Memorials and statues in London

Memorials and statues in London

Had a trip to London last Thursday (28/08/2025) as our Chris was singing with Mumbles A Cappella choir as part of Evensong at Westminster Abbey! We of course didn`t want to miss to chance to see them perform at such a prestigious venue, so flew over; the trip also gave Debbie the chance to see her family in Kent for the first time in ages. 

This was the first time I`d been to London in over 20yrs, we decided not to do museums, but just to have a general walkabout - The Strand, Covent Garden, along the Thames embankment, then we crossed over at the Houses of Parliment to the old GLC building then walked along that bank to the next bridge and crossed back. We made our way to the Abbey, but still had 40mins to kill, so wandered down Whitehall to the Cenotaph, then back past the entrance to Downing Street and into the Abbey for the Evensong.

Being the capital, of course you can`t help but trip over numerous memorials to the UKs military past, I didn`t intend to photograph any, but ended up taking a few images:

Memorial to the Camel Corps

Situated in Embankment Gardens on the opposite side of the road, not far from Cleopatra`s Needle

This next set are situated on a lawn near New Scotland Yard

Korean War Memorial

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Trenchard 

Father of the RAF

Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial

Chindit Memorial

Situated of the opposite bank to Parliament

Memorial to Agents of the SOE

With plaques dedicated to European resistance groups

Whitehall

The Cenotaph

Field Marshal Montgomery

Field Marshal Alan Brooke

Field Marshal William Slim

Opposite Parliament

Filed Marshal Jan Smutts

Former Boer General

There were of course many over historic luminaries - Lincoln, Gandhi, Mandella, Churchill (of course), Cromwell and in Whitehall - Douglas Haig. Some of these probably deserve a photo, other less so, but I was tired and hungry after a whole day of wandering the streets of the capital and I also felt my long suffering wife deserved a break. 

I also didn`t take a photo of the tomb of the unknown soldier in the Abbey as I felt that would be disrespectful.

Late in the evening whilst heading back down The Strand to Charing Cross, I did spot this interesting plaque.

Indian Pattern Carrier

Indian Pattern Carrier

A the beginning of WW2, the UK was unable to provide enough suitable armoured vehicles for her colonies. This led to several of the Commonwealth countries designing and building their own, the Indian Pattern Carrier was one of these. Build on Ford or CMP chassis with an armoured super-structure built by Tata Locomotives.

The sturdy 4x4 vehicle, with a reasonable 50 MPH road speed was usually armed with a Bren gun, but Boys AT rifles where also used.

This model is from Early War Miniatures and comes ready build and stowed up - quite fantastic detail. You also get some crew and a selection of weapons in white metal.

To be different I`m going to use this as my Indian battalion command vehicle

Commonwealth Indian Army (last batch for now)

Last batch of Indian Infantry

Had a good inspired week - 49 infantry, a stretcher case and a driver 

Three more of my crude Sten to rifleman conversions of Shellhole figures

A gunner and No2 of a moving Bren team from Shellhole

EWM stretcher team (thanks Paul) the casualty I think is S&S with a plasterscene blanket

Commonwealth Indian Army batch 4

Yet more Indians

Another 10 figures

Three more of my crude Sten to rifleman conversions of Shellhole figures 

Three EWM infantry

Three SMG armed NCOs

L-R Shellhole (from the command pack), same figure with Raventhorpe head, EWM with Tommy gun

Shellhole RTO

All together

Commonwealth Indian Army batch 3

 Even More Indians

Another 10 figures completed this morning, the AT guns are just to pose the figures, though I did [aint up the mortar

Shellhole Scenics anti-tank gun crew 

For Syria with a EWM 37mm Bofors

For Tunisia or Italy with a venerable Airfix 6pdr

I had two packs of gunners, so created a mortar crew plus a NCO/officer 

The guy at the back was among those I posted yesterday

Shellhole moving Bren team plus a couple of EWM infantry

That is 32 figures in 3 days - quite pleased with myself

 

 

Commonwealth Indian Army batch 2

 More Indians

On a bit of a roll this week another 10 figures finished.

Richard Crawley reminded me yesterday that he had reviewed Ian`s figures way back in The Journal when I was editor, he pointed out at the time that the biggest disapointment was that these figures come mixed - Punjabi, Sikhs, Mahrat - The Indian Army was built along tribal and religious lines and these men would not be mixed with a single formation.

A bit more organised this time in my painting.

Two prone bren teams, left is EWM, right is by Shellhole Scenics

All Shellhole: RTO with Raventhorpe head, gun commander with map, 2 inch mortar No2

Shellhole British officer and RTO (same figure as above)

These will join my British/Australians, I`ll swap the officer out - I hate my forces to look cloned

Shellhole Bren converted to a Boys AT rifle kindly supplied by Paul @ EWM, the rifleman is also EWM

Comparison pic to show the conversion

All ten together

British Commonwealth Indian Troops

 British Commonwealth Indian Troops

I had no plans to expand my British Indian force beyond the company or so I already had, but that fantastic painter Ray Haskins bought a job-lot of mixed 20mm figures and couldn`t identify one batch which I immediately saw were Ian Clunie`s Friend or Foe figures. Well Ray had no use for them so sold them onto me and they have been sitting in a draw for a while now as I lost my painting mojo (as usually happens during the hot months of June/July). 

Finally inspired by Steve Evans over on the Rapid Fire! Wargaming FB page I got off my arse and to finally get them done. When I really got around to sorting them out I found a mixture of packs and duplicates, far too many Sten guns and hardly any riflemen 😕 so with a sharp blade I pruned away the Stens and crudely replaced them with rifles from the spares box - not great, but at 4' across a tabletop, they`ll do for me. I still had a weird mix of figures so put in an order to Paul @ Early War Miniatures to add more riflemen.

These will serve as Indian 5th Brigade in Syria, or 4th Division in Tunisia or later Italy

This is the first batch, very mixed without pre-planning, first come first served. 

These figures confused the heck out of me, I`m no expert when it comes to WW2 and the extra length of cloth (hard to make out in these grainy pics I know) was it part of the turban? what colour would it be? Luckily I have a copy of Andrew Mollo`s 'Armed Forces of World War II' and this saved the day again.

It is just sacking wrapped around the helmet, with the trailing piece used to protect the eyes and mouth against sand/dust.

L-R converted moving 2 inch mortar (altered to an ammo bearer), 2 gunners

L-R Moving 2 inch mortar No2, moving Bren, EWM rifleman

L-R 2 of my rough converted ex-sten gunners, EWM rifleman

2 inch mortar team (though I`m pretty sure the No2 is from a Bren team

                                                                 First 12 figures all together