Summary
War memorial. Designed by the sculptor Captain Adrian Jones (1845-1938) and dedicated in 1924. A Second World War dedication was subsequently added. The memorial was moved to its present location in 1972.
Reasons for Designation
The Uxbridge War Memorial, dedicated in 1924 and moved to its current location within the Old Graveyard, Windsor Street, Uxbridge in 1972, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Historic interest:
* as an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the local community, and the sacrifice it made in the conflicts of the C20.
Architectural interest:
* for its high quality Winged Victory sculpture by Captain Adrian Jones.
Group value:
* with the Grade II listed entrance gateway to the former burial ground in which it now stands.
History
The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across the country. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three-quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead: therefore the memorials provided the main focus of remembrance.
Uxbridge War Memorial, commemorating those from Uxbridge Urban District who served in the First World War, was designed by Captain Adrian Jones and unveiled on 11 November 1924 by Lady Hillingdon. It originally stood at the junction between Uxbridge High Street and Park Lane outside the entrance gates to the Hillingdon House estate, which became the headquarters of the Royal Flying Corps (the predecessor of the RAF) in 1915. The memorial was moved to its present site in 1972.
Adrian Jones (1845-1938) was born in Ludlow, Shropshire. A veterinary officer in the Royal Horse Artillery from 1867-90, he set up in Chelsea on his retirement as a sculptor and painter, specialising in animals, mainly horses. His work includes a number of prominent public monuments - most notably Peace Descending on the Quadriga of War (1912) on the Wellington Arch, Hyde Park – and war memorials commemorating the Boer War and the First World War, including the Royal Marines Memorial, St James’s Park (1903); the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry, Gloucester (1922) and the Cavalry Memorial, Hyde Park (1924). He exhibited at the Royal Academy several times.
In his autobiography, Memoirs of a Soldier Artist (1933), Jones reflected that, as he prepared to cast the figure for the Uxbridge war memorial: “I thought we had quite enough memorials that seemed to revive the war spirit rather than to consider peace, which is, after all, the aim and end of every great struggle."
Details
War memorial. Designed by the sculptor Captain Adrian Jones (1845-1938) and dedicated in 1924. A Second World War dedication was subsequently added. The memorial was moved to its present location in 1972.
MATERIALS: rough-hewn granite with bronze statue and leaded lettering.
DETAILS: the memorial stands in a former burial ground, now a public garden. It consists of a square tapering column with a Corinthian capital, supported on an octagonal base and three-step plinth. The column is surmounted by a bronze Winged Victory figure bearing a laurel wreath aloft in her right hand (symbolising victory) and an olive branch in her left (symbolising peace). At her feet is a British soldier's steel helmet and cartridge bandolier (symbolising loss).
On the front of the base a leaded inscription reads: ERECTED / IN HONOUR AND MEMORY / OF ALL THOSE / MEN AND WOMEN OF / UXBRIDGE / WHO SERVED OR FELL / IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914-1918 / AN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE FROM / THEIR FELLOW TOWNSMEN. Further inscriptions around the base read: SONS OF THIS PLACE LET THIS OF YOU BE SAID / THAT YOU WHO LIVE ARE WORTHY OF YOUR DEAD / THEY GAVE THEIR LIVES THAT YOU IN PEACE MAY REAP / A RICHER HARVEST ERE YOU FALL ASLEEP and IN MEMORIAM / 1939-1945.
