Overlooked Britain
They had no choice
LUCINDA LAMBTON
lucinda lambton Every time I drive past the Animals in War Memorial in Park Lane, I’m pierced by the poignancy
The heart-stirring sight of the Animals in War Memorial, in London’s Park Lane, is to be seen daily by many thousands of people driving by. It is, though, very difficult to inspect its highly rewarding excellence and charm at close quarters. Situated between two roaring traffic-filled freeways on what was originally the elegant edge of Hyde Park, it is tricky to reach. Reach the memorial, however, and you are home and dry. You’re quite magically immersed in a poignant peacefulness, charm and beauty that overpower all else, with a power that renders the world about you quite silent; this despite the multitude of roaring motors on either side. The memorial is as moving as it is momentous. Gently traditional yet slicing-edge modern, it moves you to the very roots of your boots. It was Jilly Cooper, with her book Animals in War, who inspired its creation, along with her husband, the late lamented, delightful 82 The Oldie May 2022
and distinguished military historian Leo Cooper. He suggested the all-important words carved into the stone: ‘THEY HAD NO CHOICE’. The sculptor David Backhouse was the genius behind its design. He sculpted the four bronze animals as well. Richard Holliday and Harry Day sculpted the stone animals. All the names of those who paid for it are incised into the back of the wall. It was commissioned by the Imperial War Museum. The 58-foot-long, curved sweep of a stone wall was designed as the arena of war. It seems to enclose you with all the warrior creatures – carved in bas-relief – that are thundering by. Carrier pigeons fly overhead; two million were used in the Second World War. While 17,000 were parachuted into enemy territory, only one in eight returned. An elephant – considered a ‘skilled sapper’ in Burma – leads the charge on the ground. There are horses – eight million of them perished during
the First World War – dromedaries and camels, as well as a chicken, a dolphin, a donkey, a cat and a goat. A mule at the gallop, with his head thrown back, is enjoying the last of his food in a heavy, leather nosebag. Most endearingly, there are tiny glow-worms to be seen. The little creatures provided light for the ‘boys’ to read their letters and maps in the trenches. The wall is engraved with the ennobling words THIS MONUMENT IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE ANIMALS THAT SERVED AND DIED ALONGSIDE BRITISH AND ALLIED FORCES IN WARS AND CAMPAIGNS THROUGHOUT TIME. Bronze
mules, life-size and heavily laden, somewhat gloomily toil forth to an opening in the wall, through which you too can walk. This enables you to look back at the empty silhouettes of the animals carved on the other side, all of them wraith-like, representing ghosts of these victims of war. On their own and leading away from the memorial are two bronze animals
