british war memorials · the british medical association

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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]

BMA House was originally designed by Edwin Lutyens for the Theosophical Society. His wife, Emily was a theosophist and she introduced him to the Society's President, Mrs Annie Besant (1847-1933) who subsequently commissioned him to design a headquarters for the Society.

“Only three men have won the Victoria Cross twice and of these, two were doctors, (Captain Noel Chavasse and Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Martin-Leake)”

Building work commenced and the foundation stone was laid on 3 September 1911. Lutyens' original plan was for a quadrangular building with a large cupola on the western side of the courtyard over its arched entrance. However, the Great War interrupted work and the Army Pay Office took over the uncompleted building.

After the war, the Theosophical Society could not afford to finish the building and it was sold to the British Medical Association for £50,000 with a 200-year lease from Bedford Estates. The BMA was originally founded as the Provincial, Medical and Surgical Association at a meeting held in the Board Room of Worcester Infirmary on 19 July 1832. It changed its title to the British Medical Association in 1856. The organisation outgrew its headquarters in The Strand, which was designed in 1907 by Charles Holden.

The new building in Tavistock Square was completed by Cyril Wontner Smith FRIBA (1877-1952) and was officially opened by King George V and Queen Mary on 13 July 1925. A Roll of Honour in a glass-fronted case listing the names of the fallen of the BMA in both World Wars may be found in the Hastings Room of the BMA.

In 1956 the Annual Representative Meeting of the BMA held at Brighton resolved to compile a Book of Valour, which may also be seen in the Hastings Room. The Book details the illustrious deeds of the medics in both World Wars and on other occasions. The Royal Army Medical Corps has won a total of 31 Victoria Crosses. Only three men have won the Victoria Cross twice and of these, two were doctors, (Captain Noel Chavasse and Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Martin-Leake). Originally the Court of Honour, the courtyard of BMA House is home to two war memorials. The Gates of Remembrance (also known as the Memorial Gates) commemorate the 574 members of the British Medical Association who died in the Great War. Also designed by Lutyens, they were dedicated by the Right Reverend Dr Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (1848-1930) on 13 July 1925. They were manufactured by the Birmingham Guild. The fountain and surrounding statues form a memorial to the 493 Members of the BMA who died in the Second World War.

After a limited competition, the Second World War Memorial was designed by the eminent English sculptor James Woodford RA (1893-1976). The sculptures, executed in Woodford's Hammersmith studio, consisted of a bronze fountain in the form of the Staff of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, surrounded by four Portland stone figures at each point of the compass, representing Sacrifice, Cure, Prevention and Aspiration (1954). The rod and staff of Asclepius is the logo of the BMA.

At 0947 on 7 July 2005 the walls of the BMA building were splattered with blood and shrapnel when the top half of a No. 30 double-decker bus travelling from Marble Arch to Hackney Wick was ripped to shreds by a bomb detonated by suicide bomber Hasib Mir Hussain (18). Fourteen passengers including Hussain were killed in the explosion.

BMA staff raced from the building and rendered first-aid assistance to those injured in the terrorist attack. At midday on 21 July 2005, the courtyard was the setting for a Service of Remembrance for all 56 victims of the bombings killed in London on 7 July. It was attended by some 800 members of the BMA, emergency services and religious leaders. The multi-faith Service was led by the Right Reverend Peter Wheatley, Bishop of Edmonton. The bishop was joined by leaders of other faiths and messages of support from doctors around the world were read out. The opera singer Lesley Garret sang Abide With Me and the Nunc Dimittis. Readings were given by James Johnson, Chairman of Council, BMA and the Reverend Alan Greenblat, from the Office of the Chief Rabbi.