At first sight, the statue on the left appeared to be quite modern in its construction. However, it isn't. It is in fact a monument to those who fell in World War I.

The Citizens' War Memorial project, also known as the Soldiers' War Memorial, was driven by George Gould who was a businessman, and perhaps more importantly a director of the newspaper company The Press from 1903 until his death in 1941.

The city council did not want this project to proceed. They felt that it would conflict with another memorial project, that it would be dwarfed by the Cathedral, and that Cathedral Square was too noisy and busy a place to allow for quiet contemplation.

However since it was going onto church land, there wasn't much that the council could do about it. The church imposed a condition that the statue must include a cross, which it clearly does.

Designed by the architect George Hart (1876-1961) and the Christchurch sculptor William Trethewey (1892-1956), the bronze figures were cast by the Thames Ditton Foundry in Surrey, England. They include figures representing youth, sacrifice, justice, valour and peace. The most prominent part of the sculpture (the figure at the top in this image) shows an angel bending a sword of war.

The statue was unveiled in June 1937, and had been used for Anzac Day commemorations up until 2011 when the extensive damage to the adjacent Cathedral made it difficult to use safely.

The statue will need to go into storage as part of the reconstruction work of the Cathedral, though I don't think that has happened yet.