His connection with Busbridge began in the 1880s when he partnered with Gertrude Jekyll, a local artist and gardener who lived at nearby Munstead Wood; the relationship led to many more commissions for Lutyens for country houses.

Lutyens became renowned for his war memorial work after designing the Cenotaph in London, which he named after a garden seat at Munstead Wood.

The cross was unveiled by General Sir Charles Monro, the colonel of the local regiment, on 23 July 1922, in front of a large crowd.

[1][2] Busbridge is a small village just to the south of Godalming in West Surrey, in an area that was used for extensive military camps during the war.

The cross is one of three parts to the war commemoration in Busbridge—inside the church is a roll of honour (or book of remembrance), listing the names of the village's 42 dead, and a pair of stained-glass windows by Archibald Keightley Nicholson.

[12][13] Busbridge War Memorial was dedicated by the Reverend H. M. Larner and unveiled by General Sir Charles Monro, 1st Baronet at a ceremony on 23 July 1922.

The unveiling, on a Sunday evening, attracted a large crowd, among them several local veterans and senior military officers including Lieutenant Colonel Bernard Freyberg, another of Lutyens's clients.

[15] Monro praised the village's war dead, noting that many of them volunteered at an early stage and now lay in "honourable repose" abroad.

The ceremony concluded with the Last Post and Reveille, sounded by three buglers of the Grenadier Guards, and the national anthem, "God Save the King".

[13] A study of the war's effect on Surrey described Monro's remarks at the unveilings as showing "a sensitive understanding of the architectural power of remembrance".

[17] Busbridge's list entry describes it as a "simple yet elegant cross" and "an eloquent witness to the tragic impacts of world events on this community".