The Cenotaph is situated in West Park facing onto Above Bar Street. It was built as the official memorial to the men killed in World War One, mainly at the instigation of the then mayor Sir Sidney Kimber, who persuaded noted architect Sir Edwin Lutyens to design the monument. Built of Portland stone, the memorial was unveiled in November 1920, the money having been raised by public subscription. The style is typical of many similar civic war memorials and was the basis of the Whitehall Cenotaph, also designed by Lutyens. It is now Grade II* listed.
The names of 2008 of those who fell in the Great War are inscribed on the four sides of the memorial. The names of those killed in World War Two were recorded in a memorial roll in the civic centre.
Over the years erosion has made the names on the memorial difficult to read and in 2011 two memorial walls were added either side of the monument displaying the names of the fallen.
In March 2012 the Southampton Cenotaph website was launched containing the stories of servicemen and women from Southampton who died in the First and Second World Wars and who are commemorated on the Cenotaph and the memorial walls.
Cenotaph
Further reading:
Building of England: Hampshire and the I.O.W., by Nikolaus Pevsner and David Lloyd, p558-9. (H/i)
Building Stones of Southampton, by Anthony Wadham, p17-18. HS/i)
Southampton Cenotaph website http://southamptoncenotaph.com/about/
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