Plaque | War served | WW1

Rowland Bourke VC

Inscription

{Beneath a representation of the Victoria Cross medal:}
Lieutenant Rowland Bourke, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 9th - 10th May 1918.

Site: Chelsea war monument (6 memorials)

SW1, Sloane Square

Believed to be the first war memorial erected on a public highway. At first sight just a simple stone cross on a plinth, but the whole base is octagonal and has many parts: 3 steps, 3 sections to the plinth and then the lower part of the cross has 3 subsidiary plinth-like sections. This simple monument, like many WW1 memorials, has been designed with care and style.

This memorial is a Cross of Sacrifice, originally designed to stand in Imperial War Grave Commission cemeteries abroad, or in cemeteries at home with more than forty British military burials (e.g. Queen's Road Cemetery Croydon). Blomfield designed it in a variety of sizes. We thank Duncan Youel for providing much of this information.

The VC plaques are arranged on the ground in a checkerboard pattern: reading left-right, down: Davies, Gribble, Cartwright, Bourke, Crutchley.

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This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Rowland Bourke VC

Subjects commemorated i

World War 1

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came a...

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Rowland Bourke, VC

Soldier. Born Rowland Richard Louis in Chelsea. He moved to Canada in 1902 wh...

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This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Rowland Bourke VC

Created by i

Department for Communities and Local Government

A department of the government of the UK. From Victoria Cross commemorative p...

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This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Rowland Bourke VC

Also at this site i

Chelsea war monument

Chelsea war monument

From the typefaces one can tell that the two inscriptions were done at differ...

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George Cartwright VC

George Cartwright VC

{Beneath a representation of the Victoria Cross medal:} Private George Cartwr...

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Julian Gribble VC

Julian Gribble VC

{Beneath a representation of the Victoria Cross medal:} Captain Julian Gribbl...

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Vice Admiral Richard Bell Davies VC

Vice Admiral Richard Bell Davies VC

Laid into the ground on the west side of the war memorial. It's off-centre w...

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Victor Crutchley VC

Victor Crutchley VC

{Beneath a representation of the Victoria Cross medal:} Lieutenant Victor Cru...

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Thomas Carlyle (author)

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6 memorials