John 15:13 - World War I Memorial - Pudsey, UK
Posted by: dtrebilc
N 53° 47.551 W 001° 40.114
30U E 587705 N 5961258
This large World War I memorial in the centre of Pudsey was erected by public subscription of the people of the town.
Waymark Code: WMGRC7
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/04/2013
Views: 2
on the west face of the cenotaph is an inscription carved in stone from John 15:13.
GREATER LOVE
HATH NO MAN
THAN THIS THAT
A MAN LAY DOWN
HIS LIFE FOR
HIS FRIENDS
At the start of the First World War many towns and cities formed their own regiments of volunteers. These were known as Pals regiments, because so many of the men knew each other.
Pudsey itself didn’t have its own regiment, but was a suburb of Leeds which certainly did. It was known as the 15th Battalion (1st Leeds), The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment).
In the battle of the Somme in 1916, The battalion casualties, sustained in the few minutes after the start of the battle, were 24 officers and 504 other ranks, of which 15 officers and 233 other ranks were killed.
In light of this number of men and friends dying for each other the inscription is particularly poignant.
On top of the stone cenotaph is a bronze sculpture of a soldier from the West Yorkshire regiment.