Erection date: 25/4/2017
John Stanhope Collings-Wells, 22-27 March 1918, Aged 37, The Bedfordshire Regiment, Apollo University Lodge.
Edward Cooper, 16 August 1917, Age 21, The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, St John’s Lodge.
Robert Edward Cruickshank, 1 May 1918, Age 29, The London Regiment (London Scottish), St Vedast Lodge.
Site: Freemason VCs (21 memorials)
WC2, Great Queen Street, Freemasons' Hall
The Freemasons commissioned this memorial to mark the 300th anniversary of The United Grand Lodge of England in 2017 and the centenary of the end of the Great War in 2018. Unveiled 25 April 2017.
During WW1 628 VCs were awarded, more than 200 of those to freemasons. We do not know how the 64 names on these plaques were chosen from the 200 - possibly they all lived in London, or belonged to London lodges.
The 20 plaques are arranged in 3 blocks (North, West, South) around the central 'Freemason VCs' plaque. Each plaque carries 3 names (some 4), in alphabetical sequence, starting in the top left of the N block, and reading down the columns in each block, so that is how we've labelled them: N1...N6, W1...W6, Z1...Z8 (using Z instead of S to get the sequence right).
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