Work is now well under way to reinstate the Royal Naval Division (RND) Memorial to its original site at the Old Admiralty Building on Horse Guards Parade in the heart of London.

The fountain has been dismantled at Greenwich, where it stood at the Royal Naval College, and is now stored prior to re-erection on its original plinth.

It will be rededicated in the presence of Prince Michael of Kent at 11am on November 13 – the Regimental Day of the RND and the anniversary of their successful attack on the Ancre during the latter stages of the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

It is not expected that there will be any limitations on numbers for the ceremony, but for security reasons attendance will be by ticket only.

Requests for invitations to Lt Cdr Peter Nicholson, Organiser for the RND Memorial Rededication Ceremony, HMS President, 72 St Katherine’s Way, London E1W 9UQ.

Donations for the project are still gratefully received and should be sent to Lt Col A. J. F. Noyes, RM Corps Secretary, The Treasurer, RND Memorial Appear, HMS Excellent, Whale Island, Portsmouth PO2 8ER.

More than 40 per cent of RN casualties in World War I were suffered, not at sea, but in the trenches by the sailors and Royal Marines of the RND, even though the Division rarely made up more than ten per cent of the total RN strength.

During the course of the war the Division – known at first as ‘Churchill’s private army’ – became accepted as a fully-integrated unit of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

From 1916 Army units were incorporated into it, but the majority of battalions were manned by sailors and Royal Marines, and it retained its distinctive Naval character.

After returning from Gallipoli, the RND became an elite unit of the BEF, taking a major role in all the principal actions on the Western Front thereafter.

The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and paid for with money raised by war veterans, was unveiled in 1925 when Sir Winston Churchill spoke at the ceremony.

It was dismantled during World War II and stored to prevent damage during construction of a new Citadel, and was rededicated at Greenwich in 1951.

Its most famous name is that of the poet Rupert Brooke, who died on active service with the Hood Battalion during the Gallipoli campaign.

Lt Cdr Nicholson would also like to contact any surviving relatives of CPO George Prowse, VC DSM RNVR of Drake Battalion, RND, from Landore, near Swansea.

CPO Prowse won his VC in France in 1918, and was killed in action not long after.

HMS Collingwood is to hold the opening ceremony of its new Prowse Building on September 17 and any of his family are invited to attend. Contact Lt Cdr Nicholson in this instance on 0208 348 2847 (home), 0207 481 7352 (work) or 07762 345922 (mobile).