Soldier’s Monument
Municipality/Province: Morrisburg, ON
Memorial number: 35083-036
Type: Shaft - granite, statue - bronze
Address: 8 5th Street West
Location: South Dundas Justice building
GPS coordinates: Lat: 44.8989823 Long: -75.1854701
Submitted by: Ian Bowering, Richard Turcotte
This monument is dedicated to the citizens of the Morrisburg area who served in the First World War.
Shortly after the First World War the Morrisburg Soldiers' Monument Association was formed. This association pledged to erect a memorial to those who gave their lives in the war. The officers appointed were: Honorary President, Mr. Geo. W. Cook; Honorary Vice-President, Mr. I. Hilliard, K.C., M.P.P.; Chairman, Mr. W. K. Farlinger, Reeve; Mr. Leo Laurin, Editor of the Morrisburg Leader; Secretary, Miss Grace D. Merkley; Treasurer, Mr. Fred R. Chalmers, Town Clerk; Chairmen of Committees: Messrs. John Gormley; R.F. Lyle; Rev. Hugh Cameron; George L. Brown, C.E.; John H. Meikle; B.B. Tucker, C.E.; Arthur Flynn; and Fred Meikle.
This group successfully erected a beautiful monument costing $10,000 and executed by sculptor George W. Hill, R.C.A. of Montreal. The monument stands nineteen feet high. The base, constructed of granite, is twelve feet square and nine feet high. The ten feet high bronze figure of an Infantry man, who having laid off his equipment of war, is in the act of acclaiming peace. His right arm is raised while he shouts the glad tidings, and with his left hand he presses the victorious flag to his heart. A wreath of laurel leaves, held against the flag, is a symbol of achievement. On the Die is placed the Dove of Peace, descending on the globe.
Over 5,000 people attended the unveiling of the war memorial on September 9, 1923. It was located on the municipal square, south-east corner of Main Street and Highway 31. A row of stately Lombardy poplars, planted by John H. Meikle, made a colourful background for the bronze figure.
The memorial was relocated to the front of Morrisburg's Civic Building on Fifth Street. Source: "Up the Front" a story of Morrisburg by Eleanor Wickware Morgan.
George William Hill was born in Shipton, Eastern Townships, in 1861. He learned to carve marble in his father’s company, after he graduated from college. Between 1889 and 1894, he left Quebec to study sculpting at the École nationale des beaux-arts and Académie Julian in Paris. When he returned to Montreal, he opened a studio and worked with architect Robert Findlay and brothers Edward and William S. Maxwell. Known for his public monuments and war memorials, he is now considered one of the most important Canadian sculptors of the early twentieth century.
Hill designed several monuments commemorating Canadians lost in the South African War, including the Strathcona and South African Soldiers' Memorial in Quebec and Boer War Soldiers Monument in Ontario. At the end of the First World War, Hill was awarded several contracts by towns and cities wishing to pay homage to citizens who had died on the battlefields. Between 1920 and 1930 he designed these monuments: Westmount Cenotaph, Magog Cenotaph, Argenteuil Cenotaph, Richmond Cenotaph, Sherbrooke War Memorial in Quebec; Pictou County War Memorial in Nova Scotia; Soldier's Monument, The Soldier and Nurses’ Memorial in Ontario; and the Soldier's Monument in Prince Edward Island.
Inscription found on memorial
[front/devant]
IN MEMORY
OF THE MEN
OF MORRISBURG
AND VICINITY
WHO SERVED
IN THE
GREAT WAR
1914-18
[right side/côté droit]
GNR. DONALD BRADFIELD
C.O., G.M.S., C.H. GILLESPIE
SIGNR. GARNET E. LEWIS
SERGT. GERALD MEIKLE
CORP. ORLIN MERKLEY
N. SISTER F. MUNROE
SIGNR. DONALD PRUNER
LANCE CORP. E.R. STEEN
LIEUT. IVAN TINKESS
LIEUT. HUME WINGARD
[left side/côté gauche]
PTE. JOHN FROATS
PTE. CHAS. LEWIS
PTE. FREEN RICE
PTE. KARL STATA
PTE. HARRY WELLS
PTE. OLIVER WOODS
PTE. JOHN WYATT
PTE. F. QUICKFALL
PTE. D. ROBERTSON
[back/arrière]
THEIR BODIES
ARE BURIED IN PEACE,
BUT THEIR NAME
LIVETH FOREVERMORE
Street view
Note
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