Showcase result

Montreal Park

This war memorial is an obelisk on a square plinth and base. It is made from rough blocks rather than fine ashlar with white marble panels on each side of the plinth. The memorial is located in the garden of a house in Montreal Park in Sevenoaks, Kent.

The main issue with the memorial was that the marble panels had become crazed with cracks and the inscriptions were hard to read. Grants for War Memorials gave a grant of £1,130 towards cleaning the panels, undertaking re-pointing in lime mortar and fixing loose stonework. Rubbings of the panels were taken and given to the Amherst Collection at Kent Archives.

The memorial commemorates the return of three brothers from the Canadian Campaign which was part of the Seven Years War in which the British were fighting the French in North America. Sir Jeffrey Amherst, one of these brothers, was Commander in Chief of the British Forces. On his return to England, he bought 200 acres of land which he enclosed and called Montreal Park after his capture of Montreal in 1760.

Amherst built a large Palladian mansion in the Park the memorial was built in 1764. The memorial is listed Grade II and stands on the site of a scheduled ancient monument.

The inscription reads:

"To commemorate
the providential & happy meeting
of three brothers
on this their paternal ground
on the 25th January 1764
after six years glorious war
in which the three were forcefully engaged
in various climes, seasons and services

Dedicated
to that most able statesman
during whose administration
Cape-Breton & Canada were conquered
and from whose influence
the British Arms derived
a degree of lustre
unparalleled in past ages

Louisbourg surrendered
And six French battalions
Prisoners of war 26th July 1758
Fort du Quesno taken possession of 24th Nov 1758
Niagara surrendered 23 July 1759
Tionderoga taken possession of 26th July 1759
Crown Point taken possession of 4th August 1759
Quebec capitulated 18th Sept 1759

Ton Lovi surrendered 25th August 1760
Isle au Noix abandoned 28th August 1760
Montreal surrendered
and with it all Canada and
ten French battalions lay’d
down their arms 8th Sept 1760
St John’s Newfoundland
retaken 18th Sept 1762"

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM1846
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 54528

If you have a concern about this memorial please contact the Trust on conservation@warmemorials.org

Return to search results | Start a new search