The unknown soldier at Westminster Abbey

 

Though over a million people visit the grave every year, so few know its simple yet powerful backstory, a journey charged with intrigue and emotion. In truth it’s a rather complex story, but we’ll try to summarise it here…

 

At the end of WW1, there was so much widespread grief across British society ‒ with none of the dead to be repatriated ‒ that it was decided that just one unidentified and unidentifiable serviceman’s body should be returned ‘home’ and be buried amongst kings in Westminster Abbey to represent all the war dead. He would be a focal point for mourning, they said, something to bring a modicum of comfort to the mothers, the fathers, the siblings and the sweethearts whose boy never came home.

 

Tasked with selecting a body to play this part in eternal remembrance, Brigadier General Louis John Wyatt had four decomposed British servicemen’s corpses brought to his headquarters in St-Pol-sur-Ternoise (now just an hour’s drive from Calais) on November 8th 1920 and he chose one at random at the stroke of midnight. 

 

“I had no idea even of the area from which the body I selected had come; no one else can know it”. Wyatt wrote many years later, in an attempt to cease endless speculation on who the Unknown Warrior might actually be.

 

The body of the Unknown Warrior was then placed in a coffin and sent to Boulogne-sur-Mer for a ceremonious passage across the Channel on board HMS Verdun to a welcome from thousands of silent, grief stricken mourners lining the Dover cliffs and quaysides awaiting the arrival. Indeed mourners lined the entire onward train route to Victoria Station in London where there was to be an overnight vigil before his burial the next day. It’s rather moving, is it not, to think that many of those mourners, particularly those whose loved one was ‘missing’ with ‘no known grave’ were no doubt believing in their hearts that The One in that flag-draped coffin was their own son. 

 

Fast-forward to Northern France in the 21st century and Remembrance is something we still live side by side with ‒ and we will always endeavour to perpetuate its message of hope and peace for future generations. 

 

This Wednesday 11th November 2020 ‒ Armistice Day itself ‒ Westminster Abbey will be televising a special service to commemorate 100 years since the Unknown Warrior was laid to rest there  https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-events/special-services/2020/november/a-service-to-mark-the-centenary-of-the-burial-of-the-unknown-warrior 

 

More evidence has come to light about the Unknown Warrior’s story in this centenary year alone. And what happened to the remaining three bodies ‒ those not selected that midnight hour in St Pol sur Ternoise ‒ is another spellbinding story in its own right. Mark Scott who made a chance discovery hidden away in a loft for almost a century tells the incredible story in his new book Among the Kings. 

 

Whether or not you have an interest in military history or a WW1 soldier in your own family, getting on the Remembrance Trail is something that has a powerful impact on anyone who visits. Hundreds of memorials, museums and cemeteries dot the Northern France landscapes such as the sky-scraping Thiepval memorial (memorial to those soldiers whose remains were never recovered or identified) and the award-winning CWGC Experience visitor centre where you can discover how the Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains its memorials and cemeteries, and how remains are identified. More than 40 sets of remains are still recovered per year. https://www.french-weekendbreaks.co.uk/battlefield-tours-france 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Westminster Abbey’s Unknown Warrior will be in our thoughts this Wednesday, as will all those soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. Lest we forget.

 

Article written by Lucy SHRIMPTON, Travel Content Writer, posted on 9th November 2020