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The Watts Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice |
In September 1887 the Victorian artist George Frederic Watts (1817–1904) wrote a letter to The Times newspaper entitled ‘Another Jubilee Suggestion’. In this letter, he put forward a plan to celebrate Queen Victoria’s golden jubilee by erecting a monument to commemorate ‘heroism in every-day life’. On the 30th July 1900, this idea was eventually realised with the unveiling of his Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, situated in Postman’s Park in the City of London.
The monument consists of a modest wooden cloister, sheltering a short stretch of wall upon which are fixed fifty-four memorial tablets commemorating sixty-two individuals, men, women and children, each of whom lost their life while attempting to save another. The earliest case featured is that of Sarah Smith, a pantomime artist who died in 1863 and the latest is Leigh Pitt who drowned in 2007. The youngest individual commemorated is eight-year-old Henry Bristow; the oldest, sixty-one-year-old Daniel Pemberton.
A full and detailed history of the conception and development of the Watts Memorial and an examination of the role played by George Frederic Watts can be found in, Postman’s Park: The Watts Memorial to Heroic-Self Sacrifice by John Price which is available online from the Watts Gallery and Amazon UK 
FAQ
There are many layers of meaning hidden beneath the timber and ceramic of the Watts memorial. On the surface it is fundamentally a narrative of remembrance, a record of those who might otherwise have been forgotten, and this was something that Watts had in mind when he created it. He also, though, intended the monument to be instructional and to offer examples of what he believed to be model behaviour undertaken by people of sound and decent moral character. When standing before the tablets, viewers were encouraged through the narratives provided to conceive the act of heroism as a product of an exemplary life rather than just a single brave moment. The message was not one of how to behave in the rare instance of being faced with disaster, but a blueprint for how to live as a respectable, honourable and purposeful citizen.
When the monument was unveiled in 1900, there were four tablets in place on the middle row. Nine more were added in 1902 and a further eleven in 1905 which completed the row. The bottom row was added in 1908 and between 1919 and 1930 four tablets were installed on the top row. A single replacement tablet was installed on the middle row in 1931 and, finally, a single tablet installed on the top row in 2009.
The tiles that form the tablets on the middle row were manufactured by the ceramicist William De Morgan and those on the top and bottom rows were predominantly made by Doulton of Lambeth.
During his lifetime, G. F. Watts collected hundreds of newspaper cuttings of heroic acts. Transcriptions of these cuttings formed a catalogue from which cases were chosen and, after Watts’ death in 1904, his wife Mary and a committee based within St. Botolph’s church decided which cases to commemorate. There does not appear to have been any explicit selection process.
Those commemorated on the Watts memorial were predominantly otherwise ordinary working-class people who would have remained largely ‘hidden from history’ were it not for the circumstances of their death. At that point, public interest was briefly stirred as their exploits were reported by the press and this provides a narrow window into their lives. Civil registration, census returns, Coroner’s inquests, employment records and, occasionally, short obituaries fill in many gaps but, ultimately, there will always be considerable limitations to how much can be discovered about these people.
Watts’ transcriptions, and consequently the information on the tablets, were often taken from the first newspaper reports about the incident and these had a tendency to give inaccurate details that were then corrected in later editions or at the coroner’s inquest. The information provided in the book and the app has been cross-referenced with multiple sources in an attempt to ensure a degree of accuracy but, even then, details can sometimes be contradictory and weight of evidence is used to reach decisions.
G. F. Watts was undoubtedly the driving force behind the monument and although his wife Mary was initially dedicated to fulfilling his legacy her involvement waned as other opportunities presented themselves. By 1929, when an attempt was made to reinvigorate the project, the social and cultural landscape of Britain had substantially altered and the moralistic tone that underpinned the memorial seemed out of date. There was little public engagement with the idea and consequently further installations were not pursued.
A meeting in 2010 involving representatives from all the significant interest groups reached a conclusion that it was no longer appropriate to add further tablets to the memorial. The reasons behind this decision were that the memorial was a personal project of G. F. Watts and his vision and influence were intrinsic to its character, that the memorial predated the modern honours system which now allows for posthumous recognition and that the historical integrity of the memorial would be further compromised by additional tablets
The tablet narratives provide just enough information to fascinate, but insufficient to elucidate, and, as with many historic monuments, the Watts memorial frequently gives rise to more questions than answers. Many of these are curiosities about the people commemorated: who were they, what sort of life did they lead and, ultimately, what exactly happened on the day that they died? In this respect, the memorial continues to fulfil one of Watts’ original objectives in that it encourages the viewer to seek the person behind the act and to wonder what type of person would undertake it.
The purpose of the book, Heroes of Postman's Park: Heroic Self-Sacrifice in Victorian London is to address those curiosities and to reveal the full stories behind the everyday lives and untimely deaths of those commemorated.
The purpose of the book, Heroes of Postman's Park: Heroic Self-Sacrifice in Victorian London is to address those curiosities and to reveal the full stories behind the everyday lives and untimely deaths of those commemorated.
The full stories about the lives and deaths of every person commemorated on the Watts Memorial are told in, Heroes of Postman's Park: Heroic Self-Sacrifice in Victorian London
A full and detailed history of the conception and development of the Watts Memorial and an examination of the role played by George Frederic Watts can be found in, Postman’s Park: The Watts Memorial to Heroic-Self Sacrifice by John Price which is available online from the Watts Gallery and Amazon UK
or in person from the Guildhall Library and the Museum of London
A detailed history and analysis of the origins and development of the idea of 'everyday' heroism can be found in Everyday Heroism: Victorian Constructions of the Heroic Civilian by John Price, published by Bloomsbury (2014) and available from Amazon UK
A full and detailed history of the conception and development of the Watts Memorial and an examination of the role played by George Frederic Watts can be found in, Postman’s Park: The Watts Memorial to Heroic-Self Sacrifice by John Price which is available online from the Watts Gallery and Amazon UK
or in person from the Guildhall Library and the Museum of LondonA detailed history and analysis of the origins and development of the idea of 'everyday' heroism can be found in Everyday Heroism: Victorian Constructions of the Heroic Civilian by John Price, published by Bloomsbury (2014) and available from Amazon UK