Watford Peace Memorial

First World War memorial with additional Second World War inscription. Originally erected in 1928. Bronze sculptures by Mary Pownall Bromet. Cast by Morris Singer and Co. Ltd.

MATERIALS: bronze sculptures on Portland stone plinth and pedestals.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial now stands at The Parade, outside Watford Town Hall, in an open paved area and on a sloping three-stepped paved base.

The monument comprises a Portland stone stepped plinth formed from a semicircular low wall and three pedestals that support three bronze male nude sculptures. The plinth is c1.3m high at the central section, c1.1m deep, and c4.7m wide.

The southern statue, dated 1914, is of a seated male leaning on his left knee, head bent, representing a mourner. It is c1.5m high and has a base that is c0.7m by c0.7m. The central figure is of a proudly standing male, wearing a fig leaf, his right arm raised and head slightly tilted back. It stands c2.4m high on a base c0.7m wide and c0.9m wide. The northern figure, dated 1916, is another seated figure with opened hands coming forward over his right knee, representing a blinded man. It stands c1.6m high, on a base that is c0.7m by c0.7m. All the figures are signed ‘Mary Pownall Bromet’ and were cast by Morris Singer & Co. Ltd.

It bears no names but carries inscriptions below each figure: TO THE FALLEN below the southern, TO THE WOUNDED below the northern and VICTORY / 1914 – 1918 / 1939 – 1945 beneath the central. The monument also features relief carved wreaths to the flanking low walls.

A stone tablet, at the base of the memorial in front of the central figure, which was presumably added some time after the Second World War to commemorate more recent conflicts, reads AND IN REMEMBRANCE OF / ALL OTHER CITIZENS OF THIS BOROUGH / BOTH MILITARY AND CIVILIAN / WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES / IN THE SERVICE OF HUMANITY.