Twelve-sided
base on two circular steps has panels inscribed with the names
between pilasters; three panels break forward. Above this is
a triangular, concave sided obelisk supporting a figure of
mother and child. Flanking the obelisk on three sides are figures
of soldier, sailor and airman. |
According
to the minutes, the idea of a War Memorial was first discussed
in March 1920 at the wish of the Mayor, and a Memorial Sub-Committee
was duly set up. Its form was discussed in May in two meetings,
but no decision was made and the town clerk was asked to obtain
further information regarding monuments in other towns. The
Clerk duly reported on the situation in thirteen towns and
it was resolved that a memorial be situated in either Stanley
or Morton Gardens. The Corporation agreed to give £2000,
any further cost to be met by subscription.
The form the monument
should take however, caused problems and it was eventually
resolved to discuss the matter in a public meeting on the 8th
September 1920, the results of which were reported in the minutes
of the Finance Committee in September 1920. It was resolved
'That a Memorial should be erected in some suitable position
in the Borough to Commemorate the sacrifice made by the members
of the Borough, who gave their lives whilst serving their country
during the late War: that subscriptions be invited for that
purpose: that the Bootle Corporation be asked to subscribe
the sum of £2000 thereto: and that the surplus in hand
after the erection of the proposed Memorial be utilised as
a fund for the assistance of widows, children and dependants
of men who made the supreme sacrifice.
It was also resolved
that the committee to oversee the project would be made up
of three members of the Finance Committee who had lost sons
or brothers in the War, three men and three women not represented
on the Council who had suffered the same loss, together with
the Mayor and the Chairman of the Finance Committee. The memorial
fund was opened with the £2000 pledged by the Corporation,
and a week later the site was fixed as in Stanley Gardens.
The contractors, Henry A. Clegg & Sons
of Chester were chosen to undertake the memorial's stonework
in May 1922.
Thus a period
of approximately eighteen months remains unaccounted for in
the documentation. It seems likely that the time was occupied
with waiting for Bulmer's designs and arranging for the casting
of the monument by Cawthera.
The remaining minute
entries of note refer to the unveiling ceremony. Major James
Burnie, M.C. was invited to unveil the monument on 15th October
1922. It was also arranged that the Mayor should declare the
memorial a gift to the town of Bootle in perpetuity and the
Chairman of the Committee would accept guardianship on behalf
of the town. In a meeting of the Finance Committee on the day
following the unveiling, congratulations were offered to the
War Memorial Committee for their organisational efforts.
Financial matters
remained to be resolved. It was agreed that the Memorial Committee
should meet half the cost of laying out the garden plot around
the monument (£25.3.0d). At the same meeting it was also
noted that further tablets were required for the names of the
dead, the cost presumably being met from surplus in the Memorial
Fund. |
