2019 Remembrance


Remembrance 2019, will mark the 100th anniversary, of the first Remembrance Sunday of 1919.


The focus of the Remembrance in 1919, was to commemorate those soldiers who fell on Armistice Day, 11th November 1918. 


The events that unfolded during those early hours of 11th November 1918,  on abroad the railway carriage situated in the Forest of Compiegne, north of Paris, where First Sea Lord Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss and Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch for the Allies, and Matthias Erzberger, civilian politician, Count Alfred von Oberndorff, Foreign Minister, Major General Detlof von Winterfeldt, army and Captain Ernst Vanselow, navy for Germany all key signatories on the Armistice of Compiegne. With the armistice signed, it wouldn’t be until 11.00 that morning that the guns would finally fall silent on the Western Front.  Figures from the Commonwealth War Grave Commission website show the number of dead who were either killed or died on the 11th November was 909.  British deaths numbered 632.  The final British solider to be killed at 9.30 was 40 year old Private George Ellison, of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers.  Ellison is buried in St. Symphorien Military Cemetery.  His grave faces, John Parr, the 17 year old, who is believed to be first British solider to fall in action during the First World War, August 1914.


The first Armistice Day, 10th November 1919 was held at Buckingham Palace, during the early evening King George V hosting a “Banquet in Honour to the President of French Republic”.  The following morning, the 11th, in the grounds of Buckingham Palace events for the first official Armistice Day were held, including the two-minute silence. 


Today’s Cenotaph, designed by Edwin Lutyens, built by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts, is situated at Whitehall, London, was unveiled on 11th November, by King George V during the second anniversary of Remembrance, 1920. It replaced after the outpouring of national sentiment, the temporary wood and plaster structure used during the Victory Parade during July 1919. 

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