Yesterday we left Fabian Ware in 1914 as a civilian in charge of The Mobile (Ambulance) Unit, reporting to the Red Cross and St John Ambulance.
At first his unit operated close to the front line evacuating casualties. He worked with the French army more than the British in those early days, dealing with more than 12,000 casualties. However, by the end of 1914 he had created a new role for himself; organising the identification and burial of the dead. This was the kernel of what was to become the Imperial War Graves Commission. He marked graves with wooden crosses marked with stencilled inscriptions, later metal tapes. This work quickly became seen as important out of Christian decency, for the morale of the soldiers fighting and for the comfort of the families of the dead men. A Graves Registration Commission was created with Ware in charge in the rank of Major with two captains and seven lieutenants under him, although he still reported to the Red Cross.
By 1915 the GRC came under the command of the War Office and Ware was sometimes by design, sometimes by chance shaping events. A significant development was a generous French act, giving Britain land on which to bury its dead. This was enshrined in a Bill that provided “perpetuity of sepulture” for Britain and her Empire’s dead, the cost of all lands to be borne on the French budget. There was a crucial clause: that there should be a “properly constituted” British authority to supervise and finance the maintenance of the cemeteries. .
Ware faced a lot of opposition. Families wanted their dead repatriated for burial at home. Families wanted to erect their own memorials where their dead were buried and then there were the cultural and religious sensibilities of the Empire to satisfy. After much debate and, it must be said, bullying by Ware in 1917 the Imperial War Graves Commission was formed: Chairman, the Secretary of State for War, Vice-Chairman, Major-General Fabian Ware, CB, CMG.
Lutyens, Baker and later Bloomfield were appointed as architects to come up with designs for the cemeteries. Lutyens and Baker had already fallen out over the building of Delhi before the war and predictably clashed over the war graves. Sir Frederic Kenyon, Director of the British Museum, was brought in to act as referee and he almost as much as Ware shaped the cemeteries we see today.
Lutyens designed the now familiar headstones. Identical headstones, two feet six inches by one foot three inches in size, arranged in ordered ranks facing east, complete with name, rank, date of death and regimental badge. It was left undecided if a cross would be engraved and whether relatives could add an additional inscription of their choosing.
Lutyens favoured a huge central stone, like an altar, as a centrepoint in each cemetery. Baker wanted a memorial cross. As the numbers of dead rose money became an issue but Ware lobbied successfully for standards to be maintained.
The next issue was for memorials for the dead with no known grave. Their families wanted to see their names honoured and it was mooted that they might be given headstones above an empty grave. The decision was to build memorials the greatest of which are the Menin Gate, Thiepval and the Cenotaph.
These are just a few episodes in the creation of what is now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. David Crane’s Empires of the Dead – How One man’s Vision Led to the Creation of WWI’s War Graves – tells the whole story and it is essential to read it before visiting these moving cemeteries or if your curiosity has been piqued as mine was.