National Police Memorial
Encyclopedia
The National Police Memorial is a memorial in central London, commemorating about 4000 police officer
s killed in the course of their duties in the United Kingdom. It was designed by Lord Foster of Thames Bank
and Per Arnoldi
and unveiled in 2005. The Project Architect for Foster was Peter Ridley.
, film director Michael Winner
founded the Police Memorial Trust
. Initially the Trust concentrated on erecting smaller monuments at the points where officers had died on duty. From the mid-1990s the Trust also lobbied and raised funds for a single, larger scale memorial to commemorate all police officers who had died in the course of their duties. Winner stated that "Memorials to soldiers, sailors and airmen are commonplace, but the police fight a war with no beginning and no end".
Winner donated £500,000 of his own money to the campaign for a national memorial and the remainder of the total cost of £2.3 million was met by a public collection. After a ten-year campaign, Westminster City Council
granted planning permission in October 2002.
and Danish designer Per Arnoldi
, on the corner of The Mall
and Horse Guards Road, directly outside the Old Admiralty Building. The site was occupied at the time by an air shaft on the Bakerloo Line
of the London Underground
.
On 22 July 2004 a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony took place on the site, performed by then-Prime Minister
Tony Blair
, Michael Winner, and officers from the Metropolitan Police
and Greater Manchester Police
, representing the two forces with the highest number of officers killed in the line of duty.
The Memorial was formally unveiled on 26 April 2005 by Queen Elizabeth
and Tony Blair
. Michael Howard
and Charles Kennedy
, the leaders of the UK's other leading political parties at the time, were also present. A guard of honour was provided by 56 officers wearing the uniforms of each of the UK's police forces. The Queen stated that "It is surely appropriate that this should be positioned in The Mall - an area of London so often associated with our national way of life. When people pass by the memorial, I hope they will pause and reflect on the proud traditions that it represents. The courage and personal sacrifice recorded here will, I am certain, serve as an inspiration to us all."
Despite concerns over the potential cost, construction of the Memorial eventually came in at £400,000 under budget, in part because a number of the contractors concerned carried out their work free of charge.
The Memorial was a winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects
award for 2006. Michael Winner publicly voiced some surprise at the structure being included in the "Arts and Leisure" classification.
The Memorial consists of two distinct architectural elements, linked by a terrace of Purbeck stone. A black rectangular creeper
-covered enclosure surrounds the air shaft, forming a single block. The northern face of the enclosure is kept free of creepers, and is inscribed with the police badge of office and the text "The National Police Memorial: Honouring Those Who Serve". This face also includes a vitrine
in which the Roll of Honour is displayed.
Immediately north of the block, a glass column is sited in a reflecting pool
. The column is internally illuminated by fibre optic
cables with a faint blue light, symbolising the blue lamp which traditionally hangs outside police stations in the United Kingdom. The column is intended to screen the vitrine from passing traffic on The Mall. The column is 7.4m high, consisting of 622 stacked sheets of glass (a total surface area of 954m2), weighing 28.6 tonnes.
killed in 1680. The book is compiled from the approximately 4000 names on the National Police Officers Roll of Honour, listing all officers who have died in the line of duty.
that the Memorial includes the names of those RUC
officers killed in The Troubles
.
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
s killed in the course of their duties in the United Kingdom. It was designed by Lord Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
and Per Arnoldi
Per Arnoldi
Per Arnoldi is a Danish designer and artist. He is best known for designing the logo and curtains of the Copenhagen Opera House, as co-designer of London's National Police Memorial, and for the monumental sculpture "The V" in Videbæk. His well-known works include the "Romantic Construction", "The...
and unveiled in 2005. The Project Architect for Foster was Peter Ridley.
Historical background
In 1984, following the shooting of Yvonne FletcherYvonne Fletcher
WPC Yvonne Joyce Fletcher was a British police officer fatally shot during a protest outside the Libyan embassy at St. James's Square, London, in 1984. Fletcher, who had been on duty and deployed to police the protest, died shortly afterwards at Westminster Hospital...
, film director Michael Winner
Michael Winner
Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...
founded the Police Memorial Trust
Police Memorial Trust
The Police Memorial Trust is a charitable organisation founded in 1984 and based in London. The trust's objective is to erect memorials to British police officers killed in the line of duty, at or near the spot where they died, thereby acting as a permanent reminder to the public of the sacrifice...
. Initially the Trust concentrated on erecting smaller monuments at the points where officers had died on duty. From the mid-1990s the Trust also lobbied and raised funds for a single, larger scale memorial to commemorate all police officers who had died in the course of their duties. Winner stated that "Memorials to soldiers, sailors and airmen are commonplace, but the police fight a war with no beginning and no end".
