The Hoylake and West Kirby War Memorial is a 11.5-metre-high, granite four-sided obelisk which stands on Grange Hill, West Kirby

West Kirby

West Kirby is a town on the north-west corner of the coast of the Wirral Peninsula, England, at the mouth of the River Dee across from the Point of Ayr in North Wales. To the north-east of the town lies Hoylake, with the suburbs of Grange and Newton to the east, and the village of Caldy to the...

, Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

. It was designed by British sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger

Charles Sargeant Jagger

Charles Sargeant Jagger MC was a British sculptor who, following active service in the First World War, sculpted many works on the theme of war...

 (1885-1934), who also designed the Royal Artillery Memorial

Royal Artillery Memorial

The Royal Artillery Memorial is a stone memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London, dedicated to casualties in the British Royal Regiment of Artillery in First World War. The memorial was designed by Charles Jagger and Lionel Pearson, and features a giant sculpture of a BL 9.2 inch Mk I howitzer upon a...

 at Hyde Park Corner in London. It commemorates the men and women of West Kirby and Hoylake

Hoylake

Hoylake is a seaside town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, on Merseyside, England. It is located at the north western corner of the Wirral Peninsula, near to the town of West Kirby and where the River Dee estuary meets the Irish Sea...

 who gave their lives in World Wars I and II.

On two sides of the obelisk stand bronze figures symbolising war and peace. On the west face is a figure of a robed woman holding a baby, a wreath of poppies and broken manacles. On the east face stands a British infantry soldier dressed for winter and standing guard with standard issue .303 rifle, bayonet fixed, a gas mask, water bottle, putties and his helmet pushed off the back of his head, and a German helmet at his feet
.

Inscriptions around the base read :

The Memorial is in the care of Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 311,200, and encompasses of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Heswall, Hoylake and West Kirby. The city of...

.

A recasting of the soldier figure now forms part of the "Drivers and Wipers" Memorial at the Shrine of Remembrance

Shrine of Remembrance

The Shrine of Remembrance, located in Kings Domain on St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Australia was built as a memorial to the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I and is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in war...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

External links

• The Hoylake Memorial - National Archives