Where They Lie Now

The Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Cemeteries and Memorials and the Hertfordshire Men and Women Who Died

Here we look at some statistics for the spread of ‘official’ graves and commemorations for ‘our’ Hertfordshire men and women - those with a significant connection to Hertfordshire or the Herts Regiment. To do this we must, just for a moment, ignore the commemorations on the hundreds of local memorials across Hertfordshire. Then we can analyse the ‘official’ burial locations and memorial commemorations across the UK and the World.

Please note:

• The analysis appearing below is only the story ‘so far’. The numbers will inevitably change as research progresses, but the analysis results are interesting, nevertheless. They are perhaps surprising and may well prove to be indicative of the proportions as the numbers change as we progress.
• We acknowledge that the figures are incomplete, e.g. we have 1363 men and women for whom the location of their grave or commemoration has yet to be established. Of course this number will reduce as research is completed.
• Other errors or discrepancies include:
  • Men and women who we include who are not in the CWGC records, such as civilians or some who died after the war and may yet be added to CWGC records.
  • Individuals who have a Hertfordshire connection which we have not yet established.
  • There are still some duplicated records in our database which we combine as they are found, but at present will be double counted.

Perhaps to give more insight it is worth starting with some CWGC figures, albeit these do not relate solely to the Great War. They are responsible for 23,000 locations in 150 countries, including over 2,000 cemeteries (plus memorials). They have 1.1m headstones and commemorate 1.7m individuals.

It might easily be assumed that most lie overseas in France, Belgium (and perhaps Gallipoli) or, if they returned wounded, that they lie somewhere in Hertfordshire, but analysis proves this to be a naive assumption.

For Hertfordshire (to August 2023):

So far, we have 12,619 individuals recorded, of which the location of 1,363 has yet to be established. The 11,256 whose location has been established are buried or commemorated in 1,397 locations across 40 countries, including the 1,403 individuals in the UK.

Perhaps the UK figure of 1,403 is a surprisingly large, but it includes those commemorated on official (not local) memorials such as the Chatham and other Naval Memorials. They total 55 UK counties/CWGC locations, but Hertfordshire hold 707 individuals.

In Hertfordshire the 707 individuals are burials and are spread across 119 Hertfordshire cemeteries.

It seems amazing the men and women we research are spread so far and wide and not just across the United Kingdom but across the World too. Analysis of these appears below.

For a more information, or if you would like to help us photograph these locations and/or headstones, in the UK or further afield if you are on a Battlefield Tour or holiday or live overseas, then please visit these pages.