Historic England (HE) has commemorated 100 years of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission with 15 new and upgraded listings of war memorials by one of the Commission’s principal architects, Sir Herbert Baker
HE writes:
To commemorate the centenary of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 15 First World War memorials across the country by one of the Commission’s principal architects Sir Herbert Baker, have been listed or upgraded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England. Sir Herbert Baker was born in Cobham in Kent in 1862 and is celebrated for designing 113 cemeteries on the Western Front including Tyne Cot near Ypres in Belgium, one of the four ‘Memorials to the Missing’ and the largest Commonwealth cemetery in the world. He is also responsible for three other ‘Memorials to the Missing’ on the Western Front and 24 war memorials in villages and towns all over England.
He also designed many well-known buildings in London built in the inter-war years. These include Grade II* listed South Africa House and Grade II* listed Rhodes House, as well as his last major public commission, the Bank of England, which is listed at Grade I and built between 1925 and 1939. Internationally, Sir Herbert Baker is remembered as a key figure in South African architecture. During the 1890s he designed the Prime Ministerial residence ‘Groote Schuur’ and many private residences. From 1912, he collaborated with Sir Edwin Lutyens in India designing some of New Delhi’s most notable government structures. Sir Herbert Baker had a profound interest in symbolism.
Among the war memorials that have been upgraded, the War Cloister at Winchester College (the largest known private war memorial in Europe) has been upgraded from Grade II to the highest grade – Grade I. The memorial is designed in the unusual form of a medieval cloister and it is exceptional as the largest known private war memorial in Europe and one of the most distinguished of all war memorials at public schools. It is decorated with symbols which include many coats of arms, angels carrying gilded symbols and badges of the 120 regiments in which the college students served.
Roger Bowdler, Director of Listing for Historic England said: ‘It’s an honour to pay tribute to the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in this, their centenary year. Sir Herbert Baker was one of their principal architects, and designed some of their most important cemeteries. At home, he was responsible for numerous war memorials ranging from the utterly exceptional War Memorial Cloister for Winchester College to the simple, yet poignant, cross in his home village at Cobham in Kent. We are listing these memorials as part of our response to the centenary of the First World War.’
