Salisbury (Sarum) Probus Club

Commonwealth War Graves Commission  14^th March 2025

On 14^th March Christopher Brown spoke to the Club about the history and work of the Commonwealth Graves Commission.

Inspired by his mother’s concern for a great uncle who had perished in Iraq in 1916 and seeing the lists of the fallen on the Town Memorial in Wimborne Minster, Christopher became interested in where dead service personnel were buried. It led to research into the work of the CWGC and to him becoming a volunteer speaker for the organisation.

He discovered that the Commission cares for headstones and memorials in 23,000 locations worldwide. It was founded in 1916 and supported by 6 Commonwealth Governments – Uk, Canada, Australia, New Zealand India and South Africa. The policy was agreed early in the First World War that repatriation of the dead was impractical. The fallen were at first buried in rough graves, near where they fell. After the war the bodies were collected into Cemeteries and, each grave marked with a standard headstone, whatever the rank of the person interred. This was the first time the dead of Battles were commemorated in any official way; no formal memorials exist for earlier conflicts.

The dead of the Second World War were included, and memorials exist all over the world for the fallen of these battles. Statutes limited and still limit the CWGC to look after memorials of the dead of the two World Wars. Those who died in other conflicts are dealt with by the Ministry of Defence.

Where known each headstone bears basic information about the departed and may include a personal tribute by their family. Where the person is unknown the stone records this fact. Those who died in either conflict but whose remains were never found or identified, are commemorated on memorials, some large, others more modest. All are cared for by the CWGC.

The organisation is always in need of volunteers to help with the work of maintaining graves and spreading information about their work.

Christopher received a warm ovation for a very detailed and carefully prepared talk.