Freetown memorial adds names of Sierra Leone Carrier Corps men
Men who were enlisted to carry supplies and materials during the First World War now have their names on a memorial in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has unveiled the new addition on George Street.
The memorial stands on top of an older stone monument designed by the British architect Edwin Lutyens in 1931. That original structure honoured soldiers who died in the war. It did not include the names of 946 members of the Sierra Leone Carrier Corps who died, according to Dezeen.
The new work was designed by Oshinòwò Studio, a firm based in Lagos, Nigeria, led by the architect Tosin Oshinowo. Its main element is a structural glass pyramid etched with the names of the Carrier Corps men. The pyramid follows the tapering shape of the 1931 monument and rises above it. The CWGC says the extension commemorates by name more than 940 men.
The design also includes a laser beacon. It will be switched on during significant days of remembrance and send a column of light that can be seen from up to five kilometres away. The commission says Freetown will be the first of its sites to use a beacon of light.
The 1931 memorial was not left as it was. Stonemasons and bronze specialists from the commission fully restored it as part of the project. The result is a single site that holds the old monument and the new names together.
The finished memorial stands nine metres high. Its unveiling had been scheduled for Saturday 7 November 2026, and Dezeen reported the memorial as unveiled on 9 November.
For families of the men named on the glass, the change is simple to describe. Their relatives can now find a name, in a public place, where none was recorded before.
