Memorial Details
Memorial
Sculpture Danish Seamen 1939-45 St. Nicholas
Reference
NUT106
Place
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE
Map ref
NZ 250640
Original Location
Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas Square. St. Nicholas Street / Mosley Street.
Which war
1939-45
Dedication, Creation or Publication date
Unveiled in the Cathedral 13th May 1982.
Memorial Description
Sculpture of several uprights to which are attached four eccentric shaped slabs of slate bearing the dedication in Danish. The whole is very plain and simple and represents a ship. At front left are five waist-high tall candlesticks. At front right is a glass case containing a book bearing the names. To the left a separate slab pinned to the wall bears an inscription in English. The lettering is incised on the slabs and coloured white using Roman capitals with the text in Danish and English.
Materials used
Westmorland slate and stainless steel
Inscription
seamen of all ranks who
gave their lives in the
service of their country
in the years 1939-1945.
When you read their names
remember that they died
for Denmark. They died
for freedom so that we,
like them, might live as free Danes.
Names
None
Sculptor, Artist or Designer
Mr. Ronald G. Sims, Cathedral architect.
Notes
1. The leaflet issued by the Cathedral reads:
On the morning of 9th April 1940 the message came over the radio that Denmark and Norway had been occupied by the Germans, and no Dane abroad will ever forget the paralysing feeling of being completely cut off from his native country, and his family and friends at home. All Danish ships in British harbours and waters were put under British protection straightaway and sailed from then on under Allied flags with a Danish crew. All Danish ships which were out in the oceans were ordered not to return to Denmark but to go to Britain. In this way the seamen achieved the greatest contribution which Danes abroad were able to render to the Allied cause.
Newcastle upon Tyne became the home of the Danish merchant fleet. The Danish Pool was opened in St. Nicholas’ Buildings, just opposite the Cathedral. It was here the seamen were sent when they landed in Britain, and from here they were sent out to sea again. About 4000 Danish seamen sailed out from Newcastle upon Tyne, and 1406 of them gave their lives for Denmark.
After the war a new Danish Seaman’s church in Newcastle upon Tyne was consecrated on 30th April 1949 together with the memorial incorporating a book of remembrance containing the names in alphabetical order of all the Danish seamen who lost their lives during the 1939-1945 war, starting with a deck-boy of sixteen years of age. Every day a page was turned in the remembrance book.
Due to the increasingly fast turn-around of ships the number of Danish seamen with time on their hands diminished steadily, and it was eventually decided to close the Danish Seaman’s church in 1969.
The memorial wall was given to Frihedsmuseet (the Liberation Museum) in Copenhagen, and it is now to be seen at the former concentration camp in Froslev, South Jutland. The remembrance book was placed on a smaller wall in the Danish Seamen’s church in London’s East End, together with a prose text.
In 1980 the Seamen’s Church in London was faced with the same fortune as the church in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Danish congregation in Newcastle upon Tyne felt that Newcastle upon Tyne was the place the remembrance book rightly belonged. The congregation did not have its own church, so they contacted the Lord Mayor and the Provost of Newcastle at St. Nicholas’ Cathedral, who showed great sympathy and understanding. The result was that a new memorial was unveiled within two years, on 13th May 1982 in St. Nicholas’ Cathedral.
The memorial was designed by the Cathedral architect, Mr. Ronald G. Sims. The memorial is made from green Westmorland slate and represents the Danish islands. The candlesticks are made in mild steel. It was a difficult job to incorporate a Danish memorial into the Cathedral. The design is imaginative and arresting. The casket for the remembrance book came from the Danish seamen’s Church in London. Denmark’s Shipowners’ Association paid for the memorial. The inscription on the memorial is the original Danish inscription.
The Danish flag hangs above the memorial. It was the same flag which hung outside the Danish Pool during the war. The memorial’s text was translated into English in 1985.
