China replicas of Matlock Bath's War Memorial have become collectors'
items. Second only to the Cenotaph in London, more china
replicas were made of the village's War Memorial than
of any other War Memorial in the United Kingdom. Some
collectors have twelve or more different versions, which
range from 120mm to 200mm in height.
Of the three photographs of the china cenotaphs, above,
the centre image was made in England by the Victoria
China Company at some stage during the 1920's. The photographs
on the left and right, which show the arms on
the sides, are of Foreign manufacture.
On the right is a model of the same memorial but this time
bearing the crest of Brighton in East Sussex. There isn't
a memorial in Brighton of this design. The china was manufactured
and then open to all comers. Towns from all over the United
Kingdom who wanted to sell such souvenirs put their own crest
on it. The Brighton china model was made slightly later in
the 1920's than the English version, when the post war anti-German
ill-feeling had died down.
Manufacturers included Norfolk, Podmore, Shelley and Saxony
and some of the overseas versions were put into a catalogue.
There's a book called "Take 'em Back to Dear Old
Blighty" by Robert Southall ISBN 0903852144 pub.
Milestone Publications that may be of interest for those
wishing to collect souvenir china of memorials. |
Matlock Miscellany