Overview
Portsmouth Naval Memorial names more than 24,000 Royal Navy dead of the two world wars who have no known grave, most lost at sea. Sir Robert Lorimer designed the First World War obelisk as one of three matching port memorials; Sir Edward Maufe added the curved Second World War extension. Its seaward position on Southsea Common gives families a named place to mourn people whose bodies and ships never returned.
Why it was made
The Imperial War Graves Commission built memorials at Portsmouth, Plymouth and Chatham because sailors with no grave could not be marked where they died. Portsmouth carried names linked to this home port and its manning records.
People and events
Lorimer worked with sculptor Henry Poole on the 1924 monument. After another war created far more names, Maufe and sculptor Charles Wheeler added surrounding walls and pavilions, unveiled by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1953.
How it worked
Names arranged by service and year let relatives locate an individual within mass loss. The tall naval beacon and view across the Solent connect written remembrance with the sea that contains the missing.
What remains
The obelisk, bronze ships, seated figures, name panels and Second World War enclosure survive under Commonwealth War Graves Commission care. Later additions include people lost in conflicts after 1945.
Why it mattered
The memorial mattered because death at sea often denied families a body, funeral and local grave. Giving every missing sailor a public name changed an empty horizon into an exact place for mourning and national record.
History checked 15 August 2026 against the named sources below.
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