The Westminster College war memorial, located in the chapel at the Harcourt Hill campus of Oxford Brookes University, has been added to the national War Memorials Register. This ambitious project was launched by the Imperial War Museum in 2018 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Spring Offensive during the First World War, and currently holds records of over 80,000 memorials in the UK, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man.
War memorials form an important part of our cultural heritage and reflect the changing face of commemoration as well as artistic, social, local, family, military and international history. The Register includes memorials to members of the armed forces, civilians and animals from all wars and to those who died in service.
Following fundraising efforts by the College that raised in excess of £850, the large oak memorial boards recording the names of the 102 former Westminster men who died during the First World War were dedicated in a ceremony on 10 July 1921, in which the names of the fallen were solemnly read in turn, and thanks given to God,
For men of this College who served their country in her hour of need, and especially for those who gave even their lives
A memorial brass to Henry Andrew Reatchlous, Vice-Principal from 1888-1904, was unveiled during the same ceremony. The Memorial Committee also invested some £750 in National Savings Certificates to support the education of the dependent children of fallen Westminster men.
The subsequent history of the war memorial included rededication and the addition of a further 25 names of Westminsterians who died during the Second World War (achieved through more College fundraising), and the memorial’s removal to its present location in the chapel at Harcourt Hill, where there is also a memorial window to Donald Simpson Bell V.C (see, a former post).
More information about the Westminster College war memorial can be found at https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/83821
Westminster College Oxford - Research 
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