Subject

Birkbeck says that the memorial was created "... to commemorate the lives of the thousands of Birkbeck students who were killed, injured or bereaved by the Second World War." We'd be surprised if that was the thinking in the 1950s; this degree of inclusivity is a more recent phenomenon. WW2 memorials were generally raised to those killed in the war, often just the armed forces, and often just the men.