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A rare opportunity for the public to look at a World War 1 Book of Remembrance which is normally stored in Cardiff. This book is on show until the 19th of June, at Bodelwydden Castle. The book contains the details of over 35,000 soldiers who had a connection with Wales and fell during WW1
Must be the one kept at the Temple of Peace, Cardiff?? Heard of it and would have liked to have a look sometime, so maybe now I can! It's size is almost the only statistic for the Welsh cost of the war in dead: but it depends who these names are! If it's anyone serving in a Welsh regiment regardless of birth/residence, while bona fide Welshmen serving in English/Irish/Scots etc. outfits weren't included, then the statistical value would be somewhat reduced... Thanks for posting this.
Clive
Hello,
I went to look at the Wales remembrance book yesterday at Bodelwydden . I was able to find some of the Hanmer fallen, I could not find one soldier though! I need to look for the other surrounding villages fallen in it too.
The book is beautiful and rather a hefty volume. It is good that it has come to North Wales. There is a bit of an exhibition about the book there too.
I had 'training' on how to transcribe the names from the book into a database so that it can be searched. I will be having the passwords etc for it apparently so if I can help in any way I am happy to help.
kind regards,
Claire
The remembering for peace exhibition is at Bodelwyddan Castle until 19th June, I do believe it is going to Caernarfon afterwards but I may have dreamt that!!!
Claire,
How is it organised? Alphabetical, geographical, regimental, date or what? And what does it record about each casualty please?
Clive
Hiya Clive,
the book is regiment, battalion, alphabetical. It just records rank, name and place for example Pte. William. A. Phillips Whitchurch. I tried to attach a photo to show you but it wont let me!! I've copied and pasted some info below..
kind regards,
Claire
The Welsh National Book of Remembrance for the First World War holds the names of 35,000 servicemen and women who died in battle. These individuals are listed according to regiment and battalion alongside the names of those who might well have died by their side.
In the early 1920s, enough money was raised to build a Welsh National War Memorial in Cathays Park, Cardiff.
According to the programme for the unveiling ceremony of the Welsh National Memorial 12th June 1928: “The collection of the names . . . was a work of considerable magnitude . . . and although the list can scarcely be claimed to be absolutely accurate and complete the greatest care has been taken to make it so.” The symbolic significance of the Book has often been as important as its role as a record of the fallen.
The elaborate design of the Book was the work of the respected calligrapher Graily Hewitt at his workshop in Lincoln’s Inn, London. Each name has been individually written in calligraphic hand, and the gilting techniques are a revival of those used in the Middle Ages. What is essentially a list of names has been turned into a work of art.
On the 23rd of November, 1938, Mrs Minnie James of Dowlais, representing the war-bereaved mothers of Wales (she had lost three sons in the war), turned the key to open the Temple of Peace in Cathays Park, Cardiff, dedicating the building “as a constant reminder of the debt we owe to the millions who sacrificed their all in a great cause and as a symbol of our determination to strive for justice and peace”.
The Welsh National Book of Remembrance, which until then had been held at the National Museum of Wales, was placed on display in a glass case of French bronze on a pedestal of Belgian marble. The Temple was funded by Lord David Davies of Llandinam: a politician, philanthropist and internationalist who believed that the way to avoid the carnage of another world war, which he had witnessed first-hand in the trenches of the Somme, was through international cooperation – in particular through the work of the League of Nations.
The National Book of Remembrance has been digitised by the National Library of Wales, so that it can be accessed online. To make it easier to find individual names, over 100 volunteers have been busy transcribing and tagging the names – a digital act of remembrance so that each name can be remembered for generations to come.
The First World War left families and communities across Wales bereaved and shaken to their core. According to one estimate, across Britain, around three million people lost a close relative. The call to work for peace often came from those who had opposed war in the first place, but who now had a new, often grieving audience and a resurgence of interest in searching for peaceful alternatives.
In fact, in the hundred years since, thousands of people in Wales have been mobilised in the search for peace as a direct reaction to the horror of war. The aim of the ‘Wales for Peace’ project is to bring these hidden histories of peace together to answer the question: in the hundred years since the First World War how has Wales contributed to the search for peace? If you have a story, would like to help us with research or have a peace heritage project in mind, get in touch, and keep an eye on our website to see how our peacebuilding map of Wales is brought together between now and 2019.
Claire,
Thank you very much for that explanation and the background.
Clive
Not sure if you're aware Claire. Lord Davies of Llandinam was CO of the 14th Bn. He was replaced a few weeks before the battle of Mametz, I think to become Lloyd Georges PPS or similar.
Thank you for that 😊 I find myself hooked my Mametz and I am doing a lot of reading about it. I've only visited twice but learnt more with each visit and will no doubt go yearly now.This forum though is fantastic when it comes to learning about Mametz. I am no historian or expert just interested to learn about where the fallen soldiers I am attempting to research fell etc.
I'm hoping to get to Cardiff to the exhibition soon too..
Claire
Had a look at the Book last week, and it seems it contains mostly names of all who died whilst with a Welsh infantry regiment; plus for Navy, RAF, nurses, and other units it includes those who are recorded as having a link to Wales. This includes place of birth, residence, parents' residence.
There are many who served with the Infantry who were born, enlisted, and had parents living all outside Wales. Just in the few digitised pages which I've checked there were RWF men born in Crossmaglen NI and Denmark, and a S.Wales Borderer from New York. Many of these will have been transferred from elsewhere into the Welsh regiments at the whim of an administrator in order to fill gaps (common after 1916). Those formerly in a Welsh unit who were likewise transferred out into a non-Welsh formation would maybe need a different source to validate their inclusion.
I know a great deal of research went into this work, and am interested to know what avenues (aside from official sources such as Soldiers Died in the Great War or the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) were used in compiling it. Now that it's available digitally I'll be checking certain casualties whose background I'm aware of. It's a monumental piece of work and I'm glad we've got it: whether we can say its 35,000 names embodies the cost of the War to Wales is a different question.
Clive
As we discussed Clive, could it also be? that just under a third of the deaths in the book, relate to the RWF. As we know from JK's research the regiment lost in excess of 10,500 men throughout.
Hi Al,
yes, in theory that should be the case: my computer's misbehaving at present but there are a couple of sources one could go to in order to assess roughly the number in the Welch Regt. & S.Wales Borderers likewise.
I suspect these three outfits would account for a substantial majority of the 35,000 names.
Clive