Local Sites of Remembrance

Published: 11th November 2021

Megan Kelleher
BALH Digital Strategy Coordinator
socialmedia@balh.org.uk
@MeganEKelleher

Megan is the BALH Digital Strategy Coordinator and a PhD student at the University of Kent. Her thesis, provisionally titled ‘The Commemoration and Care of First World War Dead Buried in the United Kingdom’, is focused on highlighting the presence of First World War graves in the United Kingdom and how these sites of memory conform to and contrast with the cemeteries and memorials found along the former battlefields.

Each year, on the closest weekend to 11th November, the Royal Family, state leaders and other dignitaries make their way to the Cenotaph in Whitehall to take part in the annual Remembrance Sunday services.

M. Kelleher

Last year, the centenary of both the unveiling of the permanent Cenotaph and the interment of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey was remembered, and as we participate in Remembrance Sunday services this year we recall 100 years since the official end of the First World War. 31st August 1921 was chosen by an Order in Council that declared the war had ended as required by the Termination of the Present War (Definition) Act. But, for those of us who cannot participate in national celebrations, where can we visit? In this piece, I will be suggesting a few places that you can consider visiting. I have chosen not to mention local war memorials, due to the fact that many of these will be the central focus for local Remembrance Sunday services, and local regulations may mean that the number of people in attendance is limited. However, if you are able to visit your local war memorial, I would also recommend stopping for a few moments there and reading the names of those who fell from your local community.

Cemeteries and Churchyards

Although we associate cemeteries and churchyards with our own, personal, loss, we often do not consider the many casualties commemorated in their local cemeteries and churchyards. Indeed, in terms of First and Second World War dead, Britain has the second highest concentration of Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commemorations, with more than 300,000 casualties being commemorated by them across the United Kingdom in more than 12,000 locations. These range in size and design, and around 90% of the sites with war graves in in the United Kingdom contain 10 or less casualties. This is due to the fact that, in many cases, families were able to arrange for their loved one who had died in Britain to be buried near to the family home; this often occurred prior to the CWGC coming into existence as the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) in 1917.

Across the United Kingdom, you can see a broad range of headstone types and learn a variety of stories from visiting the cemeteries and churchyards near to you. To give you some ideas of the stories you may be able to find, I thought I would mention a couple of those I have visited near to me.

Tollerton (St Peter) Churchyard

At Tollerton, there is a single war grave in the churchyard, which is marked by a private memorial chosen by the family. The casualty, Gunner George Henry Sweet of the Royal Field Artillery, was born in 1898 at Radcliffe on Trent and by 1911 was listed as working as a gardener’s helper and living with his family at Tollerton Hall Stables. He enlisted in Nottingham and served with the 371st Battery Royal Field Artillery. Sadly, George was wounded on 3rd August 1916 during the Battle of the Somme and returned to England for treatment at Netley Hospital. He died of his wounds at Netley on 4th October 1916, aged just 19. He is listed on the local war memorial at Tollerton, which is directly opposite Tollerton Hall and the churchyard he now lays at rest in.

Newark-Upon-Trent Cemetery

Newark-Upon-Trent Cemetery is one of the Commission’s larger sites in the United Kingdom. 49 service personnel were laid to rest here during the First World War, and are scattered throughout the site, but when the Second World War began space was set aside for service burials. Today, you will find a large plot there where 80 Commonwealth and 400 Polish servicemen are buried. The site is a special place for Polish remembrance, as General Sikorski (the wartime Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of Polish Forces) was initially interred here, and a number of Poland’s Presidents-in-Exile lie at rest within the plot.

One of the Commonwealth casualties remembered there is a 16-year-old Air Cadet. Cadet Keith Rollason Couzin-Wood was the son of James Frederick and Phyllis Adeline Couzin-Wood and was from Leigh-on-Sea. On the morning of 29th July 1942, Keith and his fellow Air Cadet Geoffrey Hughes were taken up on an air experience flight in a Handley Page Hampden bomber from 408 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. For Keith, this was his first air experience flight, and the aircraft was on an air test from RAF Balderton prior to a raid that night. Unfortunately, the aircraft stalled and crashed into a field of oats two miles south-east of the airfield, catching fire on impact and was destroyed in the accident. Keith and Geoffrey were both killed in the incident, alongside Squadron Leader Lyall Basil Burman Price DFC and Sergeant Idris Hughes. Keith’s personal inscription, presumably chosen by his grieving parents, reads: “FEARLESS – GAY – TO GOD’S ARMS HE FLEW; HIS FIRST VENTURE IN THE BOUNDLESS BLUE”.

Cadet Keith Rollason Couzin-Wood and his headstone at Newark-Upon-Trent Cemetery, Nottinghamshire. Image Credits: Find A Grave and M. Kelleher

Memorials

I decided to separate these from localised war memorials, as there are also cases of state-sponsored memorials across the country. For example, you may in fact be close to a CWGC memorial to the missing. These were often erected at key locations that related to the casualties, and list the names of those who have no known grave. This includes the three main naval memorials at Portsmouth, Plymouth and Chatham, which are identical in design and are situated at the three main manning ports from the First World War. Furthermore, if you are interested in aviation history the Runnymede Memorial lists around 20,000 names of Air Forces personnel who were killed during the Second World War and have no known grave. These sites are incredible examples of memorials to the missing and often dominate the surrounding skyline; finding a name on the memorial and then researching their story can often highlight the individual sacrifices those commemorated on the memorials made.

These are just a couple of examples of places you may choose to visit over the remembrance period, and begin your own research into your town or village’s military history. If you are visiting these sites, please remember to be mindful of relatives who may also be making a pilgrimage to see their loved ones; this is particularly important if the graves are from more modern conflicts.