National and local

The same held true for national memorials to commemorate the fallen. The largest was at Thiepval on the Somme - where Sir Edwin Lutyens established a monument 150 feet tall. He also designed the Cenotaph in Whitehall, where wreaths continue to be laid on Remembrance Sunday.

Not everyone admired these memorials. Poet Siegfried Sassoon detested the 72,000 'intolerable nameless names' on Thiepval.

"What have these grey huts done to anger you, my God? and why must so many be killed?"
'A white low sun' by Marina Tsvetayeva

There were fewer guidelines for local memorials, and these have survived in a variety of forms. Many have Christian imagery, with crosses, angels, and images of the crucified Christ ('calvaries').

Plans for the Ruislip parish war memorial, discussed in 1917, included 'the hanging figure of the Christ in bronze' and a chalice 'symbolising the Cup of blessing'. Both were adopted, the cup sculpted in relief under the bronze figure.

Lest we forget