Family History Page

Introduction

War memorials are a useful resource for Family Historians but it does depend upon the period you are looking at as to the amount of information you can obtain.

These pages are designed to give you an idea about where to look, the sort of information you can get from war memorials as well as shed some light on the accuracy of the information they contain.

What Is A War Memorial?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a memorial, is “a sign of remembrance; preserving or intended to preserve the memory of a person or thing”. One can also say that it acts as an object “reuniting those who were separated by a conflict”. The Inventory has adopted this meaning when it considers what a war memorial is.

The Inventory was established as an art history project but it soon became obvious that any complete definition would have to be far broader than just figurative sculpture crosses, obelisks or columns. So, we also record:-

• Plaques, tablets and boards inside churches, schools, businesses and other buildings
• Utilitarian memorials including parks, gardens, halls, hospitals, bus shelters, endowed beds in hospitals and even an island.
• Church fabric or fittings like bells, pews, lecterns, lighting, altars, reredos, candlesticks etc.
• Trophies or relics like preserved guns or wreckage marking aircraft crash sites.
• Other memorials e.g. stuffed animals, bird baths, paintings and prints, sundials, shrines, tapestries and trees

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thus, any object can be considered a war memorial as long as the inscription and/or purpose behind its erection or placement links it to a war or war casualty in some way or another. This leads one to the next section of who can be commemorated.

Who Is a War Casualty?

The Inventory records memorials commemorating individuals as well as groups. We also record all casualties, i.e. those from disease or accidents as well as those killed in action, civilians as well as military. Some memorials commemorate all who served not just those who died and some memorials do not list names at all, but instead commemorate formations, sites or events, e.g. battlefields, crash sites, airfields, camps, regiments etc. We also record memorials to foreign nationals where their memorial is located within the UK.

What is a ‘War’?

Whilst this might seem a silly question it is worth highlighting the fact that we record memorials commemorating all wars, uprisings, emergencies, conflicts etc. In some cases, especially pre-1914, it is not always clear whether a casualty was killed in action so we generally include them if in doubt until such time as it can be proved that they are not a war casualty.

Who Can Be Commemorated:  Prior To The Boer War, 1899

• Officers

For the period prior to the Boer War of 1899-1902 commemoration was the exception rather than the norm and was mainly restricted to the officer class. Our records hold a rich vein of information for those who are lucky enough to have wealthy ancestry. Wealthier families could afford to erect a memorial and when they did they usually provided a myriad of additional information about the family itself as well as the person who was being commemorated.

It is not just those who died in combat who are commemorated. One can also find details of those who have died of disease or accidents so if your ancestor did not die in a conflict it is still worth seeing if there is a memorial commemorating them.

• Other Ranks

Those who were in the ranks were barely commemorated due to the way in which they were perceived. Popular opinion saw them as being the next best thing to a criminal and, coupled with the poverty of the families they came from, commemoration of them is rare. Other ranks occasionally get a mention on regimental memorials but they only feature as a number rather than as individuals. For example, this memorial located in York Minster commemorates the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment when it was based in India  between 1857 – 1867 and saw military action during the Indian Mutiny and Abyssinia 1867 – 1868. It is typical of many regimental memorials of this period. The officers are named, albeit in rank order, but as soon as you get to the other ranks they are only referred to as a group with the bare facts that 13 sergeants and one hundred and ninety one men also died.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Can Be Commemorated: Post Boer War, 1899 Onwards

• Officers and Other Ranks - Died

Officers and other ranks were now treated as equals as far as their commemoration was concerned. Amongst other things, the Cardwell reforms of the 1860’s had linked the regiments to their county and the local populace now took pride in their soldiers. Volunteers now became a part of army life, especially with the advent of the Boer War. Those who went off to fight had strong links with their communities, their loss was felt very strongly and memorials were erected to commemorate their sacrifice.

This feeling was magnified after the First World War when the largest public arts project this country has ever seen developed from the mass of memorial building that occurred after the war.

This method of commemoration continues to the present day.

• Officers and Other Ranks – Returned

Memorials for the First World War onwards commemorate not just those who died but also those who served and returned.

