Plaque | War dead | WW1

Edmonton war memorial - Fore Street

Inscription

{On small plaque:}
In loving memory of
Gerald Powell Smith aged 19 years
and Leslie William Paul aged 19 years killed in action September 1916
also of Victor John Powell aged 20 years who fell October 1918.
"The strife is over, the battle done." Alleluia.

{On large marble stone:}
To the glory of god and in sacred memory of the following parishioners of St James Upper Edmonton who gave their lives for the country in the great war 1914 - 1919 this tablet is erected.
Brave men and worthy patriots dear to god.
{Followed by 123 names. See Subjects commemorated}.

Both memorial stones were originally located in the nearby St James's Church (in Fore Street, south of Cowper Road), which has been converted into flats. This decidedly chunky memorial appeared outside Fore Street Library between October 2015 and August 2016. Then in 2019-20 (after our visit) the lettering on the lower plaque was re-blacked to make it much easier to read.

"The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done" is a Christian hymn that is traditionally sung at Easter to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. It was originally a 17th-century Latin hymn, "Finita iam sunt proelia"; the popular English-language version is an 1861 translation by the English hymnwriter Francis Pott.