Tutbury Book of Remembrance
After the Armistice
At 11 am on 11/11/1918 the Armistice came into effect and the guns fell silent. For that day, the CWGC (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) records 908 Commonwealth deaths, 285 in France, 42 in Belgium, 266 in the UK and the rest in 33 other countries (including 18 in the Russian Federation!). These would be a combination of those killed in action and those who died of wounds and disease..
After 11/11/1918, CWGC records a further 78,314 deaths up to 31 August 1921 –
19,269 in 1918
38,437 in 1919
14,670 in 1920
5,938 in 1921
Some died in the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), some in the 3rd Afghan War (1919) but most died of their wounds from WWI or illness. 41% died in the UK, 12% in France and 10% in Iraq. A further 88 countries saw the deaths of Commonwealth personnel during that period.
For large number of Commonwealth families, Armistice Day was not the last day of family deaths. For Tutbury, it was Harry Walker who died in 1923 in Canada (see Harry Walker Appeal) – his family was in Tutbury in the UK.
For even larger numbers, living with the consequences of war would continue for the rest of their lives, either for the wounded themselves or those looking after them.
European countries also had the same issues plus they had their countries to physically rebuild; this was the foundation of a forgotten era of British philanthropy, “The British League of Help for the Devastated Areas in France” – more on this in the future.
Welcome to the website of the Tutbury Book of Remembrance, dedicated to the people of the Tutbury area who served and those who died during the two World Wars; the origins of the Book can be found on the About page.
Three Volumes of this book, by three different authors, have been published so far, another one about those who served in WWI is in preparation (your help is needed) and three more are planned – see “The Books” for more details.
The 1st edition, of what turned out to be Volume I – Remembering the Fallen of WWI, was published in hardcopy and on this website (free) in time for Remembrance Day 2012; the printed version was also given free to relatives of the Fallen who had helped with our research and to churches, museums and schools in the area. Nearly 90 copies have been distributed.
The 1st edition of the book covered 50 Fallen from WWI, these being the 47 from the War Memorial plus W. Harry Walker from the tablet in St. Mary’s plus Alick Owen and Owen Bunting from a private Memorial in the churchyard.
It became apparent, as we were doing the research, that the number of WWI Fallen who should be included, i.e. those who died who had connections to Tutbury, was greater than those listed on the War Memorial, our starting point for the project.
Further WWI research commenced in early 2014 (2013 was taken up with the War Memorial Preservation project) to develop the 2nd Edition of the book. This added a further 40 names – these were men, probably born in Tutbury, known in the village but who moved away prior to the war and subsequently died in the war. The 2nd Edition was published in 4th quarter 2014 – a few copies are available at printing cost (£12.50) plus P&P.
Two more books came to light during this process and they have been included under the banner of “The Tutbury Book of Remembrance” – the first is about the WWII Tutbury hero Sgt C.W. Bull and the second is about the Fallen from Nestlé.
If you have any information about the men in the book, or information about the War Memorial at St. Mary’s, or indeed any information you think might be useful to us then please contact us – details can be found on the Contacts page.
Rick & Jane Nuth
Went the day well?
We died and never knew.
But, well or ill,
Freedom, we died for you.
Went the day well?
When you go home,
Tell them of us and say,
“For your tomorrow,
We gave our today”.
The verse is attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875–1958), and is thought to have been inspired by the epitaph written by Simonides to honour the Greeks who fell at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The Epitaph is carved on the memorial of the 2nd British Division in the Garrison Hill cemetery, Kohima
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This book is copyright ©2014 by Jane and Rick Nuth
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