For their Thinking Like An Historian module we take our first-year students to look at some of the memorials in Portsmouth, and then they write a piece for their portfolio assessment on a memorial of our choice. Here are some of the memorials chosen by students for further analysis:
From left to right: Sofia, Charlie, Magdalena, Lewis, Ifa
Memorials in Portsmouth Cathedral
Sofia de Freitas Franco chose the Historic Windows located in the north wall of the Quire and the south wall of the Navy Aisle of Portsmouth Cathedral. She finds stained glass windows a rather beautiful way to commemorate lost lives. Each of these different windows represent a different historical figure who were very significant in their historical periods, including King Alfred, St Wilfrid and King Richard I, who laid the foundations of Portsmouth, St. Thomas Becket, John De Gisors and Richard Toclive who relate to the foundation of the church itself. A third set of windows reflects the period following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. The last set commemorates the restoration of the church following the bombardment it received during the siege of Portsmouth during the English Civil War in 1642. Stained glass windows have always had a historical importance, particularly from the Victorian period when these windows were created. Jane Brocket states that “stained glass is historically important means of creative – as well as religious – expression, a unique mix of art, craft and design, a material which is fragile and breakable yet can withstand the elements, last hundreds of years, and be seen by generation after generation”. It offers vast possibilities for telling stories and stirring emotions.[1]
Lewis Phipps chose this unusual painted memorial to Robert Theodore Morrison who fell at the battle of Messines on 14 October 1914, a battle in which the British achieved their objective of capturing the Messine ridge, at the cost of an estimated 17,000 British and 25,000 German casusalties. The memorial, erected by Morrison’s parents, although dedicated to their ‘Beloved Son’ has a religious rather than a personal theme, of the miraculous hall of fishes (Luke 5:1-11).
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
Rebecca Hoad chose this memorial, which she visited in 2020. It is a monumental memorial, inscribed with the names of Canadians without a gravestone who died during the First World War. It is surrounded by preserved and reconstructed trenches, and further out there are two cemeteries dedicated to more soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the war. The carved statues are emotive and devastating, the way they drape over the stone elevates feelings of grief. This monument has a clear relationship with its location being the site where thousands of Canadians lost their lives.[2]
The Hyde Park Holocaust Memorial
Charlie Wilkinson chose this memorial, which was unveiled in 1983 in dedication to the victims of the Holocaust. The memorial itself, situated in a beautiful garden is a rock with engravings of its dedications, very easy to miss. However, Rebecca Pollack concludes that the memorial itself is visually “unsuccessful and inconsequential” primarily due to being placed in the a location which lacks any spatial connection with those it is commemorating.[3]
Memorial to the Battle of Britain at Croydon Aerodrome
This memorial was chosen by Ifa Balamwezi. Unveiled in 1981, it lists the RAF squadrons that were based in Croydon during WWII and is in tribute to all connected to Croydon and its aerodrome who gave their lives either in the air or on the ground during the Second World War.
[1] Jane Brocket, How to Look at Stained Glass: A Guide to the Church Windows of England (London: I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2019), 1.
[2] Brian Bethune, ‘It’s Sublime and Deadly’, Macleans, (Toronto: Macleans, 2005)
[3] Rowan Moore, Britain’s Holocaust memorial shortlist: right time, wrong place? The Guardian, 2017; Rebecca D. Pollack, “The politics of space and identity in the Hyde Park Holocaust Memorial.” Jewish Historical Studies Vol. 54, no. 1 (2023): 2.
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