On this day – Horsham’s war memorial unveiled

Three years after the guns fell silent in the Great War, Horsham’s War Memorial was unveiled in the Carfax, in front of thousands of people.

Armistice Sunday was on November 13 in 1921, with the memories of the conflict still keenly felt by the servicemen who had made their way home.

A total of 2,050 men from Horsham took part in the conflict, of which 359 paid the ultimate sacrifice.

These names had been engraved on to the new memorial which awaited its official unveiling on a frosty but bright November morning.

A full hour before the service, four members of the Royal Sussex Regiment took up their position as guards at each corner of the memorial.

Then around 60 police marched into the Carfax to oversee the special enclosure set up for near relatives of the 359.

Dozens of former and current servicemen arrived in procession, along with local dignataries.

Finally, Major-General J.C. Young (Colonel Commandant of the Royal Sussex Regiment) arrived to perform the unveiling.

He said it was a great honour to be part of the ceremony. “I am proud to think that the best years of my life, spent in the Royal Sussex Regiment, have been associated with men from your southern county.”

The memorial was moved in 1992 as part of the pedestrianisation project in the Carfax.