• Civilians

With the advent of total war civilians became casualties and they now had a place on war memorials. Sometimes they can be found amongst the soldiers, sailors and airmen, at other times they have their own unique memorial.

• Foreign Nationals

It is not just UK nationals who have memorials to commemorate them in this country. Our record also hold details of memorials commemorating those from other countries, be they enemy or ally depending upon the period you are looking at. For example, French Prisoners of War from the Napoleonic Wars are commemorated as well as our French allies of the First and Second World Wars.

Where Are People Commemorated?

Prior to the First World War individuals tend to be commemorated on one or maybe two memorials at the most. However, the First World War saw an increase in the number of memorials an individual could be commemorated on.

In general, those killed tend to be commemorated in the place where they lived as opposed to where they enlisted as is sometimes believed. But when searching to see where someone is commemorated one should always keep an open mind as it is not always the obvious places where one needs to look. Indeed an individual can be commemorated on any number of different memorials, namely:

• Community
• School
• Local Church
• Separate Roll of Honour
• Club or Society
• Company
• Individual
• Unit
• County

 

What Information Do Memorials Contain?

A lot of information about an individual can be transcribed on a war memorial. In general, the format of how a name appears on a war memorial follows a basic pattern, namely:

• Forename or initial
• Surname.

You might also be lucky enough to find:

• Rank
• Unit details

For the more detailed memorials, usually those commemorating individuals, you can also find:

• Service number
• Place of birth
• Place of death
• Date of death
• Place of burial
• Age of death
• Manner of death
• Occupation
• Names of relatives
• Address

The name can be placed in any order on a memorial for example, alphabetically; by rank or regiment; by year of death, the decision as to how resting with the memorial committee.

How Were the Names Collected?

All memorials from the beginning of time to the present, with the exception of the Cenotaph in London, have been erected by the local community as opposed to the government. When looking to see who should be included on the memorial there was no central list of those who had died that a community could write off for. Instead, the collation of names for inclusion on the memorial had an element of hard graft and was done in any number of ways, namely:

• Door-to-door enquiries
• Leaflet posted through the letter box
• Announcement in the church
• An article in the or newspaper
• Word of mouth

 

How Reliable Is The Information Inscribed On War Memorials?

In the majority of cases the information recorded on a war memorial will tend to be accurate. However, with the rise in those researching the names commemorated, mistakes are coming to light so one must bear in mind that the information as listed on the war memorial could be wrong or misleading. These mistakes would not be deliberate as there are a number of reasons as to how they can occur:

Transcription errors: These could stem from the person compiling the original list and/or the person inscribing the names on the memorial. Mistakes can easily happen even in the present day.

Inclusion of those who hadn’t died: There have been cases where a person was believed killed and they have been listed amongst the dead. This happened on the memorial commemorating Admiralty Civil Servants who had died in WW1. A week after the memorial had been unveiled they realised that a name had been missed off, that of Assistant Constructor Mr A K Stephens. A week later they found out that one of those commemorated on the memorial, Boy Messenger C H Smith, had not been killed in the war. Consequently, they replaced Smith's name with that of Stephens - a result they were particularly happy with as it did not affect the alphabetical sequence.

Nick names: An ancestor might be known by a nick name or their middle name within the family but they have had their proper name inscribed on the memorial. If the surname is the same then it is worth doing a bit more checking as that person could be the ancestor you are looking for

Omission of Names: It is not uncommon for a name to be missing from a memorial. Any omissions could be due to a variety of reasons. The scale of loss for some families was immense and for them the process of getting on with surviving took precedence over putting forward names for inclusion on the local war memorial. Alternatively, the family might have moved away from the area to find work and did not know a memorial was being erected.

In other cases, where a loved one was posted as missing some families still held on to the hope that they would return. To have the person’s name placed on the memorial was an admittance that they were never going to return and that was just too painful for them.

Inclusion of ‘foreign’ names: There are some individuals commemorated on a memorial despite the fact that they didn’t come from the area. In one instance, an aunt was the only surviving member of the family and whilst she lived in a different town to the one her nephew came from, she asked for his name to be included on her local memorial.

Conclusion

 

This is just a brief overview of how memorials can be used by family historians.

For further details about tracing Military Ancestry click here to go to the Imperial War Museum's Family History page

 

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