On the morning of 9th April 1940 the message came over the radio that Denmark and Norway had been occupied by the Germans, and no Dane abroad will ever forget the paralysing feeling of being completely cut off from his native country, and his family and friends at home. All Danish ships in British harbours and waters were put under British protection straightaway and sailed from then on under Allied flags with a Danish crew. All Danish ships which were out in the oceans were ordered not to return to Denmark but to go to Britain. In this way the seamen achieved the greatest contribution which Danes abroad were able to render to the Allied cause.
Newcastle upon Tyne became the home of the Danish merchant fleet. The Danish Pool was opened in St. Nicholas’ Buildings, just opposite the Cathedral. It was here the seamen were sent when they landed in Britain, and from here they were sent out to sea again. About 4000 Danish seamen sailed out from Newcastle upon Tyne, and 1406 of them gave their lives for Denmark.
After the war a new Danish Seaman’s church in Newcastle upon Tyne was consecrated on 30th April 1949 together with the memorial incorporating a book of remembrance containing the names in alphabetical order of all the Danish seamen who lost their lives during the 1939-1945 war, starting with a deck-boy of sixteen years of age. Every day a page was turned in the remembrance book.
Due to the increasingly fast turn-around of ships the number of Danish seamen with time on their hands diminished steadily, and it was eventually decided to close the Danish Seaman’s church in 1969.
The memorial wall was given to Frihedsmuseet (the Liberation Museum) in Copenhagen, and it is now to be seen at the former concentration camp in Froslev, South Jutland. The remembrance book was placed on a smaller wall in the Danish Seamen’s church in London’s East End, together with a prose text.
In 1980 the Seamen’s Church in London was faced with the same fortune as the church in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The Danish congregation in Newcastle upon Tyne felt that Newcastle upon Tyne was the place the remembrance book rightly belonged. The congregation did not have its own church, so they contacted the Lord Mayor and the Provost of Newcastle at St. Nicholas’ Cathedral, who showed great sympathy and understanding. The result was that a new memorial was unveiled within two years, on 13th May 1982 in St. Nicholas’ Cathedral.
The memorial was designed by the Cathedral architect, Mr. Ronald G. Sims. The memorial is made from green Westmorland slate and represents the Danish islands. The candlesticks are made in mild steel. It was a difficult job to incorporate a Danish memorial into the Cathedral. The design is imaginative and arresting. The casket for the remembrance book came from the Danish seamen’s Church in London. Denmark’s Shipowners’ Association paid for the memorial. The inscription on the memorial is the original Danish inscription.
The Danish flag hangs above the memorial. It was the same flag which hung outside the Danish Pool during the war. The memorial’s text was translated into English in 1985.
Newspaper cuttings, photos or archival material
Photos: J. Brown; P. Thirkell; Tony Harding
Newcastle Journal (undated) reports a ceremony at which “a memorial plaque was also unveiled, which will be mounted on St. Nicholas Buildings when the Victorian block is restored”.
Colonsay’s Fallen Alan Davis, Colonay Books, 2004, ISBN 1 899863 34 6, Isle of Colonsay, Argyll, PA61 7YR. carries a reference to the Danish Memorial.
Cathedral leaflet tells the story of the role of the Danes in 1939-45 and how the memorial came to be made in Newcastle.
Newcastle Journal (undated) reports a ceremony at which “a memorial plaque was also unveiled, which will be mounted on St. Nicholas Buildings when the Victorian block is restored”.
Colonsay’s Fallen Alan Davis, Colonay Books, 2004, ISBN 1 899863 34 6, Isle of Colonsay, Argyll, PA61 7YR. carries a reference to the Danish Memorial.
Cathedral leaflet tells the story of the role of the Danes in 1939-45 and how the memorial came to be made in Newcastle.
Research acknowledgements
P. Thirkell; J. Brown; Tony Harding
Research In Progress
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Sculpture Danish Seamen 1939-45 St. Nicholas (NUT106)
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Parish Notes
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