Empire Horses (in Church of St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb)

Description

A small memorial in the Church of St Jude-on-the-Hill in Hampstead Garden Suburb (which is itself a Lutyens church) is perhaps the most unusual of all of the architect’s war memorials. The subject is the horses of the British Empire, 375,000 of whom died in the conflict. Rev Basil Bouchier (the first vicar of St Jude’s) had served as a forces’ chaplain and, having experienced the suffering of the animals at first hand, decided to provide a memorial to them.

The memorial uniquely combined the work of father and son – a bronze of a suitably stocky heavy horse by Charles Lutyens (who was also a noted painter of the animal) mounted upon a wooden plinth by Edwin. Unfortunately the sculpture was stolen in the 1960s but the plinth remains with, nearby, a new memorial in the form of a bronze wall sculpture by Rosemary Proctor above the plaque from the original Lutyens memorial.

Bouchier’s sentiments were realised on a grander scale with the Animals in War Memorial at Brook Gate, Park Lane, London by David Backhouse, which was unveiled in 2004. (Contributor: Tim Skelton)

Largely, it seems, through contributions from the congregation the bronze was purchased and an accompanying plaque and wooden plinth commissioned. The memorial was unveiled on Easter Sunday (April 4) 1926 by the Vicar’s great friend Miss Frances Jeffcock during ‘Festal Mattins’ and dedicated by him. It originally stood on the north side of the church to the left of the St George’s altar.

Unfortunately the bronze itself was stolen in 1967 – as was a replica – and so what we have today (on the wall by the main west door) is the original plaque and a new (1970) bronze relief of a war horse by Rosemary Proctor, daughter of William Maxwell Rennie, the third vicar.

A.M.D.G./ IN GRATEFUL AND REVERENT/ MEMORY OF THE EMPIRE’S/ HORSES (SOME 375,000) WHO FELL IN/ THE GREAT WAR (1914-1918)/ MOST OBEDIENTLY, AND OFTEN/ MOST PAINFULLY, THEY DIED/ “FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH/ NOT ONE OF THEM IS/ FORGOTTEN BEORE GOD”/ EASTER 1926. (Hampstead Garden Suburb Heritage, n.d.)

Bibliography

Hampstead Garden Suburb Heritage Virtual Museum. The War Horse Memorial [Online] Available from: https://hgsheritage.org.uk/Detail/objects/id%3A574

Also Cited In

Listing Grade

I (Church listing)

Listing Reference

1294714

Client