Vernon March (1891–1930) was an English sculptor, renowned for major monuments such as the National War Memorial of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, the Samuel de Champlain Monument in Orillia, Ontario, and the Cape Town Cenotaph, South Africa. Without the benefit of a formal education in the arts, he was the youngest exhibitor at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts.
Background
Vernon March, son of George Henry March and his wife Elizabeth Blenkin, was born in 1891 in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. His father was a seed crusher foreman (oil miller) in Yorkshire. By 1901, the March family had moved to Battersea, London, England, where his father worked as a builder's clerk. Vernon was the youngest of nine children, eight of whom had careers as artists. Three of the March siblings became sculptors, Sydney, Elsie, and Vernon. The other five siblings who chose a career in the arts were Edward, Percival, Frederick, Dudley, and Walter. Vernon's ninth sibling was his sister Eva Blenkin March. Their parents George and Elizabeth both died in 1904.
At the time of the 1911 census, all nine of the March siblings, as yet unmarried, were living together in their 17-roomed home called "Goddendene" in Locksbottom, Farnborough, Kent, England. Two of the siblings eventually married, Eva and Frederick, and produced a total of three children between them. Vernon's sister Eva married Charles Francis Newman in 1916. They had one child, a daughter, Heather. His brother Frederick married a native of Scotland, Agnes Annie Gow, in 1926. They had two children, Elizabeth and Cecil. Vernon served with the Royal Flying Corps after enlisting on 8 March 1916. He was discharged less than one year later, on 24 January 1917, with a rank of Air Mechanic 2nd Class.
Career
The March family established studios at the family home of Goddendene in Locksbottom, Farnborough. In 1911, Vernon exhibited two of his works at The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts Annual Exhibition. Between 1907 and 1927, he exhibited seven times at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, with a total of twelve works. Vernon had the distinction of being the youngest exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Arts, as he was just sixteen when his sculpture of Psyche was exhibited and purchased on the third day of the event in 1907.
Years later, the prodigy was awarded the commission for a war memorial in Cape Town, to honour the fallen of World War I. The Cenotaph memorial has a sandstone base and columns, with bronze plaques and figures. It features winged Victory holding a laurel wreath, and standing on top of a globe, a serpent of evil under her feet. The winged figure on the tall central column is flanked by two South African soldiers on shorter columns. The Cenotaph is located on Heerengracht Street. It now commemorates not only the fallen soldiers of World War I, but also World War II and the Korean War. It is the site of the annual Armistice Day wreath-laying ceremony and procession. The Cenotaph was originally unveiled in Adderley Street on 3 August 1924. Street widening in 1959 required that the memorial be moved and reoriented. At that time, additional plaques commemorating the soldiers of World War II and the Korean War were added. The Cenotaph was then unveiled for the second time on 8 November 1959. The Cenotaph was relocated again in 2013, from Adderley Street to Heerengracht Street, to make way for a new MyCiTi bus station.
While the Samuel de Champlain Monument in Orillia, Ontario was installed in 1925, a year after the Cape Town memorial, the process began years earlier. Charles Harold Hale was known as "Mr. Orillia" due to his myriad accomplishments on behalf of the city. The idea of a monument to Champlain in the city of Orillia was his brainchild. Hale championed the cause and obtained funding for the project. The competition in 1912 for the design garnered twenty-two entries from three countries, Canada, England, and France. The winning entry was submitted by twenty-year-old Vernon March. The initial target date for completion of the monument was August 1915, to honour the 300th anniversary of Champlain's visit to Huronia. However, World War I delayed the project. The Champlain monument was finally unveiled on 1 July 1925 in Couchiching Park in Orillia, Ontario. On a central pedestal stands a twelve foot tall bronze Champlain in full court attire. Below him on one side there is a robed priest holding a cross above Canadian natives. This side symbolises Christianity. On the side symbolising Commerce, there is a fur trader examining a pelt with two additional natives.