Memorial service for fallen sailors to mark 100 years since unveiling in Southsea Common

British and Commonwealth sailors who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars will again be remembered at a service at the memorial in Southsea Common on Friday (October 4).

At 9.45am, a 24-strong Royal Navy Guard of Honour will set off from the D-Day Story Museum and march along the seafront to the Naval War Memorial. Sailors, both regular and reserve, will lead the procession and will be joined by veterans in the march before arriving at Southsea Common.

A short service will take place at 10am, where the Commonwealth War Graves Commission will welcome all in attendance before leading a torch lighting ceremony to recognise the legacy of the fallen sailors.

The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Councillor Jason Fazackarley and the Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Nigel Atkinson, along with MPs and local and military dignitaries as well as Portsmouth City Council leader, Councillor Steve Pitt, will then lay wreaths at the memorial in memory of those who lost their lives in the World Wars and to mark 100 years since the original unveiling.

Members of the public are invited to join the service at 10am which is expected to last no longer than an hour. There will be road closures and parking restrictions in place from 6am to midday on Clarence Esplanade, from Flood Gates to D-Day Story Car Park.

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October marks one hundred years since the original unveiling of the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, often known as Southsea Naval Memorial. It was created after the First World War as an appropriate way of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave with the majority of deaths having occurred at sea. Three memorials were created at Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth.

The memorial commemorates approximately 25,000 British and Commonwealth sailors who lost their lives in the World Wars; around 10,000 sailors in the First World War, and 15,000 in the Second World War.

It features a central obelisk, with names of the dead, on bronze plaques arranged around the memorial according to the year of death.