british war memorials · the baltic exchange

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use the down arrow to view option ========================= ---------- section a ---------- argentine graves [Rem] asquith, lieutenant raymond [BWM] ========================= ---------- section b ---------- baltic exchange [BWM] battle britain memorial flight [BWM] bayes, gilbert [BWM] bean, charles [BWM] blighty, a soldier's dream of [BWM] british medical association [BWM] ========================= ---------- section c ---------- canada and liverpool [BWM] cenotaph, new zealand [BWM] chopsticks memorial [BWM] cochrane, admiral lord thomas [Rem] collingwood, vice admiral lord [BWM] ========================= ---------- section f ---------- fishguard [BWM] ========================= ---------- section g ---------- glasgow university memorial chapel [BWM] grenfell, captain the honourable julian [Rem] ========================= ---------- section h ---------- halifax bomber lw 340 [Rem] havelock, major general sir henry [BWM] helles memorial [BWM] home guard memorial (torbay) [BWM] hollis vc, stanley [BWM] horner, lieutenant edward [BWM] ========================= ---------- section k ---------- king’s own royal regiment memorial chapel [BWM] king's royal rifle corps [BWM] ========================= ---------- section l ---------- lincoln cathedral [BWM] ========================= ---------- section m ---------- malta [BWM] madingly [Rem] montford, paul [BWM] mckenzie, dr r tait [BWM] midleton, lord [BWM] music of remembrance [Rem] ========================= ---------- section n ---------- nelson's island [Rem] newgass, lieutenant harold [BWM] ========================= ---------- section p ---------- polish war memorial [BWM] ========================= ---------- section r ---------- rugby school memorial chapel [BWM] ========================= ---------- section s ---------- sandhurst, royal memorial chapel [BWM] sicily [Rem] st brides church [BWM] stirling bomber n 3654 [Rem] strange burial, a [Rem] ========================= ---------- section t ---------- turing, alan [BWM] ========================= ---------- section w ---------- wakeful, HMS [Rem] wakenshaw vc, private adam [BWM] williams, lieutenant colonel henry [Rem] women at war memorial [BWM]

The origins of the Baltic Exchange can be traced back over 250 years to a coffee house located at 61 Threadneedle Street, London. The Virginia and Maryland coffee house, renamed the Virginia and Baltick in 1744, was a regular meeting place for merchants and naval officers. There they discussed and planned trade with the North American colonies and later, when the long French Revolutionary wars made the Atlantic a dangerous place, the Baltic states.

“At 2120 on the evening of 10 April 1992, an IRA bomb was detonated outside the Exchange”

Over the next century, the crowded Virginia and Baltick coffee house expanded and relocated several times. In 1823 a more formal organization named 'the Baltic Club' was formed with strict rules, regulations and membership.

This organisation merged with the London Shipping Company in 1900 to form the Baltic and Mercantile Shipping Exchange. In 1903 the Exchange moved to grand purpose-built premises designed by Smith and Wimble at St Mary Axe in the City of London. In the following 90 years, it became the world's main international shipping exchange.

Shortly after the Great War, the artist John Dudley Forsyth was commissioned to design a series of stained glass windows for the Baltic Exchange. The windows formed part of the memorial to the 60 members of the Exchange who lost their lives in the Great War and they were installed in 1922. Forsyth's design consisted of a three metre tall half-dome and five large windows below, which were installed over a staircase to the lower floor. The fusion of classical and religious symbolism is heroic and draws an obvious parallel between the British and Roman empires. The dome and windows were made up of many pieces of carefully selected coloured glass, which were painted and stained by skilled glass painters to represent the human figures, architectural and floral detail of Forsyth's original design. After firing, the glass pieces were assembled into windows and held together by a network of lead strips.

In the half dome the winged figure of Victory steps from a boat through the central archway of a Roman temple. Roman centurions and female figures welcome Victory, and the dove of peace can be seen flying above her head. Displayed within the architecture were the shields and badges of the colonies and dependencies of the British Empire, with the Royal Coat of Arms at the centre. The names of the Great War's major battles were listed on two outer panels.

At 2120 on the evening of 10 April 1992, an IRA bomb was detonated outside the Exchange. The explosion killed three people and caused severe damage to the building, including Forsyth's stained glass windows. Of the 240 panels in the dome, only 45 remained intact and the windows below were extensively damaged. As much of the original glass as possible was salvaged from the wreckage and was passed to conservators in the hope that the windows could be repaired, as part of the restoration plan for the Grade II listed building.

Unfortunately, the damage to the building was both extensive and structural. Deputy Prime Minster John Prescott gave permission for it to be taken down in 1998. Dismantling, recording and moving it cost £4 million and it now reposes in a large number of crates in a barn near Canterbury.

Today, Foster and Partners' distinctive tower, developed by Swiss Re and known as 'the gherkin', occupies the site and the new Baltic Exchange occupies a building adjacent to the 1903 site.

In an incredibly laborious task, over a period of some two years, glass conservators from Goddard & Gibbs laboured to restore the stained glass to its former glory and the windows may now be seen in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

Identifiable pieces of glass were meticulously sorted into the different windows, using photographs taken before and after the explosion. Missing pieces were skilfully remade and fitted into accurate reproductions of the original leading, using these photographs and other examples of Forsyth's work as a point of reference. The restoration and display of the Baltic Exchange stained glass was generously supported by Swiss Re.