Hammersmith & Fulham has a long tradition of solemn and respectful tributes to the courage of the armed forces, with ceremonies at the borough’s two main war memorials. The Shepherds Bush memorial sees its dedication centenary in 2022.
The winged angel sculpture on Shepherds Bush Green was created by Henry Fehr, a Fulham artist whose studio was in Fulham Road, where he worked alongside the leading American painter John Singer Sargent.
It was unveiled a week before an Armistice Day commemoration service in Shepherds Bush in November 1922.
The 9ft bronze figure of peace holds a sword in her right hand and a laurel wreath in her left, and rests on a Portland stone pedestal.
Initially created to mark the area’s First World War dead, it also became the monument to the fallen of the Second World War.
The inscription on the plaque reads: In the sight of the unwise they seem to die, yet is their hope full of immortality.
Cherishing our freedom
Fulham’s war memorial stands in Vicarage Gardens, on the sloped approach to Putney Bridge, and was unveiled on 10 July 1921.
It was created by sculptor Alfred Turner, best known for producing a series of bronze sculptures of Queen Victoria, and who went on to become a Royal Academician.
Originally put up in Fulham Palace Road, it was moved to its current leafier location in 1934.
The central bronze figure represents ‘Glory to the Dead’, and is dedicated – according to the inscription – to the honour of Fulham’s gallant dead who ‘died for freedom’.
The figure holds a torch, representing that freedom. The unveiling was led by the minister of Dawes Road Baptist Church, the Rev HG Doel, who had been a First World War chaplain.
Other memorials
There are, however, numerous other smaller war memorials dotted around Hammersmith & Fulham including:
- an engraved tablet by the Fulham District Nursing Association in Farm Lane, Fulham Broadway, which was unveiled in September 1919
- a stone tablet at Hammersmith Fire Station remembering firefighters
- a memorial at the United Reformed Church in Fulham Palace Road
- a stone tablet marking the deaths of 93 Fulham residents killed in air raids during the Second World War (now in Fulham Cemetery)
- a tablet at Fulham sorting office in Fulham Road commemorating the war service of postal workers
- an engraved memorial at the town hall in King Street to council staff who died in the world wars.