cenotaph

[bdouville]

This week, in "Historical Memory," we are focusing on commemoration. Thursday's class will centre on commemoration of World War One. So, this morning, while downtown, I decided to take some pictures of our local cenotaph in front of the courthouse. Unveiled in 1924, it was designed by sculptor Alfred Howell (who also was repsonsible for war

Comments

[changeling72]

Beautiful. Didn't Kipling's son die in the war?

Are war memorials common over there? Here, just about every town and village has one.

[bdouville]

I think that memorials to the Great War (and to the Second World War) are as common here as they are in Great Britain. You'll find them in most every Canadian town and city from coast to cost.

Indeed, Kipling lost his son John in the war, and afterward, Kipling served with the Imperial War Graves Commission. So he had an active interest in commemoration.

Cheers,

Bruce

[changeling72]

That's good to know. I imagine Canada lost a great many men?

[bdouville]

Somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 Canadians lost their lives in the Great War -- more than in the Second World War. And that's not counting the war wounded (upwards of 200,000, and that's probably not counting undiagnosed cases of PTSD

[rockingthemike]

that's a beautiful memorial.

[bdouville]

Thanks, Mike.

[kishenehn]

Both the building and the monument are classics of their age.

And the Kipling connection is interesting ... there's probably an intriguing story there.

[bdouville]

Definitely classics of their age -- and "classic" is the operative word, because in both cases, the style is clearly classical. Actually, while I was doing from microfilm research back in the 1990s, I seem to recall seeing the designs for that courthouse building published in the Sault Daily Star (our local newspaper) in 1919. It was completed in 1922.

There is probably an intriguing story about the Kipling connection. Part of it is rooted in the fact that Kipling lost his son John in the Great War, and afterwards, served with the Imperial War Graves Commission. So he definitely had an active interest in commemoration. Who contacted him from the Sault? And did they have some sort of connection with him or did they just "cold contact" him? I don't know. I also don't know if this poem is unique, or if we just think it's unique. (Perhaps Kipling has pawned the poem on small towns and cities across the Commonwealth for their commemorative monuments.)

Cheers,

Bruce

[kishenehn]

Out of curiosity, I just Googled a couple of lines from the poem ... the words do seem to be unique to your monument!

[bdouville]

That's a relief. Kipling seemed like a principled fellow, so it makes sense that he wouldn't furnish the same poem to a dozen different monument-makers. (And no doubt, he would know that the ultimate discovery of such a thing would be a bit embarrassing for his legacy.)