Leeston war memorial, c1986.
Leeston memorial, 2010.
After the First World War, a group of Leeston residents bought an area of unused land called 'Market Square' in the centre of the township, both as a civic space and as the possible location of a war memorial. They vested it in the newly formed Leeston Town Board in 1924. The area was planted out with trees and shrubs. Initially referred to as the 'Soldiers Memorial Square', it later became known simply as 'Memorial Square'. The flanking streets were renamed Messines Street and Gallipoli Street.
On 19 October 1924 Governor General Viscount Jellicoe unveiled the Ellesmere County First World War memorial in High Street alongside the square. This was an impressive sandstone cenotaph designed by Christchurch architect Henry St A. Murray and built by the monumental masons J. Tait Ltd. It listed the names of 75 men from Ellesmere County who had given their lives: 32 from the Leeston Riding, 21 from the Irwell Riding, and 22 from the Southbridge Riding.
After the Second World War a plaque with another 24 names was added, being unveiled by Major-General Sir Howard Kippenberger on Anzac Day 1949. Some time later, perhaps about 1993, a plaque acknowledging service in the Korea, Malaya and Vietnam wars was also added; and in 2002 also a South African War commemorative plaque.
The Ellesmere County offices had been opened behind the memorial on 24 November 1927. It seems that after the Second World War a memorial plaque was installed at the entrance, listing the names of three men (former county employees?) who had given their lives.
| Site | Style | Ornamentation | Unveiling Date | No of Dead |
| Intersection | Cenotaph | Wreath, cross | 19-Oct-1924 | 75 |
Top image: Jock Phillips and Chris Maclean, c1986
Bottom images and information: Bruce Comfort, 2010. Updated information from Bruce Ringer 2023.
Find out more about the people listed on this memorial from Auckland Museum's Cenotaph database
See 'Leeston Soldiers' Memorial', Ellesmere Guardian, 7/2/1920, p. 3;
'The Country ... Leeston', Press, 14/4/1923, p. 3;
'The Country ... Leeston', Press, 5/6/1924, p. 3;
'Ellesmere War Memorial', Star [Christchurch], 20/10/1924, p. 10;
'Ellesmere's Fallen', Press, 20/10/1924, p. 4;
'Notes ...New Offices', Press, 24/11/1927, p. 4; cf. C.W. Graham and L.J.B. Chapple, Ellesmere County: the Land, the Lake and the People, Leeston, 1965, pp. 108, 197-9.