THE PROJECT
THE HISTORY
THE SURVEY
LOCATIONS
Update
Hello all, this project is still open but is currently hibernating. We would love to complete it, but this is very dependent on time and whether we can secure additional funding to pursue it.
Thanks to everyone who has been involved, including those who still are, and all those who visit and comment or share, it has so far been a terrific success, we hope to extend that in the future.
In the meantime we fully intend to keep the site live in its current form, and are still taking any info you have with a view to one day finishing the database as time allows.
Nick & Tim. April 2023.
Recent marker reports
Manchester Jewish Museum
Eric Conrad Simon Dear husband of Winifred R Simon "Maitri" Location: Manchester Jewish Museum 190 Cheetham Hill Road, Manchester Lancashire M8 8LW Details on cross: GRU tags Captain E C Simon 5th Lancashire Fusiliers 17 August 1915 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU...
Ightham Mote New Chapel, Kent
Thomas Riversdale Colyer-Fergusson Location: The New Chapel, Ightham Mote Mote Rd Ivy Hatch Sevenoaks TN15 0NT Weblink Details on cross: Above metal tag RIP TAG (unreadable) below tag descending down shaft IN MEMORY OF -on cross member- CAPT T.R.COLYER FERGUSSON V.C....
Hutton In The Forest – St James, Cumbria
John William Hodgson 'In my hand no price I bring, Simply to the Cross I cling' Location: St James Church Hutton In The Forest Eden Cumbria CA11 9TJ Details on cross: Private John W Hodgson 16 Canadian Scottish Killed in Action 26.2.1918 Text type (tags,...
Great Sutton – St. John the Evangelist, Cheshire
John H. Cash, Frederick J. Lloyd, Charles Herbert Williams and Robert Cash Location: St. John the Evangelist, Great Sutton, Wirral, Cheshire, CH66 4RE We arranged to meet Anthony the Reverend at the Church. He showed us the crosses and was enthusiastic about the...
Fawley – St Mary Church, Berkshire
Philip Musgrave Neeld Wroughton An interesting pair of crosses in two locations for the same man, the other cross is at Chaddleworth. Both appear to be Battlefield grave markers. It is perhaps the case that this one was a makeshift original and was replaced by a...
Chaddleworth – St Andrew’s Church, Berkshire
Philip Musgrave Neeld Wroughton An interesting pair of crosses in two locations for the same man, the other cross is at Fawley which also shows a photo of it in situ, both appear to be Battlefield grave markers. It is perhaps the case that this one was a makeshift...
Haslemere – St Bartholemew’s church, Surrey
Location: St Bartholemew’s church Haslemere Surrey GU27 1BW Details on cross: G.R.U. IN MEMORY OF LIEUT H.S.LAWSON 3 2 5 S B P G A KILLED IN ACTION 5 2 18 Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): Top row is a GRU tag fixed to the top of the shaft. Remaining...
Witley – All Saints Church, Surrey
Location: All Saints Church Witley Surrey GU8 5PN Details on cross: G.R.U. 2 / LIEUT G. H. SWANN RFC 18.10.17 PER ARDUA AD ASTRA GERALD HUDDART SWANN KILLED IN ACTION 18 October 1917 Aged 18 years THE EARTH HOLDS NOT A FINER GENTLEMAN On brass plaque at foot of cross:...
On the blog
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About the project
Wooden Battlefield Crosses and grave markers exist all across Great Britain and indeed across the world. You can find them in churches, memorial halls, chapels, museums and private dwellings. Although various lists exist there is no definitive study of them; the available information is often buried in collections of other memorials. These are deeply personal connections with the people involved in the conflict and form a direct link to the families, loved ones and communities who were left behind.
The aim of this project is to try and provide an online resource which creates a place to find the information about these curious objects, where they exist, how to access them and what they meant a century ago, how they continue to be part of the communities they still exist in and how people continue to engage and respond to them as a link the link to First World War.
Ultimately the intention is to list every single battlefield cross or wooden grave marker returned from the lines in Europe to Great Britain after the war ended. The website will hopefully provide a resource that will give everyone access to information on as many of the locations and as much detail as possible about the stories surrounding the people whose graves they marked in France and their symbolic return to the people they left behind.
We need your help…
You can send us information on your local wooden crosses and battlefield markers, whether it be your own photos, photos you have permission to use from a local archive, details of the building and how the marker has become part of the story of it. We also need your research on the soldiers, their life and service, their families, the incidents surrounding their death and the eventual return of the grave marker to Britain and back to the community where the person came from.
We have provided an easy guide to help you to survey, photograph and research these sites and a rough but growing list of locations which we will hopefully be building on as more information comes to light. We will also be putting together an online guide looking at how and where to research the stories of the men these crosses are named for and how you might be able to look into the story behind them to build an online collection which everyone can use to explore these fascinating memorials.
Contact us
Have you done a survey or do you fancy having a go at one? Maybe you aren’t sure what to do or maybe you have already completed some research on a battlefield cross you’d like to add to the project or share via the website.
Perhaps you think you may have something nobody has seen in nearly a century in your loft or shed? Let us know.
Please send us an email to info@thereturned.co.uk
