It is decorated in bas relief by sculptor Gilbert Ledward, with two murals titled 1914, the Call to Arms, and 1918, Britannia with the Flag of Victory.

[7][9] The Minister for Education and MP for Ripon, Major Edward Wood, laid the foundation stone on 2 June 1922,[10] in front of the mayor and corporation and a large crowd.

[9][11][12] In his speech, Wood said that "the men staked everything for the high price of honour and the country's liberty, and in so doing left behind an abiding inspiration of the power of steadfast loyalty and self-sacrificing service".

[18] The unveiling ceremony of the monument occurred on 1 September 1923,[10] in weather described by The Leeds Mercury as "weeping skies with spells of bright sunshine", with "rumbles of distant thunder".

[8] At the corners of the monument's pedestal were stationed "four non-commissioned officers of the Navy, Yorkshire Hussars, Infantry, and Royal Air Force".

[19] Although the first choice was at one point the Prince of Wales,[17][21] in the event the monument was unveiled by Henry Lascelles, 5th Earl of Harewood, and dedicated by the Bishop of Ripon.

[25] The structure is of Portland stone, and its lists of the fallen of the First and Second World Wars are inscribed on bronze plaques on the west and east sides.

It is designed as a large obelisk on a low platform, surrounded closely by bollards, which originally formed a wide circle around the monument.

On the north side of the plinth is carved 1914, the Call to Arms,[18] featuring a bareheaded soldier with field gun, flag and bugle, above a trench.

First World War soldiers of both sides, both sad and victorious, deploy bayonets and rifles or die at her feet, while above their heads is the Dove of Peace.

The commemoration began at 11 a.m. on 1 September, when the "Last Post" was sounded at the memorial site, before a short service was led by a former Yorkshire Regiment chaplain, Padre Ben Norton.

[36] The centenary celebration was launched by Second World War veteran Sheila Pantin, then aged 99, "one of the first British servicewomen to enter a concentration camp in April 1945".

[29][37] Graham Roberts and Terry-Mike Williams took five years between them to research the 1,163 names on the memorial plaques, and they caught the attention of ITN News.