Empires of the Dead

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Empires of the Dead Page 23

by David Crane


  fn17 It says a lot about national character and the very different legacies of victory and defeat, that while Britain ended up with Blomfield’s cross, German artists like Otto Dix turned for their inspiration to Grünewald’s terrifying Isenheim Altarpiece.

  10. Keeping the Faith

  fn18 Unfortunate timing too. This Anzac Day came in the wake of the notorious MCC ‘Bodyline Tour’ of Australia under D. R. Jardine that led to Australian threats to leave the Empire.

  fn19 Australia’s was the only entirely volunteer army in the war. The 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, and the subsequent execution of its leaders, added to the antagonism of Australia’s Irish communities against Britain.

  fn20 ‘If they had any shame,’ the Deputy Prime Minister wrote in his diary at the unveiling of the Australian National War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in 1938 – and his ‘they’ was directed specifically at Robert Menzies – ‘they should not have been there, having shirked their responsibilities during the sacrifice that was now being commemorated.’

  NOTES

  Abbreviations

  Baker H. Baker, Architecture and Personalities, London, 1944

  Birkenhead Lord Birkenhead, Rudyard Kipling, New York, 1978

  Blomfield R. Blomfield, Memoirs of an Architect, London, 1932

  Blythe R. Blythe, The Age of Illusion, London, 1963

  CWGC Commonwealth War Graves Commission Archives

  Immortal Heritage F. Ware, The Immortal Heritage: An Account of the Work and Policy of the Imperial War Graves Commission during Twenty Years, 1917–1937, London, 1937

  Kenyon F. Kenyon, War Graves: How the Cemeteries Abroad Will Be Designed, HMSO, London, 1918

  Longworth P. Longworth, The Unending Vigil, London, 1967

  Lutyens Letters ed. C. Percy and J. Ridley, The Letters of Edwin Lutyens to his Wife Lady Emily, London, 1985

  Milner Bodleian Library, Milner Papers

  Stamp G. Stamp, The Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, London, 2007

  Wilson K. M. Wilson, A Study in the History and Politics of the Morning Post 1905–1926, Lampeter, 1990

  The Worker F. Ware, The Worker and His Country, London, 1912

  Prologue

  Ioannes Acutus … F. Saunders, Hawkwood, Diabolical Englishman, London, 2005, p. xvii

  holy, haunted ground … Lord Byron, Childe Harold Canto II, London, 1812

  Would it have been … D. A. Reid, Memoirs of the Crimean War, London, 1911, p. 161

  Imagine them moving … Immortal Heritage, p. 27

  corner of a foreign field … R. Brooke, The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke, London, 1918, p. 148

  Chapter 1

  Now, God be thanked … Ibid., p. 144

  this Rupert of the pen … Violet Markham, Queen, 28 May 1921, p. 25

  dared question … J. R. Brooke, Westminster Gazette, 1911, CWGC PO1/1

  My academic qualifications … Milner, d38 ff.36–7

  pity and indignation … Morning Post, 1 February 1906

  As an undergraduate … W. Nimocks, Milner’s Young Men: The ‘Kindergarten’ in Edwardian Imperial Affairs, London, 1970, quoted, p. 13

  For you your job … The Worker, p. vi

  I was working late … Milner, d38 ff.149–50

  It is magnificent … W. Beveridge, Power and Influence, London, 1953, quoted, p. 40

  I told him of course … Ibid., p. 33

  erratic but brilliant … J. R. Brooke, Westminster Gazette, 1911, CWGC PO1/1

  At the time of … Ibid., quoted, p. 15

  awake and ‘miserable’ … Ibid., quoted, p. 13

  has been wanting … Ibid., quoted, p. 15

  party hack … Ibid., quoted, p. 28

  I am to take the views … Ibid., quoted, p. 20

  The existence of … The Worker, pp. vii, 14–15, 276

  highest attainment … Ibid., p. 25

  third-class carriages … C. Carrington, Rudyard Kipling: His Life and Work, London 1955, quoted, p. 326

  ready to perform … F. Ware, Educational Foundations of Trade and Industry, London, 1901, pp. 57–148

  So long as … The Worker, p. 276

  Chapter 2

  The Royal Automobile Club … P. Longworth, Unpublished First Draft of ‘The Unending Vigil’, CWGC

  no objection … Ibid.

  The Mobile Unit was organised … CWGC MU1, Spring Report 1915

  October 29th … CWGC MU1, November Report 1914

  To be fair to them … CWGC MU1, 26 February 1915

  The strong and able … Ibid.

