AFTERMATH

Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 1 26/11/2018 16:13 Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 3 26/11/2018 16:13 Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 4 26/11/2018 16:13 AFTERMATH

When World War I finally came to an end and hostilities ceased – on the Eastern and Western Fronts, on the sea and in the air – many, many lives had been lost and many more lives had been affected: not only the wounded, the disabled and the traumatised but also their families.

Back home the economy was anything but robust, the treasury having been severely depleted through funding the war effort. There was also little provision in place to support either the disabled veterans and their families or those families which were now fatherless.

There were huge tasks ahead: that of clearing up the battlefields and burying and recording the dead; and that of looking after the living whose lives had been massively affected by the war.

Front cover: The Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers was opened in 1916. By the end of WWI it had fitted over 5,000 prosthetic limbs to the victims of the war and was recognised as a pioneering surgical establishment.

Left: ‘Holy Ground’ notice, Ypres.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 1 26/11/2018 16:13 1914 The task of recording and remembering the dead began as early as 1914, when Major General Sir Fabian Ware, having been rejected by the British Army due to his age (he was 45 at the time), was put in command of a mobile ambulance unit provided by the British Red Cross Society.

Ware was both struck and concerned by the fact that soldiers in their thousands were being buried by their comrades, in individual and mass graves along the Western Front, under markers which would not last and with no official record of the locations. Aware that marking, or registering, a grave is the first act of Remembrance – as well as a mark of honour and of huge psychological importance for relatives – Ware and his unit began recording and caring for all the graves they could find.

A British Red Cross Society mobile ambulance.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 2 26/11/2018 16:13 1915 By 1915 their work was given official recognition by the War Office and incorporated into the British Army as the Graves Registration Commission. By October of that year, Ware and his Commission had registered over 30,000 graves.

Graves Registration Unit group at Lijssenthoek Cemetery.

The theme of Remembrance was further taken up powerfully in a poem written by the Canadian Medical Officer, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

McCrae was a doctor who served as a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres. He, like countless others, had seen the horror of war first hand but he was also a poet and an artist.

Like other now famous World War I poets, McCrae also saw what Wilfred Owen summed up as ‘the pity of war’. He wrote home “We are weary in body and wearier in mind. The general impression … is of a nightmare.” His poem, that in time was to become his most quoted, was originally titled ‘In Flanders Fields’ and was published on 8th December 1915 by Punch magazine.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 3 26/11/2018 16:13 In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch: be yours to hold it high! If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. Poppy field in the Somme. field in the Poppy

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 4 26/11/2018 16:13 Scarlet corn poppies grow naturally in conditions of disturbed earth throughout Western Europe. As the poppies grew amongst the unmarked crosses McCrae was noting, poignantly, that these wild flowers – if nothing else – were ‘marking the place’ of the fallen. Meanwhile Ware, in all likelihood oblivious to the poem, was doing his best to rectify this.

McCrae was, more urgently, calling on those who survived to carry on the fight, for if they did not, the dead would ‘not sleep’. 1916 The number of casualties continued to grow and by 1916 huge efforts were being made to handle the injured and maimed. Stately homes were being converted into convalescence homes and new treatments were being tried to combat the horrendous injuries which had been inflicted.

At a public meeting held in Glasgow City Chambers in March 1916, the proposal to establish a hospital in the West of Scotland for amputees wounded in battle was approved. Sir William Macewen, Professor of Surgery at the University of Glasgow, led the project – inspiring others to rally to the cause, including Sir Thomas Dunlop, the then Lord Provost of Glasgow. Such was the overwhelming support for the Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers, as it was named, that £100,000 (the equivalent of over £6 million in today’s money) was contributed within a few weeks and which doubled within the year. In October 1916 the first wounded patients were admitted to the pioneering hospital, which led the way and the world in the design, manufacture and fitting of artificial limbs. By 1919, the hospital had treated over 5,500 servicemen and fitted 5,250 artificial limbs.

Since 1916, and now known simply as Erskine, they have cared for over 90,000 veterans.

