Hoe Memorial to be restored

The memorial dedicated to a grandson of Queen Victoria is to get some TLC as part of the Council’s ongoing review of its assets.

The Prince Christian Victor Memorial was erected in 1902 to commemorate the death of Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein, one of Queen Victoria's grandsons, who died of typhoid fever during the Second Boer War.

It also commemorates the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Gloucestershire, Somerset and Devonshire Regiments who fell during the Boer War 1899 to 1902.

The memorial was designed by architect Frederick William Mark and has three bronze panels by the sculptor Onslow Whiting and one by Emil Fuchs. The front panel by Fuchs shows two angels lifting a soldier ‘towards another world’ with a dedication to the prince.

The three panels by Whiting depict battles from the Boer War, including an attack by the Devonshire Regiment at Wagon Hill during the Siege of Ladysmith, and another shows the Somerset Light Infantry and the Gloucestershire Regiment in action.

The panel on the north has an inscription with the name of the benefactor who paid for it – South Africa diamond merchant Alfred Mosely.

Around the sides are the names of Boer War battles, including Ladysmith and Paardeberg – a name Plymouth people may recognise as a gun captured there now stands as a memorial to the crew of HMS Doris in Devonport Park.

The memorial’s striking 12 metre pink granite obelisk with bronze panels is to also get a makeover with the bronze surface cleaned and treated.