The Cenotaph, Southampton

Southampton Cenotaph
United Kingdom
The Southampton Cenotaph
For the casualties of the First World War
Unveiled	1920 (1920)
Location	50°54′34.7″N 1°24′18.7″W / 50.909639°N 1.405194°W / 50.909639; -1.405194Coordinates: 50°54′34.7″N 1°24′18.7″W / 50.909639°N 1.405194°W / 50.909639; -1.405194
Designed by	Edwin Lutyens
Our Glorious Dead Their Name Liveth For Evermore
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name	Southampton Cenotaph
Designated	8 October 1981
Reference no.	1340007

The Southampton Cenotaph is a stone memorial at Watts Park in Southampton, England, originally dedicated to the casualties of the First World War. The memorial was designed by Edwin Lutyens and features a cenotaph on a plinth atop a gently curved pillar. The monument was intended to be abstract and graceful, encouraging a perception of the soldier having fallen in a peaceful, "beautiful death". Decisions over which names should be engraved on the Southampton Cenotaph proved controversial in the 20th century, but the design was heavily influential in determining the form of Lutyens' more famous Cenotaph in Whitehall. Long-term weather damage to the memorial led to a glass wall being built alongside it in 2011, incorporating the names of those Southampton citizens who died in subsequent conflicts.

The First World War between 1914 and 1918 caused casualties on a massive scale. Shortly after the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, a public meeting was held in the city of Southampton which voted to construct a memorial "to those who have fallen in the Great War". A committee, headed by the Lord Mayor of Southampton, Sidney Kimber, was elected and discussions began as to what form such a memorial should take. The committee decided that their preferred option would be to construct a single, high-quality memorial in a good location within Southampton and began to consider architects and locations, with a proposed budget of £10,000. Alfred Gutteridge, an architect on one of the sub-committees, knew and recommended the architect Edwin Lutyens; at this time Lutyens had been involved in the design of several war cemeteries but only one war memorial, which he had designed for South Africa.

Elements of the committee met with Lutyens in January 1919 to discuss options for the memorial. Lutyens argued against the committee's initial proposed location on Asylum Green in favour of Watts Park, which the committee agreed to. Lutyen's initial design consisted of a large ceremonial pillar with a substantial archway on either side, each archway supporting a soldier lying on a sarcophagus. This was rejected due to the likely cost and instead Lutyens suggested a single empty sarcophagus or cenotaph, supported by a plinth on top of a pillar, with pine cones mounted on urns standing on each side. This was agreed to at a public meeting in September and detailed work on the project began. The London firm of Holloway Brothers were selected as the contractor for the memorial; the project was completed to time at a total cost of £9,845.