Erskine remains pioneering in its delivery of compassionate care and support to over 800 veterans and their spouses each year. In addition to having four care homes in Scotland, the charity also provides accommodation, training and social

Poppy field in the Somme. field in the Poppy support to Scottish veterans and their families.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 5 26/11/2018 16:13 1917 Sir Fabian was acutely aware that all the nations of the British Empire were contributing Servicemen and women to the war effort and suffering casualties in equal measure and he was therefore keen that this was reflected in the work of his organisation. Encouraged by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) he submitted a memorandum to the Imperial War Conference. In May 1917, the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) was established by Royal Charter, with the Prince serving as President and Ware as Vice-Chairman.

The Commission set the highest standards from the outset. They appointed three leading architects – Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Reginald Blomfield – to design and construct the cemeteries and memorials. Rudyard Kipling, probably the most eminent writer of the day, was chosen as the Commission’s literary advisor on appropriate inscriptions.

Ware asked Sir Frederic Kenyon, Director of the British Museum, to evaluate and comment on the differing approaches of the three architects. The report Kenyon presented to the Commission in November 1918 emphasised equality as the core ideology, outlining the principles the Commission still abides by today:

• Each of the dead should be commemorated by name on a headstone or memorial • Headstones and memorials should be permanent • Headstones should be uniform • There should be no distinction made on account of rank, race or creed

While the war was ongoing it remained the responsibility of the Army to bury and register the dead, with the IWGC taking over thereafter to create permanent cemeteries and memorials to commemorate them in perpetuity.

When it was safe to do so, battlefields were searched for bodies. If an identity tag was present the man could be buried in a cemetery under a wooden cross bearing his name, awaiting a permanent headstone after the war. Without an identity tag, those finding and moving the remains would record any details that might distinguish one man from another, including uniform fabric and style, buttons or badges. This is why, for example, a headstone might read ‘a Lieutenant of the Warwickshire Regiment Known Unto God’.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 6 26/11/2018 16:13 Cemeteries created during the war and very close to the fighting might appear disorganised today, with graves in a more untidy arrangement rather than even blocks of straight lines of headstones. Dangerous conditions for burying, or lack of space, could result in men being buried in very close proximity to one another. Those who perished in the same tank, or aircraft, may have died in a such as a way that they would be buried together.

Cemeteries created during the war but further away from the front lines, such as those near medical facilities and camps, were more organised in blocks and rows, and were less likely to have unnamed people buried in them.

Detail from an original plan of Tyne Cot Military Cemetery by Sir Herbert Baker.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 7 26/11/2018 16:13 1918 In January 1918 a further horror inflicted itself on the world – the ‘Spanish Flu’. This flu pandemic raged globally from January 1918 to December 1920 and was probably the deadliest ever influenza pandemic. It is estimated to have infected some 500 million people worldwide and resulted in the deaths of tens of millions (some 3 to 5% of the world’s population at the time). It remains one of the most devastating natural disasters in human history.

Whilst most influenza outbreaks target juvenile, elderly or already weakened patients, the 1918 pandemic predominantly killed previously healthy young adults. Soldiers at the peak of physical fitness were also particularly prone to the disease.

For those soldiers whose peak had been damaged not by viruses but by gas and shells and shrapnel, returning home presented them with a very different country to that which they had left.

Three hundred thousand ex-Servicemen were unemployed – many for lack of suitable jobs, many because they were unable to take up employment.

From 1915 onwards various initiatives were launched and measures taken to tackle the problems, including pensions bills and acts, a King’s Fund and local associations formed by soldiers and sailors but there was little co-operation between groups and no over-riding vision.

With little alternative, many ex-Servicemen turned to the illegal activity of begging in public. In June 1918 one such discharged soldier, James Hay, was arrested in Edinburgh and charged with this offence.

Private Hay, who had only one leg having lost the other on active service in France had also been gassed twice and wore two wound stripes on his tunic, was still wearing his uniform when he was sentenced to 30 days in prison.

Before the war he had worked as a slater’s labourer but, unable to climb a ladder or keep his balance, he now found himself unemployed. He was penniless and had a wife and two starving children to support. ‘What else am I supposed to do?’ he asked the Court.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 8 26/11/2018 16:13 Hay’s plight was in no way isolated and his story serves to illustrate what was a growing problem as more and more disabled and traumatised Servicemen returned home without financial provision and without any chance of finding employment. Although the problem was not a new one.

