The Memorial Plaque was created in the 1920's and presented to the next of kin of those who lost their lives on war service, both during and shortly after The Great War.

The Memorial Scheme

If the year 1916 was a turning point in the British soldier's and civilian's perception of the war, it was perhaps appropriate that in October, when the fighting on the Somme had reached the slogging matches of the Transloy Ridges and Ancre Heights, a Government Committee should have been set up by Secretary of State for War, David Lloyd George to consider what form of memorial should be made available to the next of kin of those who died 'on active service'.

Although weighted with tragic overtones the memorial scheme manifested the existence of a grim spirit of optimism. For the belief that at some future date the British government would have the means and will to put such a massive commemorative scheme into effect, despite that summer's terrible disappointments on land and sea, implied an intractable faith in ultimate victory.

The scheme was first made public in The Times for Tuesday 7 November 1916. Under the headline 'Memento for the Fallen. State Gift for Relatives' the committee's nature and function were precisely defined:
'A General Committee, representative of both Houses of Parliament and of the Government Departments most concerned has been appointed to consider the question of a memorial to be distributed to the relatives of soldiers and sailors who fall in the war...'

On 7 November 1916, The Times informed its readers, the decision had been made that the cost of the memorial was to be borne by the State. The precise form it was to take was a matter for much longer consideration though the initially accepted idea was that it should be '...a small metal plate recording the man's name and services.'

 
The first prize of £250, for two model designs, was awarded to Edward Carter Preston, of the Sandon Studios Society, Liverpool.

Edward Carter Preston's prize-winning design comprises the figure of Britannia, classically robed and helmeted, standing facing right, holding a modest laurel wreath crown in her extended left hand and supporting a trident by her right side with her right arm and hand. In the foreground a male lion stands facing right; the animal was originally described as 'striding forward in a menacing attitude' which may explain its unusually low profile.