The Memorial Scheme

If the year 1916 was a turning point in the British soldier's and civilian's perception of the war (and much evidence may be cited to support such a claim) it was perhaps appropriate that in October, when the fighting on the Somme had reached the slogging matches of the Transloy Ridges and Ancre Heights, a Government Committee should have been set up by Secretary of State for War, David Lloyd George to consider what form of memorial should be made available to the next of kin of those who died 'on active service'. Although weighted with tragic overtones the memorial scheme manifested the existence of a grim spirit of optimism. For the belief that at some future date the British government would have the means and will to put such a massive commemorative scheme into effect, despite that summer's terrible disappointments on land and sea, implied an intractable faith in ultimate victory.

The scheme was first made public in The Times for Tuesday 7 November 1916. Under the headline 'Memento for the Fallen. State Gift for Relatives' the committee's nature and function were precisely defined:

'A General Committee, representative of both Houses of Parliament and of the Government Departments most concerned has been appointed to consider the question of a memorial to be distributed to the relatives of soldiers and sailors who fall in the war...'

The Committee comprised two peers, six Members of Parliament, two of whom held military rank, and representatives for the Dominions, the India Office, the Colonial Office and the Admiralty.7 Sir Reginald Brade, Secretary of the War Office and Army Council, was appointed Chairman and Mr W Hutchinson, also of the War Office, was made Secretary. Additionally a specialist sub-committee was subsequently set up to assist the General Committee on the more arcane points of artistic and technical detail. The sub-committee included the Directors of the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sir Cecil Harcourt-Smith and Sir Charles Holmes, and the Keeper (since 1912) of the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, George Francis Hill.

On 7 November 1916, The Times informed its readers, the decision had been made that the cost of the memorial was to be borne by the State. The precise form it was to take was a matter for much longer consideration though the initially accepted idea was that it should be '...a small metal plate recording the man's name and services.'

After the announcement of 7 November 1916 the Committee's deliberations disappeared for many months from public view. It was not until August 1917, in the midst of the Third Battle of Ypres, that the memorial 'plate' project resurfaced in the General Committee's decision that the commemoration should now take the form of bronze plaque. The announcement was reported in The Times for Monday 13 August 1917 and the public competition for appropriate designs described in extravagant detail:

The Government are offering prizes, amounting in all to not less than £500 (in proportions to be subsequently decided) for a limited number of the most successful models for a small memorial plaque in bronze to be given to the next of kin of those members of His Majesty's naval and military forces who have fallen in the war. The plaque must have an area of as near as possible 18 square inches. It may be a circle of 4¾ inches in diameter, or a square of 4¼ inches, or a rectangle of 5 inches by 3 to 3½ inches, and it should be so produced by casting from a mould, which should be finished with precision. All designs submitted must be actual models in relief in wax or plaster of the size indicated. No models on a larger scale will be considered, and no competitor may submit more than two models. The design should comprehend a subject and a brief inscription. It is suggested that some symbolical figure subject should be chosen but the following inscription has been decided upon: 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' and this must form part of the design.

There followed instruction relating to the need to leave space for the deceased's name and the reminder 'that the design should be essentially simple and easily intelligible'. The final paragraphs informed readers that all competitors 'must be British born subjects' and that the model 'should be packed in a small box and delivered to the National Gallery not later that 1 November'. In an effort to avoid all forms of discrimination the designers were requested not to sign their works; instead they were to be marked on the back with a motto or pseudonym 'which should also be written on a sealed envelope containing the competitor's name and address'. The prize-winning models would become the property of the Government and arrangements were to be made for the artist's signature or initials to appear on the finished plaque.