Captain William Leefe Robinson VC memorial obelisk

The Cornish granite memorial obelisk stands in an enclosure on the south side of East Ridgeway, Cuffley, some 150m to the west of The Plough public house. It takes the form of a tall, slender, obelisk standing on a corniced, tapering, plinth. The plinth stands on a two-stepped base. The front face of the obelisk is ornamented with a cast bronze wreath.

The front face of the plinth formerly carried a bronze sculpture of the RFC badge, lately replaced by an engraved black stone plaque*. Below this a bronze ribbon carries the RAF motto, PER ARDUA AD ASTRA. The dedicatory inscription below reads ERECTED BY READERS OF/ “THE DAILY EXPRESS”/ TO THE MEMORY OF/ CAPTAIN WILLIAM LEEFE ROBINSON, V.C./ WORCS. REGT. AND R.F.C./ WHO ON SEPTEMBER 3. 1916/ ABOVE THIS SPOT BROUGHT DOWN/ SL11., THE FIRST GERMAN AIRSHIP/ DESTROYED ON BRITISH SOIL.

An inscription to the left face of the plinth duplicates Robinson’s VC citation from the London Gazette, reading THE AWARD OF THE VICTORIA CROSS/ TO CAPTAIN ROBINSON WAS THUS ANNOUNCED/ IN THE LONDON GAZETTE OF SEPTEMBER 5, 1916/ “FOR MOST CONSPICUOUS BRAVERY”/ HE ATTACKED AN ENEMY AIRSHIP/ UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES OF GREAT DIFFICULTY/ AND DANGER, AND SENT IT CRASHING/ TO THE GROUND AS A FLAMING WRECK/ HE HAD BEEN IN THE AIR FOR MORE/ THAN TWO HOURS, AND HAD PREVIOUSLY/ ATTACKED ANOTHER AIRSHIP DURING HIS FLIGHT.

The inscription to the plinth’s right-hand face reads CAPTAIN ROBINSON DIED AT STANMORE/ ON DECEMBER 31, 1918/ SEVENTEEN DAYS AFTER HIS RETURN/ FROM CAPTIVITY IN GERMANY/ HE WAS TAKEN PRISONER IN APRIL 1917. On the front face of the upper base step an inscription reads THE SITE OF THIS 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 to the front from the street.

• Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the aforementioned feature, the engraved black stone plaque, is not of special architectural or historic interest.