Progress
November 2009
We are still catching up, mainly on parishes in the Taplow, Eton, Burham,
Cippenham, Datchet area.
We have also introduced another option key called 'Local WM Books'. This
is an accumulating list of books about Buckinghamshire War Memorials.
October 2009
We have had a set-back this month because our ISP has made some
fundamental changes to the way it uses its servers. Those who have saved
http://fp.underw.f9.co.uk/bucksrems in their Favourites will find
that this address no longer works. But you can use
http://buckinghamshireremembers.org.uk
as before and make this your Favourite or Bookmark
We have not been able to add new information to the website for several
weeks but now we are starting to catch up. Until we have completed this
task you may find that a few links do not work and we apologise for
this.
July 2009
On 25 July we exhibited the Buckinghamshire Remembers project at the
Buckinghamshire Family History Society Open Day. We were gratified that
so many visitors took an interest in what we were doing and we were
particularly pleased to be able to put a face to a name of those who
have corresponded with us over the three years we have been involved. A
number of visitors promised us photographs and these started to arrive
by email almost as soon as we got back home! Among the visitors were two
families who were offering DNA samples to support the Frumelles Project
following an article in the Bucks Herald.
July 2009
For some time now we have realised that there is a population of
Casualties whom we have been unable to locate on any Buckinghamshire memorial. We have
yet to start researching this particular group, but when we do you will
be able to access these Casualites by clicking the 'Non-Memorials'
button which produces an alphabetically sorted list. Clicking on the
surname provides more detail - or you can locate them via the
'Casualties' button. If you attempt to access these names at the moment,
a few fictitious, test entries are displayed.
June 2009
Our website is now becoming better known within the Great War Forum and
we are receiving an increased number of portraits and other references
from relatives of the casualties. A significant breakthrough arises from
the interest of Harriet Snookes, a Reporter of the Bucks Herald,
who has taken a particular interest in our work.
She has enabled us to browse the Bucks
Herald archive of their newspapers during the war years. We realise,
of course, that all this additional information is going to slow us down
but we favour the adage that 'if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing
well'.
We are currently helping to trace the relatives of the men of the OBLI who
were killed at Fromelles on 19/20 July 1916. They are some of the 400
casualties buried in a mass grave which is now being excavated. It is
hoped that some of the relatives who come forward may be willing to
collaborate in DNA testing so that the fallen may be identified and
given a proper burial.
February 2009
We record all Casualties displayed on war memorials, commemorative
plaques and on headstones even if this means that a casualty's name
appears several times in the website. A recent analysis has shown that
of the 5641 names recorded,
1064 names appeared two times
215 names appeared three times
37 names appeared four times
9 names appeared five times
1 name appeared six times.
So far in our project we have found that, ignoring the 'duplicated'
names, 4315 (76 per cent of 5641) men from Buckinghamshire were reported
killed in the Great War.
We have now almost completed High Wycombe and Marlow.
January 2009
Around the 11 November there was a wonderfully informative series of
television programs which focussed on many aspects of the Great War. It
was illuminating to be reminded of how miscalculations when setting up
the Armistice set the seeds for World War II.
We have now produced numerous links to Canadian and Australian sources
which describe casualtys' war experience in such detail.
We have completed Denham and as the weather improves we hope to
concentrate on the southern-most memorials of the county.
November 2008
A few weeks of consolidation focusing mainly on the Chalfonts and
Gerrard Cross parishes. It has been a painstaking time for June and
Harvey Weiner because so many casualties are duplicated on a number of
different war memorials, and so many casualties appear to have
originated outside the area.
A new search feature has been added. By clicking on the 'Photograph' box
on the search-set-up screen you can identify those casualties for whom
we have a personal photograph. This feature can be combined with any of
the other search facilities, such as name, regiment, etc.
October 2008
Peter has been in hospital with pneumonia. So while June has had
opportunities to do some research in between hospital visits, only now
are were getting to work as a team again.
September 2008
We would like to acknowledge the help of Harvey Weiner during recent
months. He and June have worked closely together researching the High Wycombe records. We cross-check each other's work and his help has often
given us confidence in the assumptions we sometimes have to make about
casualties with similar names. There are many memorials in High Wycombe and sometimes we feel it may be some time before we can 'break
out'.
Articles in the local press and an interview on local High Wycombe radio
have clearly increased awareness of our project and this has resulted in
a number of welcome contacts from people with photographs and tales to
tell!
July 2008
After a 3-week holiday in our beloved Wensleydale (where we gave Edward
Nicholl a hand with his war memorial website) we returned to tackle The
Royal Grammar School at High Wycombe and the High Wycombe Cemetery. As
usual, we found individual casualties mentioned on different memorials
and we are gradually teasing out the correct documentation. We were most
impressed by the Royal Grammar School, the extent of its archive, and
the general tone of the school.
