South Shields war memorial

First and Second World War Memorial, 1926 to the designs of J H Morton; sculpted in Portland stone by William Robertson Cliff of South Shields.

The memorial is situated at the intersection of two main roads. It takes the form of a tall and slim Latin cross with expanded terminals and moulded intersections. The memorial stands 25 feet (7.62m) high and has a bronze crusader sword on the front and back and a rope moulding to the base of the shaft. It stands on two steps on top of a pedestal, which in turn stands on a 4-stepped octagonal platform. A bronze plaque on the pedestal has a raised decorated border with lettering in raised Roman capitals and reads:

'TO THE GLORY OF GOD/ AND IN MEMORY OF/ THOSE OF THIS TOWN/ WHO LAID DOWN THEIR/ LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR,/ THIS CROSS WAS ERECTED/ AND TWENTY FOUR COTS/ IN THE CHILDREN'S WARD OF THIS INFIRMARY/ WERE ENDOWED BY/ PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION'.

Incised onto the stone faces adjacent to the bronze plaque are the dates: '1914-1918' and '1939-1945'.

On the riser of one of the steps is incised the details of the unveiling: 'UNVEILED BY/ SIR JAMES READHEAD BART/ 28TH FEBRUARY 1928'.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 7 February 2017.