Winchester College Publication Winchester College War Cloisters Architecture | Page 4

The wall stones in this corner are the official Arms of the then Twelve
Provinces of India in order of establishment: Madras, Bombay, Bengal,
United provinces of Agra and Oudh, Punjab, Bihar and Orissa, Burma,
Central Provinces, Assam, Baluchistan, North-west Province, Delhi. They
are magnificent and are the Charges blazoned on Circular or Eastern Shields.
Indian islands and Jamaica. The key-stone this time is, unsurprisingly, a maple
leaf. The paving slab is made of Canadian marble from Texada Island, British
Columbia. It is a beautiful marble with a slightly pink coloration. On it we
see the Northern Constellation of the Great Bear and a border of maple leaves.
In the African corner, one looks up to see this time a key-stone depicting the
Southern Cross and Anchor of the Cape of Good Hope surrounded by a
wreath of mimosa, South Africa’s then floral badge. The depiction above is
also reflected below, but this time carved into granite quarried from the base
of Table Mountain. The wall stones represent the West African
Dependencies, the Arms of the Union of South Africa, Egypt, the mountains
of the moon and the source of the Nile. Finally the favourite symbol of Cecil
Rhodes, the Zimbabwe bird, is beautifully carved.
Wall stones in the Australia and New Zealand dome.
Australian five star
Southern Cross.
New Zealand
paving slab.
African Southern Cross
and Anchor.
Moving to the Australian and New Zealand corner, this time in the key-stone
we see the Southern Cross in a wreath of wattle leaves. There are two paving
slabs; the five-star Southern Cross for Australia laid into a piece of Wyenite
from Gibraltar Bluff, Bowral, New South Wales. Wyenite (or sometimes
Syenite) is a coarse-grained igneous rock, resembling granite. On the New
Zealand paving slab, also granite, there is the four-star symbolical cross with
the letters N Z and the silver fern, a native plant made famous by the All
Blacks rugby team. Many of the wall stones recall the contributions, not
specifically combat, of the Pacific islands, the East Indian islands as well as
the naval stations of Singapore and Hong Kong. The Arms of the
Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand are
especially striking.
The contributions of the Empire forces were immense, and often said to have
been out of proportion to the comparatively small numbers of troops. The
populations of Australia and New Zealand were tiny at that time. They were
involved almost from the start of the war. Their forces were all-volunteer and
remained so for the four years of the war, unlike the UK forces. After the
ill-fated Dardanelles campaign the Australian and New Zealand forces were
sent to the Western Front, where by 1918 they were grouped into their own
specific respective Corps: the Australian Corps of five divisions commanded
by General Sir John Monash; the Canadian Corps of four divisions
commanded by General Sir Arthur Currie; and the New Zealand division.
These became very much the spearhead assault divisions, alongside our own
Guards and Rifle divisions in the 100 days advance which routed the German
army in the summer and autumn of 1918. The Indian Army had long held
a prestigious place in the order of battle of the Empire’s forces. During the
Great War they served not only in the Middle East fighting the Ottoman
forces, but also on the Western Front as both infantry and cavalry. On 14th
July 1916 the magnificent Deccan Horse Cavalry Regiment carried out the
only major cavalry attack of that year, withering beneath the German
machine-gun fire coming from High Wood on the Somme.
Finally moving to the north west corner we find Arms and symbols recalling
the roles of Canada and Newfoundland, as well as the support of the West In Rendall’s inscription around the walls of War Cloister standing nine feet
above the mixed Portland and Purbeck paving slabs of the four ranges, the
Christian impetus to serve is made obvious, and in the iconography in the
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