Manual Ref* SUipIP010 Show 3 images 632
Title*

Suffolk Regiment Boer War Memorial
County Suffolk   District Council Ipswich Borough Council 
Civil Parish or equivalent Ipswich  Town/Village* Ipswich 
Road Christchurch Park 
Precise Location 50 metres west of Christchuch Mansion 
OS Grid Ref TM165450  Postcode IP1 
Previous location(s) Cornhill moved in 1931 
Setting Public Park  Access Public 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
Albert D. Toft  Sculptor(s)   

Commissioned by

 Public subscription, public subscription, following meeting at Ipswich. The committee decided to commission three separate Boer war memorials to the Suffolk Regiment, the others at Bury, unveiled 12 November 1904 and Cambridge (on the east end of St Mary’ 

Design & Constrn period

 1906 

Date of installing

  

Exact date of unveiling

 29/09/1906 

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: War memorial

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Mourning soldier  Bronze  Life size 
Base in four stages  Stone  H.2.30 metres W. & D.(at bottom) 2 metres 
Four commemorative plaques  Bronze  W. 55 cms. D. 87 cms 

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 Ipswich Borough Council 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail: Some crumbling of the base and considerable staining of the statue the commemorative plaques at sides and stone base

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail:

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail:

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks Albert D. Toft 1906 Sculp 
Inscriptions On main plaque at top: SUFFOLK SOLDIERS MEMORIAL/ ERECTED BY/SUFFOLK PEOPLE AS A MONUMENT/ TO SUFFOLK SOLDIERS WHO LOST THEIR/LIVES IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR/1899-1902 Followed on each plaque by a list of names rank and regiment. 

Description (physical)

 The soldier stands on a rocky outcrop, bare-headed, his head bent in mourning and his reversed rifle resting on the tip of his left boot with a water bottle hanging at his side. Set on top of the pyramidal base the figure stands out against the trees of the park even though it was originally intended for the enclosed setting of the Cornhill. The theme of the grieving soldier leaning on his upturned rifle was introduced in the 1902 memorial at St Chad’s Terrace Shrewsbury by Caffin of Regent Street. Toft gave it a new urgency and naturalism, well described in the account of the unveiling in the East Anglian Daily Times, 1/09/1906: 'Bare-headed he stands with rifle reversed as at the graveside of a comrade. The poise of the head, bent low in reverence, and the facial expression are intensely pathetic...he sculptor chose for his model for this statue one who had served in the South African war, rather than work from an ordinary professional model.' 

Description (iconographical)

 The realistic treatment of the soldier the detail of his uniform and the portrait-like quality of his mourning expression contrasted with the idealism Toft's 1909 war memorial in Cardiff. The memorial was a telling embodiment of the suffering of the Boer war and Toft repeated the figure - with minor variations - in five World War I memorials at Streatham, Stone, Thornton Clevelys, Leamington Spa and Smethwick, dating from around 1920. 

Photographs

 Date taken:  28/3/2007
Date logged:  24/3/2007

Photographed by:
Anna Meek

On Site Inspection

 Date:  28/3/2007

Inspected by:
Peter Ledger

Sources and References

 buildingsofengland.org.uk 16/04/06; Archer, G., The Glorious Dead. Figurative Sculpture of British First World War Memorials, Kirstead, 2009, 44, 232 and 243 

Database

 Date entered:  21/6/2007

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke