In Memory of
JOHN GIDNEY STARLING
Radio Officer
M.V. Abosso (Liverpool), Merchant Navy
who died on
Thursday, 29th October 1942. Age 30.
Additional Information:
Son of Hubert and Ellen Maria Starling; nephew of Margaret E. Gidney, of Fakenham,
Norfolk.
Commemorative Information
Memorial:
TOWER HILL MEMORIAL, London, United Kingdom
Grave Reference/
Panel Number:
Panel 2.
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