A crowd of 5,000 watched the unveiling of this remarkable war memorial

The imposing monument at Eccleston Lane Ends was not only designed to commemorate local soldiers whose lives were lost in war. But also the anguish of mothers who spent years waiting for telegrams bearing bad news that they prayed would never come.

A photograph of the memorial from the early 1920s

At the time of the unveiling on July 23, 1922, one local newspaper described the monument as "unique among war memorials, for by it the mothers of our soldier lads will be given a permanent place."

A crowd of around 5,000 assembled in Burrows Lane in the pouring rain to watch the Bishop of Liverpool unveil the statue.

This Saturday is the 100th anniversary of the statue

Designed by Walter Gilbert and Louis Weingartner, the grade 2 listed structure depicts a life-size figure of a junior officer with field glasses in one hand and revolver in the other.

At the foot of the plinth, a mother is shown presenting her soldier son with a laurel garland.

Frederick Dixon-Nuttall, the bottlemaker and ex-mayor of St Helens, had paid for the statue after losing a son in the conflict and witnessing the effect of the death on his wife Louisa.

: Ingleholme in Eccleston Park. The home of Frederick and Louisa Dixon-Nuttall

It had been in September 1919 that St Helens newspapers first reported that Eccleston would have its own war memorial.

Dixon-Nuttall promised it would be one of the best in the country and residents were invited to visit Ingleholme, his grand home in Eccleston Park, to inspect a model.

Sadly, the monument's commemoration of the mother in wartime has largely been forgotten. Its listing by Historic England simply describes the female figure as a "spirited young woman in contemporary dress".

Although panels on the four faces of the pedestal bear the motto "The Laurels Of The Sons Are Watered From The Hearts Of The Mothers", visitors are more likely to notice the stone tablet on the front of the plinth that reads: "To the Glorious Memory of All Those From the West Derby Hundred of the County Palatine of Lancaster Who Fought & Gave Their Lives For Their King & Country In The Great War 1914-1918."

The memorial's plaque

The West Derby Hundred was one of six original divisions of Lancashire and the plaque refers to the many Lancastrian soldiers who during the war received training at the nearby Knowsley Park military camp – but failed to return home from France.

Not only does the St Helens district boast the first ever public memorial to WW1 in the country – which was unveiled in Prescot in September 1916 – but also one of the more recent.

The St Helens' tribute to the fallen was not unveiled in Victoria Square until Easter Sunday 1926 – and again a mother was at its centre.

She was Elizabeth Davies from Chancery Lane in Parr who lost five of her sons in the war. The poor coal miner's wife had fought for the memorial in the Square, having served on its organising committee.

Days before the St Helens Cenotaph – as it was then called – was due to be unveiled, Mrs Davies heard that the Mayor's fund that paid for the monument was £170 short of its target. So she waited for an hour to give Ald. Thomas Hamblett a £1 donation – the woman's third contribution to the fund. Lord Derby was so moved by this story that he immediately wrote out another cheque for £50.

On the day itself, Elizabeth Davies was invited to assist Ald. Hamblett in unveiling the St Helens Cenotaph and before a crowd of 20,000, the Mayor referred to Mrs Davies as "a dear and noble woman".

The memorial as it stands today

Upon Elizabeth's death in 1933 one local paper wrote: "She was a proud woman that day Easter Sunday, 1926, when of her townspeople who filled the square, she helped the Mayor remove the purple pall from the Cenotaph."

Stephen Wainwright’s book 'The Hidden History Of St Helens' is available from the St Helens Book Stop at 11 Bridge Street and online from eBay and Amazon. Price £12. Volume 2 of 'Hidden History' will be published in September.