Imperial War Graves Commission letter
Title
Imperial War Graves Commission letter
Description
Standard form letter sent to family of deceased servicemen describing the details of the standard headstone and attaching a form to complete for a personal inscription. Also is an illustration of a typical headstone.
There is also a photograph of a headstone in a cemetery.
There is also a photograph of a headstone in a cemetery.
Date
1949-04-05
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
A printed letter, an illustration and a colour photograph on an album page
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
PBurkittWF17010006
Transcription
Tel.: Bourne End 594. [crest] IMPERIAL WAR GRAVES COMMISSION,
Wooburn House, Wooburn Green,
High Wycombe, Bucks.
[crest]
5 APR 1949
Dear Sir or Madam,
I venture to ask for your assistance in completing the attached form.
The Imperial War Graves Commission have been entrusted, for this war as for the last, with the duty of permanently commemorating those members of His Majesty's Naval, Military, and Air Forces from all parts of the British Empire who die in the service of the Allied cause. The Commission will consequently be responsible for marking and caring for the graves, or, in the case of those who have no known grave, for making provision for other suitable form of commemoration and also for recording all names in permanent Registers. This work will be carried out at the cost of the Commission, whose funds are provided by all the Governments of the Empire.
A headstone of the same simple pattern will, as before, mark each grave; thus every man, rich or poor, General or Private, will be honoured in the same way.
In order to carry out these duties, and to complete the permanent Registers, the Commission desire certain additional information which they hope you will be so good as to supply on the attached form, which should be returned to the Commission.
You will notice that a space has been left on the form for a personal inscription to be selected by the relatives, if they so desire, for engraving on the headstone. Where, owing to the course of military operations, it has so far been impossible to find or identify a grave, no personal inscription should be inserted on the form. Should the grave eventually be discovered I shall, of course, write to you again and you will then have a further opportunity to choose an inscription.
Some relatives have expressed the wish to pay for this personal inscription, and an opportunity will be given to them later on of meeting the cost. Should they not wish to do so, the cost will be borne by the Commission.
[inserted] Owing to increase in cost of engraving Personal Inscriptions since the attached was printed, the amount which may be paid by relatives has been raised from 7s. 6d to £1.
Yours faithfully,
F. HIGGINSON,
Secretary. [/inserted]
[page break]
[specimen only stamp] [serial number]
[underlined] THE HEADSTONE [/underlined]
[drawing]
[RAF crest]
PILOT OFFICER
F.P. BROWN
ROYAL AIR FORCE
15TH SEPTEMBER 1940 AGE 21
[symbol]
SPACE FOR 4 LINES OF INSCRIPTION CHOSEN BY RELATIVES
[sketch of flowers, either side]
THE HEADSTONE STANDS 2 FEET 8 INCHES ABOVE GROUND, IS 1 FOOT 3 INCHES BROAD AND 3 INCHES THICK.
IT IS INSCRIBED WITH A BADGE AND RELIGIOUS EMBLEM AND THE SERVICE PARTICULARS OF THE DECEASED.
AT THE FOOT OF THE STONE IS A SPACE IN WHICH CAN BE ENGRAVED AN INSCRIPTION CHOSEN BY THE RELATIVES. THIS INSCRIPTION MUST NOT EXCEED [underlined] 60 LETTERS [/underlined] IN LENGTH.
[underlined] IMPERIAL WAR GRAVES COMMISSION [/underlined]
[underlined] WOOBURN GREEN – JAN 24 1948 DRAWN BY M. NEWELL [/underlined]
[serial number]
[page break]
[photograph
Wooburn House, Wooburn Green,
High Wycombe, Bucks.
[crest]
5 APR 1949
Dear Sir or Madam,
I venture to ask for your assistance in completing the attached form.
The Imperial War Graves Commission have been entrusted, for this war as for the last, with the duty of permanently commemorating those members of His Majesty's Naval, Military, and Air Forces from all parts of the British Empire who die in the service of the Allied cause. The Commission will consequently be responsible for marking and caring for the graves, or, in the case of those who have no known grave, for making provision for other suitable form of commemoration and also for recording all names in permanent Registers. This work will be carried out at the cost of the Commission, whose funds are provided by all the Governments of the Empire.
A headstone of the same simple pattern will, as before, mark each grave; thus every man, rich or poor, General or Private, will be honoured in the same way.
In order to carry out these duties, and to complete the permanent Registers, the Commission desire certain additional information which they hope you will be so good as to supply on the attached form, which should be returned to the Commission.
You will notice that a space has been left on the form for a personal inscription to be selected by the relatives, if they so desire, for engraving on the headstone. Where, owing to the course of military operations, it has so far been impossible to find or identify a grave, no personal inscription should be inserted on the form. Should the grave eventually be discovered I shall, of course, write to you again and you will then have a further opportunity to choose an inscription.
Some relatives have expressed the wish to pay for this personal inscription, and an opportunity will be given to them later on of meeting the cost. Should they not wish to do so, the cost will be borne by the Commission.
[inserted] Owing to increase in cost of engraving Personal Inscriptions since the attached was printed, the amount which may be paid by relatives has been raised from 7s. 6d to £1.
Yours faithfully,
F. HIGGINSON,
Secretary. [/inserted]
[page break]
[specimen only stamp] [serial number]
[underlined] THE HEADSTONE [/underlined]
[drawing]
[RAF crest]
PILOT OFFICER
F.P. BROWN
ROYAL AIR FORCE
15TH SEPTEMBER 1940 AGE 21
[symbol]
SPACE FOR 4 LINES OF INSCRIPTION CHOSEN BY RELATIVES
[sketch of flowers, either side]
THE HEADSTONE STANDS 2 FEET 8 INCHES ABOVE GROUND, IS 1 FOOT 3 INCHES BROAD AND 3 INCHES THICK.
IT IS INSCRIBED WITH A BADGE AND RELIGIOUS EMBLEM AND THE SERVICE PARTICULARS OF THE DECEASED.
AT THE FOOT OF THE STONE IS A SPACE IN WHICH CAN BE ENGRAVED AN INSCRIPTION CHOSEN BY THE RELATIVES. THIS INSCRIPTION MUST NOT EXCEED [underlined] 60 LETTERS [/underlined] IN LENGTH.
[underlined] IMPERIAL WAR GRAVES COMMISSION [/underlined]
[underlined] WOOBURN GREEN – JAN 24 1948 DRAWN BY M. NEWELL [/underlined]
[serial number]
[page break]
[photograph
Collection
Citation
“Imperial War Graves Commission letter,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19605.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.