London and North Western Railway War Memorial

The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) was a major railway company in Britain in the early 20th century. In the aftermath of the First World War, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain, including many by private companies to commemorate their employees who were killed in the war. Many railway workers were in reserved occupations and not liable to be conscripted.[1] Prior to the introduction of conscription, over 4,000 LNWR employees had volunteered for the armed forces, 1,100 of them from Crewe Works. By the end of the war, 34 per cent of the railway's employees—37,742 men—had left to fight, of whom 3,719 were killed. Three employees were awarded the Victoria Cross—Lance Corporal John Alexander Christie, Private Ernest Sykes, and Private Wilfred Wood; the LNWR named a locomotive after each of them.[2][3]

The LNWR was one of the largest railway companies, and one of the largest private-sector organisations, in Britain in the early 20th century. During the war, it turned much of Crewe Works, its main engineering facility, over to the war effort. The skilled employees there began manufacturing artillery shells and other munitions, in addition to fulfilling a demand for new locomotives, wagons, and coaches to transport troops and equipment.[2]

The memorial cost around £12,500, of which about £4,000 came from donations from LNWR staff.[4][5] It was designed by the company's architect, Reginald Wynn Owen, and built by R. L. Boulton & Sons. Owen also designed a war memorial for the North London Railway, which was controlled by (and later absorbed into) the LNWR.[6]

Wynn Owen's drawing for the memorial, published in The Builder in 1920, before the memorial was built. The station lodges can be seen in the background.

The memorial consists of a single obelisk, 13 metres (43 feet) high in Portland stone, which stands on a tall pedestal and a circular base of grey granite. At the foot of the obelisk is a moulded reed band, just below which the obelisk is moulded to the pedestal. On each side of the obelisk, near the top, is a bronze wreath and a stone cross protruding from the body itself. The only inscription on the obelisk itself is IN MEMORY OF OUR GLORIOUS DEAD on the south face (the front as one walks towards Euston station), though a granite tablet in front of the memorial contains the further inscription

IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF 3719 MEN OF THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY WHO FOR THEIR COUNTRY, JUSTICE AND FREEDOM SERVED AND DIED IN THE GREAT WAR 1914–1919. THIS MONUMENT WAS RAISED BY THEIR COMRADES AND THE COMPANY AS A LASTING MEMORIAL TO THEIR DEVOTION.

Further tablets were added later to commemorate casualties from the Second World War, by which time the LNWR had been merged into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.[1][7][8]

Buttresses protruding from the pedestal on four sides act as steps; on top of each is a bronze over life-size statue. The four figures represent the infantry, artillery, Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force, each statue standing with its head bowed and resting on an upturned rifle. The memorial is unusual amongst First World War memorials in featuring the air force so prominently. The figures were designed modelled by Ambrose Neale, chief artist at R. L. Boulton & Sons of Cheltenham, who built the memorial.[1][9]

Although obelisks are not inherently associated with Christianity, Wynn Owen later said that he intended the addition of the crosses to symbolise the Christian ideals for which those commemorated had fought and died. The company's in-house magazine, the LNWR Gazette, also saw it as symbolising the unity of living and dead Christian believers. The Gazette praised the "simple grandeur of the structure [which] corresponds to the simplicity and grandeur of those to whom it is raised".[10] Owen described the obelisk as "entirely devoid of ornament so that the eye is drawn up to the crowning element of the design [the crosses] without distraction".[11][4] Wynn Owen was adamant that the memorial was to honour the dead and not in any way a victory monument.[12][13]

• The four bronze statues by Ambrose Neale
• 
  Artilleryman
• 
  Airman
• 
  Infantryman
• 
  Sailor

The memorial seen in the early 1960s, after the demolition of the Euston Arch and shortly before the redevelopment of the station

