War Graves Commission Cemetery Information and list of the Fallen
Submitted by: Siobhan Watson
Describe your idea. How does it work and who does it help?
The "Debt of Honour" register is the database of the 1.7 million men and women who died during the two World Wars and the 23,000 cemeteries and memorials around the world where they are commemorated.
This site would pinpoint the locations of the sites on a google map and link to the names of the Fallen. There would be a section for people to share their experiences and photographs.
What information or services do you need?
The "Debt of Honour" database
The database of CWGC cemeteries and memorials
Google maps
Posted by Jane Furlong on 09 July 2008 at 09:28 AM
I run the database of war memorials at www.ukniwm and unfortuately copyright law does pose a barrier for us. However, I am looking at ways of freeing up the information to make it more accessible as I know it isn't very 2008 and we have a fantastic resource which could be used by more people.
I have plans, which are part of a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund, which include inputting all the names of those commemorated on memorials in the UK (numbering over 2 million as we cover all conflicts from Roman times to the present day) and bring alive those names by creating a space for and links to all the information relating to them that are held by families, local historians, family historians and anyone else out there who is doing research or has data. I would also like to map the memorials relating to them and create a learning programme that can be of use to all generations.
Memorials were built by the community, for the community. I want to bring that ethos into the archive's online presence and provide a place for people to both remember and celebrate the lives of those who have died in conflict through the ages.
I'll be posting information about all aspects of our project on our website shortly if anyone is interested. We can't guarantee we will get HLF funding so we would need to think of alternate ways of doing this if we are unsuccessful.....but do it we will
Posted by Rick Waghorn on 08 July 2008 at 04:44 PM
That's not very 2008, is it?
Posted by Richard on 07 July 2008 at 09:25 PM
There is a database of all the war memorials in the UK created by volunteers. www.ukniwm.org
Unfortunately has a restrictive copyright http://www.ukniwm.org.uk/server/show/nav.8
Posted by Rick Waghorn on 07 July 2008 at 06:23 PM
I would go one stage further and bring the local village war memorial 'to life' - add a geo-tag to those buried in some corner of some foreign field and you could then 'bring our boys home...'
Run a 'Those We Have Lost...' facility across a local site as part of a local history function; scrape in medal citations, mentions in despatches; allow local families to post pictures of their great-grandfathers in their uniform; make it an interactive war memorial that can be read by the next generation of village school-children; builds greater respect for their peers; puts a local face to the local fallen...
Posted by Rowland Manthorpe on 07 July 2008 at 05:18 PM
Great idea.
Posted by Tom Loosemore on 07 July 2008 at 11:21 AM
As part of its Debt of Honour register of war dead, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission [1] publishes very rudimentary location information for each cemetery [2], although a list of all cemeteries is lacking.
However, it looks like it has more precise location data since it's done a deal with Michelin to sell a special War Cemetary road atlas for Belgium and Northern France [3].
However, they do deign to grant re-use rights over the data they claim to own - but only for personal and educational purposes. [4]
[1] http://www.cwgc.org/
[2] http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_details.aspx?cemetery=56500&mode=1
[3]http://www.cwgc.org/content.asp?menuid=5&submenuid=22&id=22&menuname=Items%20for%20Sale&menu=sub
[4] http://www.cwgc.org/content.asp?menuid=10&id=10&menuname=Terms%20and%20Conditions&menu=main