The Plymouth Naval Memorial is a war memorial in Plymouth,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

which is dedicated to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and Commonwealth sailors who were lost in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

with no known grave.

History

After

, the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

wanted to find a way to commemorate sailors and Royal Marines who had died at sea and had no known grave. An

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

committee recommended building memorials at the three main naval ports in Great Britain – Plymouth,

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

, and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. The memorials at all three sites were designed by Sir

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Got ...

with sculpture by Henry Poole. Following World War II, the naval memorials were expanded to commemorate the dead from that war. Sir

Edward Maufe Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe, RA, FRIBA (12 December 1882 – 12 December 1974) was an English architect and designer. He built private homes as well as commercial and institutional buildings, and is remembered chiefly for his work on places ...

performed the architectural design for the expansion at Plymouth, and the sculpture was by Charles Wheeler and William McMillan. The Plymouth memorial also bears the names of sailors from Australia,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The Plymouth Naval Memorial commemorates 7,251 sailors of the World War I and 15,933 of the World War II. Other memorials in Halifax and

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in Canada,

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

Mumbai, India Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

Chittagong, Bangladesh Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

, and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

commemorate sailors who came from those parts of the Commonwealth. The Newfoundland Memorial at Beaumont Hamel in France bears the names of 229 Newfoundland sailors lost at sea during World War I. The memorial is maintained by 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 m ...

. It became a Grade II listed building in 1975, upgraded to Grade II* in 1998, and was further upgraded to Grade I in May 2016 for the centenary of the Battle of Jutland.

Location

The memorial is situated centrally on The Hoe which looks directly towards

Plymouth Sound Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England. Description Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point in Devon, a distance of abou ...

Design

The memorial features a central obelisk, with names of the dead arranged according to the year of death. Those for the First World War are on panels affixed to the obelisk's base; those for the Second World War are on panels set into the surrounding wall. Within each year, the names are grouped by service, then by rank and surname.

Notable people commemorated at the memorial

First World War

* Lieutenant

Cecil Abercrombie Lieutenant Cecil Halliday Abercrombie (12 April 1886 – 31 May 1916) was a rugby union footballer, who represented and United Services RFC. He was also a first-class cricketer, playing for Hampshire. Born in Mozufferpore, Indian Empire, Abe ...

and Lieutenant-Commander John Skinner Wilson, Scottish

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

internationals *Sergeant John Costello of the Royal Marines, English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

Second World War

* Master-at-Arms W. G. E. Luddington,

rugby representative player * Admiral Sir Tom Phillips * Able Seaman

Walter Sidebottom Walter Sidebottom (1 February 1921 – 23 October 1943) was an English professional footballer who played as a winger in the Football League for Bolton Wanderers. Personal life Sidebottom served as an able seaman in the Royal Navy during the ...

, English footballer

References

External links

News: 'No Grave but the Sea' Memorial
- ''BBC Rewind'' footage (from the

BBC Archives BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history, including copies of television and radio broadcasts, internal documents, photographs, online content, sheet music, commercially available music, BBC products (including ...

) of Princess Margaret unveiling the extension to the memorial in 1954 (includes audio) {{coord, 50.3656, -4.1422, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures in Plymouth, Devon Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials Naval monuments and memorials British military memorials and cemeteries World War I memorials in England World War II memorials in England Monuments and memorials in Devon Grade I listed buildings in Devon

History

Location

Design

Notable people commemorated at the memorial

First World War

Second World War

See also

References

External links