Located next to Admiralty Arch, on the north side of The Mall.

Plaque

The 1903 memorial commemorates the Royal Marines who died in the Boxer Rebellion in China and the Second Boer War in Africa, and depicts two figures on a Portland stone plinth. On one side of the memorial’s plinth is a bas-relief depicting the Boxer Rebellion campaign in Peking (Beijing), China. CPT Myers is the extreme right-hand figure in a field hat with a sword raised. 

In 1900 a crisis erupted in China as the "Boxers" increased their resistance to foreign influence and presence. By the end of the nineteenth century, several countries had already established spheres of influence in China. In the fall of 1899, Secretary of State John Hay wrote that the United States, a late arrival, wanted to maintain an "open door policy" in China. If the Boxers succeeded in pushing the United States and other foreign countries out, this newly opened door could soon be shut.

Discontent with foreigners had been on the rise in China since 1898, when the "I Ho Ch'uan" (Society of "Righteous and Harmonious Fists") began gaining popularity in a province in northwest China. This group commonly referred to as "Boxers" opposed foreign influence and was strongly anti-Christian. The group's numbers swelled with farmers and other workers who were affected by droughts that had come on the heels of devastating floods. Boxers began harassing Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries. As Boxer activity spread to several provinces, provincial leaders and the Chinese imperial court were inconsistent in their stances. Authorities sometimes fought to protect foreigners and Christians and at other times chose to do nothing at all. Tzu Hsi, the empress dowager of the Manchu Dynasty, was publicly "anti-Boxer."

The United States and seven other countries—Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and Russia - all had interests in China. These eight foreign powers also maintained legations in the Legation Quarter of Peking.

The population of Peking started to grow as hundreds of foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians began flocking to the city for protection. On May 28 and 29, Boxers burned several railroad stations between Peking and Paotingfu, including the large railroad junction at Fengtai. The legations in Peking, fearing they were being isolated, quickly telegraphed for help. The immediate response was the deployment of sailors and marines from foreign ships off China.

On May 31, Capt. John T. Myers, USMC, arrived in Peking in overall command of two ship detachments of U.S. Marines. This newly formed Legation Guard consisted of Myers and twenty-five marines from the USS Oregon along with Capt. Newt Hall, USMC, twenty-three marines, five sailors, and U.S. Navy Assistant Surgeon T. M. Lippett from the USS Newark. Arriving in Peking the same day were approximately 350 foreign sailors and marines sent to protect their respective legations.

Myers' Marines occupied a wall defending the Legations, arguably the most vulnerable part of the defensive position and led an attack (along with Russian and British troops) as part of a ferocious battle on July 3 which dislodged the main Boxer position near the wall. Myers was wounded in the leg by a spear; his attack was claimed by the British Consul, Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, as "one of the most successful operations of the siege, as it rendered our position on the wall, which had been precarious, comparatively strong." As a result of his bravery in this action, he was brevetted major and advanced four numbers in rank. Captain Hall took command of the Legation Guard after Captain Myers was wounded. Sniper and artillery fire died down to a minimum after an informal truce was made on the sixteenth. This activity continued until the foreign legations were relieved on August 14.

Source of information: en.wikipedia.org, www.archives.gov