LUTON
TOWN WAR MEMORIAL
World
War 1 & 2 - detailed information
Compiled and copyright © Martin Edwards 2019
The
Luton Borough War memorial can be found on the Town square edged by
Manchester Street, St George Street and Upper George Street outside
Luton Town Hall in Manchester Street, Luton. It takes the form of a
robed, winged female figure apparently representing Peace, right arm
raised holding a palm frond, standing on a cenotaph with four-stepped
base. The names from World War 1 are inscribed on the cenotaph and those
names for World War 2 on plaques mounted on the base steps. The memorial
was dedicated by Rev C Molian Williams, Vicar of Luton, and unveiled
by Lady Ludlow 10 December 1922. The memorial was designed by Sir William
Hamo Thornycroft, R.A., and Sir Reginald Blomfield, R.A. There are 1285
names listed for World War 1 and 672 for World War 2. So far we have
managed to collect a list of 1280 names for World War 1, we cannot find
the 5 missing names, for World War 2 we have found 726 names on the
brass plaques, 54 more than stated which appear to be on individual
plates on the memorial added at a later date. Names were submitted by
family, schools and work places so some peole do not appear to have
Luton connections but probably worked or were educated there.
Various
extracts about the memorial from the local papers of the time have been
transcribed and can be found on a separate
page. See also World
War 1 Luton. The original article from The
Luton Reporter 12 December 1922 is here in it's entirety in Adobe
Acrobat format (.pdf) (warning: large document).
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| Photographs
from old postcards |
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1922
ERECTED
BY
PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION
GREATER
LOVE HATH
NO MAN THAN THIS
THAT A MAN LAY
DOWN HIS LIFE
FOR HIS FRIENDS.
BOROUGH
OF LUTON
IN MEMORY OF
THE MEN OF LUTON
WHO FELL
IN THE GREAT WAR
THE TABLETS ON THE LOWER PLINTH COMMEMORATE
THE MEN AND WOMEN OF LUTON WHO FELL IN THE
SECOND WORLD WAR
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
THEY
GAVE THE MOST THAT MAN
CAN GIVE LIFE ITSELF FOR GOD
FOR KING AND COUNTRY FOR
LOVED ONES HOME AND EMPIRE
FOR THE SACRED CAUSE OF
JUSTICE AND FREEDOM
OF THE WORLD
Note:
The Luton Roll of Honour gives military detail, marital status
and an address that is noted as residence but is probably the
address of the person notifying them. Addresses differ from that
given on the Luton RoH, CWGC and census records. Names can vary
between records and thus there may be conflicting entries by a
name. Spellings often differ between records as do ages. All this
we have tried to indicate here. Where an address is confirmed
from the book and details are available elsewhere then the secondary
entry has been removed.
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1939-1945
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Last updated
22 December, 2021
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