[1] Lutyens established his reputation designing country houses for wealthy clients around the turn of the twentieth century and later built much of New Delhi, but the war had a profound effect on him.

[1] Located on the English south coast, Hove was the site of a Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve station prior to the First World War.

The establishment grew in importance as war loomed and the Royal Navy's 1st Battle Squadron visited the town in July 1914 at the invitation of the mayor.

Hove Town Hall was the scene of one of the first large-scale recruitment events the following month, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany and the subsequent drive to expand the armed forces.

Long lines of men from Hove, Portslade, and surrounding areas marched to the hall to enlist and were addressed by the novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

[2] Field hospitals, including one at the Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School in the town, were established along the south coast to care for injured servicemen evacuated from France.

By May, the committee had decided to allocate a minority of its funds to a decorative memorial, the rest to be used for practical purposes such as grants for war widows and orphans.

[9] Many war memorials were delayed by local disagreements or fundraising problems, but Hove's proceeded relatively smoothly once the design was agreed.

At the corners of the bottom step are low stone bollards, part of the original design; next to these are metal lamp pillars, which are a modern addition.

Another stands in Maidstone in Kent, and Lutyens produced a near-identical design for Fordham War Memorial in Cambridgeshire, unveiled the same year as Hove's.

[1] Alasdair Glass, in an article for the Regency Society of Brighton and Hove, compared it unfavourably to the nearby Lewes War Memorial.

Glass described the column as "unimpressive" and "diminished by its setting in the yawning void of Grand Avenue" and the statue as "formulaic and lacking originality" given its similarity to other works by Frampton.

The height of the memorial and the gradient of the road mean that it overlooks the sea and Sir Thomas Brock's statue of Queen Victoria (1901).

[21] Hove War Memorial was designated a grade II listed building on 2 November 1992, meaning it is considered to be of special architectural or historic interest.