War Memorial

Materials: Portland stone memorial on a concrete base surrounded by a low metal railing.

Exterior: The memorial comprises a tapering stone column of approximately 10m on a double stone plinth, resting on a concrete base. At the top of the column is a stone urn, decorated with swags, on a pedestal with a plain die and a moulded torus and plinth. At the base of the column are copper plaques on each elevation. Those to the east and west are inscribed with the names of the dead. That to the south bears the inscription:

‘THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED IN THE / YEAR 1920 BY THE GRATEFUL INHABITANTS / OF GRAYS TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY / OF THEIR BRAVE FELLOW-TOWNSMEN WHO / ANSWERING THE CALL OF DUTY LEFT HOME / AND KINDRED IN ORDER TO DEFEND THE / EMPIRE AND THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND / ESPECIALLY TO THOSE WHOSE NAMES ARE / INSCRIBED ON THESE TABLETS, WHO LOST / THEIR LIVES WHILST SERVING IN THE / ARMED FORCES OF THE CROWN OR IN / THE MERCANTILE MARINE DURING THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918.

Inscribed in italics beneath are the words: "ON FAME'S ETERNAL CAMPING GROUND/ THEIR SILENT TENTS ARE SPREAD/ AND GLORY GUARDS WITH SOLEMN ROUND/ THIS BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD"

Above the plaque on the south side is the date 1939-45 carved on the column with a copper wreath in relief above. Beneath the main plaque on the west side, additional plaques to commemorate those who died in the Second World War and Korean War have been added.

Carved on the west side of the column are the following battle names: MONS/ YPRES/ SOMME/ AISNE/ ITALY/ GALLIPOLI/ MESOPOTAMIA/, and on the east: KUT/ GAZA/ SALONIKA/ JERUSALEM/ JUTLAND/ ZEEBRUGGE/ FALKLAND ISLANDS/.

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, 12 January 2017.