THIS 102-year-old mural has found itself at the centre of a controversy.

It was originally painted by Sir William Rothenstein in 1916 as a memorial to members of British universities who went to serve in the First World War, and was presented to Southampton University in 1959.

In his book Men and Memories, Sir William revealed the inspiration for the mural, which he called The New Chivalry.

He wrote: "I happened to be at Oxford where I witnessed the conferring of degrees...the sight of a number of youths, booted and spurred, with their gowns over their khaki, kneeling before the Chancellor to receive their degrees, put me in mind of the age of chivalry, so touching and beautiful were these young figures; and I thought what a fine subject for a memorial painting this would make...I therefore painted a group of representative figures, Vice-Chancellors, scholars and men of science surrounding a Chancellor conferring a degree upon a young soldier."

But now Emily Dawes, the president of the university's student union, has taken exception to it.

She wrote on social media platform Twitter: "Mark my words - we're taking down the mural of white men in the uni senate room, even if I have to paint over it myself."

Ms Dawes gave no further reason for her comment, and no justification for why she felt so strongly about the mural, which was unveiled in the Senate Room in 2014 as part of a series of events and lectures to commemorate the First World War.