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At
the west end of the Nave of Westminster Abbey is the grave of
the Unknown Warrior, whose body was brought from France to be
buried here on 11th November 1920. The grave, which contains
soil from France, is covered by a slab of black Belgian marble
from a quarry near Namur.
Around the main inscription are four texts:
(top) THE LORD KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS,
(sides) GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS
UNKNOWN AND YET WELL KNOWN, DYING AND
BEHOLD WE LIVE,
(base) IN CHRIST SHALL ALL BE MADE ALIVE.
Selecting the Unknown Warrior
The idea of such a burial seems first to have come to a
chaplain at the Front, the Reverend David Railton (1884-1955),
when he noticed in 1916 in a back garden at Armentières, a
grave with a rough cross on which were pencilled the words "An
Unknown British Soldier". In August 1920 he wrote to the Dean
of Westminster, Herbert Ryle, through whose energies this
memorial was carried into effect. The body was chosen from
unknown British servicemen exhumed from four battle areas, the
Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres. (some sources say six
bodies but confirmed accounts say four).
The remains were brought to the chapel at St. Pol on the night
of 7th November 1920. The General Officer in charge of troops
in France and Flanders, Brigadier General L.J. Wyatt, with
Colonel Gell, went into the chapel alone, where the bodies on
stretchers were covered by Union Flags. They had no idea from
which area the bodies had come. General Wyatt selected one and
the two officers placed it in a plain coffin and sealed it.
The other three bodies were reburied. General Wyatt said they
were re-buried at the St Pol cemetery but Lt. (later Major
General Sir) Cecil Smith says they were buried beside the
Albert-Baupaume road to be discovered there by parties
searching for bodies in the area.
In the morning Chaplains of the Church of England, the Roman
Catholic Church and Non-Conformist churches held a service in
the chapel before the body was escorted to Boulogne to rest
overnight. The next day the coffin was placed inside another
which had been sent over specially from England made of
two-inch thick oak from a tree which had grown in Hampton
Court Palace garden, lined with zinc. It was covered with the
flag that David Railton had used as an altar cloth during the
War (known as the Ypres or Padre's Flag, which now hangs in St
George's Chapel). Within the wrought iron bands of this coffin
had been placed a 16th century crusader's sword from the Tower
of London collection. The inner coffin shell was made by
Walter Jackson of the firm of Ingall, Parsons & Clive
Forward at Harrow, north London and the larger coffin was
supplied by the undertakers in charge of the arrangements,
Nodes & Son.
The coffin plate bore the inscription:
"A British Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914-1918
for King and Country."
The ironwork and coffin plate were made by D.J. Williams of
the Brunswick Ironworks at Caernarfon in Wales. The destroyer
HMS Verdun, whose ship's bell was presented to the Abbey and
now hangs near the grave, transported the coffin to Dover and
it was then taken by train to Victoria station in London where
it rested overnight.
The Burial
On the morning of 11th November the coffin was placed, by the
bearer party from the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, on a
gun carriage drawn by six black horses of the Royal Horse
Artillery. It then began its journey through the crowd-lined
streets, making its first stop in Whitehall where the Cenotaph
was unveiled by King George V. The King placed his wreath of
red roses and bay leaves on the coffin. His card read "In
proud memory of those Warriors who died unknown in the Great
War. Unknown, and yet well-known; as dying, and behold they
live. George R.I. November 11th 1920".
Then the carriage, with the escorting pall bearers (Admirals)
Lord Beatty, Sir Hedworth Meux, Sir Henry Jackson, Sir C.E.
Madden, (Field Marshals) Lord French, Lord Haig, Lord Methuen,
Sir Henry Wilson, (Generals) Lord Horne, Lord Byng, Albert
Farrar-Gatliff and Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Trenchard
followed by the King, members of the Royal Family and
ministers of State, made its way to the north door of
Westminster Abbey.
While the Cenotaph unveiling was taking place the Choir inside
the Abbey sang, unaccompanied, "O Valiant Hearts" (to the tune
Ellers). The hymn "O God our help in ages past" was sung by
the congregation and after prayers there was the two minutes
silence at 11am. The Contakion of the Faithful Departed was
then sung and the choir processed to the north porch to meet
the coffin, with the hymn "Brief life is here our portion"
being sung.
The shortened form of the Burial Service began with the
singing of the verses "I am the resurrection and the
life" (set by William Croft) and "Thou knowest Lord" (by Henry
Purcell) during the procession to the grave. The coffin was
borne to the west end of the nave through the congregation of
around 1,000 mourners and a guard of honour of 100 holders of
the Victoria Cross (from all three services). They were under
the command of Colonel Freyburg VC.
The grave was covered by an embroidered silk
funeral pall, which had been presented to the Abbey by the
Actors' Church Union in memory of their fallen comrades, with
the Padre's flag lying over this. Servicemen kept watch at
each corner of the grave while thousands of mourners filed
past. Wreaths brought over on HMS Verdun were added to others
around the grave. The Abyssinian cross, presented to the Abbey
at the time of the 1902 coronation, stood at the west end. The
Abbey organ was played while the church remained open to the
public. After the Abbey had closed for the night some of the
choristers went back into the nave and one later wrote "The
Abbey was empty save for the guard of honour stiffly to
attention, arms (rifles) reversed, heads bowed and quite still
- the whole scene illuminated by just four candles".
Special permission had been given to make a recording of the
service but only the two hymns were of good enough quality to
be included on the record, the first electrical recording ever
to be sold to the public (with profits going to the Abbey's
restoration fund).
The grave was filled in, using 100 sandbags of earth from the
battlefields, on 18th November and then covered by a temporary
stone with a gilded inscription on it:
"A BRITISH WARRIOR WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918 FOR
KING AND COUNTRY. GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS."
New stone and the Congressional Medal
On 11th November 1921 the present black marble stone was
unveiled at a special service. The stone (size 7 feet by 4
feet 3 inches, depth 6 inches) was supplied and lettered by Mr
Tomes of Acton and the brass for the inscription supplied by
Nash & Hull. Benjamin Colson carried out the brass work.
The Padre's Flag was also formerly dedicated at this service.
General Pershing, on behalf of the United States of America,
conferred the Congressional Medal of Honor on the Unknown
Warrior on 17th October 1921 and this now hangs in a frame on
a pillar near the grave. In October 2013 the Congressional
Medal of Honor Society presented the Society's official flag
to the Unknown Warrior and this is framed below the medal.
The body of the Unknown Warrior may be from any of the three
services, Army, Navy or Air Force, and from any part of the
British Isles, Dominions or Colonies and represents all those
who died who have no other memorial or known grave.
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