Thiepval Memorial

The Memorial was built approximately to the south-east of the former Thiepval Château, which was located on lower ground, by the side of Thiepval Wood. The grounds of the original château were not chosen as this would have required the moving of graves, dug during the war around the numerous medical aid stations. ==Design and inauguration==

Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the memorial was built between 1928 and 1932 and is the largest Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing in the world. It was inaugurated by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) in the presence of Albert Lebrun, the President of France, on 1 August 1932. It was the last of the special memorials in Flanders and Picardy to be unveiled. The memorial dominates the rural scene and has 16 brick piers, faced with Portland stone. It was originally built using French bricks from Lille but was refaced in 1973 with Accrington brick. The main arch is aligned east to west. The memorial is high above the level of its podium, which to the west is above the level of the adjoining cemetery. It has foundations thick, which were required because of extensive wartime tunnelling beneath the structure. It is a complex form of memorial arch, comprising interlocking arches of four sizes. Each side of the main arch is pierced by a smaller arch, orientated at a right angle to the main arch. Each side of each of these smaller arches is then pierced by a still smaller arch and so on. The keystone of each smaller arch is at the level of the spring of the larger arch that it pierces; each of these levels is marked by a stone cornice. This design results in 16 piers, having 64 stone-panelled sides. According to the architectural historian Stephen Games, the memorial is composed of two intersecting triumphal arches, each with a larger central arch and two smaller subsidiary arches, the arches on the east–west facades being taller than those on the north–south, all raised up from what is loosely a square four-by-four tartan grid plan. The main arch is surmounted by a tower. ==Inscriptions==

The inscription of names on the memorial is reserved for those missing or unidentified soldiers who have no known grave. A large inscription on an internal surface of the memorial reads: On the Portland stone piers are engraved the names of over 72,000 men who were lost in the Somme battles between July 1915 and March 1918. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission states that over 90 per cent of these soldiers died in the first Battle of the Somme between 1 July and 18 November 1916. Included on this memorial are sixteen stone laurel wreaths, inscribed with the names of sub-battles that made up the Battle of the Somme and subsequent actions, in which the men commemorated at Thiepval fell. One is simply titled 'Somme 1916'. Thirteen battles so-named on the other roundels are Ancre Heights, Ancre, Albert, High Wood, Delville Wood, Morval, Flers–Courcelette, Pozières Wood, Bazentin Ridge, Thiepval Ridge, Transloy Ridges, Ginchy, and Guillemont. The final two roundels are for 'Bapaume' and 'Miraumont', most likely referring to battles or actions on the Somme front in 1917 as the Thiepval Memorial includes the missing dead that fell before 20 March 1918. The Actions of Miraumont took place from 17 to 18 February 1917 and Bapaume was occupied by the British on 17 March 1917 (see Operations on the Ancre, January–March 1917). ==Notable people commemorated on the memorial==

Seven Victoria Cross recipients are listed on the memorial, under their respective regiments. All British unless otherwise noted: • Eric Norman Frankland Bell • William Buckingham • Geoffrey St. George Shillington Cather • William McFadzean • William Mariner • Thomas Orde Lawder Wilkinson • Alexander Young (South African) Also commemorated are: • English first-class cricketer Alban Arnold • English first-class cricketer Sydney Thomas Askham • Composer George Butterworth • Irish first-class cricketer William Crozier • Scots rugby international Rowland Fraser • English first-class cricketer John Gregory • England rugby international and clergyman Rupert Inglis • Irish economist, poet and former British member of parliament Thomas Michael Kettle • England rugby international John Abbott King • Irish international footballer Jimmy Maxwell • England rugby international Alfred Maynard • Scots rugby international Eric Milroy • Welsh international footballer Leigh Richmond Roose • English writer Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) • English first-class cricketer Ernest Shorrocks • Welsh rugby international Dick Thomas • Welsh rugby international Horace Thomas • Musician and composer Francis Purcell Warren • Welsh rugby international David Watts • English River Plate footballer Arthur Herbert Thompson ==Anglo-French memorial==

The Thiepval Memorial also serves as an Anglo-French battle memorial to commemorate the joint nature of the 1916 offensive. The British Commonwealth graves have rectangular headstones made of white stone, while the French graves have grey stone crosses. For those unidentified, the British headstones bear the inscription "A Soldier of the Great War / Known unto God", the French crosses bear the single word "" ('unknown'). The cemetery's Cross of Sacrifice bears an inscription that acknowledges the joint British and French contributions ==Ceremonies and services==

Each year on 1 July (the anniversary of the first day on the Somme) a major ceremony is held at the memorial. There is also a ceremony on 11 November, beginning at 1045 CET. ==See also==