Almost cruelly severe: Charles Holden's work for the Imperial War Graves Commission

The presentation will be live and online.

Charles Holden was unique among the IWGC’s architects for he was the only one to make the transition from Assistant to Principal and therefore took part in the minutiae of Commission work in France and Belgium, as well as working up designs for some of the ‘showpiece’ cemeteries. Holden also deployed a distinctive style in his cemeteries with his hallmark lack of ornamentation, which led the Commission’s official historian, Philip Longworth, to describe as ‘almost cruelly severe’.

This talk by Prof Mark Connelly explores the nature of Holden's unique hallmarks and asks whether his approach made an impression on Blomfield and Lutyens, which can be detected in their work for the IWGC.

Holden created a number of IWGC cemeteries, for instance the New Zealand missing dead at Messines Ridge British Cemetery, and the Buttes New British Cemetery at Zonnebeke.

Members wishing to participate will need to register, details of how to register will be circulated via The Western Front Association's newsletter 'Trench Lines'. If you are not a subscriber to Trench Lines please subscribe now via the box at the bottom of this page.

It is also possible to register by clicking this link: Almost cruelly severe

The talk will be undertaken using the 'Zoom' software which is freely available. It may not be necessary to load the software to your PC / iPad etc: but we would recommend doing so if you wish to participate in this event.