Victoria (Victory) and Asteroid 12 Victoria - Sheffield, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 22.876 W 001° 29.439
30U E 600395 N 5915746
This statue of Roman Goddess Victoria is at the top of a war memorial that commemorates the severe losses of the northern regiment, which included many Pals battalions from specific towns.
Waymark Code: WMZZ1X
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/26/2019
Views: 3
The memorial was paid for by public subscription to commemorate the large losses of men from Sheffield who died during the First World War. It was amended after World War II with an inscription for that war.
There are also a few other smaller memorials nearby and an
information board with details of the memorials and the regiments experiences in the war.
Valiant Heroes
These war memorials commemorate the many soldiers of the York And Lancaster Regiment who died fighting for their country. The main war memorial is dedicated to the many thousands who died in the two World Wars of the twentieth century.
On 1st July 1916 The Sheffield City Battalion of the regiment (also known as the 'Sheffield Pals') took part in an ill fated battle to capture the French town of Serre. In the words of John Harris the battalion was "two years in the making, 10 minutes in the destroying. That was our history".
Enlistment to the battalion began on the 10th September 1914, and in two days nearly 1000 men had volunteered to fight. The battalion were sent ot France to fight in the battle of the Somme. At 7.20 am on the 1st July 1916 the battalion were given the order to climb out of the trenches and enter no mans land straight into heavy fire from the German troops. Two days later The Sheffield City Battalion were taken off the front line having lost 513 men and with 75 wounded.
Only a few of the soldiers managed to reach the German trenches, others were never heard of again.
Cpl. Signaller Outram recalled that as far as the eye could see, the last two men visible were himself and another signaller, A. Brammer. They signalled to each other. Outram turned his head for a moment, and when he looked back Brammer had gone.
The statues
The main war memorial was erected in the park in 1923. The soldiers' were students from the Sheffield College of art posing for the sculptor. The woman on the top of the memorial is the Roman Goddess Victory (also known as the Greek goddess Nike).
The Victory statue was renovated in 2007.
In Roman times Victoria was often worshipped by triumphant generals returning from war and hence can quite often be found on United Kingdom war memorials.
The Asteroid
The asteroid was discovered on September 13th 1850 by J.R. Hind of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London.
link
He chose the name during the reign of Queen Victoria, but it was felt to be inappropriate to have the asteroid named after a living monarch.
However W. C. Bond, of the Harvard College Observatory held that the mythological condition was fulfilled and the name stayed as it was.
It has a diameter of 112.77 km, an orbital speed of 9.5 km/s and an orbital period of 3.57 Julian Years. It is the joint 117th largest known asteroid.