Before World War I distressed and bandaged soldiers were a common sight on the streets of British towns and cities. Discharged and disabled soldiers wearing Crimean and South African medal ribbons were often found begging for money to buy food or to pay the rent.

Public opinion was split on whether they were a feckless, undeserving liability or hapless victims of an uncaring and ungrateful State.

However it was the scale of casualties from World War I that was so different and overwhelming.

‘National disgrace’, was the term used by James Myles Hogge, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Edinburgh East, who described the existing welfare arrangements as ‘a muddle and a mess’.

During the 1918 General Election campaign Prime Minister David Lloyd George promised a comprehensive programme of reform to address grave national shortcomings in the provision of housing, health and education. ‘What is our task?’ he demanded rhetorically. His answer ‘To make Pensions appeals of Britain a fit country for heroes to live in!’ ex-Servicemen. Just as Sir Fabian Ware had taken it upon himself to sort out the huge problem of the dead, someone was required to take on the equally huge problem of those who had survived and that someone was, for the moment, waiting in the wings.

Meanwhile, the humble poppy that John McCrae had brought to the public’s attention in his homage to the fallen was about to take centre stage in the Western World.

On 28th January 1918 McCrae died of pneumonia at Boulogne-sur-Mer in France. Sadly he never saw his poem re-published, nor was he aware of the lasting impact it was to have.

On 9th November, just two days before the ceasefire, his poem appeared in the American magazine Ladies Home Journal with a new title ‘We shall not sleep’.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 9 26/11/2018 16:13 When Moina Michael, a secretary at the New York YMCA, read it she was struck by its poignancy and took the final verse as a personal challenge. She made a vow never to ‘break faith’ and resolved always to wear a red poppy to remember the dead. She also wrote her own heartfelt response:

Oh! you who sleep in Flanders Fields, Sleep sweet - to rise anew! We caught the torch you threw And holding high, we keep the Faith With All who died.

We cherish, too, the poppy red That grows on fields where valor led; It seems to signal to the skies That blood of heroes never dies, But lends a lustre to the red Of the flower that blooms above the dead In Flanders Fields.

And now the Torch and Poppy Red We wear in honor of our dead. Fear not that ye have died for naught; We’ll teach the lesson that ye wrought In Flanders Fields.

A representative from the French YMCA, Madame Anna Guérin, was in New York for a conference and, hearing the story of Moina Michael’s adoption of the poppy as a symbol of Remembrance, saw the huge fundraising and employment potential. On her return to France she set about organising women, children and disabled veterans to make artificial poppies to raise money for the devastated areas close to the front line.

The symbolism and poignancy of the poppy were immediately grasped by the French people and enabled all and sundry to make a small contribution to the huge task of rehabilitation by way of a modest donation. Wearing the poppy was a mark of respect for those who had given their lives – those whose lot it was not to witness the ceasefire.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 10 26/11/2018 16:13 The Armistice took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. With hostilities over and the guns finally quiet the work of the Imperial War Graves Commission began in earnest. With land for cemeteries and memorials in countries such as Belgium, France and Turkey guaranteed, the enormous task of finding and burying those not yet laid to rest, recording the details of all of the dead, and creating permanent cemeteries, headstones and memorials began.

Graves Registration, or Graves Concentration, units searched and cleared the battlefields. They became expert at not only finding remains but in searching for any clue that would put a name to a set of remains. These units buried or re- buried remains, from battlefield locations and from small cemeteries that were being cleared to return land to its owners, into cemeteries which would now be made permanent.

As post-war burials were made to a planned layout they are neat, straight and in blocks or other deliberate shapes. Cemetery plans, available from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website, for sites such as Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium and Serre Road Cemetery No. 2 in France, show how two such concentration cemeteries look. Both have small, war-time sections, around which a much larger cemetery was later created.

Two crosses in Hooge Crater Cemetery.

The graves belong to Captain Noel Esmond Lee and Major Tom Lowes Bourdillon MC both 8th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, death 24th August 1917.

