A study of the origins anddevelopment of Great WarMemorials in the County ofGloucestershire (1917-1933)
Building upon the work of key writers such as Jay Winter and Robert Bushaway, this work
examines the memorials of the First World War as historic structures and records the local
monuments’ origins and original purpose within the county of Gloucestershire in contrast to
previous work on war memorialisation which has focused more on the role of the
monument in reflecting and strengthening national identity. After an initial county-wide survey,
three in-depth case studies of different sized communities, (the village of Cam, the town of
Cirencester and the City of Gloucester), are used to analyse the factors that most significantly
influenced the location, form, and timing of the erection of different war memorials at these
locations.
In addition to considering the significance of community over national factors, the study
explores the importance of different community size and of the groups within those
communities that most significantly determined memorial construction, including the
bereaved, the church and local government, and servicemen and ex-servicemen. Further, the
study examines the different memorial forms considered such as non-secular and secular,
monumental and utilitarian forms and other factors such as location, iconography, and the
form of the Roll of Honour in the development of memorials that were acceptable to the local
populations.
The research has drawn upon many previous academic studies on the subject of Great War
memorialisation, focusing on the historical perspective to compare how local memorials were
used in commemoration and how they maintained significance at local memorial sites within
the County of Gloucestershire. Through the analysis of this local involvement of the
generation at the time in the development process, the conclusion provides insight as to
whether the local war memorial’s role continues to provide the intended importance and
understanding as a place of local or national significance.