{On the front:}
Viscount Southwood
{On the back, left:}
To the memory of Viscountess Southwood, whose ashes rest here. 1865 - 1951.
{On the back, right:}
To the memory of Viscount Southwood, whose ashes rest here. 1873 - 1946.
The ashes of both Southwoods are in the memorial at the top of the steps.
The labels behind the cherubs read: "Not drinking water" and "Our sculptures have been 'coded for keeps' with UV permanent marker". These unsubtle labels, the nearby industrial-sized garbage bins and the ugly caravan permanently parked behind all but ruin this attractive memorial. Southwood paid for the laying out of this garden which was designed by Richardson. The sculptures are by Hardiman who also made the statue of Peace which stands in the garden.
Site: St James's Church Garden (4 memorials)
SW1, Piccadilly
Looking at the cafe picture:
- The war damage plaque is on the wall that you can just see on the left.
- On the right you can see one of the four cherubs belonging to the Southwood fountain.
The wooden memorial would be seen in the photo of the Southwood fountain, were it not for the green caravan drop-in.
This former graveyard was opened as a garden, funded by Viscount Southwood, in 1946 by the Queen Mother.
On a visit in about 1998 we found a small hand-made memorial in amongst the plants, to Taffy, a tramp who had made the garden his home and had recently died. When we went back some years later with our camera this, not surprisingly, had gone so we sadly cannot include it here. 2012 - Discovering London (dead link) have a picture of Taffy's sign plus one for Mackerel the Rectory Cat.
2022: Watching the 1952 film, The Last Page, we recognised this garden as the location for an assignation for two of the characters (at about 1.5 hours in, on the TV version of the movie). The space looked fresh and clear of all the clutter that was there when we last visited.
