Cumberland Cenotaph
Municipality/Province: Ottawa (Cumberland), ON
Memorial number: 35024-020
Type: Shaft, statue - grainte
Address: Old Montreal Road and Glasford Street
Location: St. Andrews United Church
GPS coordinates: Lat: 45.5173075 Long: -75.4074797
Submitted by: Richard J. Parks
Photo credit: Louise Bellec
From Cumberland, 44 men volunteered for active duty in the First World War. Of that number seven men never returned. A memorial in their honour was erected on the front lawn of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, as Cumberland village did not have a public park and unveiled on Sunday, June 13, 1920.
The statue is a pure white marble lady, her head bowed in reverence, bears the grief of the mothers whose sons died so tragically. In one hand she clings to a garland of flowers, like the fresh blooms of youth that encircled these soldiers. Her left hand, curled in thought, rests under her chin. Two crossed Union Jack flags embedded in the pink granite crown the monument to acknowledge Canada’s ties to Britain. The site was raised upwards, set on a mound of earth, enclosed with railings of iron, cornered by four sturdy stone pillars. Two cannons stood sentinel on each side of the monument.
Overtime the cannons disappeared, the landscaping and sidewalk were altered and the iron railing was cast aside. Later, two names were added for the Second World War. Another name, at first etched on a wooden shingle, then carved into the grey stone base, was added after the Korean War.
Inscription found on memorial
1914-1918
CHARLES H. MCKENZIE
CRESWELL, J. ALLAN
ROBERT LESLIE TAYLOR
PETER J. MCLAREN
WILLIAM J. SPRATT
JOHN A. MCKENZIE
THOMAS FOYE
1939-1945
CARLETON G. KENNEDY
WILLIAM H. LOUGH
THEIR NAMES LIVETH FOR EVERMORE
ROBERT VICTOR ARNOTT
1950 KOREA 1953
PUBLIC MEMORIAL
ERECTED TO THE MEMORY AND HONOR OF THE
CITIZEN SOLDIERS OF CUMBERLAND WHOSE
NAMES ARE INSCRIBED HERE ON AND WHO GAVE
THEIR LIVES FOR US IN THE GREAT WAR OF
1914 - 1918
Street view
Note
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