Catalogue description Records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was founded by Major General Sir Fabian Ware and created by Royal Charter in May 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission (the Commission changed its name in 1960). The Commission is responsible for the commemoration of members of the Commonwealth military forces who lost their lives in the two World Wars, by recording and maintaining their graves and places of commemoration. The Commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. More than one million graves are maintained by the Commission in burial grounds throughout the world and over three-quarters of a million men and women who have no known grave or who were cremated are commemorated by name on memorials built by the Commission.

The Commission is an inter-governmental organisation of six independent member states which operates through the continued financial support of those member states: United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa.