I have recently moved to a tiny village in Devon which has a very imposing war memorial but there are no names inscribed. It was well attended on 11th November. I gather that the population has grown and shrunk (max 2.5k to circa 500 today) and it seems odd that a memorial was placed if no-one was lost in either war and even odder that it was built but not dedicated. In all of the places that my late husband and I visited for Geoff and Mike I cannot recall seeing one without names. Is it unusual? How can I find out whether there were any casualties? I have obviously tried a basic CWGC search.
Hello It is not unusual to have a war memorial without names . examples Harrow and Bromsgrove attached. if you have the village name you could use Geoffs search engine to check if there were casualties. Also have a look at the thankful villages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thankful_Villages regards Clive
Thanks once again Clive. I must have walked past the Harrow one dozens of times! Nothing showed up in Geoff's search engine and neither was it one of the thankful villages. I'm going to have to try to find somebody who has lived here for a while and ask them.
Hello CT Nana, This is a very good point and an interesting observation you have made. I know of a number of British war memorials which do not list any names, including the Cenotaph of my home town (Whitehaven, Cumbria), which incidentally I use as my 'Avatar' for WW2 Talk. As with many civil war memorials it was first erected in the aftermath of the First World War and amended after the Second World War, which says: "To Our Glorious Dead 1914 - 1918 1939 - 1945 Lest We Forget" There is no reference on this memorial to any other wars or conflicts before or since. In effect, it is just a WW1 and WW2 war memorial without listing any names. I have read that a scroll listing the names of the local war dead of the First World War was placed at the base of of this memorial. If this is the case many of those who should be remembered on must have been missed off because many of the local war dead have only recently been identified. The fact there are no names listed does not prevent this war memorial for being a focus for Remembrance events, such as Remembrance Sunday 2014 (as in photograph attachment).
Another Cumbrian town where the war memorial does not list the local war dead is Cleator Moor. It was dedicated only in 2005 and this was one of the articles contributed by 'Yours Truly' to the BBC "People's War" collection during the time I was a volunteer for the project. This is a link to the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/71/a7336271.shtml At that time in 2005 there was no complete list of the local war dead, something that has since been rectified. The names of the Fallen are listed in a 'Roll of Honour' (effectively a Book of Remembrance).
Thank you Ritsonvaljos. I now remember reading that way back when..... In the village that I have just left there were two war memorials, one made of stone and one of wood. It was apparently a source of great controversy as to which group of artisans should have the honour of providing the memorial and because it was not resolved two were built. One was in the centre of the village and the other outside the church. I will try to find out more about where I live now. For this Londoner it is a bit like walking onto the set of the Archers. They have all been so helpful and friendly.
Thanks Owen. I will have a look. I didn't go in to the service on 11th November so maybe the names are in there.
There is of course another well known war memorial you will immediately recognise, CTNana that does not list the names of the war dead: The Cenotaph, Whitehall, London. For a national memorial such as this it would be difficult to list so many names from all the wars and conflicts from the First World War onwards. Attached is photograph I took when passing by a few days ago. Without a list of names on the Cenotaph it is personal to each one of us that passes by.
Ctnana Why not start your investigating at your local church they often have records and the odd memorial plaque on the wall.
