WORCESTER people came in for criticism 100 years ago for being mean in their response to a county-wide appeal for subscriptions to erect a memorial to those Worcestershire men killed in the Boer War.

Under the headings: "Memorial to Fallen Soldiers - Lack of Support from Worcester," Berrow's Journal for this week of 1903 carried a lengthy report of a meeting at the Shirehall of the Worcestershire War Memorial Committee.

"The position of the proposed memorial is to be in the Cathedral yard facing High Street. No other good site could be found in the city. The Dean and Chapter have no objection to the proposed position, but ask to be shown the design before the memorial is erected.

"The Diocesan Architectural Committee urge that the memorial should take the form of a preaching cross of Gothic design, but the War Memorial Committee has agreed instead that it should be of a military character.

"The Earl of Coventry, who presided at the meeting, said the War Memorial Committee had some reason to be disappointed with the amount of subscriptions so far raised in the city. Considerable support had been received from the county, and he thought that the response from the city, where the memorial was to be placed, should have been more liberal.

"The Mayor of Worcester, Mr Christopher Whitehead, readily agreed to Lord Coventry's suggestion that a public meeting be called at the Guildhall in a bid to raise more subscriptions from the city. Even so, the Mayor said he felt compelled to offer some excuse for the city inasmuch as there had been a large number of calls on it for subscriptions to serve various causes, and trade had not been as flourishing locally as it might have been during the last six months.

"It was reported to the meeting that the total amount so far raised in subscriptions for the war memorial was £1,182."

As we know with the benefit of hindsight, the superb South African War Memorial was erected and officially unveiled in front of Worcester Cathedral in 1904.