Welcome to the Global War Graves Leicester project!
This is one of seven research projects funded 2017-18 by Century of Stories, a Heritage Lottery-funded social history initiative that supports First World War community and academic engagement in Leicestershire.
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| Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester, October 2014 |
About the project
There are 298 First World War casualties buried or commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at Leicester's Welford Road cemetery. (And many more commemorated on private headstones). Not all of them are British, and not all of them are men. There are also Australians, Belgians, Canadians, and an Indian, whose 'name liveth forever more' in stone in Leicester, including an Australian nurse. This project aims to explore and bring to light how these people ended up in Leicester; how their identities were negotiated and represented in death; and how even the British burials alongside them also had connections throughout and beyond the UK. The purpose of this research will be to challenge and expand our understandings of the relationship between local and global in terms of Leicester and the First World War.
The First World War is everyone's story, but not everyone realizes this. Especially in communities like Leicester with diverse populations and strong histories of immigration, there can seem a disconnect between the people of 100 years ago and the people of today. The First World War was truly a global war, in which the British not only encountered the world in new ways but the world also came to Britain, particularly via its hospitals. I've personally witnessed, to my dismay, that First World War history- particularly at the local level- is sometimes not inclusive, and is only engaged with by a particular demographic. (However, I can point to many other instances of the contrary, too!). As someone who has lived in Leicester but isn't from there (or even from Britain at all), I'm aiming to contribute a project that strikes a balance between the emotional investment of a local and the critical distance of an outsider.
The First World War is everyone's story, but not everyone realizes this. Especially in communities like Leicester with diverse populations and strong histories of immigration, there can seem a disconnect between the people of 100 years ago and the people of today. The First World War was truly a global war, in which the British not only encountered the world in new ways but the world also came to Britain, particularly via its hospitals. I've personally witnessed, to my dismay, that First World War history- particularly at the local level- is sometimes not inclusive, and is only engaged with by a particular demographic. (However, I can point to many other instances of the contrary, too!). As someone who has lived in Leicester but isn't from there (or even from Britain at all), I'm aiming to contribute a project that strikes a balance between the emotional investment of a local and the critical distance of an outsider.
The graves of Welford Road Cemetery provide an exciting opportunity to diversify Leicester's understanding of the people and nationalities that were part of Leicester's First World War story, and to open up broader understandings and discussions about the importance and relevance of remembrance both during the centenary and beyond.
Project Outcomes
The only mandated outcome of this project is a conference paper to be given in Leicester in November 2018 (more info to follow when available). However, I am working with the Friends of Welford Road Cemetery to decide on additional, more public-engagement-friendly and durable outputs that they feel would best serve Leicester's communities. (And I have an MA from Leicester's School of Museum Studies, so can always be easily tempted into a panel exhibition...!)
What you will be able to find on this blog
- Research: bite-sized information on the international burials and international connections among Welford Road Cemetery's FWW burials
- Behind-the-scenes: posts about what this research project entails and how it's going
- Event info: later on, info on community / cemetery / academic events where this project is represented
(PS I am avoiding abbreviating this project to 'GWGL', so as to avoid confusion with my research network at Oxford: 'Globalising and Localising the Great War', aka 'GLGW'! That just seems like a recipe for confusion...)
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