Well, I’ve been working on it for over two years, but now I have finally finished inputting names into my Portsmouth World War One Dead Database.
I’ve taken names from the Cenotaph in Guildhall Square, and local school, church, business and other organistion memorials. I’ve then cross-referenced each of these against the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. I also took names from the Portsmouth Section of the National Roll, and the Roll of Honour in Gates’s ‘Portsmouth in the Great War’. Then, as an extra sweep, I used Geoff’s WW1 search engine to search for any extra ‘strays’ from Portsmouth who might not appear on any other memorial.
The total number I have come up with, so far, is 5,824 men and women from Portsmouth who died between August 1914 and December 1921. Some of them do not appear on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, but as there is sufficient evidence that they died of the effects of war service, I have included them.
My Database includes names sourced from the following:
- 4,416 – Guildhall Square Cenotaph
- 688- Geoff’s WW1 Search Engine
- 287 – Parish Church Memorials
- 280 – Gates ‘Portsmouth in the Great War’
- 87 – National Roll
- 44 – Portsmouth Grammar School Memorial
- 7 – Handley’s Memorial
- 5 – Royal Mail Memorial
- 5 – City of Portsmouth Passenger Transport Depot Memorial
- 3 – Portsmouth Gas Company Memorial
- 2 – Southern Grammar School
That’s 1,408 men from Portsmouth who died during the Great War, who – for whatever reason – do not appear on the Cenotaph in Guildhall Square. Hopefully I can give them some recognition for their sacrifice.
Sadly, Great War Casualties are that much more difficult to identify than their descendants from the Second World War. There are so much more of them, and if, for example, you’re looking for an ‘A. Smith’, you have literally hundreds to search through. Considering that there are so few details for many of them, it does seem, sadly, that we will never be able to definitively identify all of them.
At present, I have been unable to positively identify 1,068 of the names on the Database. I will of course be trying to narrow down this number. I do have information about some of them – I know what service each of them served with, and in some cases other information such as a ship or Regiment, or a Parish Church Memorial. And there are ways I can try to find some of them – service records, directories, for example, or birth and marriage records.
I’ve found a multitude of problems in matching names on war memorials to names on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. In most cases the War Memorial only gives a surname and initials. As I mentioned, there are few details on some entries, so matching, for example, a ‘B. Jones’ on the memorial is hard if there are 100+ ‘B. Jones’ on the CWGC. Another problem I have come up against is that of the humble spelling mistake or misheard transcription. Particularly in the case of complex surnames, they sometimes occur differently on memorials and on the CWGC.
Another problem that is by no means confined to the Great War period is that of the ‘nom de guerre’. We’ve all had a relative who, for whatever reason, is known by either their middle name, or a name that does not appear on their birth certificate. Thus – and this is hypothetical – somebody called Norman David Smith might be on the memorial as ‘D. Smith’, as his family might have called him David. Or, in some cases, his family and friends might have called him Frank, and he might have gone on the war memorial as that. Very confusing to the researcher!
In the next few week’s I’ll start to post some articles summarising the statistics that come from the Database, much as I did for my WW2 research a few years ago.
Related articles
- Portsmouth’s WW1 Merchant Seamen (dalyhistory.wordpress.com)
- The officer class of Southsea (dalyhistory.wordpress.com)
- Portsmouth’s Great War Emigrants and Immigrants (dalyhistory.wordpress.com)
- Portsmouth and Jutland: the forgotten battle? (dalyhistory.wordpress.com)
- Sergeant James Stevenson DCM MM (dalyhistory.wordpress.com)
- Accidents and illness in war time (dalyhistory.wordpress.com)
Great details about your research! I posted a link to this on our blog.
Thanks! The scary thing is, I’ve just discovered that I haven’t actually finished – I’ve double checked the roll of honour in W.G. Gates’s ‘Portsmouth and the Great War’ and found a load more names missing from my database – this will probably take numbers up to 6,500+
“Lest we forget” is not always a slogan, or a promise. Sometimes it’s an order!
Hello James, l have been working on the Portsmouth Fallen for quite a while now, and the same as you have found over 6,000 and seems to be to rise weekly. My main aim is to built a database and also visit as many of the fallen’s last resting place as possible (obviously the ones in Iraq will prove a challenge !!). Anyway just want to wish you good luck with your book.
Alan
Hi Alan, thanks for your comment. Every time I think I have finished my database I find another source and end up adding more names. I’ve almost given up ever building a definitive database, as there are so many men on the CWGC who have very few details, it would be impossible to say that I had definitely found every man from Portsmouth.
I’ve heard this week that the publishers are very keen to commission the book, so hopefully it will materialise, all being well, sometime towards the end of 2013 in time for the anniversary commemorations. I’m now working through the database that I have to pick out some interesting stories to work on.
James