Men of Finchley War Memorial, including the Finchley Metropolitan Tramway and Hendon Garage Memorial Tablets

First World War memorial, 1925, with later additions for the Second World War.

MATERIALS: granite and bronze.

DESCRIPTION: Men of Finchley War Memorial is located in front of the Finchley United Services Club on Ballards Lane. It takes the form of a granite monolith set on a two-stepped base. The east face has a bronze cross affixed which bears the figure of a soldier flanked by the busts of a sailor and an airman cast in relief, with an inscription at the foot of the soldier reading ‘AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE/ SUN AND IN THE MORNING/ WE WILL REMEMBER THEM’. The east face of the memorial, underneath the bronze cross, bears an inscription in raised bronze lettering which reads, ‘IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF/ MEN OF FINCHLEY WHO/ BY SERVICE ON LAND SEA/ AND IN THE AIR GAVE THEIR/ LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY/ 1914 – 1919/ 1939 – 1945’.

The memorial is flanked by two relocated tablets recording the names of staff of the Metropolitan Electric Tramway Finchley Depot and the Hendon Garage who fell in the First World War. Both are set into the ground on slanted stone bases; the Metropolitan Electric Tramway Finchley Depot memorial to the north and the Hendon Garage memorial (dated 1921) to the south.The memorial stands on a grassed area enclosed by hedging to the north, west and south and a later-added brick dwarf wall surmounted by metal railings to the east with a central gate.