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UK MEMORIALS

Introduction

This article is concerned with Plymouth Naval Memorial. The Memorial is situated centrally on The Hoe which looks directly towards Plymouth Sound.

The Plymouth Naval Memorial

After the First World War, an appropriate way had to be found of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided. An Admiralty committee recommended that the three manning ports in Great Britain - Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth - should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable naval form, an obelisk, which would serve as a leading mark for shipping.

The memorials were designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, who had already carried out a considerable amount of work for the Commission, with sculpture by Henry Poole.

After the Second World War it was decided that the naval memorials should be extended to provide space for commemorating the naval dead without graves of that war, but since the three sites were dissimilar, a different architectural treatment was required for each. The architect for the Second World War extension at Plymouth was Sir Edward Maufe and the additional sculpture was by Charles Wheeler and William McMillan.

The Plymouth Naval Memorial commemorates 7,251 sailors of the First World War and 15,933 of the Second World War.

The names on the memorial are arranged according to year of death. Those for the First World War appear on panels located around the obelisk. Those for the Second World War appear on panel located on the surrounding wall. Within each year, the names are group by service then by rank and surname.

Plymouth Naval Memorial towards the sea (Stratford family)

Plymouth Naval Memorial towards the town (Stratford family)