ARRIVAL OF THE UNKNOWN WARRIOR
On the evening of 10th November 1920, a precious delivery was made to Platform 8 of London’s Victoria Station. It was a coffin containing the remains of a soldier killed during WW1. He was to be interred with the highest honours in Westminster Abbey the following day, his final resting place forever to be known as The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
It is probably one of the UK’s most famous war memorials, prominently sited by the Great West Door and never stepped upon. It has become a tradition, started by the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, who lost a brother in the war, to lay bridal bouquets on the black marble slab.
From battlefield to Abbey
The journey from unmarked battlefield grave to Westminster Abbey, taken by this unknown soldier, was a complex one. The idea came from a British Army chaplain, David Railton MC, who served on the Western Front and in 1916 was inspired by a makeshift cross he saw, marking the grave of ‘an unknown British soldier of the Black Watch’.
David Railton’s idea was that an anonymous military Everyman could represent the hundreds of thousands of sons, husbands, fathers, sweethearts, brothers and friends who went to war and were lost forever. Railton realised that it might give these bereaved people a degree of consolation and be a focus for their personal grief as well as that of the nation. The Unknown Warrior could be, just might be, the man who was missing from their lives. He was just as likely to be theirs as anyone else’s. Railton appealed to the Dean of Westminster who was enthusiastic. King George V was less keen, but eventually came around to it.
Preserving anonymity
Once the plan was put into action, the utmost care was taken to preserve the man’s anonymity. The nature of warfare in 1914-18 meant that many soldiers were never identified, their bodies frequently never even found. They all wore an identity tag – in the collection in the care of Loughborough Carillon there are several, but these could become lost or damaged in death.
However, we can be sure of certain things. He would have died early in the war, as Westminster Abbey requested that the body should be fully decomposed. Although the war was prosecuted in many parts of the world, the body was exhumed on the Western Front. This meant that he would be probably be a soldier, rather than a sailor or airman, and likely to be from the United Kingdom and not from elsewhere in the Empire.
Secrecy and rumour
The exhumations took place in great secrecy at different locations in France and Belgium, under the command of Brigadier General Louis Wyatt. Soldiers undertook what must have been a grisly task, although they’d probably had seen far worse on the battlefield. Several bodies were chosen but even their number is disputed. General agreement is that it was four. They were transported separately and laid in a French cemetery chapel, under armed guard, and one was selected by Wyatt at the sombre hour of midnight. As for the bodies which were not chosen, their final resting place also remains a mystery. Each is likely to be in a different military cemetery in France, but the records and personal accounts are inconclusive.
Due to this secrecy, no information was released about the process, inevitably leading to speculation that the authorities ‘knew’ who the unknown warrior was or where he was found. The high-ranking army personnel who were involved in the whole process were moved to issue denials.
Ceremony in the Abbey
On 11th November 1920 the coffin of the Unknown Warrior was taken with military splendour through London to Westminster Abbey, where the reinterment took place with respectful ceremony. The Cenotaph was unveiled on the same day, making it a huge national event. The coffin’s route was packed with civilian onlookers standing in thoughtful silence and newspaper reports noted that women were predominant.
Even on that day, there was speculation as to ‘who’ he was. The Telegraph ruminated that “he was probably born in a humble home and went to a Board School…possessing no wealth or influence.” Quite possibly. However, the Loughborough Carillon Roll of Honour, listing the 592 fallen men from WW!, shows that many also came from upper or middle-class backgrounds. In fact, those of the officer class were proportionally more likely to be killed than men from the ranks.
Could he even have been a Loughborough man? That would have been the hope in the hearts of the Loughborough people who had no grave as a focus for their sorrow. As it must have been for everyone whose loved ones were lost in the slaughter of 1914-1918.
