Society of the Sacred Heart War Memorial

The Society of the Sacred Heart War Memorial is a war memorial built in 1918 and relocated in 1972. It is made from Portland stone and concrete, featuring white marble plaques and tablets, along with a grey marble and polished granite shrine that includes a bronze crucifix.

The memorial is attached to the inside of the boundary wall of Digby Stuart College, located just south of the main gates. It measures approximately 11 meters long, 2 meters high, and 40 centimeters deep.

The monument features a central shrine with walls on either side lined with commemorative plaques. The shrine has a base of polished pink granite that displays the main inscription, flanked by two Portland stone tablets listing the names of those lost in the Second World War and the Korean War. Above the base is a stone shelf and a recessed grey marble panel with a pointed top, which holds a central bronze crucifix and six plaques with inscriptions commemorating members of the clergy who died in the First World War. Pilasters on either side of the shrine bear the inscriptions ‘ARMAGH / ROEHAMPTON’ and ‘ST CHARLES’S / STUDENTS / ST CHARLES’S’, along with additional inscribed tablets. The plaque-lined walls on either side each contain six rows of fourteen plaques, terminating in pilasters that hold individual plaques and tablets.

The central shrine features the chi-rho symbol along with the alpha and omega symbol, followed by the inscription: ‘TO THOSE THEY HAVE LOST / IN THE GREAT WAR / 1914-1919 / THE NUNS AND CHILDREN OF THE SACRED HEART / AND THEIR FAMILIES / HAVE ERECTED THIS SHRINE / IN LOVING MEMORY / AND SUPPLIANT PRAYER / RIP / “THEIR HOPE IS FULL OF IMMORTALITY” / WISD III, IV / 1939-1945’.