Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the memorial, which was unveiled on 25 April 1925—ten years to the day after the Gallipoli landings, in which the division suffered heavy casualties.

Shortly after the war, former members of the division established a committee, chaired by one of their leading officers, Brigadier-General Arthur Asquith, to raise funds for a memorial.

Winston Churchill, the division's creator, gave a rousing speech praising Lutyens' design and the RND's record of distinguished service.

[1] Lutyens established his reputation designing country houses for wealthy clients, but the war had a profound effect on him; following it, he devoted much of his time to memorialising its casualties.

The division was required to provide almost all of its own officers upon formation, several of whom were drawn from the literary and artistic contacts of Churchill's private secretary, Edward Marsh.

The office's permanent secretary, Sir Lionel Earle, suggested that Asquith consult Charles Sargeant Jagger with regards to the design of the memorial, though nothing appears to have resulted from the discussion.

[5] Progress came when Asquith approached Lutyens—an introduction possibly made by Bernard Freyberg, another leading member of the division, whose wife commissioned Lutyens to design Spalding War Memorial.

[10] At the top of the plinth, on the south and west sides (front and left, respectively, when viewed from the parade ground), are reliefs of 18 cap badges of units which formed part of the division.

On the south side of the memorial, a cross is etched into the central panel, flanked by the start and end dates of the First World War—1914 on the left and 1918 on the right.

On the west side, the side panels read ANTWERP 1914 (left) and GALLIPOLI 1915–16 (right); the central panel contains a verse from the 1914 poem "III: The Dead" by Rupert Brooke, a war poet and member of the RND who died of disease while en route with the division to Gallipoli in April 1915:[1] Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!

[1][12] The memorial was unveiled by Major-General Sir Archibald Paris, the first commander of the division, on 25 April 1925—the tenth anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.

Rupert Brooke's mother attended, along with multiple senior military officers including Asquith, Freyburg, General Sir Ian Hamilton (commander of the Gallipoli campaign), Vice-Admiral Sir Roger Keyes (who was involved in the naval element of the Gallipoli campaign), and Captain Oliver Backhouse (a brigade commander in the RND).

Here, under the shadow of the Admiralty Building, eleven years ago, the Royal Naval Division was called into martial service; this monument now records their fame and preserves their memory.

HM Treasury authorised the Office of Works to see to the ongoing maintenance of the fountain, to which the RND Association contributed through a trust fund established with surplus donations, chaired by Arthur Asquith and now in the hands of the Commandant General Royal Marines.

[15][16][17] Within a year of the unveiling of the fountain, problems were discovered with the structure; the bowl was not perfectly horizontal, meaning that water cascaded over only one side, spoiling the effect, while the ground beneath became waterlogged.

By 1928 it was apparent that the association's ongoing contribution was insufficient; the Office of Works eventually, though grudgingly, agreed to cover the cost of any further repairs as well as routine maintenance.

It was held first in the yard of the stone masonry firm Holloway Brothers in Nine Elms (along with several other central London monuments moved for safekeeping) and later in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

After considering and rejecting multiple sites, and following further pressure from the RND Association, the ministry agreed in 1949 to reassemble the memorial in the grounds of the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, south-east London.

It lacked the prominence and visibility of a central London location, but provided a convenient focal point for gatherings of former members, which took place regularly until 1981.

After restoration work by the stonemason David Ball, under the direction of Trehearne Architects, it was re-installed there on 13 November 2003, the anniversary of the division's attack at Beaucourt-sur-l'Ancre during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

[1] Listed status provides legal protection from demolition or modification; grade II is applied to buildings of "special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them".