This war memorial needs to be seen in context i.e. the context of the other five war memorials in Penge.

There are war memorials to be discovered at Holy Trinity Church on Lennard Road, one at the entrance to Penge Recreation Ground, one at the Beckenham and Penge Sea Cadet Centre in Kent House Road (HMS SIKH War Memorial), two inside the Salvation Army citadel in Maple Road and this one here.

The Almshouses one is further down from the main memorial at the entrance to Penge Recreation Ground but was erected under the auspices of the Royal Watermen’s alms houses which were built in 1841.

The whole complex was designed by George Porter in mock Tudor style which was the fashion in the mid nineteenth century. This memorial dates from 1920 and is positioned on the corner entrance house to the almshouses complex. It reads…

In memory of the Freemen and Apprentices of the Watermen’s Company who made the Supreme Sacrifice in the Great War 1914-1918

This Asylum was restored in 1920 by the Subscriptions of Members and Friends

Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.

The sentiment ties in with the Victorian valorisation of honour and sacrifice for King and country, noble ideals encapsulated in Porter’s architectural design with its central chapel and memorial obelisk.

Photo of the Royal Watermen’s Almshouses by Martin Spence.