Commemorative Plaque Boulogne Cathedral

[Gary Samson]

I stumbled across this commemorative plaque in Notre Dame de Boulogne on a recent cross-channel shopping trip. I usually take Rose Coombs's Before Endeavours Fade whenever I go over and plan to see at least one memorial or cemetery but I couldn't find this one listed. I don't know how old it is, although the reference to the British Empire probably helps to date it to some extent. Worth dropping by to see it if you've a spare hour or so before the ferry sails.

Gary

[healdav]

You will find similar plaques to this in several perhaps many places.

There is one in Nancy cathedral, for example.

[Gary Samson]

Thanks, healdav, I hadn't appreciated these plaques were quite as widespread. I'll keep a keen eye open the next time I explore a (northern?) French cathedral.

Gary

[Stephen White]

Gary

Thanks for that.I'm taking my Father to Boulogne later in the year to see his Grandfathers grave at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery.Going to the Cathedral will make an interesting addition to the trip.

Stephen

[kinnethmont]

These tablets were erected in the following cathedrals in France and Belgium during the 1920's- 1930's.

Their purpose was to emphasise to the population of these countries the sacrifice made for their freedom.

France: Cambrai, Arras, St. Omer, Lille, Paris, Rheims, Soissons,

Laon, Noyon, Meaux, Beauvais, St. Quentin, Senlis, Bethune,

Nancy, Marseilles, Boulogne, Rouen, Orleans, Le Mans,

Nantes, Bayeux.

Belgium: Antwerp, Bruges, Ostend, Ghent, Brussels, Ypres,

Courtrai, Tournai, Mons.

[tonycad]

kinnethmont,

Were the plaques located in the cathedrals you list, all similar, or were there variations on a theme.

The reason why ask is the photograph below shows one in Amiens Cathedral, which is in a similar format, but there are obvious differences, as this one is specific to the Somme.

Do you know who paid for these plaques?

Tony

[kinnethmont]

I believe they were put in those cathedrals by the Imperial War Graves Commission. I had wondered about the reference to the dead resting in France on a tablet erected in Belgium.

From the example you give it looks as though they were specific to the local area which would relate the sacrifice in that area to the local population. The numbers given and the reference to the Somme, Amiens, and those dead resting in the Amiens diocese tend to confirm this.

[tonycad]

Thank you for your response.

The amount and variety of information coming in on WW1 from many and varied sources never ceases to amaze me.

Tony

[JEG]

There is a photograph showing an identical memorial tablet in:

The Immortal Heritage: An account of the Work and Policy of the Imperial War Graves Commission during Twenty years 1917-1937 by Fabian Ware (page 61)

So they must have been erected by the IWGC.

The caption reads: "Memorial Tablet to the Million Dead Placed in Cathedrals in France." But unfortunately it is not mentioned in the text. It is interesting to learn the tablets are not identical.

Janet