War Memorials To World War I And World War Ii, And Surrounding Walls, Paving And Approach

War Memorials to World War I and World War II, and Surrounding Walls, Paving and Approach

The World War I memorial stands on rising ground in Trinity Square, originally in front of Holy Trinity Church, which was demolished after World War II bomb damage. The memorial takes the form of a plain market cross in Cornish granite. A floriated Latin cross with a tall tapering octagonal shaft rises from a square base decorated with lancets between corner buttresses. This sits atop an octagonal plinth bearing the dedication on the south-west face and the names of 444 fallen on the other faces. The monument rests on a two-tier octagonal base. A low stone rubble wall with stone coping encloses the cross, probably erected in 1951. The stone paving on which the memorial stands and the stone paved approach with two flights of steps to the south-west date from the memorial's inception.

The dedication reads: "IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED AND SUFFERED FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE GREAT WAR EARNING PRAISE AND HONOUR THAT CAN NEVER DIE OF THOSE, TOO, WHO WERE DONE TO DEATH IN THIS TOWN AND A SIGN FOR ALL TIME OF THANKFULNESS TO ALMIGHTY GOD FOR THE SAFE HOMECOMING OF SO MANY OF THEIR FIGHTING MEN AND FOR THE DELIVERANCE OF THEIR TOWN FROM MANY PERILS FROM THE AIR AND FROM THE SEA THIS CROSS WAS RAISED BY THE PEOPLE OF MARGATE AD 1922 DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY."

The fallen are recorded with initials and surname. On the north-east face are two distinct lists: ten of those killed in the explosion on 2 April 1916 at the Explosives Loading Company factory at Uplees, near Faversham, the worst disaster in the history of United Kingdom explosives manufacturing, killing 109 workers; and 18 killed in enemy air raids on Margate, of whom 13 were local residents and five servicemen who died whilst staying in the town.

The World War II memorial wall behind the cross consists of four Portland stone panels bearing the names of 236 fallen atop the surrounding rubble stone wall. The panels are supported by square posts and flank a higher central tablet reading: "IN MEMORY OF THOSE OF THIS TOWN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES DURING THE 1939–1945 WAR AND AS AN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE FOR DELIVERANCE FROM MANY DANGERS FROM THE LAND, SEA AND AIR, ALSO TO COMMEMORATE THE SAFE LANDING AT MARGATE OF OVER 46,000 MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES FROM DUNKIRK IN 1940 THESE TABLETS WERE ERECTED BY THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN AND BURGESSES OF THE BOROUGH OF MARGATE A.D. 1951."

One casualty from the Falkland War and a soldier who died in Northern Ireland are also commemorated.

The original design for the memorial, displayed at Margate Pavilion in March 1920, was for a metal sculpture of a Private soldier by Frederick T Callcott, following the manner of his Surf Boat memorial on Marine Terrace. This design proved too costly. The next design, by Robert Dalby Reeve, a local architect, was an elaborate Gothic Eleanor cross, estimated at £3,500. However, by December 1921 only £1,372 had been raised by public subscription. The design was modified again by Reeve to the existing market cross, at the reduced cost of £1,730. The land, just south of Holy Trinity Church, was donated by local landowner Cecil Cobb. The memorial was executed by Herbert Read of Exeter and dedicated on 5 November 1922 by the Bishop of Rochester, unveiled by Lord Harris (1851–1932), head of the Kent war memorial committee. The memorial wall commemorating the fallen of World War II was added to the north-east of the World War I cross in 1951.