Seek out St John the Baptist upon Walbrook

One of the unlucky churches of the Great Fire, St John the Baptist upon Walbrook stood next to a stream, not far from what is now Cannon Street Station, from the 12th until the 17th century.


One of 86 churches to be destroyed by the Great Fire of London, St John's was passed over for rebuilding under Sir Christopher Wren's grand plan, and was never to be reconstructed. The church was dealt a further blow when the building of the District Line meant that the remaining churchyard had to be dug up in 1884, and now all that remains of the church and those buried there is a vault and memorial on Cloak Lane.

For more, see http://www.burial.magic-nation.co.uk/bgwalbrook.htm

Pay tribute to Johnson outside St Clement Dane's

Given that Dr Samuel Johnson only spent eleven of his many years in London at his most famous address - 17 Gough Square - and otherwise lived at around 17 different places in London, many of which were in the vicinity of Fleet Street, it seems fitting that a statue outside St Clement Dane's commemorates him, erected by the Rev'd S. Pennington, Rector of the church in 1910.


Your author owes more than most to Johnson, the great eighteenth century writer and lexicographer who put together one of the first widely recognised English language dictionaries. It was Johnson whose love of London inspired this website, and the book that followed it, and many happy hours have been whiled away volunteering at Johnson's house in Gough Square off Fleet Street, and seeing this statue of Johnson reading aloud up on his plinth to the rear of the church always brings causes, for he was a great man.

For more, http://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/johnson-statue

_{^Picture © Elliott Brown, used under a Creative Commons license^}

Admire the Canada Gate

Often overlooked by tourists gazing in the opposite direction towards Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial, the Canada Gates are an impressive entrance to Green Park, presented to London by Canada.


Commissioned after the death of Queen Victoria, in 1905, the gates match up with smaller ones presented by Australia and South Africa, and were finally completed in 1911.

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Gate_and_Canada_Memorial

_{^Picture © Ian D used under Creative Commons^}

See the Queen Mary Clocktower

The impressive Grade II listed stone clocktower at the Mile End Campus of Queen Mary, University of London, was erected in 1890, presented for the benefit of the people of East London by Herbert Stern Esq, in memory of his father Baron de Stern.


The tower's design incorporates marble basins for drinking fountains on north and south sides, though these are not used today, and we are told that the clock tower is surmounted by a double cupola and has wide cornices above and below clock, whatever that means.

For more, see http://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/baron-de-stern-clock-tower

See the flowering of the English baroque memorial

An interesting bronze in the heart of Westminster, 'The flowering of the English baroque' by Glynn Williams is a memorial to the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell, and was unveiled in 1995 by Princess Margaret to mark 300 years since the death of the composer.


Purcell was born just a few streets away in St Ann's Lane, off Old Pye Street in Westminster, and attended Westminster School, before going on to work at Westminster Abbey, so the memorial is one to a local boy who went on to be widely recognised as one of the great composers of his era.

For more, see http://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/henry-purcell-statue

See the Great Eastern Railway War Memorial

A huge marble war memorial stands in Liverpool Street Station, commemorating those members of the Great Eastern Railway who lost their lives in the First World War.


We are told that the memorial was rebuilt following relocation from the former Booking Hall, hence perhaps its corner position which makes it rather too easily overlooked.

The memorial also incorporates two smaller memorials, one to MP Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson, who unveiled the memorial, and was then assassinated by two members of the Irish Republican Army on his return home from the ceremony. Another commemorates Captain Fryatt, a Great Eastern Railway marine officer who was executed by the Germans in 1916.

For more, see http://www.networkrail.co.uk/documents/3052_LiverpoolStreetArchitecturalMiniGuide.pdf

Find a Dickens memorial

Today marks 200 years since the author Charles Dickens was born, and whilst there are many commemorations around town, the road that was once Devonshire Terrace is one place which remembers Charles Dickens every day, regardless of anniversaries.


Today, the site is on the busy corner of Marylebone Road and Marylebone High Street, but Charles Dickens lived at 1 Devonshire Terrace in quieter times from 1839 to 1851, and it was here that he wrote six of his most famous novels - The Old Curiosity Shop, Barnaby Rudge, Martin Chuzzlewit, A Christmas Carol, Dombey and Son and David Copperfield.

