Second World War PoW memorial for Mornington Crescent faces final battle

Published: 10 March, 2011
by PETER GRUNER

CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating after learning that a memorial to those who died or were imprisoned in the Far East during the Second World War has moved a step closer. 

Town Hall planning officers have recommended that Camden Council’s planning committee approve a sculpture tribute  close to Mornington Crescent tube station at a meeting next Thursday.

Former Mayor of Camden Roger Robinson, who has campaigned for the recognition for 10 years, said it was “wonderful news” that officers support the scheme. 

He also thanked the New Journal and its readers for regularly reporting on the issue. However, Councillor Robinson called on veterans and supporters to attend the committee meeting in the Town Hall chamber in Judd Street at 7pm. 

“We still have to convince councillors to vote for the plaque,” he said. 

Cllr Robinson’s cousin Lennie was only 20 when he died in a Japanese bombing raid on Hong Kong in the 1940s. 

Camden Town man Ernest Mount, 90, a survivor from a Japanese prisoner of war “death camp”, is also supporting the memorial. He was in his early 20s when he almost died of starvation in Japanese camps during four years of “appalling” conditions and “cruel” treatment.  

“I was extremely thin and malnourished,” said Mr Mount. “There were times I thought I’d die. Even today I don’t know how I got out alive.” 

The plan is to place the memorial opposite the statue of Victorian reformer Richard Cobden, on the traffic island at Mornington Crescent. 

The black granite plaque, which would measure six by four feet high, would be raised on “train lines” and sleepers symbolising the deaths and suffering of those forced to work on Japanese railways during wartime. The inscription would read: “To the memory of the British civilian and military personnel who were incarcerated and suffered, so many dying, in the Far East during the Second World War 1939-45, who asked for nothing but remembrance of their lives and a promise of peace for future generations.” 

The memorial planning application has been submitted by award-winning architect Chris Roche, whose firm 11.04 Architects designed the proposed sculpture. 

Cllr Robinson said he first came up with the idea for a memorial when he was Mayor in 2001-2.

And Frank Dobson, MP for Holborn and St Pancras, said: “I’ve supported the idea for this war memorial to be placed close to the Cobden statue for some time.”

To comment visit www.camden.gov.uk and  search planning appli­cations reference: 2010/6812/P