Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project

BOLTON ARTILLERY MEMORIAL Photograph

Region ID

MR

Work ID

47

Manual Reference

MR/BOL02

Type

War Memorial, World War I

Title

BOLTON ARTILLERY MEMORIAL

Architect

Ormerod, Pomeroy and Foy

Date of design

1920

Year of unveiling

1920

Unveiling details

29 July 1920

Road

Nelson Square

Precise Location

Nelson Square, Bradshawgate side

A to Z Ref

p. 145 F7

OS Ref

SD718092

Postcode

Work is

Extant

Listing Status

Don't know

Duty of Care

Bolton MBC

Commissioned by

War memorial committee

Notes

War memorial. Cenotaph on inclined base with low piers at each corner. Wreath carved into each face of upper section. Bronze plaques containing roll of honour on fron and back.

The cenotaph was commissioned from local architects Ormerod, Pomeroy and Foy, with lettering was designed by Joseph Bolton. The memorial was designed to commemorate the dead of the Bolton Artillery Regiment, one of the Territorial brigades of the Royal Field Artillery. On 2 June 1920 the foundations were laid and a shell case placed within containing copies of regimental records.(1) It was unveiled by the Duke of York who was visiting Bolton to open the first post-war show of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society. At the inauguration the Duke was presented with a petition by a local branch of the Discharged Sailors and Soldiers Association protesting at the proposed reduction in ex-servicemen's benefits and against the treatment of shell-shock and combat stress victims. He was asked to "take up the cause of our shell-shocked and mentally unbalanced comrades who are at present herded together. . .lifelong lunatics in our pauper asylums", and to support the servicemen's calls for a commission of investigation into the matter.(2)

Officers and men of Bolton Artillery who were killed in both world wars.

circa

raw year

1920

Condition

Don't know

At risk

Don't know

Inscriptions

Front face: TO THE GLORIOUS MEMORY OF THE OFFICERS, N.C.O'S AND MEN OF THE BOLTON ARTILLERY WHO FELL DURING THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 AND THE WORLD WAR 1939-1945 Below upper bronze plaque: LEST WE FORGET Rear: THESE ENDURED ALL THAT HONOUR AND FREEDOM MIGHT PREVAIL

Signatures

Elements

Element Details

Part of work

Material

Dimensions

Cenotaph

Portland stone

Plaques

Bronze

Assessment of Condition

Surface Character: nothing recorded

Structural Condition: nothing recorded

Vandalism: nothing recorded