Duxford artist Renato Niemis helps honour St Albans King's Road WW1 dead

A model of the finished memorial was briefly put up in King's Road to give residents a preview

The design of a tribute to men from a suburban Hertfordshire street who died during World War One has been revealed.

A mock-up of Last Post by artist Renato Niemis was put on the side of 1 King's Road, St Albans, for residents to see.

Metal bricks depicting the 15 men's names, regiment and civilian occupation reflect that those who died in the 1914-1918 conflict.

The finished memorial - honouring the men as the "bricks and mortar" of their road - is due to be unveiled in May.

According to the UK Parliament website, 880,000 British forces died during World War One, about 6% of the adult male population and 12.5% of those serving

Artist Renato Niemis said the design "reflects that the men who died were the bricks and mortar of the road"

Niemis, who also created Counting the Cost - a memorial sculpture for missing US warplanes - at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, in Cambridgeshire, had told residents it was a "subject close to his heart" and he was "happy to help" after they approached him in 2019.

Judy Sutton, who has lived in King's Road for 36 years, said the idea for the memorial came when she was an an exhibition by a local historian and noted the high number of names of the dead who had lived on her street.

She said it was thought the street suffered the "highest number of losses of any" in the city, but there was no tribute.

The men, aged between 16 and 38, include three from one family.

The absent voter list during World War One listed 59 men from Kings Road in St Albans as away in the war

Each soldier's details are mentioned in the artwork "to try and bring out the individual", Niemis said.

"[They] reflect that the men who died were the bricks and mortar of the road," he said.

"They are also reminiscent of a letter which is the last thing the families would receive with news of their demise."

He added that often stone memorials embedded in walls are ones that "we pass by".

"A lot of people just walk past them and we don't really notice them because they're mortar with chiselled in names with no differences or contrast," he said.

"You can't easily read them and I think people just forget they're there. This [artwork] puts it in a more modern context. It's designed to catch people's eyes and attention."

The finished memorial artwork will be unveiled on the side of number one King's Road in May

Ms Sutton said there is "such interest" from local people about the memorial.

"People have said to me is that it's a lovely thing," she said.

"It's a beautiful design, we are so lucky. It wouldn't have been the same without Renato, this has lifted it to another level, it's a work of art, it's not just a memorial.

"I think his work really makes you think about the human cost of war."

Drummer boy John Coleman of 25 Kings Road, whose grave is in St Albans' Hatfield Road cemetery, never actually made it to the front but died from Spanish flu before getting there

Who is commemorated?

• William Thomas Hunt, 38, - 2, Kings Rd

• John Edward Hunt, 21, - 3, Kings Rd

• Arthur William Peters, 30, - 7, Kings Rd

• William J Ashby, 23, - 8, Kings Rd

• Charles E Burridge, 34, - 15, Kings Rd

• Archie Faulder, 20, - 17, Kings Rd

• Philip William Hart, 23, - 21, Kings Rd

• Henry Charles Hart, 26, - 21, Kings Rd

• Ernest Hart, 32, - 21, Kings Rd

• John George Coleman, 16, - 25, Kings Rd

• Alfred Foster, 36, - 31, Kings Rd

• Edward R J Atkins, 29, - 39, Kings Rd

• George Edward Howard, 38, - 43, Kings Rd

• Percy William Cox, 25, - 55, Kings Rd

• Ferdinand H Henry, 19, - 61, Kings Rd

According to the UK Parliament website, 880,000 British forces died during World War One - 6% of the adult male population and 12.5% of those serving