File:Bradford, Victoria Square War Memorial.jpg

English: The War Memorial in Victoria Square was designed by Bradford City Architect, Walter Williamson and is in the form of a cenotaph of locally quarried stone from Bolton Woods Quarry. The memorial was unveiled on 1st July 1922, the 6th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme when the Bradford ‘Pals’ Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment suffered massive and severe casualties.

Two bronze figures of a soldier and sailor stand on either side of the monument. They are depicted lunging forward with their rifles as though running into battle. Originally the rifles had bayonets attached but this caused controversy because it was felt to be too aggressive for a memorial sculpture. In 1969 the bayonets were deliberately bent and the council removed them soon after when the monument was cleaned. However the council kept them and they are always re-attached for the annual Armistice Day memorial service in November.

High on the front face of the monument there is a simple the cross which symbolises ‘sacrifice’ and a wreath containing the words ‘Pro Patri Mori’ (they died for their country) symbolises ‘grief’.

A bronze plaque near the bottom of the cenotaph carries the following inscription (which was obviously updated later to include World War II and other conflicts):

TO THE IMMORTAL HONOUR OF

THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE

CITY OF BRADFORD

WHO SERVED THEIR KING AND EMPIRE

1914–1918 1939–1945

AND IN OTHER CONFLICT

IN PROUD AND

GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE

The stone base carries the phrase THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE , a phrase commonly used on war memorials from World War I.