LOWESTOFT WAR MEMORIAL

World War 1 & 2 - Roll of Honour with detailed information
Compiled and copyright © Martin Edwards 2008

The Lowestoft war memorial is located in an open space at the end of the Promenade, Lowestoft. It takes the form of an obelisk made from Cornish grey granite twenty feet in height mounted on a square base ifteen feet square. Recessed panels, one on each of the four faces of the die bear the inscriptions. Monies were raised to build the memorial by public subscription. The architects were Messrs Roberts, Green & Richards and the builder Mr James E Prodfoot. The memorial was unveiled by Admiral of the Fleet Lord Wester Wemyss and dedicated by the Reverend E C Morgan on 11th August 1921, at 3 p.m. Details appeared in the Lowestoft Journal 13th August 1921.

The unveiling from old postcards and photographs acquired on ebay

GLORY OF GOD
AND IN MEMORY
OF THE MEN OF
THIS TOWN WHO
GAVE THEIR LIVES
IN THE GREAT WAR
1914-1918
AND THE
SECOND WORLD WAR
1939-1945

THIS MEMORIAL
WAS UNVEILED BY
ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET
LORD WESTER WEMYSS
GCB CMG MVO
11TH AUGUST 1921

PRO PATRIA
A ROLL OF HONOUR
BEARING THE NAMES
OF THOSE WHO MADE
THE GREAT SACRIFICE
LIES BENEATH THIS
STONE

LEST WE FORGET
THIS MONUMENT
WAS ERECTED BY
THEIR GRATEFUL
FELLOW TOWNSPEOPLE

In the Order Of Service, after the Last Post and Reveille, it states "Depositing First Wreath by an Unknown Mother. Symbolical of the Motherhood of Lowestoft".

There is a description of the panels on the monument and the following:

"This souvenir of the Lowestoft War Memorial is intended to serve as a tangible record of the names of our heroic dead. During the Great War the toll on human life paid by this town was, unhappily, so heavy that the names of the fallen are too numerous to permit of their inscription upon the Monument which has been erected. A list of those who fought and fell has been placed within it, and a similar list is preserved at the Town Hall. It was thought, however, that this Souvenir would register their names in a more accessible manner, and that those who had lost their loved ones would value and preserve this little token of the sorrow that has fallen upon them; that it would serve in their homes, in like manner as the Monument serves in the open, to show that their fellow citizens share in their sorrow, and reverence and respect the memory of the men who died so greatly".

There are a total of 716 names. The booklet itself is generally listed in alphabetical order, although there are quite a few out of the correct order, with others being added at the end (most probably just before the booklet went to print).

A transcription of the names from the memorial booklet has been made here by alphabetical section. The actual name list is buried under the memorial and access is prohibited to this.

Last updated: 24 March, 2023