Crimea and Indian Mutiny memorial

Opposite the west entrance of Westminster Abbey is a tall marble and stone column, erected in 1861 and designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, which remembers former pupils of Westminster School who died in the Crimean War 1854-1856 and the Indian Mutiny 1857-1858. At the top is a figure of St George slaying the dragon, carved by J.R. Clayton, with statues of St Edward the Confessor, Henry III, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria, carved by J. Birnie Philip. The stonework was cleaned and many inscriptions re-incised in 2017.

Four lions flank the base around the following inscriptions:

North side:

To the memory of those educated at Westminster  School who died in the Russian and Indian wars A.D. 1854-1859 on the field of battle or from wounds or sickness, some in early youth, some full of years and honours but who all alike gave their lives for their country. This column was erected by their old schoolfellows in token of sorrow for their loss and of pride in their valour and in full assurance that the remembrance of their heroism in life and death will inspire their successors at Westminster with the same courage and self- devotion

South side:

Field Marshal Lord Raglan G.C.B. Commander in Chief 1854-1855.

Lieutenant General Frederick Markham, C.B. 2nd division

Russian War 1854-1856

West side:

Captain Augustus Frederick Kynaston, R.N., C.B.

Major Augustus Saltren Willett, 17th Lancers

Captain Frederick Henry Dymock, 95th Regiment

Lieutenant Reginald Hugh Somerville, 23rd Fusiliers

Lieutenant William Walker Jordan, 34th Regiment

Lieutenant Richard Borough, Rifle Brigade

Midshipman Charles Madan, HMS Sanspareil

Frederick Henty, Commissariat Department

Russian War 1854-1856

East side:

General Sir [Henry] William Barnard, G.C.B. Commander in Chief 1857

Major John Waterfield, 38th Bengal Native Infantry

Major Walter Robert Prout, 56th Bengal Native Infantry

Captain Wilson Henry Jones, H.M 13th Light Infantry

Captain Louis Henry Bedford, H.M. 37th Regiment

Captain William Thornton Phillimore, 10th Bengal Native Infantry

Lieutenant Henry Bingham, H.M. 90th Regiment

Lieutenant Lovick Emilius Cooper, H.M. Rifle Brigade

Cornet William George Hawtrey Bankes, H.M. 7th Hussars, V.C.

Indian War 1857-1858

Before their destruction during the 1939-1945 war there were also memorial stained glass windows to Barnard, Cooper and Bankes below the north transept rose window.

A memorial stone with brass letters for members of the Rifle Brigade still remains just inside the north entrance.

Further reading

"The Record of Old Westminsters", 2 vols,  edited by G.F. Russell Barker and A.H. Stenning, 1928.