Port Elizabeth Cenotaph
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore
Location
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
In front of the Port Elizabeth Art Museum in Park Drive, at the eastern entrance to St George's Park
GPS: 33 deg 57 min 54.86 sec S, 25 deg 36 min 41.29 sec E
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore
Significance
The Cenotaph was unveiled on 11 November 1929 as a memorial to the Port Elizabeth men who died in the Great War.
The unveiling was to have been by two Port Elizabeth mothers, both of whom had lost sons in the war, but one of them was prevented by illness from being present.
Erected by the firm of Pennachinni Bros, the design by Mr James Gardner of the Port Elizabeth Art School has an urn-topped pillar representing the transition from this life to the next, rising from a sarcophagus-like base.
It is flanked on two sides by large statues symbolising a mother's protection of her children
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore
and St George unbuckling his accoutrements after victory.
Side panels depict the various services
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore
The Roll of Honour on the sides is inscribed
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore
ROLL OF HONOUR OF PORT ELIZABETH HEROES
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore
Photo: Ronnie Lovemore