The Dead, Battlefield Burials and the Unveiling of War Memorials in Films of the Great War Era

Abstract

During the First World War nearly three-quarters of a million British subjects were killed. The grief of the families of those who died overseas was exacerbated by the lack of information about the manner of a serviceman’s death and general ignorance about the nature of life on the battlefield. The families also experienced a sense of dislocation from the body of their loved ones as the War Office ruled against the repatriation of the dead and civilian mourners were not allowed to visit the battle zones. Civilians maintained links with the men who were fighting and commemorated those who had died by compiling ‘rolls of honour’ and displaying them outside churches and other prominent places. In working-class districts the rolls often took the form of a street shrine, where the list of names would be framed and decorated with flowers and Christian and patriotic symbols.