| Black Merchant Seaman – WW2 | |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Commemorates: | All Black Merchant Seamen who served during World War II |
| Unveiled: | 27 May 1993 |
| Coordinates: | 53.3982°N -2.9629°W |
| Location: | Liverpool, Merseyside |
The Black Merchant Seamen War Memorial is a sandstone stone memorial, It is situated in Falkner Square, Liverpool. The stone is from the Liverpool Seamen's Hostel with a bronze plaque dedicated to all the Black Seamen who served during World War II. It was unveiled in 1993 on the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic.[1]
The memorial was installed in Falkner Square Gardens in 1993, following a campaign organised by community activist Joe Farrag, whose Egyptian grandfather, Ali Hussain Farrag, served as a merchant seaman during World War II. He went down with his ship, along with 36 other crew members, on 12 May 1943.[2]
Over the years since the memorial was installed, the plaque was defaced and pulled from the stone, it was returned by the local gardener.[3] The War Memorials Trust gave a grant to remove the graffiti by steam cleaning.
After several years of the plants around the memorial being overgrown by branches, a Facebook group was set up by local residents to raise awareness of it and have visitor and road signs installed locally. A celebration was held in August 2019 to mark the installation of the signs and increase awareness of the memorial.
The memorial consists of a freestanding red sandstone stone from the (now demolished) Liverpool Seamen's Hostel which bears an embossed plaque. On top of the plaque is the outline of a ship, "Fort Concord", which was sunk by German U-boat U-456 on 12 May 1943.[4]
The inscription on the plaque reads as follows: