The War Memorial Statues were created by local sculptor, Mary Pownall Bromet, who was a pupil of August Rodin, and were unveiled by the Earl of Clarendon on 18 July 1928 in front of Peace Memorial Hospital. The figures symbolised those who grieve, those who are maimed and those who survived.  The community raised the money to cast the three figures in bronze. Up until the 1970s they were inseparably associated with The Peace Memorial Hospital and commemoration of both World War I and World War II. This link was broken when the War Memorial was relocated beside the Town Hall on 13 February 1971.

The unveiling of the War Memorial Sculptures in front of the Peace Memorial Hospital in 1928

This post is part of information gathered during Peace Hospice Care’s oral histories project 2014-16. The project captured 25 years of Peace Hospice Care and explored the legacy of the Peace Memorial Hospital. It was funded by the Heritage Lottery Foundation.

Find out more about Peace Hospice Care by visiting www.peacehospicecare.org.uk or the online project archive http://ourview.peacehospicecare.org.uk/  Oral histories from the project will be deposited with Hertfordshire Archive and Local Studies by end 2016.