Kingston upon Thames War Memorial

The Kingston upon Thames War Memorial is located within the gated memorial gardens on the site of a former burial ground in Memorial Garden, Union Street.

The memorial features a bronze sculpture of a male warrior standing on a granite pedestal, which is flanked by low walls and set on a stepped base. The sculpture depicts a nude man holding a flaming cross while standing over a serpent that he is killing with a sword, accompanied by two children who shelter at his side.

The granite pedestal displays the main inscription in applied bronze. The lower section of the pedestal, which extends onto the flanking walls, features bronze relief panels listing 624 names of those who died in the First World War. The main inscription has been updated to include a dedication to the Second World War, although no additional names were added.

Inscribed around the base of the bronze sculpture are the words: AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE / SUN AND IN THE MORNING / WE WILL REMEMBER THEM, taken from Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poem For the Fallen. On the front of the pedestal, beneath the sculpture, the inscription reads: IN HONOUR OF / THE MEN OF THIS / TOWN WHO GAVE / THEIR LIVES IN / THE GREAT WARS / 1914 – 1919 / 1939 – 1945.