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Memorial details

Memorial type
Cairn
District
Angus
Town
Hillside
County
Tayside
Country
Scotland
Commemoration
First World War (1914-1918), Second World War (1939-1945), Korean War (1950-1953)
Maker
William Lamb ARSA (Architect)
William Lamb ARSA (Manufacturer)
Lost
Not lost
WM Reference
64901

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Current location

Hillside
Angus
Tayside
DD10 9HH
Scotland

OS Grid Ref: NO 70682 61243
Denomination: Undefined

View location on Google Maps
Description
Tapering cairn of rough freestone with grey granite tablets, surmounted by a British 3 inch Stokes mortar.
Inscription
Front face Carved into the stonework: 1914-1919 Front Face Granite Tablet: 1914/[2 names]/ 1915/[2 names]/ 1916/[4 names]/ 1917/[6 names]/ 1918/[5 names]/ 1919/[2 names] Front Face- Freestone Tablet below the names Tablet: / LET THOSE WHO LOOK ON THIS CAIRN/ REMEMBER WITH GRATITUDE/ THE LADS OF THIS PARISH/ WHO FELL IN THE WAR Left face: 1939-1945/ (Names)/+/ KOREA/ (Name)
Inscription legible?
yes
Names on memorial
Bell, R
Brown, A
Brown, W M
Coleman, F L
Currie, J
Dalgetty, J
Dickson, A J
Durward, J
Fenton, W
Gage, W J
See details for all 31 names
Commemorations
  • First World War (1914-1918)
    Total names on memorial: 21
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 21
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: surname, initials of forenames, year of death
    Order of information: year of death THEN surname
  • Second World War (1939-1945)
    Total names on memorial: 9
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 9
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: surname, initials of forenames
    Order of information: surname
  • Korean War (1950-1953)
    Total names on memorial: 1
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 1
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: surname, initial of forename
    Order of information: Undefined
Components
  • Cairn
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Stone - Freestone
  • Tablets
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Granite
  • Relic
    Measurements: Undefined
    Materials: Undefined
Condition
Trust fund/Scholarship
No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A
Reference
  • Scottish War Memorials Project warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/warmemscot-ftopic801.html
  • If Lamb was actually responsible for the placing of the mortar on top of the memorial then its interesting to ask why. Lamb had experienced trench warfare at first hand, he was a veteran and yet at the same time he was still a young man when he came home and was not yet an established artist or part of the establishment (he never really became part of the establishment). It might be useful to consider what he could have placed at the top of such a memorial, most were crowned with bronze 'Victories', and even if a bronze or stone contemporary soldier was portrayed these often tended to be rather idealized figures. Lamb apparently rejected this in favour of a machine, a symbol of the mechanised, industrial warfare he knew. Its perhaps the kind of 'In Your Face' concept you might expect from an up and coming young artist and is even reminiscent of Sassoons' poem 'The Blighters'. The Edwardian sculptor Henry Snell Gamley was responsible for the sculpture on the war memorial in Lamb's native Montrose and he executed the more traditional figure of a winged victory for the top of the Montrose pedestal. It is interesting to compare the two monuments, Lamb's Hillside and Gamley's Montrose(see above and below) which are only a few miles from one another and are roughly similar in their general design. Although it has to be remembered that all war memorials regardless of design naturally and rightly become objects of respect and affection within their communities it is hard not to feel that Lamb's approach at Hillside has an honesty about it. Certainly the two monuments seem to reveal a considerable generation gap between the wounded ex-veteran and the elderly gentleman sculptor, a gap which was to be found throughout Scottish society in the post war years. One further interesting question which might be asked is why a mortar? A piece of heavy artillery might seem more impressive and the machine gun would more aptly encapsulate the reality of modern trench warfare. If Lamb was responding to Gamley's Montrose memorial then it might just be possible that he chose the mortar for a specific reason. In ancient Greece a victory was traditionally commemorated not by a winged allegorcial figure like Gamley's but by a bronze tripod. Victors of games often set up their tripods on pedestals in the streets of Athens and there were so many that these are referred to as 'Street Tripods'. What is interesting about the mortar is that the legs on which the barrel stands form a perfect tripod. If this was Lamb's idea then he succeeded in creating a monument which was at once contemporary, portraying the realities of the war in a way that Gamley's does not, and also classical in a purer and more historically accurate way than Gamley's 'Victory'.
  • The Montrose Review of 21st May 1920 carried an article about Lamb's design for the Hillside war memorial. " The Memorial consists of a massive structure of freestone, with a panel of red unpolished granite in the centre. The measurements are eleven feet high, and six feet square at the base. The work of executing the memorial is in the hands of Mr. William Lamb, sculptor, Montrose, who has already completed its design. Mr. Lamb, it is interesting to note, saw service with the Cameron Highlanders and was twice wounded. The memorial is to be erected in the centre of the village at the prominent point at the join of two of the main roads."
  • War Memorials Trust Bulletin No.58 (August 2013) p.11 Published:War Memorials Trust London Surveyed by Aberdeenshire Council Archaeology Service.

This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.

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