Memorial to the Crew of the German Warship SMS Grosser Kurfürst

The memorial to the crew of the German warship SMS Grosser Kurfürst was designed by Eduard Lürssen and completed in 1881. It is located in the northeast quadrant of Cheriton Road Cemetery, facing Cheriton Road to the north.

The memorial features a tapering obelisk made of white sandstone, which stands on a square base supported by a two-step granite plinth. The obelisk is partially covered by a carving of the flag of the German Imperial Navy. On the north face of the obelisk, there is a gilded coat of arms that depicts the Imperial Eagle on an anchor, with the Prussian Eagle on an escutcheon in the center. Below this coat of arms, a dedicatory inscription in gilded lettering reads: DEM ANDENKEN/ AN DIE AM/ 31. MAI 1878 MIT S.M.S./ GROSSER KURFÜRST/ UNTERGEGANGENEN/ KAMERADEN/ DIE DEUTSCHE MARINE, which translates to "To the memory of the comrades in the German Navy who went down with the S.M.S. Grosser Kurfürst on 31 May 1878."

Each corner of the square base is decorated with a lion head and scroll-work, symbolizing the figurehead of a ship. The four sides of the base feature palm leaf and wreath motifs, and it is surrounded by carved oak leaf garlands.

Originally, the east, south, and west faces of the obelisk displayed inscriptions with the names of over 100 crew members buried in the cemetery. However, these inscriptions were removed during renovation work in 1924 due to their illegibility. Newspaper records from that time suggest that there was a plan to replace the names with bronze plates affixed to the sides of the obelisk, but it is unclear if this was ever completed.