Bedford Boer War

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Reference WMO/120678

Address:

Swan Hotel

1 High Street

Bedford

MK40 1RW

England

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Status: Unknown
Type: Freestanding
Location: External
Setting: Roadside
Description: Serviceman/woman sculpture
Materials:
  • Metal Metal (any)
  • Stone Stone (any)
Lettering: Inscribed on a plaque
Conflicts:
  • Boer War, Second (1899-1902)
About the memorial: South African War Memorial1904. Sculptor: Leon J Chavalliaud Location: Swan Hotel forecourt, High Street, Bedford The statue The romantic figure of a British soldier carrying heavy marching kit, dressed in the then new khaki camouflage uniform of the turn of the century, with a pith helmet, stands easy, holding his rifle, and looks out into the distance. What this memorial represents is the death of 237 Bedfordshire men of the Bedfordshire Regiment and other regiments, many of them through disease, during the Anglo-Boer War between 1899 and 1902, thousands of miles away at the southern tip of Africa. It was a war for colonial enrichment between the British and the Dutch settlers over the control of gold and other mineral wealth, which cost the lives of 45,000 British soldiers and 37,000 Boer casualties. The memorial lists the names of each individual, according to regiment and rank. It was unveiled on 2 June 1904 by Lady Cowper, standing in for her husband, the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire. There are further Boer War memorial tablets in St Paul’s Church, almost opposite, and in the Chapel of Bedford School. The sculptor Born in Rheims, Leon Joseph Chavalliaud (1859-1919) studied at the Ecoles des Beaux-Arts in Paris before coming over to England in the 1890s, working for the British firm of decorative casting, Farmer and Brindley over a fifteen year period. © Stuart Antrobus stuartantrobus@btinternet.com
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Grade II (England)

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1420021

1420021

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