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from Daily
Telegraph Thursday 30 March 2000
£1m
tribute to Empire's war dead is likened to a giant skirting
board
By Amit Roy
THE
design of a £1 million war memorial gate approved by the Prince of
Wales and Tony Blair was yesterday likened to a giant "skirting
board".
Sir Jocelyn Stevens, chairman of English Heritage, said the
gates, to be erected near Buckingham Palace, were "inelegant" and "a
world joke". He also said he would refuse to recommend the design to
Westminster city council for approval. Sir Jocelyn's remarks
followed the unveiling of the winning design for a set of gates to
commemorate the soldiers of the Indian sub-continents, Africa and
the West Indies, who fought and died for the British Empire.
The design, by 38-year-old architect Liam O'Connor, was chosen
from six shortlisted by the Memorial Gates Trust, chaired by
Indian-born Baroness Flather. The memorial will consist of four
elliptical 18ft stone columns, supporting undulating, gun metal-coloured wrought iron gates forming a 60ft screen across the
top of Constitution Hill. Baroness Flather said the trustees had
resisted attempts by some groups, including English Heritage, to
choose an Anglo-Saxon design.
A piazza alongside the gates will feature an Indian-style chattri
(umbrella) inscribed with the names of Victoria Cross holders while
the names of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa and the West Indies
will be in gold letters on the pillars. However, Sir Jocelyn said
that the design would "wreck the setting" of Wellington Arch and
"look like a sort of skirting board in front of it". He said:
"English Heritage's Commissioners are unanimous that the gates fail
to do justice to such an important memorial on the most prominent
site in London. The Commonwealth soldiers deserve very much better."
The Prince has enthusiastically endorsed the idea behind the
gates, along with Mr Blair. The Prince said in a statement: "Many of
us feel that the sacrifices of these men have not been fully
acknowledged in Britain. Before the memory of what they achieved
fades further, it is surely right to try to create a lasting
memorial to the contribution they made to securing the freedom of
this nation."
Mr O'Connor said the gates would make up an "architectural
trilogy" with Apsley House and the Wellington Arch. He said: "It's
easy to create a stark contrast but in a ceremonial situation,
dignity is required. It would be wrong to do something that destroys
the past. Having said that, we should not copy something that is
already there."
The gates will be a reminder that the biggest volunteer army in
history, totalling three million men, was raised in India. In
addition, 400,000 came from Africa, and 16,000 from the islands of
the Caribbean. At the end of the First World War, 113,743 Indians
were reported dead, wounded or missing; by the end of the 1939-45
war, 36,092 Indians had been killed or were missing, 64,350 were
wounded and 79,489 taken prisoner.
In addition to the £1 million cost of the gates, £800,000 is
being allocated to an educational programme for schoolchildren. Lady
Flather said: "We want to explain to future generations of Asian
children in Britain what their grandfathers and great-grandfathers
did. Although the gates were to have been erected for Armistice Day
this year, that has been postponed. They will be built when they are
built." The gates will be hand-made by Valley Forge, of Feltham,
Middlesex, which has carried out work at Buckingham Palace, Windsor
Castle and Versailles.
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