Captain Lee is now commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial and Major Bourdillon is buried in Tyne Cot Cemetery.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 11 26/11/2018 16:13 1919-1921 It took seven months after the Armistice until the official terms were finally signed and sealed at the Treaty of Versailles on 28th June 1919. Peace at last, and never more welcome, but four years of total warfare across most of the world had taken its toll. As described above, Servicemen and women returning to Britain came home to some harsh realities.

More than a million British and Empire Forces were among the war dead. A further 1.25 million were injured, a fifth of them disabled for life. Half a million women and children were widowed and fatherless. The 4 million British Armed Forces still in uniform returned home to find shortages of jobs and housing and there was no support for those who could not work because of injury or disability. Most soldiers had little or no money in their pockets. The war had cost a fortune and the economy was in ruins. Recession was on the horizon and to cruelly compound all this the country – indeed the world – was in the grip of the worst flu epidemic on record.

As if in answer to Lloyd George’s call to make Britain ‘a country fit for heroes’ one man did step forth from the shadows to drive this vision forward.

Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front, now stepped out of the wings, having already pressed the War Secretary to provide pensions for disabled officers and their dependants.

Ironically, officers were worse off than enlisted men. Traditionally officers joining the army had an independent income. The First World War conflict however had required many more officers than previously, and thousands were commissioned from the ranks and from men outwith the ‘gentleman’ class.

Men who had led troops in battle now found themselves destitute, with nowhere to turn for assistance. Some were reduced to peddling matches and bootlaces in the street. Haig took up their cause. In January 1920 he successfully united a number of smaller organisations to form the Officers’ Association and raised over three quarters of a million pounds – a not insignificant amount even nowadays but still far short of what was needed.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 12 26/11/2018 16:13 Haig, who was not a natural orator, preferring where possible to avoid public speaking, spent most of 1920 travelling up and down the country to continue to champion the cause. In August 1920 a meeting took place at the Royal United Services Institute in London. Delegations from various groups and parties gathered to discuss a process of integration and the formation of a new non-political structure dedicated to the representation of all ex-Servicemen and their families, regardless of rank. The response was all but unanimous and on 14th May 1921, at a Unity Conference in London, the draft constitution was approved. The Prince of Wales was elected Patron and Earl Haig was appointed National President. The next morning wreaths were laid at London’s Cenotaph to symbolise the birth of the ‘British Legion’.

Scotland held its own Unity Conference in Edinburgh on 18th June. Office Bearers were elected and premises secured at 28 Rutland Square – a full two weeks before the official launch of the Legion in England. Scottish representatives had pre- empted that launch as they had objected to Scotland being designated an ‘Area’ and having to pay an annual ‘Affiliation Fee’ to London.

On the official launch of the British Legion, it’s Scottish Executive accordingly renamed their organisation ‘The British Legion Scotland’ and proceeded to follow an independent course.

The Legion was now responsible for more than ten million men, women and their dependants. They started to lobby for improvements in legislation but this was a long-term commitment – first they needed to raise money for immediate relief. Reserves from the United Services Fund were used to acquire ‘social centres and meeting rooms’ for all the many branches – including those in Scotland. At a wider national level the Legion undertook to:

• Inaugurate and maintain comradeship; • Inculcate a sense of loyalty and service; • Perpetuate the memory of those who died in the service of their country; • Endeavour to obtain preferential treatment for ex-Servicemen and women in all matters relating to employment; • Assist ex-Servicemen, ex-Servicewomen and the widows, children and dependants of those who have served in relation to pensions; • Promote the welfare of the women and children left by those who fell in the War, and to assist them to visit the graves of relatives; • Assist serving men in connection with their return to civil life, and promote the interests of their dependants while they are serving; • Promote and support schemes for the education of ex-Servicemen and ex- Servicewomen and their children.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 13 26/11/2018 16:13 All this would require a substantial on-going fundraising capability. Aware that many disabled Servicemen were very young, Haig said that, in paying its ‘debt’ to them, the Nation was embarking on a commitment that might last 70 years or more.

Haig’s Officers’ Association (OA) remained independent of the British Legion and had a Royal Charter to protect its extensive funds, which were specifically for the benefit of commissioned ranks.

