Monument: Guards
Erection date: 1859
{On the two sides there are shields, surrounded by oak leaves, bearing the words:}
Alma Inkerman Sebastopol
{carved in the stonework, on each side:}
Crimea
{On the back is an ornate plaque/shield, surrounded by oak leaves, bearing the words:}
To the memory of 2162 officers, non-comd. officers and privates of the Brigade of Guards who fell during the war with Russia in 1854 - 56.
Erected by their comrades
{In the front stone work, at the left below the guards' feet, rather faint, is inscribed:}
John Bell
{At the bottom front right, 2 small brass plaques are attached:}
The Guards Memorial was pulled down in the year of our Lord 1914 and was re-erected 30 feet north of its original position in order to permit the erection of the Florence Nightingale and Sidney Herbert statues.
{and:}
The foundation stone of the Guards Memorial was laid in the year of our Lord 1859 by Margaret Johanna Bell
The 3 guardsmen are cast from captured Russian guns. The guns displayed at the rear are those used at the siege of Sebastopol. This was the first public memorial dedicated to all ranks. Prior to this the lowly private had not been thought of as statue material, as indicated by the Duke of Wellington's 1831 opinion of conscripts as "the scum of the earth".
Site: Crimean War Memorial (3 memorials)
SW1, Waterloo Place
In 1859 only the Guards Memorial was erected, closer to Pall Mall. In 1914 this was moved back to make room for the two statues in front.
Go to map of other memorials in this area
