The Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice is a public monument in Postman's Park in the City of London, commemorating ordinary people who died saving the lives of others who might otherwise have been forgotten.
It was first proposed by painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts in 1887, to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Watts and his second wife Mary Fraser Tytler had long been advocates of the idea of art as a force for social change.
Watts cited the case of Alice Ayres, a servant who, trapped in a burning house, gave up the chance to jump to safety, instead first throwing a mattress out of the window to cushion the fall, before running back into the house three times to fetch her employer's children and throwing them out of a window onto the mattress to safety before herself being overcome by fumes and falling out of the window to her death.
On 30 July 1900 Watts's Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice (also known as the Wall of Heroes) was unveiled by Alfred Newton, Lord Mayor of London, and Mandell Creighton, Bishop of London.
Watts himself, by now 83 years old, was too ill to attend the ceremony and when he died on 1 July 1904, aged 87, he was hailed "The last great Victorian",
On 5 June 1972, the western entrance of Postman's Park and the elaborate Gothic drinking fountain attached to the railings were Grade II listed, protecting them from further development. At this time, the Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice itself was also Grade II listed; although considered of little architectural merit, the register notes that it is "listed as a curiosity
In 2009 a 54th tablet was added, in the style of the Royal Doulton tiles, to commemorate print technician Leigh Pitt, the first addition to the wall for 78 years.
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postman%27s_Park
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tablets_on_the_Memorial_to_Heroic_Self_Sacrifice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frederic_Watts