Monument

Royal Artillery Monument

Erection date: 18/10/1925

Inscription

{On the north stone face, above the horizontal figure:}
1914 - 1919
{and around the stone platform on which the figure lies:}
Here was a royal fellowship of death {from Shakespeare's Henry V}
{and on a stone below the figure:}
Beneath this stone is buried the roll of honour of those whose memory is perpetuated by this memorial. they will return never more but their glory will abide for ever.

{On both the west and east stone flank:}
In proud remembrance of the forty nine thousand & seventy six of all ranks of the Royal Regiment of Artillery who gave their lives for King and country in the Great War, 1914 - 1919.
{Running around the whole stone monument, twice, behind the three standing figures, at their head height:}
Mesopotamia Dardanelles Macedonia Arabia India Russia Palestine Central Asia Persia Africa Egypt France Flanders Italy

{At the south end 3 large horizontal bronze panels were added for WW2, from left to right:}

Ubique {Latin for ‘everywhere’ and the RA motto}
Great Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, Germany, Norway, Iceland, Greece, Crete, Dodecanese, Malta, Gibraltar, Cyprus, Palestine, Transjordan, Syria, Iraq, Persia, Aden

This panel was added to commemorate the 29,924 of all ranks of the royal artillery who gave their lives for their King and country in all parts of the world during the war of 1939 – 1945.  They died with the faith that the future of all mankind would benefit by their sacrifice.

Quo fas et gloria ducunt {Latin for 'Whither duty and glory lead'}

Ubique, Abyssinia, Somaliland, Eritrea, Sudan, Madagascar, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Sicily, Italy, Yugoslavia, India, Ceylon, Burma, Malaya, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Hong Kong, The High Seas

{The horizontal figure, and, we'd expect, the other two, is inscrbed on its right side:}
C. Sargeant Jagger Sc.

{In the ground, to the south of the monument is a small stone plaque:}
The Royal Artillery Memorial was conserved in 2011 with generous support from the Bulldog Trust. English Heritage 

The gun on top of the monument is a BL 9.2 inch Howitzer Mk I, carved in stone, which makes it surreal and all the more powerful. On the two sides are stone reliefs depicting war. The three WW2 horizontal bronze panels, by Darcy Braddell, were unveiled by the then Princess Elizabeth and we thank Jamie Davis for finding this link to the British Pathe news film of the unveiling on 29 May 1949, exactly 9 years after Dunkirk. Jamie has also found the British Pathe film of the original unveiling.

2017: Londonist has identified the model for the soldiers: Stanley Rothwell.

Site: Royal Artillery Monument (1 memorial)

SW1, Hyde Park Corner

Royal Artillery Memorial has some splendid photos and other stuff about this monument. One of the 4 bronze figures represents a dead soldier, which was shocking at the time and the memorial was not well-received. Now we can see that this is a superior monument by a very experienced sculptor who knew how to do a war memorial. It displays a complex arrangement of planes which provides an interesting base to support the statuary and inscriptions. And that massive cannon thing on the top - that's a howitzer.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Royal Artillery Monument

Subjects commemorated i

World War 1

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came a...

Read More

World War 2

Sorry, we've done no research on WW2, it's just too big a subject. But do vis...

Read More

Royal Regiment of Artillery

Better known as the Royal Artillery. By royal warrant of King George I, two c...

Read More

members of the Royal Artillery who died in WW1

49,076 of all ranks of the Royal Regiment of Artillery died in WW1.

Read More

members of the Royal Artillery who died in WW2

29,924 of all ranks of the Royal Artillery died in WW2.

Read More

This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Royal Artillery Monument

Created by i

Bulldog Trust

Provides financial and advisory assistance to charities.

Read More

English Heritage

English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that ma...

Read More

Darcy Braddell

Thomas Arthur Darcy Braddell was an architect, credited with designing these ...

Read More

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn

Born Arthur William Patrick Albert, the seventh child and third son of Queen ...

Read More

Queen Elizabeth II

Born 17 Bruton Street, to the Duke and Duchess of York. For information on wh...

Read More

Show all 8

Nearby Memorials

Harrow on the Hill war memorial

Harrow on the Hill war memorial

HA1, Lowlands Road

Names are inscribed on the vertical faces of the 4 steps leading up to the plinth. Many of these are too weather-beaten to read so we hav...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Edith Cavell statue

Edith Cavell statue

WC2, St Martin's Place

This was the obvious memorial to choose as the first featured memorial for London Remembers, in February 2004. Cavell was executed by the...

War dead | WW1
2 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Bethnal Green Library war memorial

Bethnal Green Library war memorial

E2, Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green Library

On our first visit there was no plaque, but the 'ghost' marks on the plinth suggest that there was an original central plaque (WW1) with ...

3 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
Wimbledon war memorial

Wimbledon war memorial

SW19, The Causeway

The first quote comes from the ancient Greek writer Hermes Trismegistus; the second from Ecclesiastes 44:7. This monument is a good exam...

2 subjects commemorated
Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries - Deptford war servicemen

Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries - Deptford war servicemen

SE4, Brockley Grove, 113

The letters/numbers at the end of many of the entries refer to the location of the person's grave. Each entry includes the date of death....

War dead | WW1, WW2
154 subjects commemorated

Previously viewed

T. Duke

T. Duke

Employed at the Holloway tram garage. Served and was killed in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
E. V. Knox

E. V. Knox

Editor of Punch, 1932 - 1949, essayist and poet. Used the penname Evoe. In 1977 his daughter, Penelope Fitzgerald the author, wrote a biography, "The Knox Brothers" of him and his two brothers.

Person, Journalism / Publishing, Literature

1 memorial
Ben Okri

Ben Okri

Poet and novelist.  Born Nigeria but spent his early childhood in London.  Returned to England to study in the late 1970s.  His 1991 novel 'The Famished Road' won the Booker Prize.

Person, Literature, Poetry, Nigeria

1 memorial
C. J. Fitch

C. J. Fitch

District Officer in the St John Ambulance Brigade, No. 1 District Metropolitan Corps, 1896-1941. Officer in the Order of St John.

Person, Emergency Services, Medicine, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
R. K. Helye

R. K. Helye

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW2.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW2
1 memorial