The Scafell Pike and Great Gable Great War Memorials

 SCAFELL PIKE

The Scafell Pike Memorial Plaque (photograph care of Ian Murphy)

The summit cairn of Scafell Pike

Approaching the summit of Scafell Pike, from the Lingmell Col path.

On 28th June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria) was assassinated in Sarajevo. This led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia, which began a chain of events through nation's alliances, that inevitably led to upheaval of the European continent, and eventually involving the developed nations of the world.  Britain entered the conflict after Germany attacked France through neutral Belgium. Men from all sections of British Society (and the Empire) heard the call and volunteered for the army and navy to defend freedom. The horror of that conflict led to the names of battles to become ingrained in the British consciousness; Marne, Gallipoli, Jutland (naval), Verdun (French), The Somme, Ypres (Passchendaele), Amiens; to name but the main ones. It was a war that would eventually cost an estimated 17 million people their lives.

Within the English Lake District there had been a group of men who had coalesced under a shared desire to invigorate their lives through a passion of climbing inaccessible crag faces, pitting their skill and courage against a seemingly impossible task. When the rallying call was sounded, each, as much as any man, if not moreso, saw their duty as putting aside their passion, along with their climbing equipment, and morally accept the King's shilling and enter the armed services. 

When that conflict ended at 11am, on 11th day of 11th Month,1918, the huge human carnage ended, and those that lived to bear witness to the terrible cost, returned as best they were able, to their former lives. Many did not return and of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club 20 lives were lost. Men of the valleys had also volunteered, tough men who hard earned a living from the tough landscape of lakeland.

The nation mourned at the loss and methods of honouring the sacrifice of the youth of the nation were considered by all; how could that loss of life be honoured within the counties of the country? How could lakeland honour the fallen? 

Lord Leconfield had himself decided on a fitting tribute to the men of the surrounding valleys who worked the landscape, and had given the ultimate sacrifice, never again to return to their homes in the valleys of the Cumbrian high mountains. He had been approached by Mr. Gordon Wordsworth of Ambleside, the grandson of the poet William, and Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson, the well known author (who, among other works, wrote the lyrics of, 'Land of Hope and Glory') and Master at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Both men were representing The National Trust. This was confirmed by Canon Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley (one of three founding members of the Trust), in a letter he wrote to The Carlisle Journal, published on Tuesday 30th September 1919. 

'Sir, Scafell Pike is the highest mountain summit in England. This, henceforth, by the goodwill of Lord Leconfield, The Lord of the Manor, is to be placed, subject to any common rights that exist, under the custody of the National Trust. He makes this gift in honour of the men of the Lake District who fought, and in thankful memory of the men who gave their lives in the Great War 1914 - 1918.

 It is not intended that any monument shall be placed upon the summit, but it is probable that in the existing cairn that a rough stone may be inserted recording the gift and its purpose'.

On 24th August 1921, a party of climbers, including American tourists, attended the summit of the pike and witnessed the unveiling of a tablet which had been set in the summit Ordnance Survey cairn of that highest of English fells. The ceremony was overseen by Mr. Hamer, the then Secretary of the National Trust. To this day the plaque proudly sits inset for all to witness and thus recall, then honour, the men who fell in that horrendous war 'to (supposedly) end all wars'. The plaque states a quotation from Lord Leconfield: 

“in perpetual memory of the men of the Lake District who fell for God and King, for freedom peace and right in the Great War 1914 – 1918.”

Lord Leconfield did not end his contribution at this one summit and following a further approach by Mr. Wordsworth and Mr. Benson, he agreed to also pass to the Trust the summit (all above 2,000ft) of Scafell, which is adjacent to its namesake Pike. 

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GREAT GABLE

The members of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club had themselves considered a permanent tribute to their unfortunate fellow climbers who never returned alive to their homeland, to enjoy all the English Lakes had to offer them in their thrilling sport of rock climbing. The club had been formed in the Coniston area on 11th November 1906, and by 1921 had developed into a membership of nearly 400. On the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, 15th and 16th November 1921, nearly 200 of those members met at Coniston for the first meeting of the club since the end of the Great War. On the Friday there had been a covering of snow laid down making conditions on Doe (Dow) Crag difficult, thus adding to the pleasures of the climbers. At 11am on the Sunday they held the 'King's stand-by', as a special memorial for those of them who never returned from the conflict in 'foreign fields'. The annual dinner was held at The Sun Inn.

On 13th October 1923, the Fell and Rock Climbing club once again held its annual dinner at Coniston. The Right Honorary F. D. Acland, received on behalf of the National Trust, the deeds of property, purchased by members of the club, purchased by them as a memorial to their fallen colleagues. It had originally been intended to try and raise a fitting memorial near Pillar Rock but when the Musgrave estate came on the market, with the farm at Row Head in Wasdale having the rights over Kirk Fell and Great Gable, mention was made of this. The estate then fell as a whole, into the hands of Mr. Herbert Walker, of Seascale. A committee was formed and approached Mr. Walker, stating their fine intentions to him. He approved the idea and placed a reasonable price on the rights to be conceded to the club. Nearly all the members of the club subscribed to the purchase price and this and more was raised, without any need for an approach to public subscription. 

Great Gable, looking majestic from Sprinkling Tarn area.

