Crimean War Memorial

The Crimean War Memorial is located on Waterloo Place, at the junction of Lower Regent Street and Pall Mall in London, about a quarter of the way from the Duke of York Column to Piccadilly Circus.

It was unveiled in 1861, consisting of the statues of three Guardsmen, with the female allegorical figure referred to as Honour. It was cast in bronze from the cannons captured at the siege of Sevastopol. The sculptor was John Bell.

On the front, by the statues of the Guardsmen are two plaques. The uppermost states:

The Guards' Memorial was pulled down in the year of our lord 1914 and was re-erected 30 feet north in order to permit the erection of the Florence Nightingale and Sidney Herbert statues.

The lower one states:

The foundation stone of the Guards' Memorial was laid in the year of our lord 1861 by Margaret Johanna Bell.

On the back facade of the monuments, facing the road up to Piccadilly is another plaque, a shield surrounded by foliage and mounted on guns. This reads:

To the memory of 2152 Officers, Non-Com. Officers and Privates of the BRIGADE OF GUARDS who fell during the war with Russian in 1854-56. Erected by their Comrades.

In 1914, it was pulled down and moved to make room for the statues of Florence Nightingale and Sidney Herbert - Secretary at War at the War Office during the War. It is only then that the allegorical figure is referred to as Victory. The sculpture of Florence Nightingale was by Arthur George Walker, and the sculpture of Sidney Herbert was by John Henry Foley.

Famous quotes containing the words war and/or memorial:

    The British blockade won the war; but the wonder is that the British blockhead did not lose it. I suppose the enemy was no wiser. War is not a sharpener of wits.
    George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

    When I received this [coronation] ring I solemnly bound myself in marriage to the realm; and it will be quite sufficient for the memorial of my name and for my glory, if, when I die, an inscription be engraved on a marble tomb, saying, “Here lieth Elizabeth, which reigned a virgin, and died a virgin.”
    Elizabeth I (1533–1603)