Dozens of records of war memorials and funerary monuments on UK have been improved through the generous efforts of Art Detective contributor Kieran Owens in particular. Names of sculptors have been rediscovered, sitters identified, subjects clarified, and dates of unveiling found. These are quite recent submissions to Art Detective, adding to the numerous improvements made since 2014 to the records of armed forces portraits in public collections around the UK. The updates shown here are almost exclusively from Kieran, but the curation includes contributions from two other contributors as well. Thank you for them all. There were going to be ten, but the eleventh begged to be included...

11 artworks
  • Sikh Memorial

    The artist was not recorded when this statue was added to Art UK. It was commissioned by the Sikh Soldier Organisation in 2019 and unveiled at a special ceremony with the support of the British Army, Royal British Legion and Kirklees Council. Made of Indian bronze and Yorkshire stone, it is dedicated to the memory of the Sikh soldiers of the British Indian Army who served in the First and Second World Wars – more than 83,000 Sikhs were killed and thousands more wounded in the two wars. Kieran Owens identified the artist for Art UK as Jaydeep Apte (b.1985). The sculpture was made in Apte's workshop in Bazarpeth, Kalyan, India. It is located at Park Drive South, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

    Sikh Memorial 2019
    Jaydeep Apte (b.1985)
    Indian bronze & Yorkshire stone
    H 183 cm
    Sikh Memorial
    © the copyright holder. Image credit: David Wright / Art UK

  • Monument to Admiral Sir Charles Napier (1786–1860)

    This monument is formed of a column with a Romanesque capital and finial surmounted by a stone lion. The column stands on a six-sided pedestal with three concave sides, set on a tapering rusticated base, with an uncoursed rubble lower base, on a granite slab. The column commemorates the death in 1860 of Admiral Napier, who served in the Royal Navy in (among others) the Napoleonic and Crimean Wars. It can be found in Victoria Park, Portsmouth, Hampshire. Kieran Owens found an article in the Hampshire Advertiser, of Saturday 22nd August 1863, which attributed the creation of the bronze medallion of Napier to 'Phyffers', whom he identified as the Belgian-born sculptor Theodore John Baptiste Phyffers (c.1820–1876).

    Monument to Admiral Sir Charles Napier (1786–1860) 1863
    Theodore John Baptiste Phyffers (1821–1877) and Thomas John Willson (1824–1903) and Samuel Joseph Nicholl (1826–1905)
    Stone, sandstone & Portland stone
    H 800 x W 200 x D 200 cm
    Monument to Admiral Sir Charles Napier (1786–1860)
    Image credit: Michael Parry / Art UK

  • Rifleman Thaman Gurung (1924–1944), VC, 1st Battalion, 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force)

    The artist was previously unknown. Kieran Owens found that this sympathetic portrait of a young Gurkha rifleman is by the artist and writer Desmond Archibald Doig, who was an officer in the Fifth Royal Gurkha Rifles of Nepal from 1939 to 1947, becoming a captain and receiving the Africa Star and Italy Star. He was a life-long supporter of the peoples of Nepal. The portrait was most likely painted when Doig was serving with the Gurkhas in Italy during the Second World War, as the sitter was killed in action, aged just 20, on 10th November 1944, at Monte San Bartolo, Pesaro, Italy. He is buried in plot III.B.5. at the Gurkha War Cemetery in Rimini, Emilia-Romagna. On 22nd February 1945 he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

    Rifleman Thaman Gurung (1924–1944), VC, 1st Battalion, 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) c.1945
    Desmond Doig (1921–1983)
    Oil on canvas
    H 57 x W 43 cm
    National Army Museum
    Rifleman Thaman Gurung (1924–1944), VC, 1st Battalion, 5th Royal Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force)
    © the copyright holder. Image credit: National Army Museum

  • HMS 'Eurydice' Memorial

    A Portland stone sculpture depicting various naval artefacts carved in memory of those who died on HMS 'Eurydice', when the ship foundered off Shanklin on 24th March 1878 in one of Britain's worst peacetime naval disasters. Seven of her crew were buried at the site. The artist was previously unknown to Art UK. Kieran Owens found a report in the Wrexham Advertiser, Saturday 26th June 1880, which identified A. Tyler, Honorary Secretary of the Subscription Committee, as the designer and Frederick James Moynihan (1842–1910) as the sculptor.

    HMS 'Eurydice' Memorial
    Frederick James Moynihan (1842–1910)
    Portland stone
    HMS 'Eurydice' Memorial
    Image credit: Bob Cassey / ArtUK

  • Kennedy War Memorial

    The artist was unknown. The Mid-Sussex Times, of Tuesday 12th January 1937, mentions in an article on Sussex Church Builders that this memorial was created by 'Lovatelli, Rome', which Kieran Owens identified as a reference to Count Filippo Lovatelli, the aristocratic Italian sculptor who was also responsible for the bust of Virginia Courtauld in the collection of English Heritage, Eltham Palace. The same paper, of Tuesday 11th May 1937, reported on the official unveiling of the monument. Set above the door to the clock tower, this memorial commemorates the three sons (of five) of Sir John Gordon Kennedy (d.1912) killed in the First World War. The individual full-length portraits of the brothers are depicted against a battlefield setting.