On Sunday 8th June 1924, the club and others, amounting to 500 - 600, gathered on the wet and mist shrouded summit of Great Gable for the unveiling ceremony of a specially designed bronze plaque which contained a relief map of the area purchased, and the names of 20 members who fell in that war of 1914 - 1918. Every climbing organisation in Britain was represented in the crowd who gathered on the mountain top. Mr. Godfrey A. Smalley, past president of the Alpine Club; Mr. Harry A. Scott, and Mr. Philip S. Minor, of the Rucksack Club; Mr. W. A. Brigg, of the Yorkshire Ramblers; Mr. J. J. Brigg. Mr. Eustace Thomas, and Mr. Herbert P. Cain, were among those present. The plaque was cast by Mr. B. S. Harlow, who was principal of the firm, Robert Harlow and Son, brass founders etc., Heaton Norris; he was also a prominent member of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club. The lettering was by Messrs. G. P. Kershaw and Co., successors to Messrs., Thomas Webb and Co., Stockport. A tribute was paid by Mr. Geoffrey Winthrop Young, a poet, essayist, and mountaineer, who had himself lost a leg on 17th August 1917 whilst serving on the Izonso Front, Italy. After amputation he had walked 16 miles to avoid capture.

The original plaque (with the later corrected name Whitley, bottom right).

His tribute was: 

'Upon this mountain summit, we are met today, to dedicate this space of hills to freedom. Upon this rock are set the names of men, our brothers and our comrades, upon these cliffs, who held with us that there is no freedom of the soil where the spirit of man is in bondage, and who surrendered their part in the fellowship of hill and wind and sunshine, that the freedom of this land, the freedom of our spirit, should endure. This bronze stands high upon the crowning glory of our free land as a sign between us and them - our covenant to them that we still hold their freedom of this splendour of height, still breathe its fearless health, the inspiration of its faultless pleasure. By this ceremony we consecrate a twofold remembrance. In token that these men gave their mortality of manhood for a redemption of earthly freedom this rock stands a witness, perishable also in the onset of time, that this realm of mountain earth is in their honour free. In token that their sacrifice bears witness still beyond death to the imperishable ideal of spiritual liberty we commit to-day, not in bronze, but in unalterable faith, our thought of their triumph in the spirit to these spaces of power and light. By this symbol we affirm a twofold trust. That which hills only can give the children - the discipline of strength, freedom, the freeing of the spirit through generous service - these free hills shall give again, and for all time. The memory of all that these children of the hills have given, service and inspiration fulfilled and perpetual, this free heart of our hills shall guard.'

The bronze was initially covered with the Union Jack, flown by HMS Barham, the Queen Elizabeth class battleship, and flagship of the 5th Battle Squadron at the naval 'Battle of Jutland'. It was unveiled by Dr. A. W. Wakefield, of Keswick, the secretary of the club, who himself had been part of the Mallory expedition to Everest. (Barham was to later be sunk when struck by three of four torpedoes fired at her by U331 on 25th November 1941, while hunting for Italian convoys in the Mediterranean. It sank so quickly there was a total loss of 862 lives, with 487 being saved by rescue).

H.M.S. Barham

The plaque unfortunately was cast with a spelling mistake of, 'B. H. Whitty', when the correct spelling was B. H. Whitley. A 'correction' was attached but detracted from the appearance and seemed not to correctly honour the name of that fallen soldier, and climber. In July 2013 the plaque was taken down by the Royal Engineers, and a new plaque recast, the name now corrected; this was replaced by the Engineers in the September of that year. This would rightly honour the deceased, and be in preparation for the coming of the centenary in 2018 on what is now no longer called The King's Stand-by', but now Remembrance Sunday, and seems to have been settled, or referred to, as early as 1920.

(I am a foundryman by trade, specifically trained as a patternmaker, and it was that interest in the casting origins that caused me to commence my research. The original 'pattern' would be constructed and carved, to be packed around in moulding sand in a metal box in the foundry, then stripped, the moulding box closed, creating the shaped cavity. This would then be cast with molten bronze - an alloy of copper and tin, the latter making the soft copper much harder, yet still have qualities of toughness. I would expect the original pattern to have at some time been destroyed. If that were the case, the original casting could be cleaned to create a die moulded from it, and a new pattern then cast in resin, with the old Whitty name removed and a correction placed in the void, ready for remoulding in the foundry and a fresh casting made.)

The re-cast plaque. Frost somehow adding to the reality of felltop conditions.

Another image:

Another image showing the rock capping Great Gable which the memorial plaque is attached to.

The 2013 memorial service on Great Gable to unveil the new plaque, which I attended. A fog bow appeared, giving a spiritual sense to the event.

The Remembrance Day service on Great Gable takes place irrespective of weather; it honours men of the mountains who knew the hell of the Western Front and battlefields of Europe. It would seem dishonourable to their memory to fail to attend, purely on grounds of weather alone, as long as an individual's capabilities and experience can cope with what the elemental weather throws at the mountain. 

All who took part in The Great War (not called The First World War, as there was never supposed to be a second, but sadly there was just that), are now dead, yet still we line our streets and parks, or visit Great Gable, to honour them on Remembrance Sunday and quote the fourth verse of Lawrence Binyon's seven verse poem, 'For The Fallen':

'They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.'

It is such a fitting tribute as we remember those who did not return from the Great War; and in equal measure, Britain's finest men and women killed in more recent conflicts, such as, WWII, Korea, Suez, Northern Ireland, The Falklands, Afghanistan; indeed any field of war where soldiers have died in service of defending freedom for their country, and their Monarch.

We say, 'Lest we forget'; when we attend Great Gable we show that we don't, and never will, so long as the mountain stands, with the plaque bearing witness to 'The Fallen's', ultimate sacrifice.

I have below attached a link to an Imperial War Museum website on the specifics of the memorial and the men who are listed.

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/community/7113