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Langley Park School for Boys, Greater London

Beckenham war memorial column, Greater London © War Memorials Trust, 2013
Beckenham war memorial column, Greater London © Farthing Collection, c.1921
Beckenham war memorial inscription, Greater London © War Memorials Trust, 2013
  • County name: Greater London
  • Group/School name: Langley Park School for Boys History Society
  • Age group: 11+
  • Group type: School history club

In December 2013 War Memorials Trust’s Learning Officer was asked to visit Langley Park School for Boys in Beckenham to assist with a war memorial project pupils in the school’s after-school History Society were putting together in preparation for the centenary of the start of the First World War. Their aim was to research and compare war memorials in the area and develop an exhibition about this.

The school contacted the Trust through the Imperial War Museum’s Centenary Partnership and it was decided that a visit to the school’s local memorial in Beckenham (www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/node/118835) would be beneficial and a helpful introduction to the pupils’ work to research it and the people named on it. Prior to the visit the pupils also took part in a short session with the Trust’s Learning Officer to learn some of the history of First World War memorials like the one in Beckenham and why there was such a drive for commemoration and Remembrance after the war ended.

Beckenham’s main war memorial takes the form of a rectangular white Portland stone column. At the top of this is a broad cross with relief carvings on either side depicting St George slaying the legendary dragon, and a phoenix rising from its own ashes (symbolising the destruction of evil and immortality respectively). Inscriptions can be seen on the front and rear faces of the column, with brass plaques listing the fallen placed around the sides of the column beneath these inscriptions. The memorial was unveiled after the First World War in 1921 and interestingly the war memorial still bears marks showing where the lettering for the original inscription was fixed to the stone; the historic and current photos shown on this page also show the original inscription, which had to be altered after the Second World War, and the way the memorial looks today.

Another interesting fact about this memorial is who completed the unveiling. This was local council employee Bert Hanscombe, a former sergeant who was one of nine brothers who all fought in and survived the First World War.

During the visit to the memorial, the members of the school’s History Society used War Memorials Trust’s resource sheets to record the memorial’s key features and some of the approximately 1000 names listed, so that they could research these people as part of their project at a later date. Pupils also expressed an interest in helping to update the War Memorials Online website (www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk) so that it holds current photographs and up to date information about the war memorial. Photographs taken during the visit were added to the site’s record for the memorial after the visit and the pupils continued with their research and participation in events to mark the centenary of the First World War.

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