Monument | War dead | WW1

Spitalfields WW1 cairn

Inscription

{Along the cross-bar:}
Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.
{From John 15:13}

{On both sides of the upright:}
1914 - 1918

The cross is granite and is planted in a cairn of granite boulders, many of which have a flat section carved out and a name spelt out in lead lettering. This technique, used for all the inscriptions on the cross, was possibly chosen because, being a very hard stone, granite is not easy to carve. We noticed that there are some boulders with a flat section but no name - which suggests the cairn was built, or the stones prepared at least, before they know the total number of names.

This is an unusual way of arranging the names on a war memorial and not one we'd recommend to anyone wishing to make transcription easy. These 81 names have taken an inordinate amount of time to correctly transcribe, primarily because there is no way to process them systematically: top-down, left-right, spiral - none of these sequences will be certain to get them all once, and only once.

To check what we had done we asked a guide at the church if there was a list. A nice lady there gave us a copy of their typed list, and we found another list on-line. We are not the only ones who have found this task difficult: both those lists have errors - that's if you take the memorial itself to be correct. The best is the on-line list and we refer to that on our pages for the names where there are discrepancies. Where that list differs from ours we went back to our photographs so we feel pretty confident that our list is now the best. Note: we are not claiming ours is perfect!

Our objective is to correctly transcribe the names on the memorial. One has to allow for errors on the memorial itself - either introduced by the craftsmen who created it, or by the people responsible for drawing up the list from which the craftsmen worked. It is possible that the on-line list, while different from what's on the memorial, is actually more correct.

2023: Spitalfields Life has researched the names, plotted their homes on a map and photo'ed many of the buildings.

Site: Spitalfields WW1 cairn (1 memorial)

E1, Commercial Street, Christ Church Spitalfields garden

Spitalfields Life has a 1961 photo showing this memorial in its original location, where it was at the south west corner of the church and seems to have been inside its own railed area, about where the drive-way entrance is now. And another.

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:
Spitalfields WW1 cairn

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

Cpl. T. D. Anderson

The list gives "L/Corporal" but the memorial definitely has just "Cpl."

Read More

Show all 82

Nearby Memorials

Kensington War Memorial

Kensington War Memorial

W8, Kensington Church Street, St Mary Abbots church

The monument was designed by Hubert C. Corlette and the figure sculpted by Frederick W. Pomeroy. Unveiled by Princess Louise at Kensingto...

3 subjects commemorated, 4 creators
Louis-Napoleon, Prince Imperial

Louis-Napoleon, Prince Imperial

BR7, Prince Imperial Road

Ao. Di. instead of A.D. is very unusual. Fecit is Latin: 'he made it'.

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Streatham civilian war memorial

Streatham civilian war memorial

SW16, Streatham High Road, Garden of Rememberance, Streatham Common North

"Grief has no boundaries" is a quotation from a poem by Rohit Sapra. The information board defines the scope for this memorial: "people ...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Buxton Memorial Fountain - original position

Buxton Memorial Fountain - original position

SW1, Millbank, Victoria Tower Gardens

This screen shot comes from the 1950 film 'Dear Mr. Prohack' and shows Cecil Parker crossing Great George Street with the Buxton Memorial...

Euston War Memorial

Euston War Memorial

NW1, Euston Road

This memorial forms the roundabout in the bus station in front of Euston Station.

4 subjects commemorated, 2 creators

Previously viewed

St Dunstans gates - 1844

St Dunstans gates - 1844

E1, Stepney High Street

This small plaque is on the inner gate pier to the left of our photo. From London Gardens Online: "The old parsonage was demolished in 17...

1 subject commemorated, 5 creators
William Ward (benefactor)

William Ward (benefactor)

Merchant in the City of London. Founded City of London School for Girls. In his will, dated 3 June 1881, left £20,000 to the City of London towards a girls' high school, the residue 'to be applied...

Person, Education

1 memorial
Jones's butcher's shop

Jones's butcher's shop

E17, Wood Street, 78

This is Walthamstow not Walmington-on-Sea!

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
David Viscount de Stern

David Viscount de Stern

Banker. Born in Frankfurt. Brother to Herman Stern, husband to Sophia and father of Edward and Sydney.  In 1869 the King of Portugal conferred the title of Viscount on him in recognition of the wor...

Person, Commerce, Germany, Portugal

2 memorials
V&A façade - Payne

V&A façade - Payne

SW7, Cromwell Road

Excluding the allegories (such as Knowledge) there are 36 statues on the two public façades of the V&A Museum, on Exhibition Road and...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator