REMEMBRANCE Sunday saw similar scenes across the country as people attended their local war memorials to pause and remember the fallen.

But surely few of those memorials will have looked quite as beautiful as Port Sunlight’s tribute, with this year marking 100 years since it was erected in 1921.

The monument was originally the brainchild of William Lever, founder of the village and employer of its residents in his world famous soap factory.

More than 4,000 of Lever’s employees had served in the war and, of these, 503 had been killed, but the businessman was also keen to reflect the war effort at home and amongst his factory workers, which is why he wanted figures of women and children to be included in the memorial as well as military personnel.

Designs were drawn up by Goscombe John with the theme of ‘Defence of the Realm’ and the memorial was unveiled on December 3 1921 by Sergeant Eames, who had been blinded at the battle of the Somme, and Private Robert Cruickshank who had been awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in Palestine.

The memorial stands in the most prominent position in the centre of the village, at the intersection of its broadest avenues, The Causeway and The Diamond.

The figures on the plinth depict three soldiers, one of whom is wounded and is being attended by a nurse; a seated woman cradling a group of infants; a girl with her brother; and a Boy Scout. These figures are all larger than life size.The reliefs on the parapet depict respectively the Naval, the Military, the Anti-Aircraft and the Red Cross Services.

At the time it was unveiled John’s design was criticised for what was described as his “overt sentimentality,” but today the memorial is regarded as one of the finest in the country and in October 2014 it was raised from Grade II to Grade I – the highest of the three grades of listing which is applied to “buildings of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important”.