The Royal Artillery Memorial

Posted on 1 October 2014 by Marguerite Rami

 

The Royal Artillery Memorial is located at Hyde Park Corner in central London.  

The memorial measures 13m by 6m by 9m and is made of Portland stone. There is a replica Howitzer gun which sits imposingly of the top of the memorial.

There are four bronze figures which are placed on each side of the memorial: a driver to the west, an artillery captain to the east, a shell carrier to the south, and a covered dead soldier to the north. 

Carved stone panels show  detailed military scenes from the First World War. Although these have suffered from deterioration it is still possible to see the effects on man and horse as they endeavour to move in the quagmire of the Western Front.

 

The sculptor was Charles Sargeant Jagger, awarded the MC . Born in 1885 in Kilnhurst, Yorkshire. Jagger wanted  his work to realistically portray the uniforms and conditions of WW1. This was not universally popular at the time.

 

The main inscription reads  ’In proud remembrance of the forty-nine thousand and 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.

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