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Zomba 1914-1918 (King's African Rifles Tower) Memorial

  • Country Malawi
  • Total identified casualties 1249 Find these casualties
  • Identified casualties from First World War
  • GPS Coordinates Latitude: -15.393787, Longitude: 35.31204

Visiting information

The Zomba 1914-1918 (King’s African Rifles Tower) Memorial is open every day.

Location Information: The Zomba 1914-1918 (King’s African Rifles Tower) Memorial known locally as Chipilara is located to the west of the main M3 road, approx. 0.5Km north of the Zomba Central Hospital.

History information

Unveiled by His Excellency the Governor of Nyasaland on 15 Jan 1924, the King’s African Rifles War Memorial Tower was erected by public subscription as a memorial to those of the 1st and 2nd Regiments who lost their lives while serving the British Empire during the First World War.

Today, each of Malawi’s main cities, including the capital Lilongwe, has a War Memorial Tower to commemorate all those who died in service to their country.

The historic monument at Zomba takes the form of a clock tower. At the base of the tower is an octagonal cloister within which are 8 brass tablets, each one a Roll of Honour naming the men who served with a specific battalion.

Almost all those named on the Rolls of Honour were commemorated collectively by the Commission on the Askari Memorials at Nairobi, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, but they were not individually named. This historic inequality in commemoration is being addressed by CWGC.

In October 2023 a partnership was established between the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) and the government Department of Museums and Monuments. The King’s African Rifles War Memorial Tower, has been designated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as the official point of commemoration for those named on the tablets but who have no known grave, or whose grave could not be maintained, and is known for this purpose by CWGC as the Zomba 1914-1918 (King’s African Rifles Tower) Memorial.

Members of the East African Forces who died in Malawi during the Second World War and whose graves could not be maintained are commemorated on the Zomba 1939-1945 Memorial located within the Zomba King’s African Rifles Cantonment Cemetery, inside the Cobbe Barracks, 2Kms south of Zomba on the Blantyre road.