An Unknown Warrior ........

Now, today is Remembrance Day, and so it seems fitting to focus on this informative and moving series exploring the history of the Unknown Soldier, which is currently being broadcast on Radio 4.

Today's episode is number three of five, and I have found the first two well worth the listen

"Drawn from official documents of the time, newspaper reports and writings of those involved, this is the story of how, on Armistice Day 1920, 100 years ago, an unknown warrior, was buried among the kings in Westminster Abbey, and became a symbol of a nation’s grief and gratitude.

Britain in 1920 was extremely unsettled - spiritually, emotionally and politically. Many were still in mourning for those lost in the Great War. Across the fields of France and Flanders, bodies were still being exhumed and taken to the new war cemeteries, many of them never to be identified.

Many families were never to know where their loved ones were buried. And for those that did, the government had already decided that no bodies were to be returned to their families and that, for the time being, travel to the graves in the fields of France and Flanders was not permitted.

One wise war padre, who felt acutely the sorrow of the bereaved, suggested that one unknown soldier could be brought home. One body to stand for the many.

Readers: Janet Ellis and David Haig

Sound by Lucinda Mason-Brown

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Wright

Written, compiled and produced by Caroline Raphael

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4"

Picture; Unknown Warrior's Grave, from an original watercolour by J. Linsay, published by Valentine and Sons Ltd, circa 1930, from the collection of David Harrop, and Unknown Warrior's Grave, from the set, Westminster Abbey, series 2, Tuck & Sons, 1935, courtesy of Tuck DB Postcards, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/items/111064

* An Unknown Warrior, Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p7bc

**Newport Road, the Unknown Warrior’s Grave in Westminster Abbey and a picture postcard sent in the April of 1952, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2014/10/newport-road-unknown-warriors-grave-in.html

Remembrance Day ……. November 2020

This year there will be many things done differently.

And one of those will be the way we approach Remembrance Day, which traditionally is a moment when people from across the country gather together at war memorials to commemorate those that took part in the country’s conflicts.

The large gatherings of the young, not so young and the elderly will be on hold for better days, and in their place there will be smaller ceremonies.

Many will take advantage of the new technology that has come to be the way we have engaged with family, friends, and work colleagues, since the first lockdown.

And as part of that new approach David Harrop is hosting a new Facebook site, called, David Harrop Manchester Postal Museum presents remembrance 2020.*

Now, many will know David from his vast collection of memorabilia from the two world wars, some of which is on display at his permanent exhibition in the Remembrance Lodge at Southern Cemetery.

And like the exhibition, the new site will be a place for David to post items from his collection leading up to Remembrance Day.

Some will be of the men who went off to fight, while others will focus on the lives of those who stayed behind, to work in the factories, and keep essential services running, and the children who often lost out on their schooling as schools became temporary hospitals.

The material will include photographs, picture postcards, letters, as well official correspondence and the medals that each told a story.

So, I shall close with the words of Abraham Lincoln speaking to the US Congress in 1862 on the eve of the Civil War, reflecting that “the dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.”

Looking at David’s new site I think he has risen to that occasion.

Pictures; from the collection of David Harrop.

*David Harrop Manchester postal museum presents remembrance 2020, https://www.facebook.com/101659725057513/posts/101660148390804/?substory_index=0&sfnsn=scwspmo