Captain William Leefe Robinson VC memorial obelisk

The Captain William Leefe Robinson VC memorial obelisk was erected in the aftermath of the First World War. It stands within an enclosure on the south side of East Ridgeway, Cuffley, approximately 150 metres west of The Plough public house. The memorial is a tall, slender obelisk constructed from Cornish granite, standing on a corniced, tapering plinth which itself rests on a two-stepped base. The front face of the obelisk is ornamented with a cast bronze wreath. Originally, the front face of the plinth featured a bronze sculpture of the Royal Flying Corps badge, which has since been replaced by an engraved black stone plaque. Below this, a bronze ribbon displays the Royal Air Force motto, PER ARDUA AD ASTRA. A dedicatory inscription below commemorates Captain William Leefe Robinson, who, on September 3, 1916, above this location, brought down SL11, the first German airship destroyed on British soil. An inscription on the left face of the plinth reproduces Robinson’s Victoria Cross citation from the London Gazette, detailing his “Most Conspicuous Bravery” in attacking an enemy airship. The right-hand face of the plinth bears an inscription noting that Captain Robinson died at Stanmore on December 31, 1918, seventeen days after his return from captivity in Germany, having been taken prisoner in April 1917. A further inscription on the front face of the upper base step acknowledges that the site of the monument was presented to the public by Mrs J.M.B. Kidston of Nyn Park, Northaw. The obelisk stands on a square paved area enclosed by metal posts carrying rails, with an opening facing the road. Note that, under a specific provision of planning legislation, the recently installed black stone plaque is not considered to be of special architectural or historic interest.