Prince Edward Island

Erected by the Women's Auxiliary of the Prince Edward Island Artillery, this memorial is dedicated to the war dead and veterans of the Prince Edward Island Artillery during the First World War.

In October 1900, as the first Island contingent was sailing home, a group of Islanders decided there must be a monument to commemorate their heroic efforts. Prominent Charlottetown citizens struck a committee, chaired by Premier Donald Farquhar, a site was chosen on the south side of Queen Square, and in January 1901, a memorial was selected: an elaborate bronze statue with two figures to represent "Life and Death in Victory."

Subscriptions from Charlottetown citizens netted over $2,000.00 and a fund-raising campaign through Island schools raised close to $200.00. Provincial and city governments responded with a combined $900.00 in grants. A play, Zephra, was held with all proceeds going towards the statue, but all their efforts were not enough. By July 1901, the committee conceded that "life and Death in Victory" was too expensive.

By that time, the committee had received a proposal from Hamilton McCarthy, R.C.A., an Ottawa sculptor of note, whose work is found across Canada (Ottawa and Nova Scotia contain his work commemorating those who fought in South Africa). On October 11, the committee agreed on McCarthy’s submission.

The design for the statue, at a cost of $4,000, was a single figure defending a dismantled gun with his bayonet at the charge, his beardless face wearing an expression characteristic of a soldier of the Royal Canadian Regiment. The site was changed from directly in front of Province House to partway between that building and the Law Courts. Commemorative bronze tablets, designed by L. W. Watson (who also composed the music for "The Island Hymn"), were placed one the north and south sides of the pedestal, which was completed in June 1902 by local craftsman E. F. Purdy.

McCarthy was to complete the monument by July 1, 1902, but after lengthy delays at the founders, the Henry Bonnard Co. of New York, the hollow bronze statue was shipped to Prince Edward Island the following May. The Soldiers Monument was unveiled on July 6, 1903, in memory of Prince Edward Islanders killed in the South African War - Roland Taylor and Alfred Riggs.

On July 6, 2003, the monument was rededicated to all Islanders who volunteered to join the Prince Edward Island South Africa contingents and who served with the Royal Canadian Regiment from 1899 to 1902.

Hamilton P. MacCarthy was born on 28 July 1846 in London, England. He studied with his father, sculptor Hamilton Wright McCarthy and at the Royal Academy Schools. MacCarthy moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 1885. Thirteen years later he moved to Ottawa and studied at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. MacCarthy had 15 children and his son Coeur de Lion MacCarthy was a sculptor who produced numerous commemorative works after the First World War.

Other memorials by Hamilton MacCarthy include:  South African War Memorial and Lieutenant Harold Lothrop Borden Memorial in Nova Scotia; South African War Memorial and General Isaac Brock Monument in Ontario.

This memorial, a Sherman tank, was dedicated as a memorial by the Department of National Defence through a ceremony involving Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on 17 July 1967. It is dedicated to all of the men and women of Prince Edward Island who died in service during the Second World War.

The Soldiers’ Monument was unveiled on 16 July 1925 by Matilda McLean, wife of Senator John McLean and mother of Rena McLean, the Prince Edward Island nurse killed on the Llandovery Castle. Those who fell in the Great War and those who have returned are commemorated by a bronze group of Canadian soldiers designed by sculptor George William Hill. His name is inscribed on the base of the bronze group, under the foot of the lead soldier.

The group, headed by a sergeant, is shown advancing, each soldier with a different movement makes his way over the rifted surface. A German Pickelhaube helmet sticks out of the mud. The spirited action with the expression of determined purpose shows on every face, illustrates the great aptitude for attack, the hard fighting qualities which gained for the Canadian soldiers the highest regard of human valor.

The monument cost $16,000, of which $11,500 was paid by the city and the remainder by public donation. Additional lettering was added at a later date to recognize the Second World War and Korean War.

George William Hill was born in Shipton, Eastern Townships, in 1861. He learned to carve marble in his father’s company, after he graduated from college. Between 1889 and 1894, he left Quebec to study sculpting at the École nationale des beaux-arts and Académie Julian in Paris. When he returned to Montreal, he opened a studio and worked with architect Robert Findlay and brothers Edward and William S. Maxwell. Known for his public monuments and war memorials, he is now considered one of the most important Canadian sculptors of the early twentieth century.

Hill designed several monuments commemorating Canadians lost in the South African War, including the Strathcona and South African Soldiers' Memorial in Quebec and Boer War Soldiers Monument in Ontario. At the end of the First World War, Hill was awarded several contracts by towns and cities wishing to pay homage to citizens who had died on the battlefields. Between 1920 and 1930 he designed these monuments: Westmount Cenotaph, Magog Cenotaph, Argenteuil Cenotaph, Richmond Cenotaph, Sherbrooke War Memorial in Quebec; Pictou County War Memorial in Nova Scotia; and Soldier's Monument, The Soldier and Nurses’ Memorial in Ontario.

This memorial forest, which includes a tree planted for each of the veterans honoured, is marked by four granite shafts - one each for the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Merchant Navy - listing the names of local Second World War veterans of these services.

In 1939 the forest was used as a training facility for the 2nd and 8th Batteries then later for other regiments and units throughout the war. The monuments list the names of over 600 soldiers that didn't make it home to their families from the Navy, Airforce and Armed Forces. 

This memorial, erected by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, is dedicated to the memory of land issues on the island and, in particular, to the Land Tenure Question of the nineteenth century.

This memorial, which marks a row of veterans' graves, was erected by a Royal Air Force / Royal Canadian Air Force Reunion Committee in 1985 in honour of Royal Air Force personnel killed while training at local British Commonwealth Air Training Plan institutions.

This memorial, erected by St. James' Presbyterian Church, is dedicated to the members of its congregations killed during the First World War.

In 2021, an Honour Roll of ten metal panels were erected along the walkway leading to the cenotaph, each with the name of a soldier from the area who either died in combat or died of their injuries after returning home. The metal panels display the soldier's names, the war in which they served and an outline of combat boots. When the sun shines, it creates shadows of each panel, projecting an image of the boots and the soldiers' names onto the path to the cenotaph. Malpeque Fine Irons Products of New Annan, Prince Edward Island) assisted in the design, along with the Heritage Sub Committee, and created the individual memorials.

Kevin Reynolds, Director of Planning, Development and Heritage with Stratford, managed the project, along with the town's Heritage Sub Committee. Funding from Veterans Affairs Canada enabled them to hire designer Joe Miller of Earthform Landscape Professionals in Stratford, Prince Edward Island, to design and execute the idea.

Two interpretive panels by the Town of Stratford Heritage Committee tell the personal stories of the ten soldiers — one panel each for the First World War and Second World War.

Family members of two of the soldiers attended the unveiling ceremony. A granddaughter of William Joseph Stewart spoke about the effects on her family of her grandfather not returning from war. A grand-nephew of Daniel W. McInnis read a poem called Thoughts of Home written by his great-uncle while fighting overseas. Sara Lantz from Veterans Affairs Canada, and Stratford Mayor Steve Ogden, helped unveil the Honour Roll and interpretive panels.

This memorial is in memory of Leading Aircraftmen Russell L. Bonnell and Lorne C. Gibb and Flight Sergeant James A. Ringer who died on June 8, 1944, when their Bolingbroke drogue towing aircraft # 9195 crashed because of engine trouble. All three were training at No. 10 Bombing and Gunnery School, Mount Pleasant, Prince Edward Island.

Out of respect for the crash site, the location is not being shared with the public.