The Liverpool Naval Memorial, also known as the Memorial to the Missing of the Naval Auxiliary Personnel of the Second World War or the Merchant Navy War Memorial, is a

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

Pier Head The Pier Head (properly, George's Pier Head) is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was part of the former Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004, but revoked in ...

beside the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, near to the

Royal Liver Building The Royal Liver Building is a Grade I listed building in Liverpool, England. It is located at the Pier Head and along with the neighbouring Cunard Building and Port of Liverpool Building is one of Liverpool's '' Three Graces'', which line th ...

and the

Museum of Liverpool The Museum of Liverpool in Liverpool, England, tells the story of Liverpool and its people, and reflects the city's global significance. It opened in 2011 as newest addition to the National Museums Liverpool group replacing the former Museum o ...

. It commemorates nearly 1,400 men from the British Merchant Navy who died on active service with

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

in the Second World War, and who have no known grave. More than 13,000 officers and seamen of the Merchant Navy agreed to serve with the Royal Navy in the Second World War, serving mainly in auxiliary vessels such as

armed merchant cruiser An armed merchantman is a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in lo ...

s, subject to military discipline but still receiving civilian pay. The depot for registration and administration of the naval auxiliaries from the Merchant Navy was established at Liverpool. After the Second World War, the Imperial War Graves Commission (later the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

) organised a competition for a memorial, with a budget of £5,000, open to architects who had served in the armed forces. The winning design was created by architects Charles Frederick Blythin and Stanley Harold Smith, with sculpture by George Herbert Tyson Smith. It was unveiled by Admiral of the Fleet Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope on 12 November 1952. The memorial comprises a narrow cylindrical column of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

topped by a glazed lantern, which has glass lenses with a reflective backing intended to resemble a lighthouse, which stands on a semicircular Portland stone platform surrounded by curved walls. The platform is reached by flight of six steps, and the walls support a pair of stone globes, one

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

and one

celestial Celestial may refer to: Science * Objects or events seen in the sky and the following astronomical terms: ** Astronomical object, a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe ** Celest ...

. The memorial bears the inscription "These officers and men of the Merchant Navy died while serving with the Royal Navy and have no grave but the sea 1939–1945". The names of the dead are inscribed on 25 bronze plaques arranged around the curved Portland stone walls of the memorial. It became a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in 2010. Among several other memorials at Pier Head are memorials to seamen from Norway, Poland, China, the Netherlands and Belgium who served in the Second World War, and a memorial dedicated to the Merchant Navy unveiled in 1998. There is a proposal to erect a large

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

memorial nearby. Merchant seamen lost at sea in the First and Second World Wars are also commemorated by the Merchant Navy Memorial at

Tower Hill Tower Hill is the area surrounding the Tower of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is infamous for the public execution of high status prisoners from the late 14th to the mid 18th century. The execution site on the higher gro ...

in London. File:Norwegian servicemen memorial, Pier Head.jpg, Norway File:Chinese merchant seamen memorial, Pier Head, Liverpool.png, China File:Netherlands Merchant Navy plaque, Pier Head.jpg, Netherlands File:Belgian Merchant Navy Memorial, Pier Head, Liverpool.jpg, Belgium and Poland File:Merchant Navy Memorial, Pier Head 2.jpg, Merchant Navy Memorial

References

Liverpool Naval Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Memorial to the Merchant Navy
Liverpool World Heritage Site

*
Merchant Navy WW2
Imperial War Museums War Memorials Register
CWGC Merchant Navy Memorial to the Missing WW2
War Memorials Online
Battle of the Atlantic memorial campaign
{{coord, 53.40349, -2.99667, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Naval monuments and memorials World War II memorials in England Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials Grade II listed buildings in Liverpool Grade II listed monuments and memorials