Chertsey War Memorial, by Joseph Whitehead.
Chertsey War Memorial, by Joseph Whitehead.
War memorial sculpture comes with a variety of scenes and moods – determinedly going into battle, fiercely victorious, Classically calm with allegory, grief and mourning, and as in the Chertsey War Memorial, triumphant and joyful that the War has ended. Chertsey is a modestly sized town south of London, in Surrey, and next to the Church is this World War I memorial, centred on a standing statue of a soldier, his rifle held by the barrel in one hand, his other waving his helmet up in the air. His face is handsomely modelled, not very lined, so youngish, but somewhat careworn. His tunic is covered with the paraphernalia of the solider – a variety of pockets, a backpack, a smaller pouch strapped by his side, and this with his rather baggy trousers gives a varied surface and restless feel to the sculpture, a feeling of movement. From the side, we see how far he leans forward, bowed for balance but almost at tipping point, so seeming likely to break into a rush forward. From the front there is a nobility to his pose, his arms well away from his body, and with a fine line from upstretched arm down to the opposite leg, and the rifle held at right angles to this, giving a composition of a triangle on a narrow base yet a clear view of the figure’s outline and limbs from a goodly distance.
The complete memorial, and portrait.
He treads on the detritus of war – indistinct lumps of earth, a large shell, the magazine of a machinegun with a ribbon of bullets lying discarded, other smaller items. The bronze figure is raised on a fine Classical plinth of pale limestone, and bears panels recording the fallen around the base: the front bears the inscription: '1914-1919, To the honoured memory of the men of Chertsey who fell in the Great War'; together with a shield of arms, showing a tall church completely unlike the one in Chertsey. Beneath, further panels record those who died in the Second World War.
On one side is stamped the name of the foundry: the respected A.B. Burton. Founder. Thames Ditton. The other side bears the name fo the sculptor, Joseph Whitehead of London S.E. This standing figure of a soldier on a World War I memorial is one of his best known pieces, I believe: he used the same design in Worthing and in Stafford, and elsewhere, though the bases are a little different. The Worthing one at least came a few months before the Chertsey one, which was unveiled in October 1921.
Different aspects of Chertsey War Memorial (click to enlarge). 
The sculptor, Joseph Whitehead, was born in 1868, and worked from the age of about 20 in the family firm, J. Whitehead and Co., his father and at least one brother also being stonemason-sculptors, and the next generation. They were based in Rochester Row, Westminster, and just round the corner from there, Vincent Square for some years, and then little south in Kennington Road. Joseph Whitehead was the principle sculptor in the firm for many years. He died in 1951.
J. Whitehead & Co advert, contemporary with the War Memorial.
The Chertsey War Memorial stands by the parish church, which contains a decent number of memorial panels, including one with a sculpture of a mourning girl with a funereal urn in high relief.
Back to Sculpture of the Month for Aug 2017 // Onward to October
Also in Surrey: All Saints Church, Carshalton // St Martin's Church, Epsom // and formerly in Surrey: St Mary the Virgin, Merton // St Mary, Battersea
Visits to this page from 3 Sept 2017: 2,428