Hinckley War Memorial

War Memorial statue and wall, 1922 by John Alfred Gotch.

MATERIALS: limestone pillar and wall, the pillar is topped with a patinated bronze statue of the Angel of Mercy.

DESCRIPTION: the pillar has an octagonal shaft on three steps with moulded base and inscription 'TO KEEP IN MIND THOSE FROM THIS PLACE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR, 1914 -1919'. Above the inscription is a bulbous band with an inscribed strapwork frieze of crosses with central roundels carrying the octagonal corniced base of the shaft. The top of the shaft is decorated with a strapwork frieze below a moulded cornice, and above this the statue stands on a smaller octagonal pedestal flanked by four square pillars or ‘antae’. The statue itself is a robed female figure of the Angel of Mercy in bronze, representing peace. She wears a laurel wreath around her head and both her hands are held out ‘as if in the act of blessing’.

Standing to the north of the memorial statue is a wall on bolection moulded base reached by a wide flight of limestone steps. The central section of the wall is divided into seven panels, the three to the left and to the right being filled with bronze panels with the names of those lost in the first world war in relief. The central panel contains a simple inscribed stone cross. A band below the names is inscribed with 'THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR'. Above the names, the inscription 'THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVER MORE' is carved into the frieze. At the foot of the wall, bronze panels record the names of those who died in the Second World War. To the left and right of the wall, further plaques have been added, including the names of Hinckley residents lost to terrorist action since the Second World War.