Woking Remembers Exhibition

Surrey History Centre has just opened an exhibition on the First World War memorials that can be found in the Woking area. They also have a wonderful online resource to accompany it.
The exhibition runs from Tuesday 3 November – Saturday 28 November in the foyer of the Surrey History Centre so you’ll need to get down there [...]

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The Elliot Brothers

By office volunteer, Annette Gaykema.
Another remote memorial is that of the Elliot brothers, William and Alistair, which is located by the shores of Loch Glencoul in Sutherland, Northern Scotland. Since the nearest public road is approximately 8 miles away, this memorial is only accessible by foot or by boat.

The story behind it is an interesting one. The [...]

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Update: Memorials to the Missing of Fromelles

By office volunteer, Annette Gaykema.
Further to Frances Casey’s blog post of July 2009, records held at the Australian War Memorial and the National Archives of Australia can shed further light on Sidney Frank William Harold Green.
Like all First World War Australian service records, his file has been digitised by the National Archives. In this file there is no notification [...]

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Harry Patch, last of the huge crowd

Article by Richard Graham
The writer J B Priestley (1894-1984) volunteered for the army in September 1914, joining The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding). During his service he was both wounded and gassed and he was finally discharged in March 1919 as a subaltern in The Devonshire Regiment. Of the war he wrote ‘…I believe that in [...]

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Ross District war memorial and the Romans

This article was submitted by UKNIWM volunteer fieldworker Gordon Amand
You may wonder what have Roman remains got to do with war memorials. Well, it would appear that in Prospect Park, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire a chance investigation has led to the discovery of a strange coincidence.
It began in the summer of 2007, when after a period of [...]

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Memorials to the Missing of Fromelles

article by UKNIWM Project Officer, Frances Casey
The anniversary of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July has made me think recently of that equally disastrous attack, intended as a diversion and strategic support to the main Somme offensive, which took place at Fromelles on 19th July 1916. In the news, following the discovery of a burial [...]

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Captain Jonas and the Menin Gate

article by UKNIWM office volunteer Gabrielle Orton
Last weekend, I visited Ypres in Flanders, to see various museums, cemeteries, battlefields and memorials.  One of the most striking features was the Menin Gate, at the Eastern exit of the town, built on the road along which hundreds of thousands of troops passed on their way to the [...]

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Differences in British and German attitudes to Commemoration

article by UKNIWM office volunteer Gabrielle Orton
 
   After my trip to Ypres some weeks back, I have been looking at the different national attitudes of Britain and Germany to commemoration, in terms of the layout and formation of the military cemeteries.
 
In the Ypres Salient alone, there are over 137 British military burial grounds, ranging from [...]

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Children’s Building Bricks

What, you may ask, do children’s building bricks have to do with war memorials? Well, read on….
Richter’s Anchor Blocks were invented in Germany in 1882 and were popular throughout the Europe, the UK and America for many years. But the advent of WW1 and the resulting restriction on German imports provided an opportunity for a British [...]

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New memorials erected in Penarth

Certain people in Penarth have been busy recently as a couple of new memorials have been erected. One, commemorating two Penarth-born men who were awarded the Victoria Cross during the Great War, has been placed on the front wall of the Penarth District Council Offices in Stanwell Road, Penarth.
The second, placed in Penarth RFC Club, [...]

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