Great Western Railway War Memorial

The Great Western Railway War Memorial stands on platform one at London Paddington station. It is a bronze statue of a soldier in heavy winter clothing, reading a letter from home. The statue sits on a polished granite plinth within a white stone surround on the busy station platform. The memorial remembers the 2,500 employees of the Great Western Railway who died in the First World War. One-third of the company’s 80,000 workers left to fight, and the railway supported the war effort by making munitions and transporting troops. The company considered several designs before choosing Charles Sargeant Jagger, a sculptor who had served in the war and won the Military Cross. Viscount Churchill unveiled the memorial in 1922 in front of more than 6,000 relatives of the dead. Visitors to platform one see the soldier standing on the granite plinth, his helmet pushed back as he reads. The names of the dead were buried beneath the plinth on a roll of honour. The white stone surround includes carved badges of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. During Armistice Day, local communities lay wreaths on trains that carry them to Paddington to be placed at the memorial.