War Memorial

The war memorial, dating from 1920, stands in Wotton-under-Edge and was designed by Percy Burnell Tubbs, FRIBA, and sculpted by Henry Poole, RA. It is constructed from dressed Portland stone, with inscribed granite plaques, and includes a separate bronze plaque commemorating those who fell in World War Two.

The monument comprises an urn atop a tapering, ashlar column of square section, featuring a Doric frieze. The column sits on a square plinth, raised on a platform of three steps. To each side of the plinth is a rectangular granite plaque set in a limestone surround with a pedimented top, featuring winged decoration and a stylised anthemion. The eastern plaque is inscribed with a dedication to the men of Wotton-under-Edge who died in the Great War (1914-1919), referencing the phrase “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” The remaining three plaques list the names and ranks of the 114 men of the town who lost their lives in the Great War. A bronze plaque affixed to the lower part of the plinth on the eastern side commemorates the fifteen men who died in World War Two, featuring names, regiments, a shield, and laurel leaves.

The monument was erected after the First World War and unveiled in a civic ceremony on 20 June 1920. A bronze plaque commemorating those who died in World War Two was subsequently added after 1945. The memorial is particularly poignant as Captain S B Tubbs, the architect’s son, is among those commemorated.