As well as the image of Dickens himself, the memorial features various Dickensian characters, including Scrooge, Barnaby Rudge, Little Nell and Granddad, Dombey and daughter, Mrs. Gamp, David Copperfield, Mr. Micawber. It was erected in 1960, and apparently designed by Estcourt J Clack FRBS.

For more, see http://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/charles-dickens-relief

_{^Picture © Mskadu used under Creative Commons^}

See the Dudgeons Wharf Memorial

A poignant memorial on the Isle of Dogs, the Dudgeons Wharf Memorial marks a spot where five men from the London Fire Brigade died in the greatest single loss of life since the Second World War.


The firemen died when oil tanks exploded as they tackled a riverside fire at Dudgeons Wharf on 17th July 1969. A plaque remembers Michael Gamble, John Appleby, Terrance Breen, Paul Carvosso and Alfred Smee, who had come to fight the blaze from various stations across the city when the tragic incident occurred.

For more information, see http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/PostWarFamousFires.asp

Remember the agents of the Special Operations Executive

The memorial to the members of the Special Operations Executive who worked for the Allies during the Second World War was unveiled on the Albert Embankment in October 2009.


The memorial features a statue of Violette Szabo, who was captured during a mission in occupied France in 1944, executed in early 1945 at Ravensbrück concentration camp at the age of just 23 years.

Alongside the memorial to all the members of the Special Operations Executive, the memorial also features separate plaques to remember the Heroes of Telemark and the Maquis French Resistance Fighters, of which Szabo was a part.

For more information, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8289847.stm

Visit the 9/11 Memorial Garden

Though it will probably be the venue for official memorial ceremonies today, the 9/11 Memorial Garden in Grosvenor Square, close to the American Embassy, seems a fitting place to feature on an important anniversary.


Officially opened on 11th September 2003, the garden features a central plaque dedicated to British victims of the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia. The garden features an oak pergola and a pavilion, with the words "Grief is the price we pay for love", which were used by the Queen at a New York remembrance service a week after the attacks.

The garden also features white Bianca Roses which are, we are told, a significant flower for British families of those who died on September 11th. Though a new memorial has recently been unveiled in Battersea Park, this is still a very important location for the families of those who died.

For more, see http://london.usembassy.gov/grsvnrsq/911mem.html

_{^Picture © www.CGPGrey.com used under Creative Commons^}

Visit the Royal Tank Regiment Memorial

Located on the corner of Whitehall Court and Whitehall Place, in Westminster, the Royal Tank Regiment Memorial was unveiled by the Queen in June 2000. The sculpture was designed by Vivien Mallock, based on a miniature by George Henry Paulin.


It depicts the crew of a Comet tank, used during the Second World War. A plaque explains that each crew consisted of five men - a commander, a loader, a gunner, a driver and a hull machine gun loader.

Your author was introduced to the memorial by John Kennedy, author of the informative London Bollards blog, and is very grateful for this. For more information, see http://www.royaltankregiment.com/en-GB/rtrmemorialstatue.aspx

Find the memorial to DC James Morrison

A memorial to DC James Morrison is found on Montreal Place, just off the Strand in Central London. Morrison was killed in 1991 when - whilst he was off duty - he chased a thief in Covent Garden, and was fatally stabbed whilst trying to make an arrest.


With all the scandal surrounding the Metropolitan Police in recent weeks, it's easy to forget what dedication many ordinary police officers like Morrison show to their jobs. Morrison was posthumously awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal, and the memorial was unveiled to him in 1994.

For more information, click here

Visit the Buxton Memorial Fountain

Often forgotten in an area full of memorials, The Buxton Memorial Fountain stands in Victoria Gardens, just South of the Houses of Parliament. It was constructed in 1834 to celebrate the emancipation of slaves in the British Colonies.


Designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon, the fountain was commissioned by Charles Buxton MP, son of anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Fowell Buxton, and originally stood in Parliament Square.

When, in 1949, the Government put forward a scheme to redesign Parliament Square, the fountain had to be moved, and following a campaign by the Anti-Slavery Society, it was moved to the Gardens in 1957.

