| Additional Information: | Son of Harry Walker Duffus and Annie Duffus. |
| Memorial: | TOWER HILL MEMORIAL |
| Grave Reference/ Panel Number: |
Panel 56. |
| Location: | The Tower Hill Memorial which commemorates men of the
Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who have no known grave, stands on the south side of the
garden of Trinity Square, London, close to The Tower of London. The Memorial Register may
be consulted at Trinity House Corporation, Trinity Square (Cooper's Row entrance), Tel:
0171 480 6601, which will be found behind the Memorial. |
| Historical Information: | TOWER HILL MEMORIAL 1914 - 1918 This memorial stands on Tower Hill, London, on the south side of the pleasure garden of Trinity Square. The Memorial consists of a vaulted corridor 21.5 metres long, 7 metres wide and 7 to 10 metres high. It is open at each end. It has three wide openings at the front and back, in which are placed pairs of columns. It rises in the middle in rectangular blocks. It is built of Portland stone finished with a circular treatment. The Names of the War Dead are carried on bronze panels, covering the eight main masonry piers which support the roof. They are arranged alphabetically under their ships of the Merchant Service. 1939 - 1945 When the question arose of commemorating the men of the Merchant Navy who lost their lives during the 1939-1945 War and have no known grave, it was the general desire that the new Memorial should be combined with the existing 1914-1918 Tower Hill Memorial to form a complete whole. The architect achieved this by designing a semi-circular sunken garden adjoining the 1914-1918 Memorial; in this way a sufficient wall area was obtained to record the total of nearly 24,000 names, without building high walls on Tower Hill. The garden is 2 metres below the general level of Tower Hill Gardens, so that the surrounding walls rise only 1 metre above that level. From the 1914-18 Memorial, stone steps flanked by high stone pylons, on which are the Merchant Navy badges and wreaths, lead down to the sunken garden. Between the flights of steps is the main dedicatory inscription, which reads: 1939-1945 THE TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND OF THE MERCHANT NAVY AND FISHING FLEETS WHOSE NAMES ARE HONOURED ON THE WALLS OF THIS GARDEN GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY AND HAVE NO GRAVE BUT THE SEA This inscription is guarded by sculptured figures in stone representing an officer and a seaman of the Merchant Service. The internal face of the semi-circular wall surrounding the garden is cased in bronze, which bears in relief the names of the men commemorated. At regular intervals round this bronze casing are seven stone sculptured allegorical figures representing the Seven Seas. The garden itself is primarily a lawn, surrounded by a stone path on which there are oak seats. In the centre is a "pool" of bronze, engraved as a mariners' compass, and set to magnetic north. An Introductory Part of this register, containing a plan of the Memorial and an index to the Panels, together with a description of the work of the Mercantile Marine is also available separatly for each World War. |
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© 1998 David Duffus. All rights reserved.