June 2008
Research on the many individuals listed on the High Wycombe (Hospital)
War Memorial continues but in between times we are now focussing on the
Chesham area - the cemetery, the war memorial and the church. Some of
the villages in that area have also now been included.
April 2008
We are now 'filling in the gaps' of our knowledge of the many casualties
from the High Wycombe area. Remember that the site is continually being
updated - if you cannot find information on a particular casualty, look
again in a few days/weeks - more information may then be available.
The most recent memorials are in the Beaconsfield - Stoke Poges area.
We have added numerous links from casualties in Canadian Regiments to
the comprehensive Canadian websites where, for example, Attestation
Papers can be read.
March 2008
We are very pleased to receive significant grants from
Councillor Bill Chapple
Councillor Lesley Clarke
Councillor Pauline Wilkinson, MBE
on behalf of
Buckinghamshire County Council (Community Leaders' Fund). These grants are most welcome
because they are the first we have received for Buckinghamshire
Remembers.
February 2008
Progress slow - researching the hundreds of casualties on the High
Wycombe (Hospital) war memorial.
When you come to list the memorials, an asterisk (*)
against a war memorial indicates that the research has been largely
completed.
A tilde (~) denotes a war memorial where
the research is currently incomplete. It may also denote that the
relevant war memorial page has not yet been constructed.
December 2007
By observing how visitors actually use our site, we see that they often
avoid using the Help link at the Casualty search set up screen, and they
sometimes forget that a link on the casualty's tabulation of results
will display additional information such as photographs. To avoid the
first problem, instructions are now embedded in the search setup screen.
To avoid the second problem, clicking a thumbnail of a soldier will take you to additional
information, if available. If additional information is not available, a
poppy is displayed.
November 2007
Well, all thoughts of summer holidays are behind us and we now turn our
gaze on High Wycombe. This is going to be a big one. We have just
scratched the surface so far with Downley and Wycombe Marsh. The High
Wycombe War Memorial at the hospital is huge!
August 2007
It has taken us longer than we thought to check and recheck the
memorials and the casualties from the north of the county down to the
area just south of Aylesbury.
But during this summer we have ventured into the Hambleden Valley area
to the south of High Wycombe, the Chalfonts, Holmer Green, Penn and
other adjacent areas.
We are disappointed that our attempts to obtain grants to offset our
out-of-pocket expenses (which are considerable) have come to nothing so
far. But our enthusiasm is not diminished. We have met some delightful
people and their willingness to help by way of stories and photographs
has made it all worthwhile.
May 2007
The first months of this year have been spent consolidating what we have
recorded - checking - particularly how we present casualties that appear
on more than one memorial. But we have also started to record the
memorials to the south west of High Wycombe. Among these we have
included the delightful villages of West Wycombe, Frieth, Fingest,
Turville, and Hambleden. Once again we encounter casualties that appear
on more than one memorial.
February 2007
Having set up a casualty search, the search 'keys' are displayed at the
top of the list of matches so you have more information to enable you to
refine the search if necessary. The number of matches and the current
total of records is now placed at the foot of the table of matches
January 2007
The most recent memorials investigated are marked
* in the Memorials List.
We have now started to display medals, for example, CSM A. Brown of The
Lee.
It is now possible to search on Cemeteries or Memorials in the Casualties
search. These are usually the cemeteries abroad. As with
searches on forenames, you need only type part of the cemetery name
- no wildcards are required. When you include a cemetery in the search,
the cemetery name is included in the List of Matches. Without a cemetery
included in the search, the Regiment is listed, as before. Take care to refine your
search if necessary by inspection of the List of Matches. If you search for 'tyn' there are 176 matches (so
far). If you search for 'zonnebeke', there are 178 matches because there
are more cemeteries than 'Tyne Cot' in Zonnebeke. Please read the 'Hints
on searching for casualties'.
December 2006
We have now added nearly 130 Memorials and 3000 Casualties to Buckinghamshire Remembers,
focussing on the parishes extending from the Buckinghamshire county boundary in the north,
to those just south of Aylesbury. Some details of a number of records are still missing,
waiting until we can complete the research.
We are tending to avoid visiting major new Memorials for the time being so that we can check
and consolidate our existing records.
In the List of memorials, a red asterisk against the name of a Memorial indicates that
it has been added within the last few weeks. When these 'new' Memorials have been listed
for about a month, the asterisk will be removed.
On the Home page we now give the date on which the site was last
updated. We usually try to upload the site every few days as more
detail is added.
We would like to thank those who have taken an interest in our work and have sent
photographs and additional information, particularly after the recent article in the
Bucks Herald.
A new 'BR' icon has been made which should appear to the left hand side of your
Favourites entry for Buckinghamshire Remembers. If your Favourites for 'BR' is already
present you should delete it and make a new one.
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