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= Mells War Memorial =
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Introduction
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Mells War Memorial is a First World War memorial by Sir Edwin Lutyens
in the village of Mells in the Mendip Hills of Somerset, south-western
England. Unveiled in 1921, the memorial is one of multiple buildings
and structures Lutyens designed in Mells. His friendship with two
prominent families in the area, the Horners and the Asquiths, led to a
series of commissions; among his other works in the village are
memorials to two sons—one from each family—killed in the war. Lutyens
toured the village with local dignitaries in search of a suitable site
for the war memorial, after which he was prompted to remark "all their
young men were killed".
The memorial takes the form of a marble column topped by a sculpture
of Saint George slaying a dragon, an image Lutyens used on two other
public war memorials. At the base of the column, the names of the
village's war dead are inscribed on stone panels. The memorial is
flanked by identical rubble walls in local stone, on top of which
grows a yew hedge. Low stone benches protrude from the walls to allow
wreaths to be laid. Additional panels were fixed to the wall after the
Second World War to commemorate that conflict. The memorial was
unveiled on 26 June 1921 by Brigadier-General Arthur Asquith, whose
brother is among those commemorated on it. It is a grade II* listed
building and since 2015 has been part of a national collection of
Lutyens' war memorials.
Background
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In the aftermath of the First World War, thousands of war memorials
were built across Britain. Amongst the most prominent designers of
memorials was architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, described by Historic
England as "the leading English architect of his generation". Before
the war, Lutyens established his reputation designing country houses
for wealthy patrons, but from 1917 onwards, he dedicated much of his
time to memorialising the casualties of the war. He went on to design
the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, which became the focus for the
national Remembrance Sunday commemorations and the Thiepval Memorial
to the Missing of the Somme in France, among many other memorials and
cemeteries.
According to Tim Skelton, author of 'Lutyens and the Great War', "if
there was one village above all others that would have a war memorial
designed by Lutyens, it would be the village of Mells". The war
memorial is one of multiple buildings and structures by Lutyens in the
village. He was a friend of two prominent local families, the Horners
and the Asquiths, through his collaborations with Gertrude Jekyll on
country houses and gardens early in his career. Gertrude Jekyll's
sister-in-law was Dame Agnes Jekyll, the sister of Lady Horner, who
was the incumbent owner (with her husband, Sir John) of Mells Manor, a
manor house in the centre of the village dating originally from the
16th century. Shortly after their first meeting, Sir John commissioned
Lutyens for renovations to the Horners' London town house. Lutyens
first visited Mells in 1896 at the request of Lady Horner (with whom
he became close friends), who commissioned him to rebuild the house,
and later for several other works related to the manor.
The Horners' son, Edward, was killed at the Battle of Cambrai on the
Western Front in November 1917 and is among those named on the war
memorial. The family separately commissioned Lutyens to design a
memorial to him in St Andrew's Church—a large statue of a mounted
cavalry officer (by Alfred Munnings), which stands on a plinth by
Lutyens based on the Cenotaph. In the same church is a memorial to
Raymond Asquith (the Horners' son-in-law and the eldest son of the
prime minister, H. H. Asquith), designed by Lutyens and executed by
Eric Gill. Raymond was killed in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Both
men are listed on the village war memorial.
By 1916, 74 men from Mells had left to fight, and several women,
including Lady Horner, were working as nurses in France. By the end of
the war, 21 men had been killed and multiple others wounded. Among the
returned was the curate of St Andrew's Church, who earned the Military
Cross for saving a wounded soldier.
Commissioning
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Mells' war dead were first commemorated by a stone tablet on a wall in
St Andrew's Church, designed by the Kensington School of Art and
listing the names of 14 villagers. The idea for a larger, public
memorial originated with the Horner family, who called a public
meeting to discuss the possibilities. The participants first
considered whether the memorial should be something with a utilitarian
function or something purely monumental. Suggestions for utilitarian
memorials included benches, a fountain, a garden, and a children's
playground, but they felt that the memorial should be something to be
looked at and admired. After discussing various potential locations,
including St Andrew's churchyard, they decided that the memorial
should be on the road in a prominent position where it would be
obvious to passers-by.