    Kennedy War Memorial 1937
    Filippo Lovatelli (1874–1952)
    White, orange & grey marble
    H 150 x W 180 x D 20 cm
    Kennedy War Memorial
    Image credit: Lawrence Suss / Art UK

  • HMS 'Chesapeake' Memorial

    An article in the Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service, of Saturday 21st February 1863, attributes the creation of this memorial's bronze relief to 'T. Phyffers', whom Kieran Owens identified as the Belgian-born sculptor Theodore John Baptiste Phyffers (c.1820–1876). The relief depicts the attempt to take the Taku Forts (Tianjin, in north-eastern China) in June 1859 during the Second Opium War, during which 89 men were killed and 345 wounded. The monument is on Clarence Esplanade, Southsea, in Hampshire.

    HMS 'Chesapeake' Memorial 1862
    Theodore John Baptiste Phyffers (1821–1877) and Thomas John Willson (1824–1903) and Samuel Joseph Nicholl (1826–1905)
    Granite, stone & bronze
    H 700 x W 300 x D 300 cm
    HMS 'Chesapeake' Memorial
    Image credit: Michael Parry / Art UK

  • Toll Boys Memorial

    The Toll Boys were all local unemployed men who spent their days repairing furniture at the Toll House to help others in the local community. In 2018 the original bronze plaque bearing the names of the 29 Toll Boys who gave their lives in the First World War was moved from the wall of the building at 5 Glasgow Road – where the old Toll House stood – to allow for the regeneration of the local area. It was relocated to a nearby garden area and fixed to the plinth of a brand new Celtic cross. The artist was unknown to Art UK until Kieran Owens found that the Port-Glasgow Express, of Wednesday 7th September 1921, carried a long report on the unveiling, which identifies its creator as Archibald Hamilton of Glasgow.

    Toll Boys Memorial 1921
    Archibald Hamilton (active 1880–1951)
    Granite & bronze
    H 700 x W 500 x D 500 cm
    Toll Boys Memorial
    © the copyright holder. Image credit: Gordon Baird / Art UK

  • Korean War Veterans Memorial Models

    James Heald notified us that these figures had been misattributed to Terry Jones (1938–1992). He identified them as limited-edition bronze figurines by American sculptor Terry Jones (active since 1968), who in 1989 had produced a design for the International Korean War Veterans Memorial in Angel's Gate Park, San Pedro, Los Angeles, to consist of twelve monumental ten-foot high bronze soldiers. The monument was never constructed, but these are the models.

    Korean War Veterans Memorial Models
    Terry Jones (active since 1968)
    H 43 x W 90 x D 42 cm
    Royal Marines Museum
    Korean War Veterans Memorial Models
    © the copyright holder. Image credit: Royal Marines Museum

  • County Antrim War Memorial

    An obelisk of plain blocks, with a wreath applied to its front, resting on a corniced square pedestal of rusticated blocks, with a large, inscribed plaque on front of the pedestal. Also known as the Knockagh Monument, it was first dedicated to the memory of the men of County Antrim who fell in the First World War. Kieran Owens found an extract from an article in the Northern Whig, of Monday 9th October 1922, identifying the architect who designed this memorial as Henry Seaver. On 5th November 2006, the monument was re-dedicated to perpetuate the memory of those from County Antrim who lost their lives in the Second World War as well.

    County Antrim War Memorial 1922
    Henry Seaver (1860–1941)
    Basalt, other stone & slate
    H 3353 cm
    County Antrim War Memorial
    Image credit: Frances Price / Art UK

  • Forse, Latheron and Latheronwheel War Memorial

    A figure of a Seaforth Highlander at the guard is set on a tapered granite plinth atop two steps. This monument, which is on the A99 at Latherton, Caithness in the Scottish Highlands, was unveiled on 13th October 1922. The contractors were Henry Hutcheon Ltd, Aberdeen Granite Works, Aberdeen and the masons employed were Colin Sutherland and Adam Gunn. There was no easily available record of the artist or contractors when this monument was photographed for Art UK, but Kieran Owens found a report on the unveiling in the Northern Ensign and Weekly Gazette, of Wednesday 18th October 1922, which identified the sculptor as Peter Sinclair, of Wick. He is buried in the Old Municipal Cemetery in Wick.

    Forse, Latheron and Latheronwheel War Memorial 1922
    Peter Duncan Sinclair (1871–1949)
    Granite
    Forse, Latheron and Latheronwheel War Memorial
    Image credit: Walter Allan / Art UK

  • Military Parade at the War Memorial

    We were told that the dog mascot illustrated was not an Irish wolfhound, as described on Art UK, but a Scottish Deerhound. The breeds are commonly confused, but our contributor pointed out that the subject matter too denotes the Scottish connection. The dog is Bruce of Abbotsford, the Scottish deerhound mascot of the Tyneside Scottish Regiment. This picture is recorded in the archives of The Deerhound Club. Finally, our thanks to Robin Paisey for establishing the identity of this important member of the regiment!

    Military Parade at the War Memorial
    John Thomas Young Gilroy (1898–1985)
    Oil on canvas
    H 126.5 x W 101 cm
    North Tyneside Council
    Military Parade at the War Memorial
    © the artist's estate. Image credit: North Tyneside Council