Ossett War Memorial - Ossett, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 40.771 W 001° 34.785
30U E 593807 N 5948802
This war memorial was erected in 1928 to commemorate the dead of World War I and was later amended for the dead of World War II.
Waymark Code: WM17Z15
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/24/2023
Views: 0
The memorial is made up of a life-size bronze figure of an infantryman standing on a square grey granite obelisk. It stands in the market place and faces Ossett Town Hall.
At the top of the obelisk is a wreath and below that the following inscription.
TO THE MEMORY
OF THE MEN OF
THIS TOWN
WHO GAVE
THEIR LIVES IN
THE GREAT WAR
1914 - 1918
After World War II the following inscription was added at the base of the obelisk.
AND OF
THOSE WHO GAVE
THEIR LIVES IN THE
WORLD WAR
1939-1945
The memorial was designed by the borough surveyor Mr H Holmes and local architect Mr C Kendall. The life-sized bronze figure was sculpted by Mr R Lindsay Clark (who died before the unveiling) and cast by Walkers of Idle. The memorial originally stood on a traffic island at the east end of Kingsway near the town hall, with the statue facing east. It was unveiled in front of a large crowd on the afternoon of Armistice Sunday, 11 November 1928, by the Rt Hon the Lord Viscount Lascelles.
In 1954 the memorial was relocated to the south side of Kingsway, with the statue facing to the north-east, approximately 25 metres west of the town hall. It became an English Heritage (now Historic England) Grade II listed building in 1988, in that location. It was relocated again in 2001 to its present site, facing north-east towards the front of the town hall.
On 11th November 2018, a hundred years after the end of World War I granite stones were laid around the base of the memorial with the names of the dead.
There is also a granite stone with three inscriptions often used for World War memorials.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them
WHEN YOU GO HOME, TELL THEM OF US AND SAY
FOR YOUR TOMORROW, WE GAVE OUR TODAY
LEST WE FORGET
The first inscription is from the poem 'For The Fallen' by World War I poet Laurence Binyon. It is the fourth stanza of the poem. The fourth stanza has been adopted by the Royal British Legion as an Exhortation for ceremonies of Remembrance to commemorate fallen Servicemen and women.
The second inscription is by John Maxwell Edmonds who is credited with authorship of a famous epitaph in the War Cemetery in Kohima which commemorates the fallen of the Battle of Kohima in April 1944.
The third inscription has been used on many occasions, but its use on war memorials is usually attributed to Rudyard Kipling and is taken from his poem of 1897, 'Recessional', that was actually written to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.