C O N T E X T 1 3 7 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 4 33 PAUL STAMPER Remembrance and the first world war Although first-hand memory of the individuals who served and fell in the first world war is now dimmed, a wide variety of memorials provides a daily reminder of the war’s impact. Almost a million Britons died in the first world war, and many times that number suffered injury or bereavement. The overriding sense at the war’s end was one of loss, and over the following few years most communities across the land erected a memorial of some sort to those who had served, and especially to those who had died. Early on in the war the decision had been taken that bodies should not be repatriated, but instead be cared for in the cemeteries established by the Imperial (later Commonwealth) War Graves Commission. In many cases, of course, no body was recovered anyway, and instead a name was added to an inscription recording those with no known grave. This absence of a grave close to home greatly increased the need for a focus for remembrance. In the UK memorials took many forms, but most typically a local subscription was raised for a memorial cross or the like, usually bearing the names of those who had died in the conflict, erected in a prominent place. Precise figures are hard to ascertain, but the UK National Inventory of War Memorials estimates that overall there are over 100,000 war memorials in the UK. Most are modest affairs, albeit with deep significance and poignancy for the communities where they stand. But especially if there was a wealthy local patron, or in larger towns and cities, memorials were often more ambitious, many of them imposing baroque ensembles of architecture and sculpture. These memorials, of course, are generally (but sadly not always) well cared for, with many still the focus of remembrance. A major new package of governmentfunded initiatives (below), announced in December 2013, will do much to further enhance the recognition and appropriate maintenance of these war memorials. Far less well known are the many other ways in which the fallen were remembered, through projects (as we would call them today) of a socially beneficial character. Often these seem to have been promoted by returning servicemen, who wanted ‘something for the future’ – for the living, and future generations – rather than a mute memorial cross to their dead friends and comrades. Some were building projects, the scale generally reflecting the size of the community which was to be served (see page 28). Better health provision was a priority, with new hospital wings, cottage hospitals and homes for district nurses (as at Burwell, Cambridgeshire). Schools, especially public schools, often honoured fallen pupils and staff through new classrooms, cloisters, libraries, cricket pavilions (like Uppingham’s) or memorial chapels. Oundle School’s Memorial Chapel (AC Blomfield, 1922–3; listed Grade II*) remembers over 200 members of the school community who fell. In towns, civic improvements included clock towers, museums, art galleries Oundle School Chapel by AC Blomfield, 1922–3 (Grade II*) Uppingham Cricket Pavilion by SirWalter John Tapper, erected as a war memorial to the school’s 450 war dead in 1923
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