Types of Commemoration
There is often
confusion regarding commemoration, and from this
misunderstandings and
misconceptions
can arise. Below is a clarification.
CIVIC COMMEMORATION
1. The Dover Town
Memorial is a civic memorial
2. Civic
memorials are erected and maintained by a local authority – eg
county, district, city, borough, town, parish councils
3. The local
authority/citizenry decide on the form of and criteria for
commemoration
4.
Casualties may be remembered on any number of civic memorials;
commemoration on one does not preclude commemoration on
another
5.Many casualties commemorated on Dover
Town Memorial are remembered on civic memorials elsewhere:
Examples include:
Walter
Tull,
commemorated on River parish memorial, Folkestone Town Memorial,
also in Glasgow
Tommy
Eaves,
commemorated at Deal town Victoria War Memorial Hospital
Albert Alderson,
commemorated on the parish memorials at River and Temple Ewell
Frank Balding,
commemorated on the town memorial at Louth, Lincolnshire
Alfred Siffleet,
commemorated on the memorial at Eythorne
Alexander Croockewit, commemorated on the
memorial at Shepherdswell
George Collard,
commemorated on the Parish memorial at Alkham
Peter Mello, commemorated on the town memorial at Bexhill-on-Sea,
Sussex
Walter Corteen, commemorated on the town memorial at King’s
Lynn, Norfolk
William Friend, commemorated on the parish memorial at
Hougham
William Frampton, commemorated on the town memorial at
Slaidburn, Yorkshire
Albert Samways, commemorated on the town memorial at
Wareham, Dorset
William Foreman, commemorated on the town memorial at
Whistable
Keith Gillman, commemorated on the parish memorial at River
Albert Bourner, commemorated on the parish memorial at River
Charles Laing, commemorated on the town memorial at
Canterbury
Charles Godfrey, commemorated on the town memorial at
Margate |
6. There are many
civic memorials in other countries
7. Civic memorials
in other countries also record casualties on Dover Town
Memorial, who served in forces of different nationalities
Examples include:
Edward
King,
commemorated on Brant County Memorial, Ontario, Canada
Thomas
Claringbould,
commemorated on
Brant County Memorial, Ontario, Canada |
8. A civic memorial
is distinct from government commemoration (Commonwealth War
Graves Commission- CWGC)
GOVERNMENT
COMMEMORATION
1. Casualties may
have only one official government commemoration (but any number
of civic and community commemorations). There are some
exceptions, for example, airmen whose bodies are recovered over
many decades.
An example is:
John Joseph Brimble, who is buried in two
officially-commemorated graves, at Sittingbourne and Brookward Military
Cemetery
2. Casualties may be
remembered on civic memorials and on the official government
commemoration (CWGC)
3. Lists
of casualties commemorated by the CWGC do not correspond fully with
people commemorated on civic memorials.
Reasons for this
include:
a) the casualty
on the civic memorial died outside the dates set for
commemoration by the CWGC(4 August
1914 to 31 August 1921 and 3 September 1939 to 31 December 1947)
an example on
our Town Memorial is
Walter Mills, died 1922 |
|
b) the CWGC
charter does not yet include Great War civilian casualties
an example of
a civic memorial listing them is Margate |
|
c) the CWGC
records are incomplete
new
casualties are added to CWGC records every year, through
voluntary work
from
individuals and groups
local casualties
added through KentFallen include:
from Dover, William Dixon, added December 2008
from Dover, William May, added December 2008
from Dover, Cecil Sambrook, added January 2009
from River, William Inwood,
added January 2008
from Tilmanstone, Albert Husk,
added February 2008from Dover |
|
d) civic war memorial records are
incomplete
i) the records
are gathered in a different way from the way the CWGC records
are gathered
ii) the records are gathered under
different criteria from the way the CWGC records are
gathered |
hence the many people
who qualify
but are not commemorated on our War Memorial
and why we in Dover have a
procedure for new commemorations every
three years for relatives who request them
4. Civic war
memorials often include those who served and survived
5. There are
community commemorations
as well as civic and government
commemorations
COMMUNITY
COMMEMORATION
1.
Community war
memorials are erected and maintained by community groups - eg
work-place, church, military, school, social club, etc
2. Casualties may
be remembered on any number of community war memorials as well as
on civic war memorials and the one government commemoration
Examples include:
Daniel Wyborn, commemorated on the
SECR memorial at the Marine Station, and the Salem
Baptist memorial
(note, others on the Town Memorial are also commemorated on the SECR)
Tommy Eaves, commemorated on memorials at the Deal Parochial
School, St Martin’s school, Dover Boys’ Grammar,
and Marjon College in Plymouth
Edward King, commemorated on the memorial at the Massey
works, Brantford, Ontario
Thomas Bidgood, commemorated at Haileybury School,
Hertfordshire
Arthur Leyland-Harrison VC, commemorated on the memorial at
Dover College
Edward Crascall, commemorated on the Christchurch church
memorial
Keith Gillman, commemorated on the Foxley-Norris wall at the
Battle of Britain memorial, Capel-le-Ferne and the Battle of Britain memorial on the
Victoria Embankment, London
Albert Bourner, commemorated on the memorial at St Martin of
Tours church, Dover |
There are, according to
the National Inventory of War Memorials, some 100,000 war
memorials in the UK. There are many more overseas. There has
been a certain amount of research into multiple commemorations,
but given that there is no central catalogue of commemorations
on these war memorials, that all war memorials are not listed,
and that there is often difficulty in definitively identifying
casualties, it is currently impossible to establish all the
memorials on which a particular casualty may be commemorated.
Equally, it is difficult to establish that a casualty is not
commemorated anywhere, though our research into Dovorian
casualties has identified a number, with especial reference to
civilian casualties of the Great War.
Comments on the above
are welcome. Please
contact us
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