In Memory of
Harold Starling
Chief Steward
S.S. "Apapa" (London), Mercantile Marine
who died on
Wednesday, 28th November 1917. Age 38.
Additional Information:
Husband of Eliza Starling, of 8, Brockley Avenue, New Brighton, Cheshire. Born at Chester.
Commemorative Information
Memorial:
TOWER HILL MEMORIAL
Location:
The Tower Hill Memorial which commemorates men of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets
who have no known grave, stands on the south side of the garden of Trinity Square,
London, close to The Tower of London. The Memorial Register may be consulted at Trinity
House Corporation, Trinity Square (Cooper's Row entrance), Tel: 0171 480 6601, which will
be found behind the Memorial.
Historical Information:
TOWER HILL MEMORIAL
1914 - 1918
This memorial stands on Tower Hill, London, on the south side of the pleasure garden of
Trinity Square.
The Memorial consists of a vaulted corridor 21.5 metres long, 7 metres wide and 7 to 10
metres high. It is open at each end. It has three wide openings at the front and back, in
which are placed pairs of columns. It rises in the middle in rectangular blocks. It is
built of
Portland stone finished with a circular treatment.
The Names of the War Dead are carried on bronze panels, covering the eight main masonry
piers which support the roof. They are arranged alphabetically under their ships of the
Merchant Service.
1939 - 1945
When the question arose of commemorating the men of the Merchant Navy who lost their
lives during the 1939-1945 War and have no known grave, it was the general desire that
the new Memorial should be combined with the existing 1914-1918 Tower Hill Memorial to
form a complete whole. The architect achieved this by designing a semi-circular sunken
garden adjoining the 1914-1918 Memorial; in this way a sufficient wall area was obtained
to
record the total of nearly 24,000 names, without building high walls on Tower Hill. The
garden is 2 metres below the general level of Tower Hill Gardens, so that the surrounding
walls rise only 1 metre above that level.
From the 1914-18 Memorial, stone steps flanked by high stone pylons, on which are the
Merchant Navy badges and wreaths, lead down to the sunken garden. Between the flights
of steps is the main dedicatory inscription, which reads:
1939-1945
THE TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND OF THE MERCHANT NAVY AND FISHING
FLEETS WHOSE NAMES ARE HONOURED ON THE WALLS OF THIS GARDEN
GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY
AND HAVE NO GRAVE BUT THE SEA
This inscription is guarded by sculptured figures in stone representing an officer and a
seaman of the Merchant Service. The internal face of the semi-circular wall surrounding
the
garden is cased in bronze, which bears in relief the names of the men commemorated. At
regular intervals round this bronze casing are seven stone sculptured allegorical figures
representing the Seven Seas.
The garden itself is primarily a lawn, surrounded by a stone path on which there are oak
seats. In the centre is a "pool" of bronze, engraved as a mariners' compass, and
set to
magnetic north.
An Introductory Part of this register, containing a plan of the Memorial and an index to
the
Panels, together with a description of the work of the Mercantile Marine is also available
separatly for each World War.
Copyright The Commonwealth War Graves Commission