The Origins of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We all probably know what Armistice Day is all about (The end of WWI. 11.11. 1918), the significance of  the poppy and what The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier represents (To remember soldiers slain in war, all over the world).

The origins of this tomb though, one of the most honoured in the world, are less known, as is a name seldom if ever mentioned; that of Reverend David Railton.

 What a beautiful story it is, a story of compassion, a story of empathy, a story never to be forgotten.

 When Reverend David Railton, serving as army chaplin, on the Western Front during WWI, came across the grave of a fallen soldier, marked only with a humble wooden cross bearing the words; “A British Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914–1918 for King and Country’, scribbled in pencil, it broke his heart.

The scene played on Reverend Railton’s mind, “There must be some way, in which the thousands of brave soldiers, who have died fighting for their country, can be honored and remembered forever” he thought.

In 1920 Reverend Railton, wrote to the Dean of Westminster, suggesting, “The Unknown Soldier”, be buried, amongst the kings, in Westminster Abbey, to honour the thousands killed in WWI (1914-1918).

The Dean of Westminster took the advice of Reverend Railton and plans were put into action to bring the fallen of WWI home.

The remains of “The Unknown Soldier” were exhumed from separate battlefields of WWI and taken to the chapel of Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise, near Arras, in France.

On the evening of the seventh of November 1920, in the presence of Reverend George Kendall, Brigadier L.J. Wyatt and Lieutenant E.A.S. Gell, the remains were placed in six plain coffins and covered with the Union Jack.

 Brigadier Wyatt closed his eyes, passed his hand over the six coffins and then touched one of the coffins.

The coffin Brigadier Wyatt chose, stayed in the chapel overnight, the five other coffins were taken away to be buried by Reverend Kendall.

 On the eighth of November the remains of “The Unknown Soldier” were transported to a Medieval castle in Boulogne, where undertakers, placed the coffin into a casket made from the wood of oak trees from Hampton Court, England.

The casket was banded with iron and a medieval crusader’s sword, from the royal collection, chosen by King George V himself, was placed on top of the coffin together with an iron shield inscribed with the words:

 “A British Warrior who fell in the Great War”

 The casket was placed on a military wagon and, drawn by six black horses, made its way to the harbour; the mile-long procession, led by over a thousand French school children and French troops accompanied by the sound of the tolling bells of Boulogne.

Once the cortege reached the harbor it was put aboard HMS Verdun which, escorted by six battleships, made its way home to England, on reaching Dover it received a nineteen Field Marshal’s salute.

The remains of “The Unknown Soldier” touched English soil at ten thirty on the morning of the tenth of November 1920, at Dover Marine Railway Station and were carried, aboard  “South Eastern and Chatham Railway General Utility Van No.132”, to Victoria Station, London.

About one hundred women, who had lost their husbands and all of their sons in the war, were the guests of honour.

 The brave lad was finally laid to rest, at the far western end of the Abbey, near the entrance, in soil brought from the main battlefields of the war.

The grave of “The Unknown Soldier” is covered with black Belgian marble, with the inscription, by Herbert Edward Ryle, Dean of Westminster, engraved with brass, made from metal, melted down from wartime ammunition.

It is the only grave in Westminster Abbey, not allowed to be walked over.

Beneath this stone rests the body

Of a British warrior
Unknown by name or rank
Brought from France to lie among
The most illustrious of the land
And buried here on Armistice Day
11 Nov: 1920, in the presence of
His Majesty King George V
His Ministers of State
The Chiefs of his forces
And a vast concourse of the nation

Thus are commemorated the many
Multitudes who during the Great
War of 1914 – 1918 gave the most that
Man can give life itself
For God
For King and country
For loved ones home and empire
For the sacred cause of justice and
The freedom of the world

They buried him among the kings because he
had done good toward God and toward
His house

Around the main inscription on the tomb of The Unknown Soldier are four texts:

The Lord knoweth them that are his (top)

Unknown and yet well known, dying and behold we live (side)

Greater love hath no man than this (side)

In Christ shall all be made alive (base).

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon laid her wedding bouquet at the tomb when she married the future King of England, George VI, twenty sixth April 1923, in memory of her brother, Fergus, who died at the battle of Loos in 1915.

 Since then bouquets of all royal brides, married in Westminster Abbey, are placed on the tomb, the day after the wedding.

 The latest bouquet placed there, belonged to Catherine Middleton, who married, William, Duke of Cambridge, on the twenty ninth of April 2011.

“The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” has been a place of mourning, for the dead of WWI ever since.

Each Remembrance Sunday; Armistice Day, services are held and wreaths of poppies are laid at the feet of those who served in the war to end all wars.

Sadly, The Great War, happened all over again, just a little over twenty years later.

What a truly moving story and what a great shame that the name of the compassionate Reverend Railton has all but been forgotten.

 We will remember them

See also:

Remembrance Day: On the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month We Will Remember Those Who Fought and Those Who Died for Their Country