Memorials to Lord Dowding

Royal Air Force Chapel at Westminster Abbey

First Baron Dowding of Bentley Priory, as Dowding preferred to be known, died at his home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 15^th February 1970. His ashes were interred at a Memorial Service on 12^th March 1970, in the Royal Air Force Chapel at Westminster Abbey, beneath the Battle of Britain Memorial Window. At the Service he was described as “Architect of Deliverance.” Muriel Dowding’s ashes are interred with those of her husband.

Dowding’s Grave. RAF Chapel in Westminster Abbey

Station Park, Moffat

Moffat’s Memorial to Hugh Dowding was unveiled on September 9^th 1972 in Station Park, Moffat. The bronze plaque was made by Scott Sutherland who sculpted the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge in the Scottish Highlands. The plaque is mounted in local sandstone. Each year since 1972, on the Sunday before September 15^th, a service has been held at the Memorial.

St. Clement Dane’s (the RAF Church)

On 20^th October 1988, a statue of Dowding was unveiled, by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, outside St. Clement Dane’s (the RAF Church) in London. Funded not by the Government or the RAF, £60,000 was raised by public subscription. The inscription on the base reads:

He was among the first to appreciate the vital importance of RDF (radar) and an effective command and control system for his squadrons. They were ready when war came. In the preliminary stages of that war, he thoroughly trained his minimal forces and conserved them against strong political pressure to disperse and misuse them. His wise and prudent judgement and leadership helped to ensure victory against overwhelming odds and thus prevented the loss of the Battle of Britain and probably the whole war, To him, the people of Britain and of the Free World owe largely the way of life and the liberties they enjoy today.

The National Memorial to the Few

A carved bust of Dowding, by the artist Will Davies, was unveiled by Prince Michael of Kent on 31^st May 2017 at The National Memorial to the Few (located on the White Cliffs on the Kent coast). Dowding’s head is turned towards the Memorial Wall on which members of The Few are listed.

Calverley Grounds Park in Tunbridge Wells

A Memorial Stone sits in Calverley Grounds Park in Tunbridge Wells, the town where Dowding and Muriel spent the last years of his life.