15 May 2023
Five years after residents of a St Albans street decided to honour their forgotten fallen of the First World War a memorial has been unveiled to ensure the names of the 15 who perished will be remembered forever.
Last Post by artist Renato Niemis, on the side of 1 King’s Road, features metal bricks depicting the names, regiment and civilian occupation of those who died in the conflict. It was unveiled by Joan Stanley, the niece of one of the victims, helped by Major Rhys Little from the Royal Anglian Regiment and standard bearers from the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regimental Association.
The memorial was the idea of resident Judy Sutton who co-authored an illustrated history about the King’s Road fallen with Helen Little.
Judy, who has lived in Kings Road for more than 30 years, said: “I can hardly believe this has finally happened after almost five years of hard work.
“The idea of a memorial came to me after I went to a local exhibition to mark the centenary of the Great War’s Armistice and was struck by how many men from Kings Road had lost their lives.
“The street suffered among the highest number of First World War casualties of any other city centre road and I felt it was important that we should have a memorial here to remember them.
“I am delighted that we have now honoured their memory and sacrifice in this way and I thank all of the many people and organisations who have helped bring this about.”
Artist Renato Niemis, whose work includes a memorial sculpture for missing US warplanes at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, said: “The memorial is partly about finally bringing these men home from the war. It reflects the fact that the men who died were the bricks and mortar of the road.
“Details from each soldier’s life are included in the sculpture’s bricks to bring each of these individuals to life. It was fascinating to learn about their history, how young some of these volunteers were and how varied were their occupations.
”The bricks are also designed to look a little like the telegrams which the families would have received with news of their loved one’s death at the front.
“I wanted to create a memorial that would stand out and catch people’s eye rather than a block of stone with the men’s names chiselled in and I hope I have done that with this design. I want people who walk by to really notice it.”
Among those at the unveiling were St Albans Mayor Cllr Geoff Harrison, and the Rev. Jonny Lloyd, newly-appointed vicar of nearby St Michael’s Church who blessed and dedicated the memorial.
The Mayor said: “This will be one of the last engagements that I perform as Mayor and it will also be one of the most memorable.
“The Kings Road community are to be commended for coming together in this way to honour the Great War dead from their street. It is an awesome memorial, a very fitting and eye catching way of remembering those we owe a great debt to.”
A bugler played a Call To Arms at the beginning of the ceremony, attended by more than 100 people, and the Last Post at the end which was followed by a moment of reflection.
Each house where the men had once lived displayed a picture of them for the occasion.
Photos courtesy of Steve Gledhill.
