The work of the IWGC, 1917-1939

In this presentation, which was delivered 'live' to an online audience, Prof Mark Connelly explores the creation of the Imperial War Graves Commission in 1917, when it was charged with the task of finding permanent solutions to the commemoration of the Empire's war dead.

Driven by the energy and vision of its founder, Fabian Ware, the IWGC worked tirelessly to create fitting forms of commemoration of the known dead, the unknown and the missing. Dealing with such an issue was a gargantuan task demanding imagination, patience and immense skill to win over the doubters and protesters, ensure funding, smooth relations with foreign governments, and then operate across the globe.

By concentrating on the Commission's work in France and Belgium, the talk will show how it rose to these challenges creating cemeteries and memorials in a devastated landscape, how its employees, the vast majority of them veterans, dedicated their lives to the service of the dead, often living in primitive conditions, and the reactions of those who came out to visit where loved ones or comrades were commemorated.