SDGW CD-Rom

[Sgt York]

Does the SDGW CD-Rom database go up to 1921? as does the CWGC database.

[Alan Lines]

My disc seems to be playing up a bit this morning but but I found the following.....

1919- 1869 listed. 1349 men 520 officers.

1920- 27 listed, all men.

1921- 1 man, date of death 25th March 1921.

[Sgt York]

Alan,

Thanks for your reply.

Ronnie.

[Terry Denham]

The figures are as Alan says.

There are very few listed from 1919-1921 (CWGC only lists those up to 31.08.21 as war graves). In fact there are large numbers also missing from SDGW in 1918 - mainly those who died at home.

SDGW should not be treated as a complete list and even the CWGC list has a number missing!

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

Terry,

If someone thinks they find an omission on the CWGC database, how should they go about bringing it to the right person's attention?

Ian

[Ivor Lee]

Remember the records in Soldiers Died are only as good as the handwritten records produced at the time.

Even deaths in service after the war are often not recorded. As an example none of the 8 men killed when an unexploded shell blew up on 20 October 1919 appear in Soldiers Died.

As everyone knows my particular interest is in the Labour Corps. Soldiers Died records 5172 men for the Corps but records from the CWGC has over 9500 men. They are not all, by any means, Home Service deaths and I have checked to see if they are shown in other Regiments, most are not.

[Terry Denham]

Ian

The process is not as easy as it should be!

Firstly, CWGC do not make the final decision on any missing names brought to their attention. The MoD (or other Commonwealth government as the case may be) makes the final decision - curious in terms of WW1 as the MoD no longer hold the records. However, CWGC does act as a first stage filter for applications to have names added.

The general advice is to collect as much documentary evidence as possible and submit it to CWGC. They will require such items as birth/death certificates and any military documents you have, copies of medal roll entries, burial records etc, etc. Some people object to having to pay for such documents but I personally believe that it is worth a few pounds to have someone properly commemorated even after eighty odd years.

It is not part of CWGC's function under their Royal Charter to act as researchers contrary to what some people think. However, if you provide at least a prima facie case then they will take it forward to MoD. It is no good saying "My great grandfather died because of the effect of wounds but I don't know when or where"! As good a case as possible is required plus lots of patience.

There was a recent attempt to have responsibility for decisions shifted to CWGC and there was a moritorium on new listings until this was decided. However, this failed and the situation remains as was.

There are those that believe that CWGC should be more pro-active in finding missing names (and I agree) but lack of funds and the restrictions of their Charter prevent this. Remember the contributing governments pay a share in proportion to the number of names they have in the list and some do not want their share to increase! However, that is another story........

Whilst the system is far from ideal, patience and determination pays off. I have managed to get three names added in the past couple of years and others have done the same.

Incidentaly this does not apply to errors of spelling etc. These can be changed by CWGC if appropriate evidence is supplied. SDGW alone is not accepted as evidence due to the number of errors it contains.

I hope that helps.

[Sgt York]

Thanks Guys,

For all the additional info.

Ronnie.