LUTON TOWN WAR MEMORIAL

The Luton Borough War memorial can be found on the Town square edged by Manchester Street, St George Street and Upper George Street outside Luton Town Hall in Manchester Street, Luton. It takes the form of a robed, winged female figure apparently representing Peace, right arm raised holding a palm frond, standing on a cenotaph with four-stepped base. The names from World War 1 are inscribed on the cenotaph and those names for World War 2 on plaques mounted on the base steps. The memorial was dedicated by Rev C Molian Williams, Vicar of Luton, and unveiled by Lady Ludlow 10 December 1922. The memorial was designed by Sir William Hamo Thornycroft, R.A., and Sir Reginald Blomfield, R.A. There are 1285 names listed for World War 1 and 672 for World War 2. So far we have managed to collect a list of 1280 names for World War 1, we cannot find the 5 missing names, for World War 2 we have found 726 names on the brass plaques, 54 more than stated which appear to be on individual plates on the memorial added at a later date.

Various extracts about the memorial from the local papers of the time have been transcribed and can be found on a separate page. See also World War 1 Luton. The original article from The Luton Reporter 12 December 1922 is here in it's entirety in Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf) (warning: large document).

Photographs from old postcards

1922
ERECTED
BY
PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION

GREATER LOVE HATH
NO MAN THAN THIS
THAT A MAN LAY
DOWN HIS LIFE
FOR HIS FRIENDS.

BOROUGH OF LUTON
IN MEMORY OF
THE MEN OF LUTON
WHO FELL
IN THE GREAT WAR
THE TABLETS ON THE LOWER PLINTH COMMEMORATE
THE MEN AND WOMEN OF LUTON WHO FELL IN THE
SECOND WORLD WAR
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

THEY GAVE THE MOST THAT MAN
CAN GIVE LIFE ITSELF FOR GOD
FOR KING AND COUNTRY FOR
LOVED ONES HOME AND EMPIRE
FOR THE SACRED CAUSE OF
JUSTICE AND FREEDOM
OF THE WORLD

Last updated 7 April, 2020