Introduction
UK and Commonwealth Merchant Navy losses in World War 2 were very heavy indeed - to a great extent due to sinkings by German U-boats and mines. There may never be a definitive total, but we know that over 24,000 people were lost at sea.
The only fitting way to commemorate was them with a memorial alongside the Lutyens WW1 memorial in Trinity Square Gardens. In addition to commemorating members of the Merchant Navy, the WW2 memorial includes those lost from Fishing Fleets and United Kingdom Lighthouse and Pilotage Services.
This page is about the construction and dedication of the memorial. To go directly to photos and details of casualties recorded on the memorial please click HERE.
Design and Construction
The WW2 memorial was designed by Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe (1883-1974), whose other works include the design of the Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede and Guildford Cathedral.
The cutting below from the Birmingham Daily Gazette 18 January 1952 comments on the design of the memorial and mentions ... a fountain will play in the middle of the gardens ... Either this part of the design was scrapped before building or the fountain was later removed.
The proposed design was submitted and on 18 February 1952 'The Times' announced that it had been approved. The organisation then known as the Imperial War Graves Commission would be changed to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1960.
On 9 Feb 1954 'The Birmingham Post' announced that work was about to start on the Memorial.
Dedication Panel
A dedication panel was erected between the two main entrances to the memorial and between Charles Wheeler's sculptures representing Officers and Men.
Sculptures by Charles Wheeler
The entrances to the memorial are flanked by two sculptures representing a Merchant Navy Officer and a Seaman.
Sculptures representing the Seven Seas are interspersed between memorial panels.
A final sculpture on a column features dolphins or porpoises.
General Views of the Memorial
The photos below give a feeling for the magnificent location of the Tower Hill memorials:
Unveiling
On 1 Mar 1955 'The Times' announced the date of the unveiling of the memorial.
On 1 May 1955 'The Evening News' described how invitations to the unveiling ceremony would be sent out to the next of kin of those commemorated on the Memorial.
On 16 Jul 1955 'The Illustrated London News' reported that work on the memorial was well advanced and printed an image showing this. It seems that the inclusion of a fountain, as mentioned in 1952, had been dropped in favour of a compass.
On 15 October 'The Sphere' had a full-page article reporting that the construction was almost complete and the bronze panels were being put in place.
The memorial was unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 5 November 1955.
The ceremony was televised. Although there were relatively few people with televisions at the time, there had been an upsurge in ownership as a result of the Coronation in 1953.
For other people, 'British Pathé' had a newsreel item which was shown in all local cinemas [94]. Click on the icon bottom right of the video window to view it in full screen mode.
Attendance was by invitation only. One of the attendees was the widow of John Baxter who had lost his life on Empire Surf. I am grateful to her relatives for providing these images of the front and back of the invitation card.
'The Shields Daily News' carried a report of the ceremony on 7 Nov 1955. It includes a touching description of the 15,000 relatives of the deceased approaching the memorial to lay flowers and wreaths. It must have been a gruelling experience for them, but hopefully they got some small comfort from seeing their loved ones commemorated by the nation.
The religious part of the ceremony was conducted by Geoffrey Fisher, who had been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Winston Churchill in 1945. In 1942 Churchill had appointed Fisher's predecessor William Temple, a man of more progressive views, but he had died from a heart attack in 1944. It strikes me as inappropriate that the holder of this position should be decided by the Prime Minister of the time.
'The Arbroath Herald' reported on the ceremony on 11 Nov 1955 and gave a fuller account of the speech by The Queen and information about local people who had attended the ceremony.
On 12 November 'The Illustrated London News' included this bird's eye view of the ceremony in full swing.
On the same day 'The Sphere' published the same photograph and the caption resolves the mystery of the 'missing' fountain at the centre of the site by stating that the centre is a silver and bronze mariner's compass. A decision to make this change must have been made at some point before construction started.
