Primarily we seek to research and commemorate any man or woman, who died as a result of the Great War, and who has a significant connection to a Hertfordshire location(*1). We also seek to remember those who served and survived – see separate section below.
The way we record the names is intended to help Great War research and family members seeking to find out more about their relatives.
*1 Hertfordshire locations: include cities, towns, villages and hamlets that were located in Hertfordshire in 1914 or in Hertfordshire now. They also include boarding schools that took pupils from outside Hertfordshire.
We endeavour to list relevant people against all Hertfordshire locations, i.e., to which they have significant connection. A significant connection to a location includes:
- Listed on the location’s memorial.
- Born there.
- Lived there (at the time war was declared).
- Buried there.
- We never remove any names that are listed on a memorial. No matter how weak the connection – if it was felt to be right at the time it is not for us to judge with hindsight.
- Their name is listed on a family grave in a Hertfordshire location – this is a relatively recent addition. Our reasons for doing this are
- Although not a 'war memorial' those named are effectively memorialised in that location.
- The large number of photographs provided to us which show that these listings represent a significant number and, if the family felt their connection to the location or the family in that location was important to them and we feel that it is not for us to judge with hindsight.
Exceptions:
- Generally we do not include men whose only connection to a Hertfordshire location appears to be that they enlisted there. This is because some men travelled considerable distances to enlist, including from outside the County.
Note on the above: Some other projects include enlistment place as a location to be listed. To be clear we do not consider this to wrong, but after consideration is not what we have chosen to do. Our reasoning is that some men travelled considerable distances to enlist - including from outside the County – and therefore we do not consider this to be a significant connection.
- Despite the exceptions listed, we will err on the side of inclusion, if requested or if we think that the person named may not be listed elsewhere.
Survivors:
- We are keen to include survivors and do so, particularly when that information is provided to us by their family or when that information is provided or comes to light as part of other research., however because of the large numbers of men and women who died that we are currently researching, we do not routinely research survivors at this time.
The above being said where requested we will also include people who died after the war ended where their family or others reasonably believe that the cause of that death was the Great War.