South African War Memorial

1904. Sculptor: Leon J Chavalliaud
Location: Swan Hotel forecourt, High Street

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The romantic figure of a British soldier carrying heavy marching kit, dressed in the then new khaki camouflage uniform of the turn of the century, with a pith helmet, stands easy, holding his rifle, and looks out into the distance. What this memorial represents is the death of 237 Bedfordshire men of the Bedfordshire Regiment and other regiments, many of them through disease, during the Anglo-Boer War between 1899 and 1902, thousands of miles away at the southern tip of Africa. It was a war for colonial enrichment between the British and the Dutch settlers over the control of gold and other mineral wealth, which cost the lives of 45,000 British soldiers and 37,000 Boer casualties. The memorial lists the names of each individual, according to regiment and rank. It was unveiled on 2 June 1904 by Lady Cowper, standing in for her husband, the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire. There are further Boer War memorial tablets in St Paul' s Church, almost opposite, and in the Chapel of Bedford School.

The Sculptor

Born in Rheims, Leon Joseph Chavalliaud (1859-1919) studied at the Ecoles des Beaux-Arts in Paris before coming over to England in the 1890s, working for the British firm of decorative casting, Farmer and Brindley, over a fifteen year period. He created a number of statues of famous explorers and naturalists in Liverpool' s Sefton Park, including Captain Cook and Charles Darwin. London statues include one of the actress Sarah Siddons, on Paddington Green, and Cardinal Newman at Brompton Oratory.