Context 160 - July 2019

C O N T E X T 1 6 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 9 15 Second world war JON GEDLING The Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission cares for a historic estate whose structures and sites were designed by some of the most renowned architects and artists of the last century. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cares for war graves and memorials at 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries. They range from scattered graves in remote rural churchyards to vast cemeteries and major internationally known memorials to the missing. We look after war dead on every continent except Antarctica, with cemeteries extending from Archangel in the far north of Russia down to the Falkland Islands. The then Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) was created by Royal Charter in 1917. The IWGC’s founder, Sir Fabian Ware, enlisted the help of some of the best artistic minds to realise his vision – the author Rudyard Kipling as literary adviser; the architects Edwin Lutyens, Herbert Baker and Reginald Blomfield; Leslie MacDonald Gill for his expertise on let- tering; Arthur Hill from the Royal Horticultural Society to advise on planting, and many others. After much debate they settled on a form of commemoration that is now familiar and accepted the world over – even if at the time it was highly controversial. A number of remarkable decisions were taken which profoundly influenced the commemo- rative landscape maintained by the CWGC today. It was decided that everyone should be commemorated by name and that the form of commemoration should be equal – with no dis- tinction on account of military or civil rank, race or creed. It would mean that the dead would be buried where they fell, officers next to other ranks, side by side in reflection of a common sacrifice for a common goal. This would lead to the creation of cemeteries in almost every corner of the world, but it would also dictate the form of these places and, in particular, the use of a headstone rather than a cross to mark each grave. Records and registers were created and kept. Memorials were constructed for those with no known grave. Blomfield’s Cross of Sacrifice would represent the faith of the majority and the Stone of Remembrance, designed by Lutyens, would commemorate those of all faiths and none. The achievements of the IWGC in those early years was staggering. Beach Cemetery, Gallipoli (first world war)