Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

CWGC Documents Archive Online


Shiny

Recommended Posts

Chris

Looks like job done then. What a wonderful thing irony is. If it makes any difference, I didn't think it was that great either

'Nuff said

Regards

Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi everyone

Please look at the other thread about the Book of Remembrance for the men of Scapegoat Hill in West Yorkshire.

These new online documents have just solved the mystery of the only remaining soldier on my list of 38.

A big thank you to CWGC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Including the link at the top left of this and every page of the forum

Sorry John, I missed your post and looking at the timing, mine must have crossed with it slightly

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have found it working without problems since the start. Its not giving too much extra details to what I already had but it has given me some small details that will help further research and has scratched out at least 2 annoying itches I have had for a few years, big thanks to the CWGC for this.

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin

Good to see the original register entries not those awful efforts that you now find in the cemeteries with details missing

Michelle

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An immediate reply from CWGC saying sorry for the problems this has caused and the CWGC IT people are on it now

Regards Steve

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just looking at some burials in Berlin South Western Cemetery who were relocated from Schneidemuhl POW cemetery and no paperwork shown for their original burials. Has anyone else experienced this?

I have found paperwork on others concentrated to Niederzwehren and find it odd that these men in Berlin have nothing showing. Perhaps they have not finished uploading all of the files yet?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The new files have helped me to clarify one Anglesey man's fate. Buried in Marseilles, and from a battalion serving in Egypt, he was shown in SDGW as "died at sea" and I'm afraid I assumed he was a medical casualty offloaded from a hospital ship. The documents show he was originally buried in a small cemetery further along the coast eastwards beyond Toulon...along with four other men of various regiments and all died the same day! Then concentrated into Marseilles in 1949.

That date I checked - 4th May 1917 - and of course it's the sinking of the troopship Transylvania over towards Genoa. I get that why-didn't-I check-the-date feelings, but then these guys are now just a handful in a larger cemetery well away from the sinking site and the penny hadn't dropped. Looking forward to more revelations as I get deeper into the records.

Clive

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to see the original register entries not those awful efforts that you now find in the cemeteries with details missing

Michelle

Michelle - :thumbsup: - and ditto for the original cemetery descriptions as opposed to those redacted versions that often now appear on the cemetery "homepages" on the CWGC website.

Now what this needs is for somebody who has the inclination to take this issue up with the CWGC at Maidenhead. Ideally this should be somebody who can put forward a coherent and (gently) forceful case - probably somebody who doesn't already have irons in the fire with the Commission. Can you think of anybody who might fit the bill ?

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin

Just looking at some burials in Berlin South Western Cemetery who were relocated from Schneidemuhl POW cemetery and no paperwork shown for their original burials. Has anyone else experienced this?

I have found paperwork on others concentrated to Niederzwehren and find it odd that these men in Berlin have nothing showing. Perhaps they have not finished uploading all of the files yet?

Maybe not all the paperwork survives. For example, Ration Farm Cemetery near Armentieres has no surviving Burial Returns and it caused no end of grief for the Fromelles Project as no-one could prove or disprove if the missing grave had been recovered or not.

I would have thought though that so far it is just graves registration papers online that there would be something there. An email to CWGC?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe not all the paperwork survives. For example, Ration Farm Cemetery near Armentieres has no surviving Burial Returns and it caused no end of grief for the Fromelles Project as no-one could prove or disprove if the missing grave had been recovered or not.

I would have thought though that so far it is just graves registration papers online that there would be something there. An email to CWGC?

I can see how confusing that would be with that project. I suppose with regard to POWs being concentrated, there might be a chance of reconciling records with those of the Red Cross when they are released. However, that will depend on their search facilities which we know nothing about yet, nor what they contain. If you can search by the name of the POW camps through a list of those held at a given location, as well as by names of individuals, there may be a chance of finding a service number and record of their date of death. From that information it would then be possible to find where they are buried now.