Winner donated £500,000 of his own money to the campaign for a national memorial and the remainder of the total cost of £2.3 million was met by a public collection. After a ten-year campaign, Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council
Westminster City Council is the local authority for the City of Westminster in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council and is entitled to be known as a city council, which is a rare distinction in the United Kingdom. The city is divided into 20 wards, each electing three councillors...
granted planning permission in October 2002.
Design and construction
The Memorial was built to a design by Lord Foster of Thames BankNorman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank
Norman Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, OM is a British architect whose company maintains an international design practice, Foster + Partners....
and Danish designer Per Arnoldi
Per Arnoldi
Per Arnoldi is a Danish designer and artist. He is best known for designing the logo and curtains of the Copenhagen Opera House, as co-designer of London's National Police Memorial, and for the monumental sculpture "The V" in Videbæk. His well-known works include the "Romantic Construction", "The...
, on the corner of The Mall
The Mall (London)
The Mall in central London is the road running from Buckingham Palace at its western end to Admiralty Arch and on to Trafalgar Square at its eastern end. It then crosses Spring Gardens, which was where the Metropolitan Board of Works and, for a number of years, the London County Council were...
and Horse Guards Road, directly outside the Old Admiralty Building. The site was occupied at the time by an air shaft on the Bakerloo Line
Bakerloo Line
The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground...
of the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
.
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, Michael Winner, and officers from the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
and Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police
Greater Manchester Police is the police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England...
, representing the two forces with the highest number of officers killed in the line of duty.
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
and Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
. Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
and Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
, the leaders of the UK's other leading political parties at the time, were also present. A guard of honour was provided by 56 officers wearing the uniforms of each of the UK's police forces. The Queen stated that "It is surely appropriate that this should be positioned in The Mall - an area of London so often associated with our national way of life. When people pass by the memorial, I hope they will pause and reflect on the proud traditions that it represents. The courage and personal sacrifice recorded here will, I am certain, serve as an inspiration to us all."
Despite concerns over the potential cost, construction of the Memorial eventually came in at £400,000 under budget, in part because a number of the contractors concerned carried out their work free of charge.
The Memorial was a winner of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
award for 2006. Michael Winner publicly voiced some surprise at the structure being included in the "Arts and Leisure" classification.
Architectural elements
Parthenocissus
Parthenocissus , creepers, is a genus of climbing plants from the grape family, Vitaceae. It contains about 12 species, from Asia and North America. Several are grown for ornamental use....
-covered enclosure surrounds the air shaft, forming a single block. The northern face of the enclosure is kept free of creepers, and is inscribed with the police badge of office and the text "The National Police Memorial: Honouring Those Who Serve". This face also includes a vitrine
Display case
A display case is a cabinet with one or often more transparent glass sides and/or top, used to display objects for viewing, for example in an exhibition, museum, house, in retail, or a restaurant. Often labels are included with the displayed objects, providing information...
in which the Roll of Honour is displayed.
Immediately north of the block, a glass column is sited in a reflecting pool
Reflecting pool
A reflecting pool or reflection pool is a water feature found in gardens, parks, and at memorial sites. It usually consists of a shallow pool of water, undisturbed by fountain jets, for a calm reflective...
. The column is internally illuminated by fibre optic
Optical fiber
An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of a pure glass not much wider than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, or "light pipe", to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of...
cables with a faint blue light, symbolising the blue lamp which traditionally hangs outside police stations in the United Kingdom. The column is intended to screen the vitrine from passing traffic on The Mall. The column is 7.4m high, consisting of 622 stacked sheets of glass (a total surface area of 954m2), weighing 28.6 tonnes.
Roll of Honour
The Memorial contains an inscribed roll of honour behind a glass panel, containing the names of approximately 1600 officers killed whilst on duty, in the course of effecting an arrest or whilst carrying out hazardous duties. The earliest entry is that of an unknown constableConstable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
killed in 1680. The book is compiled from the approximately 4000 names on the National Police Officers Roll of Honour, listing all officers who have died in the line of duty.
Criticism
The Memorial attracted criticism from some families of officers killed in the line of duty, regarding the high cost, and that the roll of honour lists only those officers killed during arrests or as a result of criminal acts, rather than all officers killed in the line of duty; also that, with the book being behind glass, friends and relatives of the deceased are not able to view the relevant page. Before construction, objections were also raised to the Memorial's construction by the London Historical Parks Group and the local residents' association. Concern was also raised by some Irish republicansIrish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
that the Memorial includes the names of those RUC
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
officers killed in The Troubles
The Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
.