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Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Tim

Tim

Megastar and Moderator
Staff member
MaryK said:
Tim - you forgot CWGC !

I obviously need to take myself in hand and become properly organised, but - personally I find the side-track route to be very exciting and rewarding - a bit like being Alice in Wonderland.
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I've never used it. So I've just tried it on one of the rarer names in my tree and got a hit, so I might use it now :)

NameRankService NumberDate of DeathAgeRegiment / ServiceService CountryGrave /
NOSCOE, MARY ELLEN Civilian 21/12/1940 57 Civilian War Dead United Kingdom
 
Tim said:
I've never used it. So I've just tried it on one of the rarer names in my tree and got a hit, so I might use it now
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This discussion is side-tracked ! CWGC is an excellent site, I think. You can print the certificates - I put them in my folders and onto my Tribal Page - it tells you which battle your ancestor is likely to have died in if you read the cemetery information. As you highlighted, Tim, it does work best with rare names - pinning down J. Brown can be nigh on impossible, especially if the entry has no age or relations given, but those that do are most helpful - and then you can side track even more and go and look up the battle, or the ship and find more info and pics to include !
 
As and when CWGC gets its own slot on the forum, maybe we could add this useful bit of info I got from them the other day, regarding the dates of war deaths

"The Commission are responsible for the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth Forces who died during the two World Wars. Each casualty is commemorated once only, either on a headstone marking their grave or, if they have no known grave, by the inscription of their name on one of the Commission’s memorials to the missing. For purposes of commemoration the dates are as follows: 4thAugust 1914 to 31stAugust 1921 and 3rdSeptember 1939 to 31stDecember 1947.

The reason why the First World War period extends to 31stAugust 1921 for Commission purposes is that the 'Termination of the present war (Definition) Act' laid down that the war would officially end when an Order in Council, under that Act, declared the war ended. This duly occurred on 31stAugust 1921.

The official cut-off point for the casualties of the Second World War was established by the member governments of the Commonwealth, agreeing a date that was approximately the same period after the Armistice was signed with Germany, as had been allowed after the First World War."
 
:)
That's because a moderator has taken the initial post from where it was and created a new discussion. You can see where it came from by pressing the little up arrow next to "Maryk said"

I can have a look tomorrow to see if we can clear it up better.
 
Tim said:
:)
That's because a moderator has taken the initial post from where it was and created a new discussion. You can see where it came from by pressing the little up arrow next to "Maryk said"

I can have a look tomorrow to see if we can clear it up better.
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Thanks Tim
And I think what I meant in the first place (but didn't say) was not a slot in this present format of discussions etc. but a slot in the 'finalised' website, to give a pointer to those investigating relatives i.e just because he died in 1947 it doesn't mean CWGC won't have any info.
 
Tim said:
:)
That's because a moderator has taken the initial post from where it was and created a new discussion.
Click to expand...


And seemingly created a new discussion without following the practice of using "New title (was old title)" in the title so people can understand it changed. :(
 
For those of you who have linked CWGC records to people on your family tree you should check that the link still works as CWGC has radically changed the format of their website. It has caused chaos for some bloggers.
 
I have just tried to use the CWGC website for the first time in a while.
I can search for my relatives, but if I try to look at any of the reports associated with them I get the message 'The image could not be loaded'
I have tried using Firefox and Chrome and I get the same on both.
I have contacted CWGC to see if they have any answers, but thought that I would see if anyone here had the same problem and if anyone could solve it.
Thanks
 
Katie Bee said:
I have contacted CWGC to see if they have any answers, but thought that I would see if anyone here had the same problem and if anyone could solve it.
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I too haven't used CWGC in a long while so tried again to see if I got the same result. The answer is yes and no. I was able to download the Memorial Certificate as a pdf and the 'View Cemetery Details' also opened, but when I tried the additional Grave Registration & Panel List ..."Click to Zoom in" it came up with the image could not be loaded message.

As I long ago registered I wondered if things would be different by logging in which is when it refused to accept my old password as it did not conform to the new (must be 8 characters, one capital and one number) standard. So I clicked on 'forgotten password' and entered my email for it to send an email to allow me to change the password. Despite trying this several times nothing was received in my email box. So I think for whatever reason the site is having a 'bad hair' day with its server down or whatever. May be worth trying again later in the week.
 
Bob Spiers said:
So I think for whatever reason the site is having a 'bad hair' day with its server down or whatever. May be worth trying again later in the week
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Thanks very much Bob. At least I am not going mad. 'Bad hair day' sums it up well.
I'll see if they reply to my query, and I'll try again next week.
 
This is the reply from CWGC

We do currently have some of our regular features missing, which includes:
• Archive documents
• Full casualty Commemoration Certificates
• Cemetery plans
• Date-range search function
This is temporary and our teams are working hard to get these back on our new website as soon as possible and we aim to have them all reinstated within the coming weeks.
CWGC does value your support, we have simply let our customers down during the deployment of our new site. I am sorry that we have caused you inconvenience and disappointment.
In the meantime, if there is anything else I can do to assist you, please just ask.


So their new website is not quite up to the job.
The other thing I noticed was the change in the Memorial Certificate. It does not include the photo of the cemtetery anymore, instead it contains their new logo, which does not look as good.
 
Katie Bee said:
It does not include the photo of the cemtetery anymore, instead it contains their new logo, which does not look as good.
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I just had to check this out, I could hardly believe they could be so mean!
I have a collection of their memorial certs, just over 30, which I have used to attach to the relevant persons in my trees.
The last download I did was on 22 May 2020, not that long ago. This particular man is honoured at the Athens memorial in 1943, there is a lovely photo of the memorial in the certificate.
I have looked him up in the new website, the photo has been replaced by the CWG logo and I agree, is not attractive.
The old logo is on the cert I downloaded in May, it is circular and had a genie type lamp in the centre, so much more attractive and in keeping with the eras.

The certs sometimes have useful information in them, such as parents names and address but I doubt I'll be downloading any more I'll just pick off what I want.
 
At home in NZ said:
I just had to check this out, I could hardly believe they could be so mean!
I have a collection of their memorial certs, just over 30, which I have used to attach to the relevant persons in my trees.
The last download I did was on 22 May 2020, not that long ago. This particular man is honoured at the Athens memorial in 1943, there is a lovely photo of the memorial in the certificate.
I have looked him up in the new website, the photo has been replaced by the CWG logo and I agree, is not attractive.
The old logo is on the cert I downloaded in May, it is circular and had a genie type lamp in the centre, so much more attractive and in keeping with the eras.

The certs sometimes have useful information in them, such as parents names and address but I doubt I'll be downloading any more I'll just pick off what I want.
Click to expand...
It's worth getting in touch with the CWGC and providing them with feedback on the change in the certificate format. I'm told that the cemetery photo will be eventually be added again, along with cemetery plans and archive documents . There have been a number of issues with the complete overhaul of the site which they have admitted was relaunched before it was thoroughly tested.
Overall I like the new cleaner feel to the layout.
 
Britjan said:
they have admitted was relaunched before it was thoroughly tested.
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I suppose we can't complain too much because it is a free site. Now I know what's happening and in view of the small number of times I use it I will just wait and see.
 
Britjan said:
It's worth getting in touch with the CWGC and providing them with feedback on the change in the certificate format.
Click to expand...
I was going to do that, but I haven't got round to it. You have given me the nudge I needed to do it, thanks.

Coming from an old fashioned computer background where we tested everything we could think of before putting something into production, I hate this more recent way of putting something into production and getting the user to test everything. I suppose it saves money.
 
One place I worked at testing software was the most important aspect - most systems were either safety critical or life critical. Now it seems the most important aspect is providing a touch-screen interface, especially for televisions!
 
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