Interesting grave - Corps of Military Police

[gurkharifles]

Just found this on the "In From the Cold" project web site - which makes the criteria very clear.

Below are set out the basic criteria for a serviceman or woman to be accepted for war grave status and commemoration by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Only casualties from the two world wars can qualify for CWGC commemoration.

Qualifying Categories

All personnel fall into one of the following three categories.

Category One:- Commonwealth men and women who were still in military service at the time of their death. These personnel automatically qualify for commemoration provided they died within the qualifying dates as follows:

First World War - 4th August 1914 to 31st August 1921
Second World War - 3rd September 1939 to 31st December 1947

The location of their death and the cause of death are immaterial to their qualification. They could have been killed in action, died of wounds, died of illness or by accident, died due to suicide or homicide or suffered judicial execution. CWGC treats all casualties equally and all must be commemorated under the terms of their Royal Charter.

Category Two:- Personnel who had been discharged from or retired from the military before their deaths during the same qualifying periods of an injury or illness caused by or exacerbated by their service during the same qualifying period. These cases qualify only if it is PROVEN to the authorities' satisfaction that death was service attributable.

Category Three:- War grave status and CWGC commemoration is restricted to personnel serving in a Commonwealth armed force but members of certain civilian organisations may qualify if they meet various additional criteria.

Each organisation has to meet slightly varying criteria but essentially death has to have occurred due to a war related cause and whilst serving overseas though subsequent service-related deaths can also qualify. Again, death must occur within the qualifying dates though these sometimes cover a shorter period than the standard ones above depending on the organisation.

Examples of qualifying civilian organisations are:-

First World War – Mercantile Marine, British Red Cross Society, YMCA and Voluntary Aid Detachments.
Second World War – Merchant Navy, Home Guard, War Correspondents and BOAC.

The above are not exhaustive lists by any means and several other organisations also qualify. Because of the additional requirements for their qualification, it means that not all members of these organisations will qualify for CWGC commemoration even if they died during the qualifying periods. There are also some notable exceptions to the list of such organisations whose members cannot qualify under any circumstances.

[Wobbler]

I did some digging on Ancestry and found that the Register of Soldiers’ Effects record is there, as shown below, but curiously it shows his service number as 671594, which does not tie in with the “439867” shown on his transfer to the Labour Corps. Surely this has to be the same Herbert Francis Wear given that both Congresbury and mother Harriett are clearly written on this record.

I cannot, however, find any other information regarding his military service on Ancestry but as we all know, so many WW1 records did not survive. Medal Index Cards survived but, again, I cannot find one for him or would he, perhaps, not have qualified? The only Herbert Wear I can find in the Labour Corps is a Private with the number 216167.

You can also find him listed on the Find A Grave site, although this does not provide any more information other than some more photographs of his grave and headstone:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...t-francis-wear

I have certainly enjoyed losing myself in this thread for a couple of hours today, most interesting.

[gurkharifles]

Thanks Martin - I just found the gravestone more poignant given the date - I did find one document that said "Military Foot Police - Military Police Corps" - I wonder whether that was the full title? Tim

[dumdum]

Hi

Does anyone have an example of the lapel badge for The Imperial War Graves Commission? Missed out on one a few years back but would love to see a photo of one as I forgot to save it....

Oval silver(ed?) badge with a transparent green enamel if I recall.

Better still if you wanted to sell one for a daft price!

[Wobbler]

Originally Posted by dumdum

Hi

Does anyone have an example of the lapel badge for The Imperial War Graves Commission? Missed out on one a few years back but would love to see a photo of one as I forgot to save it....

Oval silver(ed?) badge with a transparent green enamel if I recall.

Better still if you wanted to sell one for a daft price!

I don’t have one, sorry, but I contacted the CWGC and asked if they had any records of such a badge and they have just sent me these two photos of one that they keep in their archive, if it helps: