Leeds Rifles War Memorial
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| Leeds Rifles War Memorial | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
.JPG) | |
| For men of the Leeds Rifles killed in the First World War | |
| Unveiled | 13 November 1921 |
| Location | 53°47′43″N 1°32′08″W / 53.79532°N 1.53543°W |
| Designed by | Sir Edwin Lutyens |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | North Boundary Wall and Steps, North West Gate and Piers, War Memorial and East Bar Stone |
| Designated | 8 May 1974 |
| Reference no. | 1375049 |
The Leeds Rifles War Memorial is a First World War memorial outside Leeds Minster on Kirkgate in Leeds, West Yorkshire in northern England. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, one of 15 instances of his War Cross and the only one commissioned by a regiment. The memorial, dedicated to members of the Leeds Rifles who fell in the First World War (with later additions for the Second World War), was unveiled on Remembrance Sunday, 13 November 1921, and is today a grade II listed building.[1]
In the aftermath of the First World War and its unprecedented casualties, thousands of war memorials were built across Britain. Amongst the most prominent designers of memorials was the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, described by Historic England as "the leading English architect of his generation". Lutyens designed the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, which became the focus for the national Remembrance Sunday commemorations, as well as the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing—the largest British war memorial anywhere in the world—and the Stone of Remembrance which appears in all large Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries and in several of Lutyens' civic war memorials. As well as civic memorials, Lutyens designed multiple war memorials for private companies and individual regiments.[1]
The Leeds Rifles was the only regiment to choose Lutyens' War Cross design for its memorial, a design used mostly for civic memorials in towns and villages.[1][2]
