Hove War Memorial

Description

At the head of Grand Avenue the Hove war memorial, 1920–1 by Lutyens, a granite Doric column topped by a bronze figure of St George, by Sir George Frampton. The two designed a very similar war memorial at Fordham, Cambridgeshire, the same year and Frampton had used an almost identical bronze of St George for T. G. Jackson’s 1903 Second Boer War memorial at Radley College, Oxfordshire. (Antram, 2013, p.257)

Similar to Lutyens’s memorial in Fordham, the Hove memorial was the architect’s third design for the memorial in Hove. He initially proposed a replica of the Cenotaph and a mock-up was erected on Hove Lawns, but it was rejected along with his subsequent suggestion for an obelisk. The site was chosen by Lutyens in preference to ones in St John’s Road and at the junction of Grand Avenue and Church Road, about 100 yards from the present site.

The column is made of granite and the bronze figure of St George firmly grasping the blade of the sword in his hand was sculpted by Sir George Frampton. The memorial cost £1,537 and was unveiled on 27 February 1921 by Lord Leconfield, the Lord Lieutenant of Sussex. Lutyens was in India at the time and his office manager, A J Thomas, deputised for him at the ceremony. (Contributor: Tim Skelton)

Bibliography

Antram, N. (2013) Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove. The Buildings of England. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Also Cited In

Gliddon, G. and Skelton, T.J. (2008) Lutyens and the Great War. London: Frances Lincoln.

Listing Grade

II

Listing Reference

1187556

Client