Wyggeston And Queen Elizabeth I College War Memorial

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 19 July 2016.

First World War memorial at Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, Leicester by Col. J C Baines, O.W. unveiled and dedicated on 10 July 1922. An additional memorial in the form of a gate and gate piers, in memory of those men who lost their lives in the Second World War was later added, unveiled and dedicated on 19 March 1950.

The memorial stands immediately outside the principal entrance of Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College and forms a focal point on the access routes from both Victoria Park Road and University Road.

PLAN: the well-crafted memorial in ashlar comprises a square plan pillar, approximately 9ft tall with recessed corners, standing on two square plan steps in a circular stone setting. Stone panels set within each face are inscribed in relief with the principal dedication to the front (limestone panel) and the names of those who lost their lives on the other three sides (slate panels). A drip mould is positioned above each panel offering some protection to the inscriptions.

DESCRIPTION: the principal dedicatory inscription reads INMEMORIAM/AETERNAM HUIUS SCHOLAE/ ALUMNORUM QUI IN SUMMO/ GLORIAM PATRIAE SALUTEM/ PEPERERUNT/ MCMXIV-MCMXVIII/ET/ MCMXXXIX-MCMXLV. Above this is the school crest carved in stone. The names of the 191 masters and old boys of the college who lost their lives in the First World War are inscribed in alphabetical order around the other three sides.

The Second World War memorial stands approximately 3m in front of the earlier cenotaph and is linked by an extension to the stone paving and more recently by the addition of iron railings and a hedge. It comprises two low, square-plan piers with short lengths of walling to each side, supporting wrought iron gates, that to the right is adorned with the Arms of the City of Leicester and that to the left the school crest. Although much smaller the gate piers are very similar in design to the earlier memorial; constructed in ashlar, square in plan with recessed corners and stone panels front and back bearing the names of the fallen. Both front and back of each pier is inscribed with 1939-1945 above the lists of names.

In accordance with section s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act, 1990, the railings surrounding the horseshoe-shaped enclosure are excluded from the listing.

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 23 November 2017.