The Brookwood Memorial

The Brookwood Memorial is a war memorial located in Brookwood Cemetery, built in 1958, likely designed by Sir Edwin Maufe. It is made of Portland stone and features slate inscription panels. The memorial consists of an open circular structure with an outer ring raised on a dwarf wall, which is backed by a clipped hedge. This ring is supported by slender piers with rounded ends, each side displaying inscription panels. Above these panels is an entablature, and behind it stands a taller wall with rectangular openings. At the center of the memorial is a round grass lawn. Opposite the main steps is a masonry screen that bears an inscription honoring the 3,500 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who were denied a known and honored grave due to fortune and war.

The memorial was inaugurated after a service attended by Her Majesty the Queen on October 25, 1958. It is part of a series of notable military memorials at Brookwood, which commemorates both World Wars, making this cemetery unique in Britain for its collection. Among those commemorated is Violette Szabo GC, a Special Operations Executive agent executed at Ravensbruck concentration camp in 1945. Sir Edwin Maufe, who was knighted for his work with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1954, also designed the memorial at Runnymede for missing RAF airmen in 1953 and built a chapel at Brookwood in 1947. This memorial is recognized for its historical significance, architectural quality, and its important visual presence in this remarkable landscape of military commemoration.