As with most of his war memorial commissions, Lutyens walked around
the village in August 1919 to examine possible sites for the memorial.
He was accompanied by Katharine Asquith (Sir John and Lady Frances
Horner's daughter and Raymond Asquith's widow) and a group of
representatives from the village. Lutyens was moved by the villagers'
personal loss and wrote in a letter to his wife, Emily: "My weekend
was a spring day, fun and tears. All their young men were killed". He
told Emily he had "found a perfect site in the middle of the village,
which no-one else found, or thought of, and with a little tact and
patience it was carried by the villagers with acclaim".
Design
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The memorial takes the form of a Tuscan column of Purbeck Marble
construction, on which stands a statue of Saint George slaying a
dragon. Lady Horner first hoped to have an original sculpture and
approached several artists but all quotes she received would have
exceeded the village's budget, so she instead commissioned a copy of a
statue in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey. The column stands
on a tall, narrow pedestal in Portland stone that bears the
inscription: , a verse suggested by Robert Bridges, the poet laureate,
in correspondence with Lady Horner. A cross is engraved immediately
above.
To either side of the pedestal are matching panels onto which are
inscribed the names of the village's war dead. At the same height are
flanking walls of coarsed, squared rubble from the nearby Doulting
Stone Quarry, set back at the ends and topped with a yew hedge. In
front of each wall is a small stone bench that protrudes across the
base of the column, and above the benches, fixed to the wall, are
round plaques bearing the dates of the Second World War and the names
of the village's dead from that conflict. The statue and the
inscriptions are both the work of Eric Gill, who also carved the
memorial to Raymond Asquith. Colin Amery, who chaired an exhibition of
Lutyens' works after his death, describes the memorials at Mells as
among Lutyens' finest.
Lutyens was profoundly affected by the war and sought a new form of
architecture to memorialise the Lost Generation. He generally
preferred abstract designs for his war memorials, of which he designed
dozens, over allegorical or figurative sculpture or the overt
religious imagery that was present in many First World War memorials.
Mells is one of the few monuments in which he used such allegory (in
this case, the statue of Saint George). It is the most intricate of
Lutyens' civic memorials to feature a statue of Saint George, though
his memorial inside Wellington College's chapel features a similar
sculpture of George and the Dragon. Fordham War Memorial in
Cambridgeshire and Hove War Memorial in East Sussex both feature less
intricate bronze statues of George with a sword and shield.
File:Mells War Memorial 2021-10-25 05.jpg|Left plaque
File:Mells War Memorial 2021-10-25 03.jpg|Centre stone
File:Mells War Memorial 2021-10-25 06.jpg|Column
File:Mells War Memorial 2021-10-25 04.jpg|Right plaque
History
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The memorial was unveiled at a ceremony on 26 June 1921. It cost £400
to build, which was raised by public subscription. The unveiling was
performed by Brigadier-General Arthur Asquith, brother of Raymond
Asquith, who is commemorated on the memorial. General Asquith was
later instrumental in the creation of Lutyens' Royal Naval Division
War Memorial outside the Admiralty building in London.
Mells War Memorial was designated a grade II* listed building on 1
January 1969 and noted for its setting with the village hall (which is
also listed at grade II*) and the various other historic buildings in
the village, including several by Lutyens. Listed building status
offers statutory protection from demolition or modification; grade II*
is reserved for "particularly important buildings of more than special
interest" and applied to about 5.5% of listings. In November 2015, as
part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War,
Historic England recognised Lutyens' war memorials as a "national
collection".
See also
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* Mells Park House (Lutyens, 1925)
* Grade II* listed buildings in Mendip
* Grade II* listed war memorials in England
References
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Citations
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mells_War_Memorial