The "Mucky Angel", Newcastle

The local name "Mucky Angel" is really rather a misnomer for this memorial. When I was a lad (a few decades ago!) it used to be covered in sooty grime, but it is no longer mucky as it was cleaned up several years ago. It is also not really an angel, as apparently it represents Winged Victory! However the name seems to be entrenched in Geordie terminology and has stuck.

It stands in the Haymarket in Newcastle; these university buildings make a useful frame for blipping it.

I always thought it was a memorial for the World Wars but today I actually stopped to look, and found it is for men lost in the South African (Boer) War.

The inscriptions read:

"To the memory of the officers and non-commissioned officers of the Northumbrian Regiments who lost their lives in the South African War 1899-1902
Erected by their family and comrades

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

Steadfast in life valiant in death"

There are also lists of names of those who died.

For those interested, there is more about it here.

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