  It is good work … Milner, d349 ff.332–33

  from ‘all the muddle … CWGC MU1, 21 December 1914

  The British Red Cross … CWGC MU1, 21 February 1915

  I shall never forget … L. Earle, Turn Over the Page, London, 1935, p. 102

  when one day … Ibid., p. 104

  The experience gained … CWGC MU1, Spring Report 1915

  It was while … visiting … Ibid.

  I may add … CWGC MU1, 6 December 1914

  Another and very ingenious … Ibid.

  the proud satisfaction … Ibid.

  I feel sure … CWGC MU1, 6 December 1914

  With very few exceptions … CWGC MU3, 10 May 1915

  I was endeavouring … CWGC MU1, 6 December 1914

  our soldiers in the shell … CWGC WG1298, 25 May 1916

  We had one poor fellow killed … I. Mackay, Tell Them of Us, privately printed letters, 26 February 1915, ed. D. Mackay, 1994

  Dear Miss F. Robertson … J. Robertson, The Hair Trunk, unpublished manuscript, p. 200

  words of rough regret … CWGC WG548, undated press cutting

  It is fully recognised … Longworth, quoted, p. 7

  a lot of trouble over … CWGC SDC22, 25 September 1916

  Into the old-fashioned … CWGC WG789, undated press cutting

  At the beginning … CWGC SDC22, 28 September 1916

  There is not, of course … CWGC Add4/1/3, 12 March 1915

  It would be a matter … CWGC GRC2, 11 March 1915

  neither cares nor understands … Milner, d350 ff.103–07

  By means of this … CWGC GRC1, 21 August 1915

  I saw the AG … CWGC GRC1, 31 August 1915

  I am sorry … CWGC GRC1, 28 October 1915

  to the crokers … I. Mackay, Tell Them of Us, privately printed letters, 1 October 1914, ed. D. Mackay, 1994

  Chapter 3

  the sole intermediary … Longworth, quoted, p. 39

  The dug-outs … V. Brittain, Testament of Youth, London, 2004, p. 174

  I told you … Milner, d350 ff.103–07

  I have warned the Press … CWGC WG1076, 2 July 1915

  In all ages … Ibid., Report of the French Commission of Public Health, Summer 1915

  As regards the question … CWGC Add4/1/3, 27 February 1915

  The noise is just like … Viscount Gladstone, W. G. C. Gladstone: A Memoir, London, 1918, quoted, p. 113

  Heaven knows … Ibid., quoted, p. 107

  We have been … Ibid., quoted, p. 116

  I thoroughly enjoyed it … Ibid.

  This unfinished letter … Ibid.

  He had been warned … Ibid., p. 122

  It was the earnest wish … Ibid., p. 124

  I notice Gladstone’s body … CWGC GRC1, 16 April 1915

  CONFIDENTIAL … CWGC GRC1, 5 May 1915

  detestable … alien … Viscount Gladstone, W. G. C. Gladstone, London, 1918, p. 100

  Here the Germans … Immortal Heritage, quoted, pp. 20–21

  I believe that you … CWGC GRC1, 17 July 1915

  Chapter 4

  Collectivist, individualist … The Worker, p. 24

  To Fabian Ware … Violet Markham, Queen, 28 May 1921, p. 24

  keenness of all … CWGC MU1, undated report of Colonel Stewart

  Vitalisers are few … Violet Markham, Queen, 28 May 1921, p. 24

  With such examples … CWGC SDC22, 7 March 1917

  He had he
ard rumours … Ibid., 25 September 1916

  class-bound and incompetent … D. Stevenson, 1914–18: The History of the First World War, London, 2005, p. 117

  I am sending you … CWGC WG1298, 7 July 1916

  The French government … General Routine Orders 1104, December 1915

  At the time of burial … CWGC GRC7, 17 April 1916

  In special cases … Ibid.

