The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was set up under Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. It commemorates 1.7 million people who died in two world wars, administers cemeteries and memorials at 23,000 locations in 154 countries. Anyone searching for their extended birth family may find themselves visiting this impressive database.

If you are tracing a relative who died in the First or Second World War, or seeking further information about medals, awards or casualty details, this is an excellent website to explore.

It is never too late to change the records, if your family history research reveals an error or omission. In once case, a serviceman who died 99 years ago recently received a CWGC headstone at a churchyard in Hampshire. Driver Thomas Dawson [above] died on September 10, 1918 but because the CWGC was never informed of his death, Thomas never received a Commission headstone. His case was brought to the attention of the CWGC by his family and Thomas’s grand-daughter Kay Davidge was present at the installation of the headstone.

The CWCG’s Instagram page is a useful source of wartime photographs which may add background detail to your research.

This post is inspired by an article in the January 2017 issue of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ magazine.

For more articles about researching family records, try:-
Check your local records 
Films bring history to life 
Did your relative belong to a #tradeunion 

World War Two is the research focus for my next novel, Sweet Joy. Third in the ‘Identity Detective’ series, which starts with Ignoring Gravity, Sweet Joy tells the story of a wartime love affair.
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Watch the book trailer for the ‘Identity Detective’ series.

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
War graves: where to look #WW1 #WW2 #familyhistory https://wp.me/paZ3MX-4k via #AdoptionStoriesBlog