Seadog Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 For those who may not have seen this on the CWGC website: http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/news/appeal.aspx Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ulsterlad2 Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 Thanks for the link Norman. I wonder what work they intend doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 28 June , 2012 Author Share Posted 28 June , 2012 I would only be guessing but they could be refurbishing/repairing CWGC headstones erected on family graves. As I say this is a guess. I suppose if it was simply a stand-alone CWGC headstone or a screen wall then no contact with any remaining relatives would be required. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CGM Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 Or maybe they want tp put a CWGC headstone on a family grave for the first time as the existing memorial has deteriorated so much that the grave is no longer marked with the casualties name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 (edited) Or they are graves discovered by the IFCP project, notably Mr Gravefinder General Harley cheers Martin B Edited 28 June , 2012 by MartinBennitt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisharley9 Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 Martin Its Harley; sorry do get a bit fussy about that Only a couple appear to be those that I have found Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaySearching Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 I believe they may be erecting CWGC headstones on family plots where no CWGC stone previously existed Hence the reason for wishing to contact relatives One of the family plots (Jennings) on the list on the website pointed out by Norman can be found on this thread http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=177296&hl=jennings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 28 June , 2012 Author Share Posted 28 June , 2012 The wording of the CWGC appeal seems to indicate that repairs and/or refurbishment to existing CWGC headstones is to be carried out whether they be free-standing or placed on a family plot. "The Commission intends to carry out work on War Graves in a number of UK cemeteries. We wish to make contact with any family members of the casualties concerned". No doubt a query to the CWGC will enlighten us. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 With regards to the grave at Bletchley, actually Fenny Stratford, for Lilian Saunders. Lilian was not on the CWGC Debt of Honour, I contacted them on 9/6/10 with the necessary paperwork and heard back from them on 16/9/10 that the MOD had accepted her for inclusion on the records and that the CWGC would now start looking at the possibility of erecting a headstone. On 9/8/11 I was told that a special headstone, i.e. 'known to be buried in this area'would be erected, I chased this up on 24/5/12 and was told that it would be approximately another 15 months before the headstone is erected. There is not and to the best of my knowledge, never has been a headstone on Lilian's grave. Regards IanC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 Martin Its Harley; sorry do get a bit fussy about that Only a couple appear to be those that I have found Chris sorry Chris, I've suitably edited cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaySearching Posted 28 June , 2012 Share Posted 28 June , 2012 Norman with respect The wording of the appeal states that the Commission intends to carry out work on War Graves no mention of repairs or refurbishment to existing CWGC stones. or family memorials In any case they would not need to seek the permission of the family plot holders to carry out work on their own Cwgc stones But they possibly would need permission to carry out work on family plots, if the plot is less than a hundred years old regards Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 29 June , 2012 Author Share Posted 29 June , 2012 From the CWGC :- Dear Sir Thank you for your e mail. With regard to your query, the Website appeal is simply an attempt to establish contact with family members of casualties buried in privately owned war graves, which have been found to need attention. Yours sincerely Julie Somay (Mrs) Enquiries Administrator Commonwealth War Graves Commission 2 Marlow Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 7DX, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1628 507200 | Facsimile: +44 (0) 1628 771208 | Website: www.cwgc.org Which I am taking to mean those CWGC headstones erected on private grave plots (my post 3). not exactly clear though is it? so another email sent for clarification. Norman PS I take it that the CWGC have displayed this request in the form of a notice at each of the cemeteries concerned as the web site is only going to reach a proportion of those affected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted 29 June , 2012 Share Posted 29 June , 2012 Norman, as I said in my post (#9) the grave of Lilian Saunders in Bletchley, does not have a headstone of any sort on it. IanC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 29 June , 2012 Author Share Posted 29 June , 2012 Hopefully the CWGC will respond with a reply that makes sense not like the one I have posted above. What is a "privately owned war grave!? there must be thousands of private graves with the names of the fallen on them in the UK for whatever reason the family did not choose at the time to allow a CWGC headstone to be erected on the private plot. Here is an example of a privately owned war grave and I do not for a moment think that the CWGC would ever consider repairs to such a grave. As I say with any luck the CWGC will be able to explain just what the purpose of their announcement actually is. Douglas Wyatt RN 10/11/1918 - The family plot Regards Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted 30 June , 2012 Share Posted 30 June , 2012 Norman I was always under the impression that the CWGC cannot erect a headstone if there is already a family erected memorial in place, irrespective of the state of that memorial, and so no,I do not believe the CWGC will or in fact are allowed to do anything with the grave that you have posted a photo of. I would think that a 'privately owned war grave' is any grave of a fallen soldier that is not in a CWGC cemetery, i.e. someone related to the soldier purchased the burial plot from the local authority. To me the purpose of the appeal is fairly clear, to refer to the grave of Lilian Saunders again, it is quite possible that someone still alive is the legal owner of that grave, and therefore, before the CWGC start tampering with it they have to show that they have taken reasonable steps to contact the owner. I don't understand why you are getting so worked up about this! IanC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 30 June , 2012 Author Share Posted 30 June , 2012 Certainly a view, I will wait and see what the CWGC say, as for being "worked up" as you put it all I am attempting to understand is exactly what the CWGC have in mind as everything is about as clear as mud! Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 2 July , 2012 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2012 Here is the latest response received from the CWGC today. There seems to be some reluctance to expand on the purpose of the appeal. I can only yet again surmise from the reply that the CWGC are intending to spend both their time and funding on the repair or refurbishment of private grave markers that include a reference to a family member who died as the result of service in the Great War although I have not checked out any of the intended graves to see whether this also includes those from WW2. The latest reply substantiates the reasons for my concerns as surely this new policy should apply across the board to all such private graves and memorials and I cannot believe that this is the intention of the CWGC. Dear Thank you for your further e mail. It relates not to Commission headstones, but to privately erected family headstones/grave markers. Kind Regards Julie Somay (Mrs) Enquiries Administrator Sent: 29 June 2012 17:06 To: Casualty Enquiries Subject: Re: Commonwealth War Graves Commission Website appeal Example: (My photo) Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bardess Posted 2 July , 2012 Share Posted 2 July , 2012 Hi Norman The Smethwick names happen to be In From the Cold cases submitted by me so I can only assume that, when checking if a headstone is present or not, perhaps they want to do the right thing and see if family members have any objections to either replace or erect a headstone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 2 July , 2012 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2012 Possibly Diane, but let me reiterate the main points of this so that it may be clearer to members. Of course you and other members are free to contact the CWGC for clarification and hopefully post the reply here. The email address is:- casualty.enq@cwgc.org From the CWGC website: The Commission intends to carry out work on War Graves in a number of UK cemeteries. We wish to make contact with any family members of the casualties concerned. From the last email from the CWGC: It relates not to Commission headstones, but to privately erected family headstones/grave markers. (My Bold text) Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bardess Posted 2 July , 2012 Share Posted 2 July , 2012 Hmmm. Are they all recent IFCP cases I wonder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 2 July , 2012 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2012 No Idea, try contacting the CWGC with a direct question about the IFCP Project, details on post 12 or email post 19. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted 2 July , 2012 Share Posted 2 July , 2012 Hi Diane Thats pretty much the same as in the case of Lilian Saunders in Bletchley and what I said in an earlier post. With regard to Normans post about the CWGC spending time and money repairing 'private markers', I doubt that they will be working on 'private Markers' that merely mention a casualty,(these casualties quite possibly already have a CWGC headstone where they are buried) but there are many 'private markers' on the actual graves of men that would have been entitled to a CWGC headstone had the family not chosen to erect one themselves, which are now falling into disrepair. I know of at least one from WW1 and two from WW2 in Bletchley (Fenny Stratford)cemetery and I think it would be great if the CWGC repaired these. These men still deserve a headstone kept to the same standard as if they had had one from the CWGC. Regards IanC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 2 July , 2012 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2012 I and everybody else can only go on the responses from the CWGC on this subject and you are making many assumptions which need clarification so I suggest that you contact the CWGC which will be the only way of getting some understanding of what the CWGC are actually talking about. For your benefit I will however repeat the following from the CWGC which might help. "With regard to your query, the Website appeal is simply an attempt to establish contact with family members of casualties buried in privately owned war graves, which have been found to need attention" And "It relates not to Commission headstones, but to privately erected family headstones/grave markers". If the above is what the CWGC intends to undertake then in my experience this will be the first time that they have allocated both funds and effort to repair/maintain those graves which record a war casualty and where there is no standard CWGC headstone. As I have already stated contact the CWGC for futher information. Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted 2 July , 2012 Share Posted 2 July , 2012 Sorry Norman, my assumptions can stay assumptions, as I have said I'm all for the CWGC repairing 'private markers' on the graves of casualties, if they are also going to repair 'private markers' that merely mention a casualty that is buried elsewhere, I'd be surprised but not worried enough to waste their time by contacting them. IanC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seadog Posted 2 July , 2012 Author Share Posted 2 July , 2012 Okay so thats that then Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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