The LNWR memorial was unveiled at a ceremony on 21 October 1921. Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, the commander of British forces on the Western Front during the war, presided. Haig gave a speech in which he praised the LNWR's contribution to the war effort and its "splendid conduct and loyal support throughout the great struggle".[14] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Randall Davidson, gave a dedication. Among the other speakers were Ernest Sykes, who worked in the engineering department and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the war, and the LNWR company chairman, Charles Lawrence. The company presented a commemorative album to the nearest relative of each of the deceased which detailed the names and pre-war occupations of each of the men, as well as any decorations they were awarded, and details of the railway's work during the war. The unveiling ceremony was possibly the largest for a railway company war memorial. Over 8,000 people attended, and the company laid on special trains to bring employees and their relatives to London from across its network, including Crewe, Wolverton (home of another major works), Manchester, and Leeds.[1][7][8] Sykes laid the first wreath at the base of the obelisk, and other employees who had received military decorations formed a square between the memorial and the rest of the crowd.[15]

In 1919, the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) orchestrated a national strike, which lasted over a week before the government largely conceded to the NUR's demands. The government proposed to eliminate improved pay and conditions which railway workers had been granted during the war. The strikers were condemned in the press as revolutionaries and anarchists, to which the union took great offence, pointing out that many of its members had only recently returned from the war. Although the strike was not explicitly mentioned at the unveiling ceremony, tensions were still high. Art historian Gabriel Koureas argued that the purpose of the grand unveiling ceremony was to erase the "revolutionary feeling" that had inspired the strike by creating a new unity based on the official narrative of the war.[16][17] Both Haig and Lawrence stressed the heroism and selflessness of the dead in their speeches and the importance of following their example in life. Haig referred to the "burden these men bore so bravely",[18] and Lawrence told the crowd:

We, the survivors, should dedicate ourselves anew to the service of our country, and that, especially in our character of employers and employees, we should strive to act in a spirit of mutual sympathy, of mutual forbearance, of absolute rectitude of purpose, and even of magnanimity if we wish to assist in the binding up of the wounds of our common country, and so prove ourselves worthy of the sacrifice these men have made for us.[19]

Prior to the unveiling, Wynn Owen wrote to Lawrence, expressing his thoughts on the meaning and symbolism of the memorial, and hoping that Lawrence or Haig would explain at the ceremony. Lawrence wrote back that such explanation was "neither necessary nor helpful", preferring instead to focus on the company's war record and the actions of railwaymen who had received decorations in order to smooth industrial relations.[20] Koureas suggested that nominating Sykes, wearing his Victoria Cross, exemplified him as the "ideal working-class man: unselfish, patriotic, and obedient".[15]

As well as the obelisk at Euston, the LNWR built several smaller memorials at other major stations and works on its network, including two at Birmingham New Street railway station, one of which survives.[21] The company also produced a Roll of Honour, a copy of which was presented to the nearest living relative of each of the dead. The volume listed each of the 3,719 dead and included their railway occupation, military rank, and any decorations earned. It included a dedicated section listing recipients of the Victoria Cross and contained a full-page drawing of the memorial.[22]

The memorial's site was originally in the centre of Euston Square on the approach road to the station and on an axis with the Euston Arch, a grand ceremonial entrance to the station built at the same time as the original station. In the 1960s, the square was redeveloped by British Rail, dramatically changing the view of the memorial. The arch was controversially demolished and the station building was completely rebuilt. A new office building was erected in front of the station, obscuring the view of the memorial from the entrance.[1][23][24]

The memorial is a grade II* listed building, first designated in 1999. Listed building status provides statutory protection from demolition or modification; grade II* is reserved for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest" and is applied to about 5.5 per cent of listings.[25]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LNWR War Memorial, Euston station.

Other railway war memorials:

• Great Eastern Railway War Memorial, at Liverpool Street station
• Great Western Railway War Memorial, at Paddington station
• London, Brighton and South Coast Railway War Memorial, at London Bridge station
• North Eastern Railway War Memorial, in York
• Midland Railway War Memorial, in Derby

Lists:

• Grade II* listed buildings in Camden
• Grade II* listed war memorials in England
• List of public art in Camden

• LNWR Roll of Honour (London & North Western Railway Society)
• Photographs of pages from the LNWR Roll of Honour (War Memorials Online)