Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Fabian Ware
British soldiers laying a dead comrade to rest on the Western Front, c1914-1917.
NAM 1995-03-89-12
At the start of the war in 1914 many confidently predicted that the soldiers would be home by Christmas. Few in Europe anticipated the years of fighting that lay ahead, so many vital elements of organisation were overlooked. One was the responsibility for marking and recording the graves of the War dead.
Too old to join the Army, Fabian Ware arrived in France in September 1914 at the head of a mobile British Red Cross Society unit. He quickly realised the importance of recording burials, for the solace of relatives and the morale of the soldiers.
King George V with Fabian Ware inspecting graves at Tyne Cot Cemterey, Passchendale, c1922
Ware’s unit therefore undertook to record and care for all of the graves they could find. Their work was recognised in 1915 with the official foundation of the Graves Registration Commission. Ware left the Red Cross and joined the Army to run the new unit.
Fellowship in death
Ware’s concern for the long-term fate of the graves led to the foundation of the Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission in 1917. From the outset, the Commission required memorials to the fallen to be permanent and perfect. It wanted to emphasize the idea of a fellowship in death - a brotherhood that encompassed all classes, races and beliefs.
A Commonwealth War Graves Commission worker engraving a headstone in situ.
© CWGC
After the Armistice the Commission began to organise the burial grounds and memorials to the fallen. As the battlefields were cleared, bodies were recovered and many were moved to ‘concentration’ cemeteries. Other battlefield burials were left in situ and the sites formalised.
Many families wanted to be allowed to put up personal memorials or get bodies sent back home for burial. Public objections were raised on the grounds that only the wealthy would be able to afford to do this, so the Government ruled that all of the dead would remain where they had fallen.
Tranquility and remembrance
The British War Cemetery at Arras, France. © CWGC
Three leading architects of the day, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Reginald Blomfield, prepared the designs for the Commission. Cemeteries included a Cross of Sacrifice and a Stone of Remembrance, to represent those of all faiths and those of none. All of the headstones were the same shape and colour, with no visible distinction of rank or wealth. Families were allowed to choose a personal inscription for the stone. The cemeteries themselves were tranquil gardens with immaculate lawns and planting.
Unidentified soldiers were buried with the same solemnity as the known. But of course many men had no known grave, so all missing soldiers were individually recorded on memorials close to where they fell. The huge building programme began in 1920 and did not finish until 1938, a year before the start of the Second World War (1939-1945).
