The Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice was the brainchild of
George Frederic Watts, a Victorian painter and philanthropist who thought that
public recognition should be made of ordinary London people who had died while
trying to save others. The Memorial can still be seen in London today.
George Frederic Watts
George Frederic Watts (1817-1904) was a very popular artist during
his lifetime (a painter and sculptor) but he is not as highly regarded today.
His works, many of which were portraits, were symbolic and allegorical and
intended to give uplifting messages to their viewers.
He has been described as a philosophical artist and a
“preacher in paint”, but the preaching, while striking a chord among his fellow
Victorians, is less welcome in modern times. In his own words, he sought to
“condemn in the most trenchant manner prevalent vices” and give “warning in
deep tones against lapses from morals and duties”.
Perhaps it was ironic that his first wife, the actress Ellen
Terry who was 16 years old at the time (he was 30 years older), did not share
his high moral aspirations and eloped with another man only a year after the
wedding!
A great admirer of royalty, Watts proposed his Memorial to
Heroic Self Sacrifice as a contribution to the celebrations to mark the golden
jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, but the idea was turned down at the time. It
was not until 1898 that he was able to turn his idea into reality.
The Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice
The plan was to commemorate the selfless actions of ordinary
people who had died while trying to save others. This would be done be placing
ceramic plaques, giving details of their deeds, on a public wall where people
could read what they had done.
A wooden loggia was designed by Ernest George, an architect
and painter. The loggia provided shelter for anyone reading the plaques, for
which space was made available for 120 of them.
Postman’s Park
The Memorial was placed in Postman’s Park, an open space in
the City of London not far from St Paul’s Cathedral. This area was opened as a
park in 1880, being the site of adjoining former churchyards. It takes its name
from the fact that it was next door to the former General Post Office and
workers from there used it during breaks from work.
Collecting the stories and mounting the plaques
George Frederic Watts was only able to start the project
late in life, being in his 80s when the first plaques were made and mounted in
the loggia. Indeed, at the time it was opened in 1900 there were only four
plaques in place. By the time of his death in 1904 (at the age of 87) only
another nine had been added.
Watts’s widow Mary (his second wife who was, like his first,
more than 30 years his junior) then took on the role of commissioning the
plaques.
Watts had spent many years collecting stories of
self-sacrifice, and Mary’s task was therefore to work down his list and raise
the funds to get the plaques made. These were initially made by William de
Morgan, a well-known ceramicist. She also commissioned a memorial to her
husband to be set alongside the plaques.
Unfortunately, De Morgan stopped making ceramics in 1907 and
Mary Watts was forced to go to another supplier, namely Royal Doulton. These
were not of the same quality or colour as the originals. Eventually, Mary Watts
decided that she could not continue the project as she wanted to concentrate on
building a chapel and gallery devoted to the memory of her late husband.
The Memorial is therefore unfinished to this day. Instead of
120 plaques there are only 54. Of these, three were added during World War I,
one in 1927 and the final one in 2007. The original design allowed for five
rows of plaques, but the top and bottom rows remain empty.
The stories told on the plaques clearly cannot be complete,
and they are therefore frustrating in what they are forced to leave out. Even
so, they say enough to make it clear that the people in question deserve to be
commemorated.
Here are some examples:
William Donald of Bayswater. Aged 19. Railway clerk. Was
drowned in the Lea when trying to save a lad from a dangerous entanglement of
weed. July 16 1876
Mary Rogers. Stewardess of the Stella. Mar 30 1899. Self
sacrificed by giving up her life belt and voluntarily going down in the sinking
ship.
Henry James Bristow. Aged eight – at Walthamstow. On
December 30, 1890 – saved his little sister's life by tearing off her flaming
clothes but caught fire himself and died of burns and shock.
Daniel Pemberton. Aged 61. Foreman LSWR. Surprised by a
train when gauging the line hurled his mate out of the track saving his life at
the cost of his own. Jan 17 1903.
And the most recent plaque:
Leigh Pitt. Reprographic operator. Aged 30, saved a drowning
boy from the canal at Thamesmead, but sadly was unable to save himself. June 7,
2007.
It has to be said that there is more than a little Victorian
mawkishness and sentimentality about this Memorial, but even so it does
commemorate real people who died while saving others, and their stories would almost
certainly have been forgotten were it not for the efforts of George Frederic
and Mary Watts.
© John Welford
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