Paddington: A soldier and a bear

Statue of a soldier looking down at a letter. The soldier is wearing a helmet, heavy jacket known as a great coat and gas mask bag. The soldier's face appears thougthful. — *Paddington Station’s soldier statue on Platform 1. Sculpture by Charles Sargeant Jagger MC.*
*P. Ferguson image, August 2018*.

Thread Ten

From London Victoria we walk to Paddington Station, to visit a well-known bear and to revisit with a soldier statue. The latter created by Charles Sargeant Jagger MC as the Great Western Railway War Memorial. Jagger was an experienced Great War officer with the Worcestershire Regiment and was wounded on three occasions and awarded the Military Cross.

The soldier statue stands on Platform 1 alongside a wall within Paddington Station, with a letter in his hands. He is reading. This statue was the subject of a recent and most successful letter campaign with 21,439 letters written about and inspired by this work in bronze. The soldier continues to stand, he continues to read. Please look after this soldier.

The Great Western Railway War Memorial at Paddington Station. The soldier statue reading the letter framed by a white stone wall behind. He stands upon a plinth. There is a modern series of gates set up in front of the statue. Entry doors to either side of the memorial have the Royal Coats of Arms and another possibly relating to the City of London above the entries. — The Great Western Railway (GWR) War Memorial commemorates 3,312 men and women of the GWR who lost their lives in two world wars.
P. Ferguson image, August 2018.

Near to the soldier is a bench and a statue of Paddington Bear, a character created by Michael Bond and inspired by World War Two child evacuees. Bond himself survived an air raid in February 1943 when the building he was in collapsed killing 41 and injuring many others. Bond soon applied to the Royal Air Force, aged 17, but subsequently served with the Middlesex Regiment. Paddington’s famous tag reads, Please Look After This Bear.

Bronze statue of Paddington Bear. Unlike the cartoon he does not wear a jacket or boots. He wears a large address label and large floppy hat. He sits on a suitcase. — Paddington Bear statue, please look after this bear (and this soldier). Platform 1, Paddington Station, London.
P. Ferguson image, August 2018.

——-SNIP——-

Previously published Pipes of War website, 14 August 2018