Morton Cemetery Memorial - Keighley, UK - World War I Memorials and Monuments on Waymarking.com

The statue is listed on the United Kingdom National Inventory of War Memorials website which gives us the following information. “Figure of a soldier in mourning pose with head bowed and rifle reversed. on square plinth with two flanking panels decorated as below. The whole memorial stands on cruciform base.

Flanking panels decorated with carved relief depicting angels on front face and lions on rear.

The life size figure is carved from Portland stone, standing on a .8 metre tall Portland Stone plinth, which in turn stands on a .9 metre high base made from York Stone.

It was unveiled by local clergy and dignitaries and dedicated by the Bishop of Bradford on 12th August 1921.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission are responsible for the memorial. It is a very unusual memorial in that it appears to have been constructed as a local initiative to commemorate servicemen who died in keighley war hospital and then seem to have been transferred to the cwgc. this probably explains why the name panels have recently been re-cut whilst the more decorative elements of the memorial are quite weathered. the rifle in particular has deteriorated quite badly.” The veterans section of the cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. "There are 22 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-1918 war commemorated here on panels adjoining a Special Memorial in the form of a life size Portland Stone statue of a First World War Soldier upon a decorated podium."

The war memorial is the only marker for the soldiers, they are buried in one single plot in front of it and there are no individual headstones. They were all veterans that died in the nearby Keighley war hospital and include 4 Canadian and 1 Australian.

The memorial was originally erected on 12th August 1921 by the local authority, but it and the war graves were later transferred to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

There is an inscription on the memorial with the following text.

1914 - 1918
THOSE HONOURED HERE DIED IN
THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY
AND LIE BURIED NEAR THIS SPOT

Date the Monument or Memorial was built or dedicated: 08/12/1921 Private or Public Monument?: Government Name of the Private Organization or Government Entity that built this Monument: Keighley County Council Geographic Region where the Monument is located: Europe Website for this Monument: [Web Link] Physical Address of Monument: Bradford Road Morton, West Yorkshire United Kingdom Rate this waymark: Photo or photos will be uploaded.: yes

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