Despite this, Haig was able to justify considerable disbursements to the Legion to help with initial administrative costs. In addition, the OA also handed over the assets and organisation of the ‘Great War Remembrance League’, set up by Haig in 1919, in order to solicit regular donations from the public. In this way the Legion inherited a working appeals office and a highly motivated staff and on 4th August 1921, the anniversary of Britain’s declaration of war, it issued its first request for donations. A total of £10,400 was raised – the equivalent of almost half a million pounds today.

The British Legion Pensions Appeals Service was started, to support soldiers with the many claims for compensation for injuries sustained in the war. As Jack Alexander, author of ‘McCrae’s Battalion’ writes: “It was a promising start. But how much better might the Legion do if it had a symbol – a recognisable device that defined both the organisation’s troubled origins and its hopes for a brighter, better future?”

In 1919 and 1920 Armistice Day was commemorated on a local level. War Memorials had begun to appear across the country and they provided a focal point for communities to gather and remember. In 1921 Haig announced that he was keen for 11 November to become a real, nationwide, ‘Remembrance Day’ and he set up the Earl Haig Fund as a mechanism for raising money both to commemorate and to support veterans.

At the same time it was suggested that everyone wear a ‘Flanders Poppy’ as ‘a sign of reverence to the many thousands of our heroes who rest beneath this flower in Flanders fields’.

This idea having first originated in New York some three years earlier was also taken up in France, where Earl Haig met Anna Guérin to learn of how French widows and children were selling silk poppies to raise funds for veterans and orphaned children. Haig recognised the symbolic potential of the poppy and now began to champion it as a national and lasting symbol of Remembrance.

For almost 100 years the poppy has been such a symbol of Remembrance and of the impact upon the Armed Forces both at times of war and during their peacekeeping duties.

It has helped raise millions of pounds to support the needs of veterans and their families. the 1920s. from ex-Servicemen A selection of charities supporting

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 14 26/11/2018 16:13 A selection of charities supporting ex-Servicemen from the 1920s. from ex-Servicemen A selection of charities supporting

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 15 26/11/2018 16:14 1918 - 1920 The ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic

The pandemic was nicknamed the ‘Spanish Flu’ as the press in neutral Spain had no recourse to hold back on reports of its virulence, whereas the papers on both sides of the conflict minimised early reports of illness and mortality as a way of trying to preserve morale.

This unhindered reportage led to the false impression that Spain was particularly hard hit and by default was the originating country.

Current estimates indicate that over 50 million people died.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 16 26/11/2018 16:14 1926 Originally made in France, poppies were later made at Richmond in Surrey. However there were not enough available for purchase in Scotland and so, in response to this, Lady Haig suggested to her husband that poppies should be produced in Scotland, for the Scottish people, and that they should be made by disabled ex-Servicemen. The Haigs were an old Borders family and thus had a special connection with Scotland. Lady Haig also suggested that the Scottish Poppy should have four petals and no leaf, which has since became the iconic design for the Scottish Poppy and which differs from the poppies of the other British and Commonwealth nations.

So in 1926, Lady Haig’s Poppy Factory was set up in Edinburgh as part of the Earl Haig Fund Scotland. It has remained in continuous service ever since, with 41 disabled veterans still hand-producing over 5 million poppies, around 18,000 wreaths and various other Remembrance items annually. As well as red poppies the factory makes Remembrance symbols representing different faiths.

Various colonies of the British Empire provided large numbers of men to fight alongside the British Armed Services, with India recruiting approximately 1 to 5 million men.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 17 26/11/2018 16:14 1928 Earl Haig died of a heart attack in London on 29th January 1928, aged 66, and his body lay in state in Westminster Abbey.

The Times, on 4th February, wrote:

“ Great crowds lined the streets ... come to do honour to the chief who had sent thousands to the last sacrifice when duty called for it, but whom his war-worn soldiers loved as their truest advocate and friend.”

Haig’s reputation has been a matter of controversy in the decades that followed World War I, but at the time of his death he was seen as the man who had won the war. He was also the man who had spent the last ten years of his life ensuring that those whom he had commanded and who had survived were looked after as well as they could be.

