Tirah Memorial

{{Short description|War memorial in Oxford, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

File:Bonn Square and war memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1321803.jpg, Oxford]]

The Tirah Memorial is a war memorial in Bonn Square, Oxford, England. It commemorates soldiers of the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire Light Infantry who died in 1897–98 on the Tirah Expedition and Punjab Frontier Campaign{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/war/tirah_campaign/index.html |last=Jenkins |first=Stephanie |title=War Memorials: Tirah Campaign, Bonn Square |work=Oxford Streets |date=4 September 2011 |access-date=2 November 2024}} to suppress rebel tribes on the North West Frontier of British India.

History

The Tirah Memorial was unveiled in 1900, making it Oxford's first free-standing war memorial.

The monument was designed by Inigo Thomas. It is an obelisk {{convert|25|ft}} high, with foundations {{convert|20|ft}} deep. It was erected in a public garden that had been the graveyard of St Peter-le-Bailey parish church and is now Bonn Square. The digging of the memorial's foundations unearthed human remains, which were re-interred at Osney Cemetery {{convert|1.2|mi|0}} away.

The Tirah Memorial is a Grade II listed building.{{NHLE |num= 1338518 |desc=Oxfordshire Light Infantry Memorial, New Road |access-date=26 September 2012}}

Other Tirah memorials

Men of the Dorset Regiment who died during the Tirah Expedition are commemorated by a Tirah Memorial in Borough Gardens, Dorchester, Dorset, southern England.{{NHLE|num=1001559|desc=Borough Gardens, Dorchester |access-date=14 August 2023}}

Men of the King's Own Scottish Borderers who died during the Tirah Expedition are commemorated on the memorial at North Bridge, Edinburgh, Scotland.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

Men of the Royal Sussex Regiment who died during the Tirah Expedition are commemorated on a memorial at Eastbourne, East Sussex, southeast England.{{citation needed|date=September 2012}}

Men of the Northamptonshire Regiment who died in the expedition are commemorated on a plaque on the exterior of All Saints' Church, Northampton.Fact contained on an inscription on the memorial.

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite book |last=Smith |first=Martin |year=2011 |title=General Sir William Stephen Alexander Lockhart, Soldier of the Queen Empress |isbn=978-0-9570154-0-1 }}

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Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1900

Category:1900 establishments in England

Category:British military memorials and cemeteries

Category:Grade II listed buildings in Oxford

Category:Monuments and memorials in Oxfordshire

Category:Obelisks in England

Category:Tirah campaign