Royal Fusiliers War Memorial

The Royal Fusiliers War Memorial was erected in 1922, following the First World War, to the design of architects Cheadle and Harding and sculptor Albert Toft. The bronze casting was carried out by A B Burton at the Thames Ditton Foundry in London, with further inscriptions added after the Second World War.

The memorial is situated on a traffic island on High Holborn, near the junction with Brooke Street, close to The Staple Inn and the Prudential Assurance Building. It consists of a 2.6-metre high bronze statue set upon a 5-metre high tapered Portland stone pedestal with a chamfered base. The statue depicts a private infantry soldier of the Royal Fusiliers in full service dress, including boots, puttees, uniform, knapsack, ammunition pouches, backpack and helmet, and carrying a rifle with a fixed bayonet behind him. The soldier is shown with his head turned and right leg raised on a rock, as if surveying the horizon, his left hand clenched in a fist, facing westward along the road to guard the entrance to the City of London.

On the front (west) side of the pedestal is the regimental badge: a Tudor rose enclosed by the Garter bearing the motto "Honi soit qui mal y pense," surmounted by a King’s crown. Below the badge is the inscription "THE ROYAL FUSILIERS / (CITY OF LONDON REGIMENT) / TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY / OF THE / 22,000 ROYAL FUSILIERS / WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914-1919 / AND TO THE ROYAL FUSILIERS / WHO FELL IN THE WORLD WAR / 1939-1945." A stone block, added later, is inscribed on the chamfered top of the base in smaller lettering: "AND THOSE FUSILIERS / KILLED IN SUBSEQUENT CAMPAIGNS." The rear (east) side of the pedestal features a bronze plaque listing the 53 regular, service, and territorial battalions of the regiment that served in the First World War. The base of the statue is inscribed "ALBERT TOFT Sc." and stainless steel hooks are affixed to the base for wreath placement.