Tucked away in a lovely little park just a few minutes’ walk from St Paul’s Cathedral is one of London’s most beautiful memorials – to ordinary people who have died saving others. Located in a corner of Postman’s Park in the City of London, the rows of plaques detailing the deeds of everyday heroes might not be much to look at, at first glance. But the feeling behind the installation is really wonderful.
It was the brainchild of Victorian painter and philanthropist GF (George Frederic) Watts, who unveiled the memorial in 1900 at his own expense with the help of his wife Mary who was an artist in her own right. He had been struck by George Eliot’s words in his novel Felix Holt where he wrote about the unseen heroic actions of the individual that contribute to victory or a greater good.
He wrote: “Let us rather erect a monument to the soldiers whose brave hearts only held the line unbroken and met death – a monument to the faithful who were not famous and who are precious as the continuity of the rays of the sun is precious, though some of them fall unseen and barren.”
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And so London’s monument to the “faithful who were not known” was born. Designed by GF Watts, the ceramic plaques were originally created by William De Morgan. After 1907 Doulton of Lambeth took over making new plaques.
There are 54 tiles that pay tribute to 62 different people. The youngest to be celebrated is Henry Bristow, 8, from Walthamstow who saved his little sister’s life by tearing off his burning clothes when they caught fire. But tragically, his own clothes caught fire and he died.
Another plaque pays tribute to Joseph Andrew Ford, aged 30, who was working for the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in 1871, when he died after he “rescued six persons from a fire in Gray’s Inn Road, but in his last act of heroism was burnt to death”. Gray’s Inn Road is in Camden borough and connects Chancery Lane with Kings Cross.
“He supported his drowning playmate”
A heartbreaking plaque commemorating David Selves who was just 12 when he “supported his drowning playmate and sank with him, clasped in his arms” in the water off Woolwich in September 1886. Many plaques were unveiled as part of the memorial in 1900, but others have been added since then.
There is a brand new addition to the plaque which was added after a two year campaign by staff members. Leigh Pitt died in 2007 after jumping into the Thamesmead Canal to save a drowning boy, after hearing his cries for help from his flat. But when he did, he slipped below the surface and drowned, but the boy survived after grabbing a hose lowered by residents as Leigh held him up.
There’s plenty of tragedy on display on the tiles, but it’s also oddly uplifting – a reminder that London is full of heroes ready to spring into action when someone’s in trouble. You’ll find the main entrance to Postman’s Park right next to London City Presbyterian Church on Aldersgate Street with St Paul’s Cathedral in sight just to your right.
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