Immediately in front of the New Road entrance to Kingston Cemetery.
Details
The cross was placed in the cemetery by the Imperial War Graves Commission which came into being on 21st May 1917. The exact date date it was raised is not known but we know that long before the end of the Great War, minds were already turning to the need to commemorate those who had given their lives. High on the list of priorities was the nature of the memorials that would stand over the war graves.
A number of respected architects were invited to design symbols that would be placed in all the battlefield cemeteries. Sir Edwin Lutyens submitted his Stone of Remembrance which deliberately avoided any reference to religious custom whilst Reginald Blomfield
offered his Cross of Sacrifice which incorporated overt Christian symbolism. In the event both memorials were installed in the majority of the battlefield cemeteries, but back in England a different approach was adopted.
The war dead were buried largely in either church graveyards or civic cemeteries. The former tended to opt for bold memorials, individually designed, usually standing close to the church whilst those responsible for corporation cemeteries decided to copy the battlefield practice and though few used the Lutyens memorial large numbers erected versions of the Blomfield Cross though many were significantly smaller.
In Portsmouth the Cross of Sacrifice can be found in Milton Cemetery and Highland Road Cemetery as well as at Kingston.
