Richmond, like countless other communities across Canada, was shaken by the experience of the First World War. In the years following the armistice, Veterans joined together to form the Great War Veterans Association and in February 1921, they decided to erect a memorial to their fallen comrades. A committee was elected and other organizations were contacted: the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, Ratepayers' Association, Red Cross and the Richmond Council. The Memorial Committee applied to the Richmond Municipal Council for a site in front of the relatively new Town Hall and this was granted in November 1921.
Reverend A. MacKay, the chairman of the Memorial Committee, appeared before Council on February 20, 1922, to state that the memorial would cost $1,612. This included the column with appropriate lettering, cement base and granite boulders. The Council granted the committee the sum of $300.00, and the remaining $1,312 was financed by public subscription and general fund-raising. A Celtic Cross was purchased from the Independent Monument Company, designed by Sharp and Thompson Architects, Vancouver, British Columbia. The cement base was finished by March 15, 1922, the column erected and four granite boulders were lettered for key battles of the Great War. The base of the monument is granite and it sits upon a concrete platform, two steps above grade.
Easter Sunday, April 9, 1922, was chosen for the dedication ceremony, being very close to the anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge. At the dedication ceremony, the unveiling of the cenotaph was undertaken by Mary and Gordon Hayne, children of James Arthur Hayne, a fisherman from Steveston, who was killed in action in France, May 1917. Initially, there were 22 names inscribed on the memorial and four more were added at a later date. At the end of the Second World War, more names were inscribed on the cenotaph’s north and south faces, 32 listed immediately following the war and four more were added in 1949. The memorial was refurbished in 1998.
On July 15, 1999, the cenotaph was temporarily moved from city hall to its creator’s shop - William Chandler of W.R. Memorials of Vancouver. It was returned to the site in 2000 when the new city hall was completed. On May 30, 2024, two names were added to the front of the cenotaph.
The City of Richmond Archives published an illustrated book with information on the cenotaph and biographies of most of the men listed on the cenotaph. Included are seven additional names not yet on the monument.