His body was brought to St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh before being buried at Dryburgh Abbey in the Scottish Borders, close to his ancestral home, where his grave is marked by a simple standard Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission white headstone. Lady Haig died in 1939 and her body was laid to rest beside her husband.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 18 26/11/2018 16:14 1960 In 1960 the Imperial War Graves Commission changed its name to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, to reflect the changed nature of the world. By then the organisation had recorded and buried the dead from World War II as well as World War I and today it is responsible for the commemoration of almost 1,700,000 members of the British Commonwealth forces who gave their lives in the two World Wars. It is an intergovernmental organisation comprising six member governments: Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

The graves and memorials of these men and women who came from all over the world not just the former British Empire, and who were of many faiths and of none, are found around the globe in over 150 countries and territories.

A group of convalescent Indian soldiers attending a medal investiture by King George V in the grounds of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton during 1915.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 19 26/11/2018 16:14 2006/2011 In 2006 the Earl Haig Fund Scotland rebranded to Poppyscotland and in June 2011 the charity merged with the Royal British Legion (TRBL), creating the largest Armed Forces charity group operating throughout the UK.

In 2014 the Royal British Legion Scotland adopted the daily use name of Legion Scotland; no change was made in respect of the aims and objectives of the charity to those established in 1921.

Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland have a unique relationship and continue to work in partnership to address the needs of and to support veterans and their families in Scotland.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 20 26/11/2018 16:14 2018 World War I was not ‘the war to end all wars’. In addition to World War II there have been over 40 conflicts in the last 100 years in which the UK armed forces have been involved. There have only been two years in that 100 year period in which there have been no fatalities.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission graves can be found in 23,000 locations around the world, including unusual locations such as the Gaza Strip. It is estimated that the ground area they cover is equivalent to 994 football pitches and 885 gardeners are employed worldwide to tend the graves.

Some 12,000 bodies are buried at the Commission’s largest cemetery at Tyne Cot in Belgium. War Memorials to the very many whose bodies were never found or identified can all be visited, with two of the most famous being the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium and Thiepval Memorial on the Somme in France. The latter, which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, has been described as “the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century”. Some 72,000 dead are commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial.

The youngest buried casualty from World War I was aged 14. The oldest recorded was 67.

Some 250,000 under-age soldiers fought in the war.

The majority of the service personnel buried in the United Kingdom are men and women who died of wounds or illnesses in UK military hospitals, or in training accidents or air raids. Some were killed in action in the air or at sea in coastal waters where their bodies washed ashore. Others may have died at home and, in some of those cases, no-one realised at the time that they were entitled to a war grave, which is why the Commission is recording new names to this day. In countries such as France and Belgium, bodies are also still being found in the ground when excavations occur to build roads or erect new buildings.

There are over 21,000 war graves in Scotland, many of them are in beautiful locations. Whilst some city cemeteries hold over 100, others such as those on the small islands in the North and West of Scotland contain just one.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 21 26/11/2018 16:14 One hundred years on, just as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission continues to care for cemeteries and War Memorials and helps people to find the resting place of their relatives, so Legion Scotland and Poppyscotland continue to care for veterans from all conflicts and, in the name of Remembrance, continue to raise funds.

Legion Scotland’s aims are very similar to those established in 1921. It remains widely recognised as being the custodian of Remembrance. It has 153 branches and 26,000 members throughout Scotland.

A considerable part of Legion Scotland’s work is devoted to veterans and the power of comradeship and the benefits to a person’s wellbeing that come from the powerful bond of unique friendship that is born and manifested through service in the Armed Forces. Legion Scotland focuses on using this unique element of the military character to bond people into strong communities such as those witnessed following the World Wars.

Whilst it remembers those who have died through military service and fosters comradeship within the armed forces and the veterans’ community, Legion Scotland also supports those who have been injured as a result of service.

Poppyscotland continues to provide life-changing support to Scotland’s Armed Forces community. This comprises serving and former Servicemen and women from the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, both regular and reserve, and members of the Merchant Navy who have served in a commercial vessel in support of UK military operations. Poppyscotland also supports their families and this makes up the Armed Forces community, which numbers around 530,000 people in Scotland.

