The obelisk is made from grey Cornish Granite taken from the same quarries as that used for the cenotaph in London.
It stands on a foundation of Portland cement 13ft square and 3ft 9ins deep. It is laid on the natural rock formation of the site. The inner area of the six base courses is filled in with cement concrete.
The base is finished with pick-dressed face, and the front inscriptions are in black on fine oxed surfaces with polished panels. The blocks in the Obelisk are finished with natural hewn surface with a picked-dressed weathered finish. The blocks are bedded in Portland cement.
Lettering on the inscription block is deeply cut into the sunk panels, filled in with lead and left raised from the surface and polished.
The borough coat of arms on the front face is cast in bronze from a sculptor's special model. It is 1ft 6ins in diameter, secured to the inscription block with bronze dovetail lugs.
Two sets of railings surround the monument. One set made of wrought iron and featuring eight wreathes, painted red, is round the actual base. Another set, about 20 yards square, encompasses the memorial area as a whole. The lower base course is 12ft 6ins square, and the final block is 2ft square. The total height of the Obelisk above ground is 27ft 6ins. It comprises 34 tons of granite.
The memorial was designed by Messrs J. Whitehead and Sons, Sculptors. Imperial works, Kensington Oval, London, and selected by the memorial committee from 40 designs. It was by Whitehead's under the supervision of the Borough Surveyor's Department.
Its inscriptions are as follows:
Front:
The Borough coat of arms in bronze and, in the stone: The Great War 1914-1919
Left:
They willing left the unachieved purpose of their lives in order that all life should not be wrenched from its purpose
Right:
in honour of the 710 men of Hyde who gave their lives for King and Country
On the back of the memorial is a metal plate bearing the inscription: In memory of the men and women of Hyde who lost their lives I the war 1939-1945