Lives of the First World War 'digital memoria

[almach]

Examples such as yours, Megan, are one of the reasons I'm choosing not to contribute, there's many more reasons. Nuff said!

[thewideeyedowl]

In my view, Lives of the First World War is a worthwhile project, and I have 'remembered' my paternal grandfather - if curious, just key 016866 into the Search box and he will come up. (I found no new info via the FMP links on the site. Please note I did not have a sub to FMP.)

Statistics tell us that about eight million people from the UK served in WW1, and of those about one million lost their lives; but put another way, it means that seven out of every eight who marched away came back. My own two grandfathers were in that 'lucky' statistic. The one I have 'remembered' was a bank clerk who went to war, served for about three years, and then went back to being a bank clerk. End of story. The other grandfather is my brickwall, but he came back.

In the Isle of Wight lines, one grandfather was a miller in his 40s, so spared by age and occupation. Now it gets 'messy', because a 'surprise' grandfather has emerged - a soldier who had a brief affair with a woman older than himself, recently widowed and the mother of four children. Their daughter was born the day before he sailed for Gallipoli, but passed off as the posthumous child of her 'official' father (who had died 13 months before). This 'surprise' grandfather was killed at Gaza in April 1917. I am now researching him because my one and only descendant carries that man's DNA.

So - three went away, but their records do not survive, two came back, and one didn't have to go. How typical is that for a family?

Owl

[Desperate Dan]

There was a display tent at a local event last weekend with computers to sample it etc. I was impressed and was resolved to add what I know about my two WW1 soldiers, in the hope that someone might be able to add a bit more.

I have yet to do it, but I will - in the free section of course!

[Megan Roberts]

If you want to ensure that an individual is honoured try the Royal British Legion's site: https://www.everymanremembered.org/ which they are doing in conjunction with Ancestry, but you don't get asked to pay for records - it's more of a personal remembrance site rather than one that just collects endless records which are available elsewhere.

The RBL do ask for a donation if you want to place a virtual poppy, which I thought was a good way to remember.

[thewideeyedowl]

The two sites - Lives of the First World War and RBL's one - are about different things. Lofthe FWW seeks to 'remember' all service personnel who were involved, c 8 million; the RBL site is to commemorate those who died, c 1 million.

If you already have the reference for an official record, e.g. for a census, birth, marriage or death, give that in an appropriate entry, then any other researcher can check it easily. You can also link to external websites. ( I had hoped to be able to link to a bank archive that held staff magazines from 1921, when my grandfather married, but - alas - those early magazines had not been kept.) You have not got to subscribe to FMP in order to 'remember' folk (but of course they hope you will!).

Owl

[Lesley Robertson]

It is much harder to find anything other than a medal card for the men who survived the War, so I'm beginning to wonder whether it's biggest contribution will be to help with the survivors (and the 60% whose records were burned).
It seems that my FMP subscription includes access (this year at least), so I'll see how it goes.

[thewideeyedowl]

The potential strength of the LoftheFWW project is that it should be 'permanent', as it is backed by a large concern (DC Thomson Family History); plus, it aims to commemorate all who were involved - not just those who died. A 'Life remembered' page, though, does not produce a coherent document; it is more like a list and there does not seem to be any way of editing the order (but I have probably missed something...).

This morning, when browsing through new posts, I discovered the link to an excellent document, in .pdf format, that commemorates Pte Albert Tune, of Sutton-in-Craven. (It had been found by Geneius, who also started this thread. So, thank you!). This, surely, is how to do it: https://www.sutton-in-craven.org.uk/p...AlbertTune.pdf. It's coherent and well researched, putting the man's life in the context of the village where he lived, but it lacks one thing - a photograph of Albert Tune himself. There are, though, lots of photos of the area at that time. The document was produced by Andrew Monkhouse in 2011.

The weakness, of course, is that the Tune memorial document is hosted on a small village website, which may not have the permanence of LoftheFWW. But it really is worth a look to see how it can - no, should(!) - be done.

Off to roost.

Owl