Although perhaps best known for running the Scottish Poppy Appeal, Poppyscotland works all year round to help those who have served and those still serving and their families at times of crisis and need by offering vital practical advice, assistance and funding.

The Scottish Poppy Appeal is supported by over 10,000 volunteers who help to raise almost £3 million each year. This, combined with other year-round fundraising, enables the charity to provide tailored support and funding to thousands of ex- Servicemen and women as well as other vital services and advice regarding employment, mobility, respite, housing and mental health support.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 23 26/11/2018 16:14 Legion Scotland at the centenary commemorations of the Battle of Arras.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 25 26/11/2018 16:14 Scottish National War Memorial

Scotland’s National War Memorial, within Edinburgh Castle, was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and opened on 14th July 1927 by HRH Edward, Prince of Wales, in the presence of HM King George V, Queen Mary and The Princess Royal. Although built in the immediate aftermath of World War I and established by Royal Charter, it now commemorates and records the sacrifice of Scots Servicemen and women from all Armed Services, the Dominions, Merchant Navy, Women’s Services, Nursing Services and civilian casualties of all wars from 1914 to date within its Rolls of Honour.

Able Cadet Samantha Kaszuba and Lt Col (Retd) Alan Hamilton MBE candle Bearers for the WW100 Scotland Commemorative Service for the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 2016 at the Shrine containing the Rolls of Honour within the Scottish National War Memorial.

The Rolls of Honour

A form of words was agreed which would provide the criteria for admission to the Rolls. Brought up to date this now reads:

“A member of the Armed Forces of the Crown or of the Merchant Navy who was either a Scotsman (i.e. born in Scotland or who had a Scottish born Father or Mother) or served in a Scottish Regiment and was killed or died as a result of a wound, injury or disease sustained (a) in a theatre of operations for which a medal has been or is awarded; or (b) whilst on duty in aid of the Civil Power.”

The original Rolls were compiled from War Office lists, from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and from lists supplied from the Commonwealth countries and elsewhere. Even today, names from World War I and other conflicts continue to be added.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 26 26/11/2018 16:14 The Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony took place in glorious sunshine on 14th July 1927. As The King had made it his policy not to open any War Memorials, the ceremony was performed by The Prince of Wales and The King and Queen were the first visitors.

Veterans and their relatives came from all over Scotland and the Commonwealth. Many of the veterans were limbless or blind. A vast crowd assembled on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle to witness the arrival of the Regimental Colours and Guidons and the Royal party. By using loud speakers they were all able to listen to the ceremony and join in the community singing of hymns.

Within the Shrine of the Memorial the Colonels of the Regiments and Services each laid their Rolls of Honour on the table beside the Casket gifted by the King and Queen. The King placed the Rolls of Honour in the Casket, all except the Roll for the Women’s Services which was deposited by The Queen. The Casket, containing over 100,000 names, was then closed.

The Scottish National War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle. The Continuing Story

In the years after the opening ceremony thousands have flocked to the Memorial. Many inconsolable widows and relatives regularly visited on the anniversary of the death of a loved one, to open the appropriate Roll of Honour and run a hand over their name.

Following World War II a further 50,000 names were added to the Rolls of Honour.

Today, the fabric of the Memorial is cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, whilst the maintenance of the Rolls of Honour and the running of day to day activities is the responsibility of the Trustees and Staff of the Scottish National War Memorial.

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Wolffe_AFTERMATH_1.indd 27 26/11/2018 16:14 With grateful thanks to the following:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Erskine Poppyscotland Royal British Legion Scotland Scottish National War Memorial Stuart Delves Wilma Shalliday To the best of our knowledge, all images in this booklet are in the public domain unless otherwise stated below. Front cover: © Erskine Inside front cover, and pages 2, 3, 11, 19, 28 © Imperial War Museum, London Page 4 © Cris Close Photography Pages 7 and back cover © Commonwealth War Graves Commission Pages 9 and 15 © National Records of Scotland Pages 17 and 20 © Poppyscotland Pages 23, 24, 26 © Legion Scotland

Designed by Wolffe www.WW100Scotland.com

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