THIS WEEK’S TOP STORY
Another lost memorial!

The Lambeth Doulton & Co. Ltd  Memorial for the First World War (1914-1918) was unveiled. 14 January 1920. It was a large memorial with decorated borders and two supplementary tablets at its feet. The name panels are on each side of a decorated wreath beneath which is a semicircular headed niche within which is a bust of Sir Henry Doulton. 

The Inscription read 

IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1919

THIS MEMORIAL IS ERECTED BY THEIR FELLOW WORKERS AT LAMBETH

LAMBETH,  BURSLEM, LAMBETH NAMES RECORDED LATER, ROWLEY, PAISLEY, 

St. HELENS, HAMWORTHY, BIRMINGHAM.

Altogether 995 men from the Doulton Potteries joined the armed forces between 1914 and 1918; of these 134 gave their lives and over 200 others were wounded or taken prisoner. 

During the war years, Doulton headquarters were in Lambeth, so the location of this original memorial would have been in Lambeth; however, the exact whereabouts are still unknown. 

Searching for its location and any reference to it in the newspaper archives flagged up all sorts of interesting information but no clues as to its whereabouts or, in fact, any pictures or indeed any of the names of the fallen. 

All we had was a fabulous document we have used on our website. It names the men from all the Doulton sites that enlisted in 1914. It is a valuable piece of evidence as it connects the name to Doulton and gives evidence of the enlistment year. But it also identifies the other Pottery sites in the UK where these men came from. 

We already have links with the Paisley memorial project and look forward to hearing from them on their progress, but as yet I have not found links to any of the other sites having projects like ours or other memorials registered. 

This week I turned my attention to the wider web and cast my net for the original Lambeth memorial, and remarkably I found a photo of it on Facebook with the following post; 

This First World War memorial was, I believe, inside the Lambeth Doulton Factory.  It is from a photo that was in my late Aunt’s possession.  Her father is listed on the memorial.  He was killed on the Somme.  He was a Potter’s Assistant at the factory.  I don’t believe the building is still there, so I was wondering what happened to the memorial. 

We now have the photo of the original Doulton Lambeth WW1 memorial, courtesy of Chris Williams. 

Further research has found another Memorial!  Courtesy of Val Davis, archivist for Royal Doulton, who found the second memorial photo.  

The Doulton Memorial Hall was built in 1938. It was constructed at the back of the Art Deco Doulton House complex on Albert Embankment, designed by the architects T.P. Bennett & Son. The hall served as a communal space for staff, complete with a dedicated stage and cinema. The hall was torn down in 1979 following the earlier closure of the main Lambeth Doulton pottery operations in 1956 due to clean air regulations. It was then that Royal Doulton headquarters transferred to Burslem. 

So in the space of a week we have found two fabulous pictures of the lost memorials honouring the Royal Doulton fallen. 

Of course, Rob and I will be endeavoring to research the names of the fallen from the Lambeth Royal Doulton Memorial with the help of Chris, so watch this space. 

Thanks to Mike Lightfoot for connecting me to Val Davis, who is working on locating the original memorials. 

Thanks to Chris Williams for the photograph of the original memorial and her research into the Lambeth fallen.