page_title: Midland Railway War Memorial
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Midland Railway War Memorial / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Midland Railway War Memorial. This impressive memorial, made from Portland Stone, stands on Midland Street in Derby, a short distance from Derby Midland station and is a grade II* listed building, but sadly seems to be mostly overlooked. The inscription reads "To the brave men of the Midland Railway who gave their lives in the Great War". Brass plaques either side of the cenotaph record the names of those men.This is a photo of listed building number 1228742.
context_page_description: The Midland Railway War Memorial is a First World War memorial in Derby in the East Midlands of England. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1921. The memorial commemorates employees of the Midland Railway who died while serving in the armed forces during the First World War. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. Around a third of the company's workforce, some 23,000 men, left to fight, of whom 2,833 were killed.
  Standing on Midland Road, within sight of Derby Midland railway station and backing on to the garden of the Midland Hotel, the memorial consists of a cenotaph surrounded on three sides by a screen wall. Affixed to the wall are bronze plaques listing the names of the dead. On either side of the cenotaph is the Midland's coat of arms, enclosed in a laurel wreath. The crest is surmounted by a catafalque with sculpted lion heads at the corners, supporting the recumbent effigy of a soldier, covered by a coat.
context_section_description: The memorial was built by J Parnell and Son Ltd and cost £10,309 (1921). Charles Booth, company chairman of the Midland Railway, unveiled the memorial on 15 December 1921 while the Right Reverend Edwyn Hoskyns, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham gave a dedication. The Midland did not invite the families of the dead to the ceremony, fearing that there would be insufficient space for them, but offered free travel passes to Derby for relatives wishing to visit the memorial after its unveiling.
  
  As well as the monument, the Midland Railway published a book of remembrance, a copy of which was sent to the family of each of the men listed on the memorial. The book contained a photograph of the memorial, along with details about each man's occupation within the company, their home depot or station, regiment, and military rank. In the foreword, the Midland's general manager, Frank Tatlow, described the memorial as expressing: 
  the triumphant end of the war, as well as the sadness and sorrow it entailed, and is intended to embody the whole meaning of those troubled years which have bequeathed to us the memory of so many good lives lost and stout hearts which no longer beat. It marks the victory which crowned their whole efforts, and the pride with which the Midland Company can truly affirm—"our men did not a little to that end".
  The Midland and other British railway companies struggled to recover from the effects of the war. As a result, the Midland was amalgamated with its rival the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and several smaller railways in the Railways Act 1921 to form the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), whose casualties from the Second World War are commemorated on the LNWR's war memorial outside Euston station in London. Both memorials are now the responsibility of Network Rail, which inherited them from British Rail (itself created by nationalisation of the LMS and most other railways after the Second World War). The Midland had planned to build a second memorial at its London terminus, St Pancras but the plans fell through due to lack of funds. The artist Fabian Peake created a memorial there in 2018, unveiled on the centenary of the Armistice (11 November), inspired by job titles he found in the Midland's Book of Remembrance. A copy of the book of remembrance is held by the National Railway Museum.  
  The memorial was designated a grade II* listed building on 24 February 1977. Listed building status offers statutory protection from demolition or modification; grade II* is reserved for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest" and is applied to about 5.5 per cent of listings. In November 2015, as part of commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, Historic England recognised the Midland Railway War Memorial as part of a national collection of Lutyens' war memorials. The war memorial forms part of Derby's Railway Conservation Area, a collection of buildings around the railway station associated with the Midland Railway. Designated by Derby City Council, the conservation area recognises the historic interest of the area and imposes controls on development.
  The memorial was damaged in 2010 when several of the bronze plaques, listing the names of the dead, were ripped from the walls. Some were quickly discovered; others, apparently stolen for the scrap value of the metal, were recovered later. Two men responsible for the theft received prison sentences. The plaques were restored by Network Rail and the Railway Heritage Trust at a cost of £18,000, and a service of re-dedication took place on 17 December 2010 using the original prayer of dedication from the 1921 service, read by the Reverend James Lindsay. The theft prompted an initiative to treat the metal elements of all Derbyshire war memorials with SmartWater, a product which allows metal to be identified under ultraviolet light.
caption: View of the memorial from the opposite side of Midland Road
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