Stanton War memorial 1914-1919

[elewis]

The Stanton, North Gloucestershire, War Memorial has the following heading -

Pray for the men of Stanton who gave their lives in the Great War AD:1914-1919,

to whose memory the village has dedicated the new cross.

The new cross in the village churchyard also has AD:1914-1919.

Is anybody aware of other war memorials saying 1919 instead of 1918?.

Does anybody have any ideas why 1919 would be shown as the final date?

The only thing I wondered did any of the dead die in 1919 from wounds and the extra year was added so that they could be included?

The men honoured were -

QMASC Arkell Coldicott Warwickshire Yeomanry

Tpr Harry J Coldicott 4th Australian Light Horse

Lce Cpr Arthur Ernest Evans 9th Battn Gloucester Regt (my great uncle)

Sergt Robert Harrison 7th Battn Gloucester Regt

Pte Edwin Holmes 10th Battn Gloucester Regt

Pte Jesse James 13th Battn Gloucester Regt

Pte Frank Stanley 6th Battn Gloucester Regt

2nd Lt Phillip Nicholson Stott 10th Bn Manchester Regt.

Within the church there is also a tablet to

Clement Robert Wedgewood-Allen

Captain in the 2nd Battallion Welch Regiment and flight commander no 3 squadron Royal Flying Corps.

Killed whilst flying in discharge of his duties on March 1th 1914. Aged 35

Evan

[centurion]

Does anybody have any ideas why 1919 would be shown as the final date?

Quite possibly because that is the official date for the end of the war (when seperate peace treaties were signed with Germany Austro Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey)

Some fighting went on and British casualties were incurred in Russia and the Baltic states and on the Turkish -Iraq border (Britain was not "officially" at peace with Turkey until well after 1919 as the Turkish government repudiated the original peace treaty)

[mick simo]

Many war memorials that I know of say 1914 - 1919, my son reserched war memorials for his GCSE coursework and I would say about half of the ones that we visited said 1919. Britain was not officialy at peace with Germany untill the 28/6/1919, because of this I would presume that some communities saw this af the end of the war and not the armistice.

[elewis]

Centurion,

thanks for that. You are spot on.

I do not remember any other war memorials listing 1919, and I had always considered the Armistice on 11 November 1918 to be the end of the war.

Now if I had only looked at WIKI first --

"A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until signing of the Treaty of Versailles with Germany on 28 June 1919. Later treaties with Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire were signed. However, the latter treaty with the Ottoman Empire was followed by strife (the Turkish War of Independence) and a final peace treaty was signed between the Allied Powers and the country that would shortly become the Republic of Turkey, at Lausanne on 24 July 1923.

Some war memorials date the end of the war as being when the Versailles treaty was signed in 1919; by contrast, most commemorations of the war's end concentrate on the armistice of 11 November 1918"

Unfortunately I seem to have demonstrated my lack of knowledge . Trying feebly to salvage a smidgin of grace - I have now learnt something, and surely education should be an aim of this forum.

EvaN

[CGM]

EvaN that was a good question and everyone else who didn't know the answer, and all those who start to look at the forum in the future and didn't know the answer, will be glad you asked it!

Regards

CGM

[IPT]

It seems to me that 1914-1919 seems to appear a lot more on memorials, medals, etc of the time. 1914-1918 seems to be used more frequently in modern times.

A similar discussion was had here (centurion must be slipping);

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=158376

[centurion]

However, the latter treaty with the Ottoman Empire was followed by strife (the Turkish War of Independence) and a final peace treaty was signed between the Allied Powers and the country that would shortly become the Republic of Turkey, at Lausanne on 24 July 1923.

Wikipedia is slightly off course. The initial treaty with the Ottoman Empire was signed by the Sultan's representatives but the government led by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) refused to ratify it regarding the terms as too unfavourable to Turkey. Atatürk then led a successful revolt against the Sultan.(The war of Independence) Greece took the opportunity to invade Turkey (with some naval assistance from Britain and France) A bloody war followed. Greece initially had some success but the strain was too much for the Greek army and its supply train and they were driven out. Atatürk was posed to invade Greece and only British intervention held him back. He was now in an infinitely stronger position than the old Sultan had been when the original treaty was signed. A second treaty was negotiated (with the new Republic of Turkey) signed and ratified. This gave Turkey far better terms than Germany, Bulgaria or Austro Hungary had obtained (For example Turkey retained its heavy artillery and there was no restriction on an air force or the acquisition of tanks). Britain however insisted that the Kirkuk oil fields stayed firmly in Iraq.