Memorial to the Crew of the German Warship SMS Grosser Kurfürst

Memorial by Eduard Lürssen of 1881.

MATERIALS: granite; white sandstone; gilding.

DESCRIPTION: the memorial stands in the north east quadrant of Cheriton Road Cemetery, facing Cheriton Road to the north.The memorial takes the form of a tapering obelisk on a square base, both of white sandstone, supported by a two-step granite plinth.

The obelisk is partially shrouded by a carving of the flag of the German Imperial Navy. The north face of the obelisk bears a gilded coat of arms depicting the Imperial Eagle on an anchor with the Prussian Eagle on an escutcheon in the centre. Below the 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. [To the memory of the comrades in the German Navy who went down with the S.M.S. Grosser Kurfürst on 31 May 1878.]

Beneath the obelisk, each of the four corners of the square base is adorned with a lion head and scroll-work representing the figurehead of a ship. The four sides of the base each feature a palm leaf and wreath motif, and the base is encircled by carved oak leaf garlands.

The east, south and west faces of the obelisk originally bore inscriptions listing the names of over 100 of the ship's crew who were buried in the cemetery. These inscriptions were removed during renovation works to the memorial in 1924, having become illegible over time. Newspaper records from that year indicate that the intention was to replace the names on bronze plates fixed to the sides of the obelisk, but it is unclear if this work was ever undertaken.