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Waltham memorial gates

Built in 1922, the Waltham War Memorial Gates are located at the southern boundary of Waltham Park on Wilsons Road.

In July 1919, John Brightling offered the Christchurch City Council the opportunity to purchase eight acres of land in Waltham bounded by Bunyan Street, Domett Street, Langdown Street, and Wilsons Road. The land was acquired by the Christchurch City Council for use as a park by December 1920. At a meeting of Waltham, Opawa, and St Martins residents, held on 20 June 1921, it was decided to hasten the formation of the land into a park which would also act as a memorial to the fallen soldiers of the First World War.

At a subsequent meeting, held on 5 July, it was announced by C. V. Harvey that an application had been submitted to the Department of Internal Affairs to request permission to hold an art union to raise money for the construction of memorial gates at the entrance to the park. Plans for the proposed gates were also shown at the meeting. A fete and flower show was held at Waltham School on 3 December 1921 to raise funds for the construction of the gates.

Tenders for the both the stone work and iron work for the gates were advertised in January 1922 and the contract was awarded to Martin and Rennells. The original plans for the gates were altered by February 1922 following the donation of an additional piece of land by John Brightling. This required the gates to be set further back and as a result they needed to be widened.

The gates consist of a concrete stone clad wall topped by a wrought iron balustrade and centrally located gates supported by eight columns. At the two larger columns about the gates there are inset stone plaques commemorating the Waltham men who lost their lives in the First World War.

The left hand plaque is topped by the words: In grateful memory of those of this district who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War 1914-1918 and then an alphabetic list of names. The right hand plaque is topped by a carved laurel wreath and then the continuation of the list of names, then finally the the quotation Greater love hath no man than this. There are forty-three names in total including:

Frederick Andrew Anderson; A. J. Barnett; W. Birmingham; Arthur Raymond Brightling; C. Brittenoen; T. Booker; John White Burnet; W. H. Clemens; C. H. Davis; E. N. Davis; W. H. Dean; W. J. Dempsey; H. G. Donaldson; C. R. Frankish; W. J. Gallacher; Francis George Goodwin; A. E. Harding; H. Johnson; Arthur Robert Jones; P. R. Jones; George Judge; Cecil Stuart Kircher; Charles Donald Lilley; George Leonard Lindsay; Seth Lord; Ernest Edward Lutton; G. McIlwraith; R. A. McKay; Leonard Thomas McPhail; Edward Terence Joseph Moyna; Robert Greig Ramsay; W. C. Robertson; Stanley Reeford Robinson; Thomas Leonard Round; G. A. Seymour; E. Smith; N. H. Stephens; W. L. Taylor; Ernest Waller; Thomas Wark; Arthur Frederick Wilding; Kenneth David Wilson; O. J. Wood.

The gates were unveiled on 6 August 1922 by Sir Robert Heaton Rhodes.

References

Opawa improvements, Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1744, 16 September 1919, p.10.

Local and general, Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1691, 16 July 1919, p.11.

The city's progress, Star (Christchurch), Issue 16311, 29 December 1920, p.7.

General news, Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17177, 21 June 1921, p.6.

Waltham Park, Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17190, 6 July 1921, p.9.

Waltham School Fete, Star (Christchurch), Issue 16598, 3 December 1921, p.10.

Tenders, Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17359, 21 January 1922, p.15.

Waltham Park, Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17380, 15 February 1922, p.9.

The Supreme Sacrifice, Star (Christchurch), Issue 16805, 7 August 1922, p.4.