TEIGNMOUTH  MEN WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

From The Teignmouth Post

Friday 28 January 1921

"A gathering of upwards of two thousand assembled on Saturday afternoon, on the Den, Teignmouth, to witness the unveiling and dedication of the memorial erected by the town in memory of the 170 inhabitants who fell in the late Great War. In keeping with the occasion, the proceedings were most solemn and reverent.

Colonel F. B. Mildmay, M. P., who was accompanied by Mrs. Mildmay, unveiled the memorial, an obelisk of Dartmoor granite, with a base of the same material 4 ft. 6 in. square, the total height being 19 ft. It is erected in one of the narrow green swards on the top of the Den and is situated midway between the Pier entrance and the lighthouse. The memorial has cost about £250, which sum has, within a few pounds, been raised by public subscription.

Messrs T. H and B. Knight and Sons, the contractors, bearing in mind that the memorial is exposed to the spray from the sea, have, at their own expense - at a cost of £30 - done the lettering in beaten lead, the most durable of substances.

The base of the memorial has four panels, and on the one facing the sea is the inscription:

TO THE GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THE MEN OF TEIGNMOUTH

WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1919

The names of the fallen are inscribed on the other three panels, and contains the names of four members of one family and three members of three other families."

(It was noted in the press account that not all the names of those who had died had been collected by the time of the unveiling; other names were added at a later date on decorative triangles which were added to the  base of the obelisk above the panels already mentioned - see above. The faces of the base were used a few years later to list names from the 1939 - 1945 War.)