For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buxton_Memorial_Fountain

Find the Cádiz Memorial

In the South Eastern Corner of Horseguards Parade, the Cádiz Memorial commemorates the success of forces led by Wellington in defeating French forces near the Spanish city of Salamanca, and lifting the siege of Cádiz in 1812.


Consisting of a large French mortar 'cast for the destruction of that great port, and abandoned by the beseigers on their retreat', mounted on the back of a winged iron dragon. It was given by the Spanish to the Prince Regent, and mounted on a base constructed at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich in 1814.

For more on the memorials of Horse Guards, see http://www.secret-london.co.uk/Horseguards.html

Visit the Bali Bombing Memorial

One of London's lesser-known memorials is dedicated to the 202 victims - 28 of whom were British - of the Bali Bombings in 2002.


Unveiled by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall in October 2006, the memorial consists of a marble globe with 202 carved doves, and sits at the bottom of the steps between HM Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Westminster, watched over by a statue of Clive of India.

For more details, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6044472.stm

Converse with Maggi Hambling's Oscar Wilde

Maggi Hambling's A Conversation with Oscar Wilde Statue was installed in 1998, in Adelaide Street, Charing Cross. She created it from green granite and bronze and shows Wilde rising from a sarcophagus, inviting passers-by to sit down and converse with him.


It wasn't until the late 1980s and early 1990s that people started to publicly question why London did not have a memorial to Wilde, and film-maker, author and painter Derek Jarman suggested a statue. When Jarman died in 1994, the Statue for Oscar Wilde committee was formed to ensure that his dream was realised.

Of twelve artists, Hambling's idea was chosen, showing Wilde rising from his tomb for a chat, smoking a cigarette. The base carries his famous quote from the play Lady Windermere's Fan, "We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars".

For more information click here.

See the National Firefighters Memorial

The National Firefighters Memorial, on the Jubilee Walkway between St Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge, was unveiled in 1991 as a memorial to the service of firefighters throughout the Second World War, and particularly those who served London during the Blitz


In 1998, a decision was made to expand its remit so that it is now a national memorial of all firefighters in Great Britain who have lost their lives during active service.

In 2003 the Memorial was raised onto a new base to allow the additional names of those lost in peacetime were inscribed in bronze on it, then it was re-dedicated to coincide with the Service of Remembrance in Sept 2003.

For more, see here

See the Animals in War Memorial

We all know about the various memorials to humans who took part in the wars and conflicts of the 20th century, but there is also a memorial in Hyde Park to commemorate the horses, mules, dogs, pigeons, elephants, camels, oxen, bullocks, cats, canaries, and even glow worms who gave their effort, and often their lives, in support of British, Commonwealth and Allied forces.


The sculpture was designed by Somerset-based artist David Backhouse and constructed in Portland stone and cast bronze. It was opened by HRH The Princess Royal in November 2004 at Brook Gate, Park Lane on the edge of Hyde Park. It cost £2 million, which was raised through a national appeal and donations from individuals, charities and companies.

For more, see http://www.animalsinwar.org.uk/

_{^Picture by Metro Centric^}

See the renovated Eleanor Cross

As readers may have spotted in news, the Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross was unveiled yesterday, following a substantial renovation.


There were originally 12 Eleanor Crosses, which were erected in the 13th Century on the orders of Edward I, in memory of his wife, Eleanor of Castile, and to marki the route which her body was taken to London. The Eleanor Cross in Charing Cross was traditionally the point where all mileage distances on road signs to London were measured.

The original monument was demolished in 1647, and the current structure outside Charing Cross is only actually 145 years old, and was originally commissioned by the South Eastern Railway Company in 1865, to stand in front of their Charing Cross Hotel.

For more, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-10911029

_{^Picture by Colin Gregory Palmer^}

See the Queen Alexandra Memorial

Often referred to as London's only Art Nouveau statue/monument, the Queen Alexandra Memorial commemorates Alexandra of Denmark, the wife of Edward VII.


It is a late Art Nouveau-Gothic memorial fountain, and was designed by Alfred Gilbert. You can find it in the Marlborough Road wall of Marlborough House, on Pall Mall, just east of St James's Palace.

For more, see http://www.victorianweb.org/sculpture/gilbert/38c.html

_{^Picture by Camron & Richard^}