This memorial commemorates officer, ranks and ratings of this Port who died at sea
during the wars of 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945. Actions in which they fought are
recorded in the registers and on the memorial itself. Sailors from other navies of the
Commonwealth who were lost at sea in those two world wars are also remembered here.
Similar memorials at Portsmouth and Chatham commemorate men and women of those
manning ports, while merchant seamen who died from enemy action and have no grave are
commemorated at Liverpool and at Tower Hill in London. The names of those who died during
the Second World War whilst serving in the Royal Naval Patrol Service or Fleet Air Arm and
whose graves are unknown are respectively at Lowestoft and Lee-on-Solent.
Other memorials, at Halifax and Victoria in Canada, at Auckland in New Zealand, at
Bombay in India, at Chittagong in Bangladesh, and at Hong Kong commemorate sailors from
those parts of the Commonwealth, while the Newfoundland memorial at Beaumont Hamel in
France bears the names of the Newfoundland sailors lost at sea during the First World War.
The names of over 23,000 men and women are recorded on this memorial; of these some
7,000 died during the First World War and 16,000 during the Second World War. All were
buried or lost at sea or were otherwise denied, by the fortunes of war, a known and
honoured grave.
THIS MEMORIAL WAS BUILT AND IS MAINTAINED BY THE COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES
COMMISSION
1914-1918 MEMORIAL
ARCHITECT - SIR ROBERT LORIMER, SCULPTOR - HENRY POOLE.
1939-1945 EXTENSION
ARCHITECT - SIR EDWARD MAUFE, SCULPTOR - SIR CHARLES WHEELER.
