Erection date: 15/4/1923
{Immediately below the foliage and thorns:}
1914 - 1918
{At the top of the plinth, on the front:}
To the glory of God and to the memory of the men of England who fell in the Great War.
{At the top of the plinth, on the back:}
Greater love has no man than that he should lay down his love for his friends.
{The main part of the plinth, all four faces, is taken up with a list of about 140 names in alphabetical sequence. Much of this is illegible through weather damage but we have managed to transcribe the list on the least damaged north-facing front - see Subjects commemorated - with "?"s where letters are illegible.}
We photographed this section of the cross to show the very unusual carving. At the base this depicts thorny branches entwined around stem which, higher up, reveal themselves as the stalks of opium seed heads, symbolising the trials of battle giving way to the peace of sleep.
We've reported this memorial to the excellent War Memorials Trust, as being in need of some care and attention.
Site: Limehouse WW1 Cross (1 memorial)
E1, Butcher Row, St James' Gardens
Known as the Ratcliff memorial cross. None of the text on the cross identifies who erected it but we think this garden is the old graveyard of St James Ratcliff church, which used to stand where part of the 'Royal Foundation of St Katharine' now stands. From London Metropolitan Archives: "Saint James' ... was consecrated in August 1833. The church was gutted by incendiary bombs on September 7th 1940. In 1951 the parish was united to Saint Paul's, Shadwell and the ruins taken down."
