War memorial

In total 11 members of Mint staff lost their lives in the service of their country. Their names are carved into a memorial that used to hang in the entrance hall of the main Mint building on Tower Hill. It provided a focus for remembrance for Mint employees and the Museum’s Senior Research Curator recalls staff gathering round the memorial in the 1960s as the Deputy Master led a minute’s silence to remember the fallen.

The desire for this monument seems to have come directly from colleagues of the fallen men, whom they had known as workmates and friends.

Its unveiling took place on 11 November 1921 and the role fell to the recently retired Sir John Cawston. He had been Deputy Master during the latter part of the war and was present on the day in June 1917 when the Mint was bombed. In a letter written by his daughter in 1953 she recalled, ‘I remember as if it were yesterday him coming home to York House after doing all he could to help – he was violently sick and could not eat his dinner’. The names of the four men killed that day are included on the memorial alongside the 11 who died on active service

While the dedication on the memorial lists those Mint employees who were killed, their names do not represent the full loss suffered by Mint staff. Family members were also lost and one senior official, William Hocking, who was also the first Curator of the Royal Mint Museum, suffered the blow of losing his youngest son on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Today the memorial occupies a place of honour in the Royal Mint Museum. Watch the video below to hear more about the memorial from our Exhibitions Manager, Abigail Kenvyn.