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.