which had the following inscription: “In remembrance of the Daddies who did not come back, from one whose Daddy did come back.”
In the week before nearly 7,000 programmes were given out to local people so they could follow the service as it proceeded.
Southport made an immense, unbearable contribution to the Allied cause in World War One.
Besides the 10,000 men and women who served with the Armed Forces, Southport also staffed and supported financially to the extent of £30,000, the Grange Woodlands VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) Hospital, the largest VAD Hospital in Great Britain, in which 8,000 wounded were treated.
Southport War Memorial. Photo by Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
Southport Infirmary also organised Soldiers’ Wards and there were other auxiliary hospitals in Southport in addition to a Red Cross Depot on Lord Street.
Almost immediately after the signing of the Armistice, on 11th November 1918, Alderman Wood, then Mayor of Southport, began to consider the question of a memorial, with the result that Southport was one of the first towns in the country to embark on such a scheme.
The War Memorial Committee subsequently decided to provide a monument in a suitable position; to raise an endowment fund for Victory scholarships or maintenance grants to assist with the education of the children of Southport sailors and soldiers who fell; and to support the Infirmary extension.
People in Southport were asked to support the appeal and subsequently raised an astonishing £31,849 against a target of £30,000. It would be worth £2,103,999 today.
The Mayor in his appeal said: “That our citizens may never forget the greatness of the sacrifice and victory, it is proposed to erect a lasting monument which will speak for ages to come of the glory and heroism of those who on sea and land fought in the Great War – and of the pride in which Southport held its fighting men.”
The ‘Victory’ and ‘Mourning’ carved panels at Southport War Memorial
On 22nd May 1919, Southport’s War Memorial Committee invited desings for a memorial in London Square.
A total of 45 designs were submitted by architects and sculptors from all parts of the country, including Southport.
On 18th December 1919 the designs were exhibited in the Art Gallery; and the winner was chosen.
The award went to Messrs Grayson and Barnish, of 606 Royal Liver Building, Liverpool.
Work by W. Moss & Sons, of Loughborough, Liverpool and London, started on 18th July 1922.
The new Memorial was designed to convert the old London Square into ‘a Place d’Honneur’.
It defined the boundaries and provided a definite centre.
Southport War Memorial. Photo by Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
The pair of open colonnades emphasised the symmetrical layout of the square, but at the same time didn’t obstruct the view up and down the memorial gardens, and formed the connecting link between the Obelisk and the gardens and the approach to the Cenotaphs.
The scale and austerity of the 67ft high Obelisk was designed to tell a story very simply and directly.
“Its very simplicity and severity is typical of the purity of mind and singleness of purpose with which the nation commenced the war nine years previously”.
For the main frieze over the colonnades flanking the Monument and London Square, the quotation was chosen: “Tell Britain, ye who mark this Monument, faithful to Her we fell and rest content.”
On the frieze of the Colonnade facing Christ Church the inscription is: “To famous men all Earth is sepulchre”.
The unveiling of the war memorials of the County Borough of Southport’ on Sunday, 18th November 1923 started at 3pm with a procession from Southport Town Hall.
The service began with the singing of the National Anthem.
The service to mark the unveiling of Southport War Memorial in 1923
The Mayor then addressed the crowd and said: “This day we have one common heart and mind. We are thankful and proud of those who through hardship and peril vindicated the manhood of this town, those by whom we live without fear or foe, with the children of those who returned not, we ask you, My Lord, to unveil our symbol of watchfulness and sacrifice.”
Lord Derby then delivered his address. In which he said: “No words can possibly bring back the dead to life or assuage the grief of those who grieved.
“It was right and just, that although those who fell for us and for you in France and Flanders and the other seats of war lie as you have put over there ‘content’ (referring to the wording on one of the colonnades) that you in their native town should erect a Memorial so that not only this generation but succeeding ones should remember in the time of stress and trouble that Southport did its duty.
“These men recognised that their country called for them, and they willingly went to give, if necessary, their lives – and who among us has not lost either a friend or a relative?
“The memory of these men will remain sacred for as long as life is granted to us, but with the passing of this generation will pass also the personal remembrance, and we erect these memorials in various parts of the country iot to prove our sorrow, because that we keep to ourselves, but as a witness to generations to come of what this country suffered in the Great War.
“May these Memorials raised not only serve as a memorial to the dead but as a warning against future wars.”
Southport War Memorial. Photo by Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
The children of the fallen, headed by the standards bearers and chaplains then unveiled the new Southport War Memorial as buglers sounded the general salute.
The Southport Visiter reported at the time: “As I stood in the crowd gathered to see the unveiling of the War Memorial on Sunday afternoon, it seemed to me that Southport had many reasons for being proud of itself.
“It sent thousands of men to fight in the Great War; it maintained the largest VAD Hospital in the country; and gave largely to all the war charities; and now it has raised to its fallen soldiers a memorial, and for beauty and dignity, cannot be matched in this country.”
HRH The Princess Royal will lead the re-dedication of Southport War Memorial on Friday 29th September 2023.
The parade will form up at Victoria Park in Southport at 10.30am, departing at 11.15am.
Southport War Memorial. Photo by Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
The service at Southport War Memorial starts at 12pm, all welcome.
Her Royal Highness will be attending the event in her capacity as President of the Women’s Section of the Royal British Legion.
The re-dedication of Southport War Memorial is being organised by Southport Royal British Legion.
Located in London Square on Lord Street, the impressive structure comprises an obelisk flanked by two colonnades in the form of Greek temples. Outside the colonnades are public memorial gardens, each containing a Pool of Remembrance and fountains.
One of the largest outside of London, the memorial was designed by the local architects Grayson and Barnish, with the carving executed by Herbert Tyson Smith.
The event will consist of a parade marching from Victoria Park in Southport to the War Memorial where a Drumhead Service will be conducted to mark the re-dedication of the War Memorial.
Southport War Memorial. Photo by Andrew Brown Stand Up For Southport
The re-dedication will be attended by senior civil dignitaries including Southport MP Damien Moore and senior military figures.
The parade will be led by the Band of the Royal Air Force College and be made up of Armed Forces personnel and Veterans from all three services, as well as Combined Cadet Force cadets from Merchant Taylors School and contingents from all 28 schools in the Southport area.
Event organiser, Major Nick McEntee TD VR REME and Chairman of the Royal British Legion, Southport, said:
“It is a huge honour to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to Southport for the re-dedication of the town’s War Memorial which honours the fallen from the First World War through to the present day.
“It means a great deal to the armed forces community and people of the Southport area that she will be here to mark its centenary.”
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