  On no account … CWGC Add3/1/3, 1 February 1918

  We were not aware … J. C. Smuts, Jan Christian Smuts, London, 1952, p. 195

  In April, 1916 … L. Earle, Turn Over the Page, London, 1935, p. 113

  South Africa … CWGC Add3/1/3, 25 February 1919

  [footnote] It was all Australia … R. Kipling, The Five Nations, London, 1903, p. 191

  Beyond the area … E. Blunden, Undertones of War, London, 1936, p. 131

  Crossing the Ancre again … Ibid.

  the measurements and description … CWGC Add3/1/3, 30 June 1917

  We are on the verge … CWGC SDC4, 29 June 1917

  I am held up on my work … Longworth, quoted, p. 18

  [footnote] My Dear Ware … CWGC SDC4, 13 December 1916

  The field of Gommecourt … R. Holmes, Tommy, London, 2004, quoted, p. 46

  Chapter 5

  the great expansion … F. Ware, General Report for the period 21st May 1917, to 31st March 1920, II, HMSO, 1920, p. 5

  It was vital … CWGC SDC22, 15 March 1917

  old bait … Longworth, quoted, p. 27

  In looking forward … CWGC SDC22, 15 March 1917

  the first organisation … Longworth, p. 28

  to keep alive … Ibid., quoted, p. 28

  the freedom of the individual … H. Strachan, The First World War, London, 2005, quoted, p. 237

  Democracy is not going … A. M. Gollin, Proconsul in Politics, New York, 1964, quoted, p. 238

  When I visited … A. W. Hill, Our Soldiers’ Graves, Lecture to Royal Horticultural Society, CWGC Add3/1/3, 25 February 1919

  The Commission recognised … CWGC SDC51, 19 November 1918

  There is in art … Stamp, quoted, p. 60

  For its character … R. Byron, Country Life, January 1931

  Schooled under Rhodes … C. Hussey, The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens, London, 1950, p. 322

  I realised … Baker, p. 88

  The cemeteries, the dotted graves … Lutyens Letters, p. 350

  I most earnestly advise … Stamp, quoted, p. 78

  I have not had the courage … CWGC Add1/1/3, 3 August 1917

  The first person I saw … Lutyens Letters, p. 357

  I bearded the Archbishop … CWGC Add1/1/3, 7 August 1917

  There must be nothing … Ibid., 28 August 1917

  The most beautiful … Lutyens Letters, p. 354

  Such a rush … Ibid., p. 351

  Afterwards went and saw … Ibid., p. 355

  Lytton said … CWGC Add1/1/3, 20 August 1917

  I see a bell-fry … Ibid., 25 July 1917

  Professional jealousy … Lutyens Letters, quoted, p. 369

  You are a werry nice man … Ibid., p. 348

  The Commission recognised … Kenyon, p. 2

  Chapter 6

  He is an interesting … CWGC WG517, Chicago Tribune, 25 January 1920

  The cemeteries, carefully … Blomfield, p. 178

  in the squalid surrounding … Kenyon, p. 3

  I have also had … Ibid.

  It was felt that … Ibid., p. 6

  It is necessary … Ibid.

  My endeavour … Ibid., p. 4

  be marked … Ibid., p. 7

  There is some … Ibid., p. 9

  It would meet … Ibid., p. 10

  That the principle … F. Ware, General Report for the period 21st May 1917, to 31st March 1920, II, HMSO, 1920, p. 6

  green coverlets … Immortal Heritage, p. 10

  The beauty, the serenity … Ibid.

  Those gruesome rags … V. Brittain, Testament of Youth, London, 2004, p. 225

  We see men go on … E. Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front, trans. B. Murdoch, London, 1996, p. 46

  three rather gamy Germans … I. Mackay, Tell Them of Us, privately printed letters, 20 March 1915, ed. D. Mackay, 1994

  Kiss me … R. Holmes, Tommy, London, 2004, quoted, p. 569

  Covered with snow … E. C. Vaughan, Some Desperate Glory, London, 1917, p. 73

  Chapter 7

  I have not considered … Kenyon, p. 21

  of specifications … Longworth, quoted, p. 38

  The resting places … CWGC WG237/1, Kipling Advertisement

  The cemeteries were often … Blomfield, p. 176

  The total number … F. Ware, General Report for the period 21st May 1917, to 31st March 1920, II, HMSO, 1920, p. 9

  Exhumation was a routine … J. Summers, Remembered: The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, London, 2007, quoted, p. 30

  committee of architects … Kenyon, p. 21

  The Principal Architects … Blomfield, p. 177

  unspeakable tyranny … The Times, 3 May 1919

  the most heartless … Ibid., various, 1919–1920

  I know how English people dislike … CWGC WG219 pt 1, 8 July 1919

  Nothing could put … Spectator, 1 February 1919

  The last thing … Ibid.

  when they left us … Ibid.

  Your Royal Highness … CWGC Add4/2/7, Petition to the Prince of Wales, 1919

  Lost three sons … Ibid.

