It is located on Waterloo Place, at the junction of Regent Street and Pall Mall, approximately one-quarter of the way from the Duke of York Column to Piccadilly Circus.

[2] It was unveiled in 1861 and consisted of the statues of three Guardsmen, with a female allegorical figure referred to as Honour.

The older one states: The foundation stone of the Guards' Memorial was laid in the year of our lord 1861 by Margaret Johanna Bell.The other plaque reads: The Guards' Memorial was pulled down in the year of our lord 1914 and was re-erected 30 feet north in order to permit the erection of the Florence Nightingale and Sidney Herbert statues.On the back facade of the monuments, facing the road up to Piccadilly is another plaque, a shield surrounded by foliage and mounted on guns.

Erected by their Comrades.The mournful attitude of Bell's figures caused some controversy, as it contrasted with the heroic poses expected of war memorials at that time.

An anonymous critic writing in The Illustrated London News described it as "an eyesore" and wrote that the figure of Honour resembled "a street acrobat throwing his four rings".