It may be a statue we’ve all seen hundreds of times but have you ever really looked at it, asks our conflict monument correspondent Angus Young.
The sculpture of two soldiers from the Boer War has stood in Paragon Square in Hull since 1904. Evocative images of the unveiling ceremony featured on contemporary postcards show a large crowd gathered in the square for the event with dozens of men also watching the proceedings while standing on the exposed gable end of an overlooking semi-demolished building. Funded by public subscription, the memorial was made by the Leeds Marble Works and commemorates the Hull men who died during the South African conflict.
However, it is by no means a traditional war memorial.
For a start, the white sandstone figures of the two soldiers hardly reflect the ultimate victory achieved by the British against the Boer republics between 1899 and 1902. One appears to stand guard over a struggling, perhaps wounded or dying colleague and is depicted as grimly holding onto his rifle rather than aiming it at the enemy. His fallen comrade, who has lost his helmet and is wearing a bandage around his head, has dropped his weapon altogether.
Until then, war memorials in Britain had typically celebrated victory by featuring triumphant kings or military leaders and were often placed inside religious buildings. However, in a break from this tradition, large memorials commissioned immediately after the Boer War not only appeared in public places but also featured soldiers from the lower ranks for the first time. The Hull pair certainly fall into this category.
A close inspection of the metal plaques attached to the large rough-hewn stone which acts as a base for the sculpture provides another unusual departure from previous memorials. As you might expect, the names of 57 men from Hull who died during what was known as the Second Boer War are recorded, identified by their surname, rank and regiment. However, the names are divided into three sections with separate headings for each one – Killed in Action, Died of Wounds and Died of Disease, etc. Shockingly to modern eyes, the names of those who died from disease spill over from one plaque and entirely fill another. Altogether, 45 of the 57 men commemorated died from disease. The biggest killer during the war was typhoid.
Megan Howarth researched changing public opinion during the Boer War and how it was reflected in subsequent memorials as part of her History degree at the University of Hull. She says: “The memorial in Hull is particularly interesting because it showed the causes of death for the soldiers it was commemorating. The most significant cause of death was disease and the failure to prepare for the medical consequences of a war in a climate like that of South Africa.”
Megan believes the memorial’s focus on camaraderie might have been intentional as part of a deliberate attempt by the authorities to divert public attention away from the embarrassing defeats suffered by the British during the early stages of the conflict. It also helped promote a feeling of pride in the national effort that had gone into the war, underlined by the fact that large numbers of men who fought were not professional soldiers and many were not suitably trained.
“This served the purpose of uniting the country after the war because, although the causes of war and the methods of war were strongly contested, the number of volunteers was perceived to be something to be proud of. It is also particularly significant because it was one of the first wars in which there was a large anti-war movement in Britain.”