Did WW1 death plaques ever get duplicated?

[Crispian Brigham]

Hi, I am just enquiring as to whether WW1 death plaques were duplicated?

For instance, could a sibling obtain a duplicate plaque if the original was lost by the spouse, therefore duplicating the original, only for the original to be found at a later date?

Many thanks,

Cris

[depaor01]

The next of kin stated in the deceased man or woman's records would be the recipient of the medals and plaque. Anyone else claiming these would face a lot of beaurocracy at the very least. In any event, the nature of the naming of memorial plaques i.e. name only, no rank or number, means that there are, for most names, many duplicates out there.

Have you a particular scenario in mind?

Dave

[Old Owl]

Hi Cris,

I think that officially only one memorial plaque was issued to the immediate next of kin of each deceased soldier. This could be either his wife, his parents or any other single person who was identified as his NOK.

Of course mistakes were made and I actually have two memorial plaques which were issued to the NOK of the same man. His name is Ernest Ramus which is a unique name on the CWGC records, he served as 1599 Cpl.E.Ramus, 1/9th (Queen Victoria's Rifles) Bn. The London Regt., and was killed in action on 1st July, 1916, age 25. He was previously wounded on 19th Decembe,1914, and was the son of Mr and Mrs E.Ramus, of 23, Park Drive, Harrogate, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. I also have his 1914 Trio and three boxed and named family Tug of War medals dating back to 1879/1880/1881 awarded to J.A.Ramus by the German Gymnastic Society, London. I think that the family were German Jews because Ernest Ramus appears by name in the British Jewry Book for WW1.

So, yes, they could be duplicated but only in error.

Robert

[FZ1]

Unlike the medals, all plaques were all cast individually so once the initial issue was completed, I don't know of any additional castings for replacements.

Replacement medals could simply be impressed (named) from stock, but the plaques would be a lot more difficult to reproduce. I'd be interested to know if there were any more castings done after the initial issue.

Jon

[Crispian Brigham]

Thank to everyone for the interesting responses.

My reason for the thread is that I know that my Great Grandfathers Plaque has been up for auction recently.

I would have liked to have had the opportunity to own it, but I didn't know of the auction until well after the sale date and having contacted the auction house they could only send my details on to the buyer.

As yet I have had no reply from the buyer and can only hope that i will have the chance to return it to a legitimate ancestor and in doing so, keep it in the family.

I was always told that my father had possession of the plaque, (he is still alive) so it may have been stolen.

Another possibility is that my father can sometimes put things in the dreaded 'Safe place'....never to be seen again, this why I asked about the chance of duplicates.

My research suggests that the occurrence of my gg fathers surname is very few and far between and only he and his brother are visible on the cwwg register....

Cris.