Note.
This Descriptive Account of the work of the Imperial War GravesCommission was written by Mr. Rudyard Kipling at the Commission’srequest. The Illustrations showing the cemeteries and memorials asthey will appear when completed are by Mr. Douglas Macpherson.
What the Commission is.
THE Commission consists of:—
The Secretary of State for War.
The Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The Secretary of State for India.
The First Commissioner of Works.
The Hon. Sir George Perley, K.C.M.G. (appointed by the Governmentof Canada).
The Right Hon. Andrew Fisher, P.C. (appointed by the Government ofAustralia).
The Hon. Sir Thomas Mackenzie, K.C.M.G. (appointed by theGovernment of New Zealand).
The Right Hon. W. P. Schreiner, P.C., K.C., C.M.G. (appointed bythe Government of the Union of South Africa).
The Hon. Sir Edgar Bowring (appointed by the Government ofNewfoundland).
and the following members who accepted the invitation to help in thiswork, and were appointed by Royal Warrant:—
Sir William Garstin, G.C.M.G., G.B.E.
Mr. Harry Gosling, C.H., J.P.
Mr. Rudyard Kipling.
General Sir C. F. N. Macready, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.
General Sir Herbert C. O. Plumer, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., G.C.V.O.
Admiral Sir Edmund S. Poë, G.C.V.O., K.C.B.
Major-General Fabian Ware, C.B., C.M.G.
All letters should be addressed to the Secretary, Imperial War GravesCommission, Winchester House, St. James’s Square, S.W. 1; and not to anyindividual member of the Commission.{2}
Its History.
THE origin and development of the Imperial War Graves Commission is verysimple. In the first days of the war the different armies engagedcreated organisations, under the direction of the War Office, toregister, mark, and tend the graves of British soldiers, as well as toanswer inquiries from relatives, and, where possible, to send themphotographs of the graves. Later, a National Committee was constituted,which, on the suggestion of the Prince of Wales, who took a keenpersonal interest in the work, was expanded into an Imperial Commission,representing the Dominions, India, the Colonies, the fighting Services,Labour, the great public departments interested, and the British RedCross, which latter had supplied, as it still does to a considerableextent, the funds for photographing and planting the graves.
Its Finance.
THE finance of the Commission is Imperial. All parts of the Empire havegenerously and unreservedly promised to bear their share of theexpenses. The Imperial War Conference, having considered the proposalsof the Commission, passed the following resolution on June 17, 1918:“The Conference desires to place on record its appreciation of theLabours of the Imperial War Graves Commission, and is in favour of thecost of carrying out the decisions of the Commission being borne by therespective Governments in proportion to the numbers of the graves oftheir dead.”{3}