Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

The Waggoners Memorial: A Sense of Place  

A lecture by Dorothy Nott

Following the carnage of the First World War, there was a widespread desire to remember those who were killed in the conflict, and the extreme numbers of the dead led to new ways of marking their sacrifice, both at home and where they fell. Throughout Europe, survivors struggled to give form to their memories in poetry, song and visual art.  Sculpture was a particularly apposite method of remembrance, as it provided a permanent space where public and private grief could be expressed.

This lecture will examine the story behind the formation of the Waggoners’ Reserve as revealed on the memorial erected to commemorate their call up and experiences between 1914 and 1918. It will look at the way in which this unusual, and somewhat eccentric, monument reflects both the cosmopolitan interests of Sir Mark Sykes of Sledmere and those of the waggoners against the specific backdrop of the Yorkshire Wolds.