Category: LivesOfTheFirstWorldWar.org

IWM’s Lives Of The First World War website enters final year for submissions

The countdown begins for the closure of submissions to the IWM and FindMyPast’s digital WW1 memorial project.

Back in 2014, at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show, I was excited to hear about a new project from the Imperial War Museum and FindMyPast.

The project, to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of The Great War, would breathe life back into all those brave men and women who served in the First World War by allowing the public to add details to their records.

Lives of WW1 talk at Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2014
Lives of WW1 talk at Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2014, at Olympia, London.

This enabled those long lists of rank, surnames, and service number to start seeing information about their births, their photographs, and their life stories being added.

I have added photographs and information to several of my relatives, and one relative (a distant cousin) Frederick Vernon Cross even made it as one of the people on the home page.

Frederick Vernon Cross on home page of livesofthefirstworldwar website
Frederick Vernon Cross (left) features on the home page. He survived, and went on to found what eventually became Ely Museum.

This week, an email came through to announce that the project is entering the final year of the first phase, and that there is just one year left to add more valuable accompanying information, with submissions ending on 18th March 2019.

After this date, the site will become a permanent digital memorial to those brave people who served in a terrible war, for us to remember and research for the future.

Lives of the First World War screenshot
I’ve added my great grandfather to Lives Of The First World War.

I still have a few relatives to find on the site, but this reminder will set me on the path to correct that. I suggest you do the same.

Happy Researching,

Andrew

 

 

Website launched to commemorate the Lives Of The First World War

IWM and DC Thomson Family History launch Lives Of The First World War website – creating a digital memorial celebrating the bravery of those who contributed to the WW1 effort in the Commonwealth.

Back in February, the Imperial War Museums and DC Thomson Family History, tantalised the audience at Who Do You Think You Are? Live with their collaborative project – Lives Of The First World War.

In the months since, the site has been open to Beta testing, and today finally saw the site go live to the general public at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org.

The idea of the project has been to build upon the records, and create a huge digital memorial that commemorates the lives of those who served in WW1 – whether they survived or lost their life.

I’ve jumped straight in to add my great grandfather, Herbert Martin, who served with the Suffolk Regiment and the Northamptonshire Regiment as a Private, but was sadly crushed to death in a train accident in Boulogne, France, on 17th October 1917.

Lives of the First World War screenshot
I’ve added my great grandfather to Lives Of The First World War.

It’s a sad fact, that I have a lot of other brave people to begin adding, and that this will take some time, but the collaboration is seen as one that will provide an archive that will detail the social history of the 8 million men and women from the Commonwealth who contributed to the First World War effort.

Find out more via the video below:

Interested?

The site is clean and pretty easy to use. It’s also free, up to a point (you pay for access to some archive material), but you can add content yourself. You can also ‘remember’ any of the people listed – which kind of acts as a bookmark for you. The site also carries a message saying that they are aiming to keep updating it to add further features.

I was keen to hear that there is an educational side to this site, and that the project is keen to see this site used as a school’s resource – in a bid to ensure that the service and bravery of our ancestors, is remembered for another 100 years.