I will wait and see what the Red Cross release brings and if there is no facility to search other than by names of individuals, then an email to CWGC will be on the cards.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe not all the paperwork survives. For example, Ration Farm Cemetery near Armentieres has no surviving Burial Returns and it caused no end of grief for the Fromelles Project as no-one could prove or disprove if the missing grave had been recovered or not.

I would have thought though that so far it is just graves registration papers online that there would be something there. An email to CWGC?

How's this for confusing? I found their concentration papers not under their own records for Berlin where they are now buried but under Poznan Old Garrison Cemetary, Poland. Some of them were not concentrated and a memorial was erected for them in that cemetery and that's how I found the concentration records for the ones moved to Berlin! I think I should still email them because if you look at their records under Berlin, it makes it shows nothing of them being moved...oh dear, it's a bit of a mess in parts then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Admin

Very interesting indeed. I wonder if others who were moved also have papers relating to the old cemeteries?

One of the men identified in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery was, for over 90 years buried in Rue Petillon Cemetery in a standard plot with his headstone stating "Believed To Be" on it. His documents contain the grave registration forms for Rue Petillon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very interesting indeed. I wonder if others who were moved also have papers relating to the old cemeteries?

One of the men identified in the new Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Cemetery was, for over 90 years buried in Rue Petillon Cemetery in a standard plot with his headstone stating "Believed To Be" on it. His documents contain the grave registration forms for Rue Petillon.

I will hang fire on the email for now. They might be playing catch up at CWGC uploading the records for Berlin South Western Cemetery. I had a look at another man I know to have been moved there, Major CAL Yate, KOYLI. There is no concentration record for him either. I'll wait until I come back from holiday at the end of August and if there has been no update then I will send an email.

They abandoned 18 men and commemorated 1 at Berlin and the other 17 commemorated at Poznan Old Garrison Cemetery (which was used during both World Wars). Then, they seem to have concentrated those they did recover to all the way to Berlin and not Poznan which is much closer to where they died. There doesn't seem to be any identifiable method to they way they worked when concentrating bodies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bah, no extra documentation on my great uncle's entry yet. He's buried in Karasouli, so I guess I'll have to wait a while until they get around to putting Salonkia burial records up.

That's probably answered my query - there's nothing extra on men in Syra & Moudros cemeteries.

I have found snippets of extra info on men drowned in the Royal Edward, although buried at sea.

Kath.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

S.12.d.6.2 - just outside the cemetery in which he lies.

post-1-0-71279800-1405444599_thumb.jpg

If the date of his death of 14 April 1918 is accurate, it implies burial by the Germans for this ground was in German hands at the time. I note the original registration gives 9 -14 April. The ground was lost to the enemy on 10 April.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks Chris - even with the magnifying glass I could not read it too well !!

Rgds,
Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just found the papers on the CWGC website for one of my great grandad's brothers. The Headstone Schedule mention that the inscription to be made on the grave is : "His was the greater love". On the tomb today though it states "He was the greater love". Is the headstone schedule the definitive source (and hence there is a mistake on the grave), or could the family have modified the inscription at some point ?

Edited by Griffner
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

Just when I think I have cracked all the references the CWGC use for burial locations, I get stumped with another one. I am researching the history of 42477 Pvt W McGregor GH who died on the 26th July 1918.He is buried in Chambrecy British Cemetery but his burial return states that the original location of the grave was (272 x 216). Can anybody help me with this?

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/611248/McGREGOR,%20W

Rgds,
Alex

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just found the papers on the CWGC website for one of my great grandad's brothers. The Headstone Schedule mention that the inscription to be made on the grave is : "His was the greater love". On the tomb today though it states "He was the greater love". Is the headstone schedule the definitive source (and hence there is a mistake on the grave), or could the family have modified the inscription at some point ?

I thought the intended inscription sounded like a quote but a search doesn't seem to throw anything up for that nor the inscription actually used. One family member has 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' which is a quote from the bible (John 15:13). I wonder if, in some way, it is linked to or an intended derivative of that quote? My GGGF had the same inscription on his own headstone and he chose that one for his grandson but I imagine it was quite a popular one given the wording of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...