Tower Hill Memorial

I paid a visit today. This memorial commemorates all the Merchant Navy missing from WW1 and WW2.

Details from CWGC site:

The Tower Hill Memorial commemorates men and women of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in both World Wars and who have no known grave. It stands on the south side of the garden of Trinity Square, London, close to The Tower of London. The Memorial Register may be consulted at Trinity House Corporation, Trinity Square (Cooper's Row entrance), Tower Hill, London EC3 N4DH, which will be found behind the Memorial. Tel: 020 7481 6900.

In the First World War, the civilian navy's duty was to be the supply service of the Royal Navy, to transport troops and supplies to the armies, to transport raw materials to overseas munitions factories and munitions from those factories, to maintain, on a reduced scale, the ordinary import and export trade, to supply food to the home country and - in spite of greatly enlarged risks and responsibilities - to provide both personnel and ships to supplement the existing resources of the Royal Navy. Losses of vessels were high from the outset, but had peaked in 1917 when in January the German government announced the adoption of "unrestricted submarine warfare". The subsequent preventative measures introduced by the Ministry of Shipping - including the setting up of the convoy system where warships were used to escort merchant vessels - led to a decrease in losses but by the end of the war, 3,305 merchant ships had been lost with a total of 17,000 lives. In the Second World War, losses were again considerable in the early years, reaching a peak in 1942. The heaviest losses were suffered in the Atlantic, but convoys making their way to Russia around the North Cape, and those supplying Malta in the Mediterranean were also particularly vulnerable to attack. In all, 4,786 merchant ships were lost during the war with a total of 32,000 lives. More than one quarter of this total were lost in home waters. The First World War section of the Tower Hill Memorial commemorates almost 12, 000 Mercantile Marine casualties who have no grave but the sea. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens with sculpture by Sir William Reid-Dick. The Second World War extension, designed by Sir Edward Maufe, with sculpture by Charles Wheeler, bears almost 24,000 names.

Have created a group in my Flickr account here:

Tower Hill - a photoset on Flickr

 

Memorial seen from the far side:

 

Some of the WW2 names:

 

Some of the sculpture work is fantastic:

 

Found a nice aerial photo here:



Ahoy - Mac's Web Log - Researching the SS Empire Bowman for one of the George Cross recipients - previously Albert Medal. Interview with Capt. C. H. Cranch

 

The Queen at the WW2 Section of the memorial in 1955: Celebrity, News and Sports Photography | Welcome to Jamd

Can't seem to post it here on its own.

 

Thanks for posting this thread, Paul. This memorial is very close to where I started work in the London docks ( many ! ) years ago, and I used to spend some lunch-breaks looking at it and thinking of the suffering that must lay behind those ships' names.

Despite - or maybe because of ? - its location, I've always thought that it is somehow an 'overlooked' memorial.

 

Hello Paul,

The attrition rate amongst seafarers of the Merchant Navy and fishing fleets was one in three. This was higher than any of the military services. Our island nation would not have survived without the men and women of the merchant service. The price was very high indeed. Lest we forget.

Thank you for posting the photos of the Tower Hill Memorial. I would be very grateful if you would allow me to use a couple of your photos for my website. I would be glad to credit you.

Regards
Hugh

ss CITY OF CAIRO

 

Martin - yes it is something of a 'forgotten memorial' in many ways.

Hugh - glad you liked the photos. Feel free to use some for your website. A credit would be great.

 

Thanks, Paul, much appreciated.
Regards
Hugh

 

Been playing with that new camera Paul?
Post #3's a beauty.

Yes mate, was pleased with the results on it's first outing.

 

I've just read Hugh's website via the link earlier in the thread. A superb effort and very interesting indeed.

As a committed 'landlubber', the phrase ' the nearest land....approximately 2000 miles from Brazil and 1000 miles from Africa' - in a rowing boat ! - strikes a chill into my bones.

 

Yes, we can only imagine some of the fates and stories of unseen heroism that this memorial commemorates.

 

I've just read Hugh's website via the link earlier in the thread. A superb effort and very interesting indeed.

As a committed 'landlubber', the phrase ' the nearest land....approximately 2000 miles from Brazil and 1000 miles from Africa' - in a rowing boat ! - strikes a chill into my bones.

Thank you, Martin your comments are much appreciated - a labour of love for me. Little do we know of the sufferings of such men and women.

Best wishes
Hugh

 

Panels for ref
http://www.benjidog.co.uk/Tower%20Hill/index.html

 

Hebridean Chindit and I paid a visit here a couple of years back, it is a special place indeed.

 

As a former Merchant Seaman (1980-1992), I visit Tower Hill every year on the annual Merchant Navy Day parade, which is quite emotional as I have met up with a number of veterans who survived the sinkings of a number of the ships commemorated on the memorial.

For the last three years I have been writing and compiling the details on the Tower Hil Memorial. It is an alphabetical ship index to over 2000 Merchant ships, not including the fishing fleet commemorated on the WWII section of the Tower Hill Memorial. Once just a row of names, unknown to many the book is an in-depth research into how nearly 24,000 Merchant Seamen met their fate during the dark days of WWII and in some cases beyond the war years whose lives were taken by Axis forces as well as the unforgiving sea itself. I am hoping to have in complted sometime in 2014.

 

Billy McGee, I look forward to the release of your book Elsie

 

I will be leading a walk for the Battlefields Trust from the Tower Hill memorial to the Fleet Air Army memorial outside the MOD on the evening of June 2014. We will visit various parts o the story of the merchant navy andf the First World War U Boat war, including HMS President originally built as a Flower class Q Ship and anti submarine escort vessel HMS Saxifrage. Given that the popular name for Saxifrage is "London Pride" its rather that she survived on the Thames. Check the details as the appear on the Battlefield Trust website. www.battlefieldstrust,com . Cost £5 - (free for Battlefields Trust members) RV Tower Hill Tube 18.30 ends approx 21.00 at Embankment