The IODE Cenotaph was provided to the city following the Great War by the local members of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE) and designed by architect F.C. Bodley. The limestone monument bears the inscription “Let those who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten”. These words were part of the message on a Memorial Scroll that was sent by King George V to parents or wives of the fallen soldiers during the First World War.
The memorial was originally located in Gore Park and was dedicated on 11 November 1923. On the armories gore were the Dufferin Rifles and band under Bandmaster Johnson, Brant Dragoons, Brantford Machine Gun Company, Great War Veterans Association, and pupils of Mohawk Institute. The eight standard bearers of the Brantford chapters of the IODE, Mrs. Cameron, Miss Gilkison, Mrs. Newman, Mrs. M. Paterson, Mrs. Popplewell, Miss Craddock, Mrs. Earl Smith, Miss Murray Thorburn, with their silken standards, stood by the side of their respective regents.
In front of the cenotaph was the guard of honor, which presented a very smart appearance under Captain Bolt, Captain Lloyd Colquhoun and Lieutenant Brooks. At 10.30 Captain (Reverend) W.G. Martin preluded the service with the invocation followed by the reading of a passage of scripture. He then asked Mrs. M.A. Colquhoun, as representing the mothers who had lost sons in the war, to unveil the cenotaph. The memorial was revealed and from standard rests at the sides floated two Union Jacks, while above was the symbolic torch, whose brightness shall serve to remind the passerby that the living flame which it typifies, burns in human hearts and that the supreme sacrifice of Canadian manhood was not made in vain.
On 2 June 1992, the memorial was moved to Tom Thumb Park and rededicated on 11 November 1992.
