Unknown Soldier MemorialPrint Page

A cross commemorates a soldier who died in World War One and was dedicated by the church as a war memorial. 

A plain wooden cross from the grave of an unknown soldier in Flanders has been placed in St. Paul's Cathedral. Until it is main covered by a drapes of deep purple velvet. It was sent to the chapter of the Cathedral by the Imperial War Graves Commission, and bears no inscription except a brief statement on a tin plaque of its origin. Although the King's and Regimental Colours of a disbanded unit hang in the nave, and there is a number of personal memorials, there is no other specific memorial in the Cathedral to those who fell in the Great War. When the cross is dedicated, a stone from Westminster Abbey, which was brought to Melbourne during the Centenary celebrations in 1934 and handed by Canon Barry as a gift from the chapter of the abbey to the chapter of St Paul's, will be dedicated. 
Telegraph (Brisbane), 7 August 1936. 

Six memorials in St. Pauls Cathedral were unveiled and dedicated by Archbishop Head at Evensong yesterday. The dedications were a simple part of the service. Archbishop Head, accompanied by clerical and lay canons, passed down one aisle and back along the other, stopping for a few moments at each memorial. Archbishop Head first unveiled and dedicated a tablet to the memory of James Moorhouse, Bishop of Melbourne from 1876 to 1886, whose efforts resulted in the building of St Paul's Cathedral Archbishop Head then dedicated a cross which was set in a stone taken from the walls of Christ Church, Canterbury (England) and which was first dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury with a number of similar crosses at an Empire service in June, 1935 at Canterbury Cathedral. Set in the wall a few feet from this cross a stone from Westminster Abbey was dedicated. This stone was sent to St. Paul's Cathedral in 1934 with the good wishes of Westminster Abbey to mark the Centenary of Melbourne. Near the main entrance doorway from Swanston street, Archbishop Head dedicated a wooden cross taken from the grave of an unknown soldier in Flanders and set in the wall of the Cathedral to be a permanent memorial to all men who fell in the Great War. Finally Archbishop Head unveiled a large stained glass window and dedicated a tablet In niemory of Mr. Clements Langford, who was a lay canon of St Paul's for four years, and who built the three spires of the cathedral as a gift. One of Mr. Clements Langford's sons was among those who accompanied Archbishop Head, and several men who helped to build the spires were in the congregation.
Argus (Melbourne), 6 October 1936. 

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