Introduction
Of the all the wars the British have fought over the centuries, the Great War has merited the most memorials to The Fallen.
The Great War was, of course, the first war to be world-wide in its scope, and it was also the first time that there had really had been a citizen's army on such a scale. Almost British 2.5 million men volunteered, slightly more were conscripted.
There is little contention that the virtues of the Regimental system were invaluable for the morale of the infantry in the Great War. But it also almost caused a crisis in 1916 when so many soldiers recruited from the same place were killed at the same time - The Somme - with the inevitable shock which that produced in the town concerned. The Accrington Pals of 94th Brigade, 31st (New Army) Division with 500+ losses on July 1st 1916 is one of the oft-quoted examples.
Nearly all of major Great War conflicts of Britain and the Empire were fought away from British or Empire territory: the sole exception being the African campaign. And, as official policy, the British tended to bury The Fallen where they fell. Where The Fallen were not found, or identified, memorial monuments were raised on, or close to, the field of battle in these foreign lands.
Perhaps, the most common memorial to the combatants of the Great War wasn't really intended as a memorial at all, but rather as a keepsake pending a safe return home. This was the black and white, or sepia toned, monochrome photograph - there were some colour tinted photos at the higher end of the market - that so many of the new soldiers had taken to send to their families and friends at home. Because of the complexity, and the cost, of the photographic equipment involved at the time, most of these photographs were taken in studios in a suitably staged setting. Perhaps the favourite was the so-called vignette; an oval shaped mount of the head and shoulders tastefully faded around the periphery. Other studies were full length and often included painted and sculptured Elysian scenery and several props. Perhaps a regimental cane, or even a rifle. Neither of which had yet come into many of the neophyte soldiers' purview at the point the photograph was taken. In the event, hundreds of thousands of the young men who were depicted in these photographs were to die in a foreign field and, often for their family; this photograph was the last memento. Even today, 80 years later, many families, to the third and fourth generation, still preserve these fading photographs and give them an honoured place. It is almost au rigor that any attempt at reproducing the service history of a Great War serviceman will have a copy of this vignette, or full-length study, on the cover, if one is available.
Of the more formal memorials, there are many of many different forms. At the individual, and most personal level, are the human statues of high ranking officers. A particularly fine example of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig in uniform, stands slightly above life-size on a carved plinth in the grounds of his former public school, Clifton College, Bristol, England.
As the war progressed, all the combatant nations put considerable efforts into commemorative items ranging from the mundane, such as the German 'nail memorials' to the impressive as represented by the British Imperial War Museum that was began in 1917. In particular, the German 'nail memorial' became rather formalised. An Iron Cross, formed of 200 nails hammered into a wooden board, being by far the most popular.
Post-war memorials
But it was after the war that the commemorative memorial came into its own. By the early 1930's there was scarcely a village in Europe that did not have its own memorial to its inhabitants that had gone to war and not returned. And the battlefields also soon became strewn with individual and collective memorials raised by family, colleagues and associations. After the inevitable hiatus during and immediately following the Second World War, the erection of new battlefield monuments began again and continues to this day. Two very recent examples being the 38th Welsh Division red dragon, sited at Mametz Wood Cemetery, and the plaque for the Australian 1st, 2nd and 4th Divisions at the Pozières Mill site on the Albert-Bapaume road. It would be impossible to list here even a small part of these personal, Regimental, Divisional, Army and other associated memorials that are to be found at almost every turn of the road in the more concentrated battle areas. Many are listed in the excellent illustrated book by the late Rose E. B. Coombs, MBE, entitled Before Endeavours Fade and the more current guides, in colour, by Major and Mrs. Holt.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The major overseas effort of the British in commemoration of The Fallen centred around the admirable Commonwealth War Graves Commission (Australia, Britain, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa - Pakistan has opted out in recent years). This organisation grew from the limited efforts at grave registration by a few inspired individuals; prominent among whom was Fabian Ware of the British Red Cross. Originally called the Graves Registration Commission (1915), it became the CWGC in by Royal Charter in May 1917. Although now worldwide in its scope (150 countries), it was inevitable that at the end of the Great War the majority of the effort of the CWGC went into the Western Front where it continued into 1938. A significant clearance role was played immediately after the war by the 90,000 strong Chinese Labour Force which had been contracted by the British to work on the Western Front during the war. Nearly 600,000 headstones (2'6" high x 1'3" broad x 4" deep) had to be cut and engraved. The headstone uniformly bears, when known, the following details: regimental badge; name, rank, service number, date of birth and death, religious emblem (Latin Cross, Jewish Star, Islamic Crescent etc.) and a short personal inscription chosen by the family. Uniquely, the Chinese characters on the Chinese Labour Force headstones were carved by their serving countrymen. Each of the carefully tended gravesites on the Western Front (there are 113 in the Somme Sector alone) has its own Cross of Sacrifice (by Sir Reginald Blomfield) and Stone of Remembrance (by Sir Edwin Luytens). All gravesites faithfully adhere to the fundamental principles established in 1920: individual and uniform headstones; no distinction due to rank, race or creed. For The Fallen who have no known grave, monuments such those at Thiepval and Menin Gate ensure their remembrance. These gravesites are largely designated in perpetuity by the host nations which should ensure their continued preservation.