  [footnote] CWGC SDC30 various, September 1919

  When the widows … W. Burdett-Coutts, War Graves – Statement of Reasons in Support of the Proposal of the Imperial War Graves Commission, London, 1920, p. 4

  As I see the position now … CWGC WG999, 16 April 1920

  as one who is strongly … W. Burdett-Coutts, War Graves, p. 2

  An attack on … CWGC WG999, 15 April 1920

  I understand that you … Ibid.

  The Imperial War Graves Commission … W. Burdett-Coutts, War Graves, p. 10

  No one could be … Hansard, 4 May 1920 [and subsequent quotations passim]

  Chapter 8

  The Commission itself … Longworth, p. 59

  Life in that wilderness … Ibid., p. 63

  It is the simplest … The Times, 2 September 1920

  In France and Belgium … Stamp, quoted, p. 99

  I, for one … Hansard

  It is impossible … Ibid.

  It will certainly … Ibid.

  My own feeling … CWGC WG219 pt 1, 18 February 1919

  Sir, my son … Ibid., 18 December 1919

  In my recollection … Ibid., 4 March 1919

  I may tell you … Ibid., 8 July 1919

  Pernicious little bitch … Birkenhead, quoted, p. 271

  Allah, for his own purposes … Ibid., quoted, p. 290

  He was a man … Ibid., quoted, p. 288

  One mustn’t let … J. Flanders, A Circle of Sisters, London, 2001, quoted, p. 319

  He looks very straight … Birkenhead, quoted, p. 267

  Two of my men … Ibid.

  After nearly two years’ … CWGC WG999, 16 July 1920

  There should be a granite … CWGC WG237/2, 18 February 1919

  fragments of destroyed … CWGC WG237/2, 24 January 1919

  The policy of the Commission … CWGC WG219 pt 2, 12 January 1921

  During the past week … CWGC 219/4, 19 January 1921

  Clearly … some compromise … Longworth, p. 85

  Chapter 9

  The design of such … Kenyon, p. 7

  the dignity of the … Cabinet Papers 123, 14 November 1919

  only a very few … CWGC WG1617 NBMC Report, 24 February 1921

  agreed to abandon … H. F. Chettle, ‘British Monuments on the Scenes of the Great War’, Dalhousie Review, January 1935, p. 448

  The [Naval Memorials] Committee … National Archives Adm116/1160

  fills me with dismay … CWGC WG1617, 20 July 1921

&
nbsp; great scheme of decoration … Longworth, quoted, p. 98

  unfortunately did not understand … Ibid., p. 15

  May I suggest something … CWGC WG1031, 15 March 1920

  because my child … J. Winter, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning, Cambridge, 1996, quoted, p. 25

  the temporary structure … Stamp, p. 42

  In the autumn of 1919 … Blomfield, p. 186

  I was in fact … Ibid.

  I tried hard … Ibid., p. 188

  had to find … Ibid., p. 187

  Having regard to … CWGC WG1687/2, 22 November 1921

  It is a memorial … Stamp, quoted, p. 105

  For instance … CWGC WG219 pt 2, 10 February 1923

  One only has to glance … Stamp, quoted, p. 123

  Its high arch screams … Ibid., quoted, p. 184

  Many preferred to look … Ibid., p. 158

  I wanted a massive lion … Blomfield, p. 189

  Let us pass on to … CWGC Add1/1/21 F, Ware Script for Armistice Broadcast, 10 November 1929

  From the great wall … Baker, quoted, p. 92

  It was laid out … Ibid., p. 91

  [The King] expressed … Ibid.

  It consists of … Ibid.

  Oaks were planted … Ibid., p. 90

  The unveiling ceremony … Ibid.

  What I wanted … Blomfield, p. 179

  at eighteen … Birkenhead, quoted, p. 291

  His loss … Ibid., p. 261

  Chapter 10

  Each stage reproduces … The Worker, p. 32

  Do you think … CWGC WG250/1/1 pt 2, 5 February 1931

  I have just returned … Ibid.

  might ultimately be allowed … Longworth, quoted, p. 138

  For Ware … CWGC Add1/1/21, Leo Amery, Memorial Service Address 1949

  and falter in his faith … CWGC Add1/1/141, 10 November 1926

  Can we possibly … Ibid., 24 April 1933

  On former Novembers … Ibid., 10 November 1929

  In the course of my pilgrimage … Longworth, quoted, p. 80

  regenerative power of sacrifice … E. T. Linenthal, Sacred Ground: Americans and their Battlefields, Chicago, 1991, p. 97

 

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