By Gabriel Princewill-
The UK government today issued a formal apology for the “pervasive racism” that denied up to 350,000 troops who fought for Britain During the first world war.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace apologised in the House of Commons after a probe found 116,000 mostly African and Middle Eastern First World War casualties “were not commemorated by name or possibly not commemorated at all”.
Boris Johnson also offered an “unreserved apology” and said he was “deeply troubled” by the discovered that all British war dead were not commemorated with equal care.
The apology followed a report by a Special Committee was appointed to probe the early history of the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) to identify inequalities in the way the organisation commemorated the dead of the British Empire from the two world wars.
Founded over a century ago to commemorate the First World War dead of the British Empire; the committee’s work underpinned by the principle of equality of treatment in death.
Embodied in those equitable principles, was that an individual’s rank in social or military life, or religion, would have no bearing on the duty to honour all troops with an identical level of commemoration to that of all other soldiers from whatever walk of life from which they hailed.
The Committee admitted that ”the subjects of its report were contentious, contested and divisive, particularly those connected to ethnicity, culture, language, caste and religion, and the way in which they were used by some to build hierarchies of race.
Recommendations
The committee proceeded to state that its recommendations were suggested by this Committee as ways in which the CWGC might take steps to acknowledge, understand and, where possible, rectify the injustices, errors and oversights
of the past.
The Committee made ten recommendations based around three central themes:
• Extend geographically and chronologically the search in the historical record for inequalities
in commemoration and act on what is found.
• Renew the commitment to equality in commemoration through the building of physical or
digital commemorative structures.
• Acknowledge and accept this difficult history and share it with all the communities of the
former British Empire touched by the two world wars.
The report estimated that between 45,000 and 54,000 casualties (predominantly Indian, East African, West African, Egyptian and Somali personnel) were commemorated unequally, in conflict with its founding principles.
Rather than marking their graves individually, as the IWGC would have done in Europe, these men were commemorated collectively on memorials. For others who were missing, their names were recorded in registers rather than in stone.
It added that a further 116,000 casualties (predominantly, but not exclusively, East African and Egyptian personnel, but potentially as many as 350,000 – were not commemorated by name or possibly not commemorated at all.
It said that ”most of these men were commemorated by memorials that did not carry their names – in part because the IWGC was never furnished with their names or places of burial
by the military or colonial authorities, in part because it chose to diverge from its principles in the
belief that the communities these men came from would not recognise or value such individual
forms of commemoration.
Prejudice
Mr Wallace today expressed “deep regret” and acknowledged “prejudice played a part” in failures to properly commemorate the troops.
The Cabinet minister said the report, which found that “pervasive racism” underpinned the failure, made for “sobering reading”.
“There can be no doubt prejudice played a part in some of the commission’s decisions,” Mr Wallace told MPs.
“On behalf of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the government, both of the time and today, I want to apologise for the failures to live up to the founding principle all those years ago and express deep regret that it has taken so long to rectify the situation.”
He added: “Given the pressures and confusion spun by such war, in many ways it is hardly surprising that mistakes were made at both stages.
In a statement, Mr Johnson praised the “courage and valour” of millions of people from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East who fought for Britain.
He added: “I am deeply troubled by the findings of the Special Committee that not all of our war dead were commemorated with equal care and reverence.
“On behalf of the Government, I offer an unreserved apology. I welcome the fact that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has accepted all of the Committee’s recommendations and that it will now re-examine records and make amends wherever possible.”
The report came after a documentary, Unremembered: Britain’s Forgotten War Heroes, that was presented by Labour MP David Lammy and broadcast on Channel 4 in 2019.
Professor Michele Barrett appears in the documentary and tells Mr Lammy that it was not a case of “random acts of racism”, but instead policy was being followed.
She said: “There was a very interesting report that was done by a chap called Major George Evans in the early 1920s.
“And he says, ‘Most of the natives who have died are of a semi-savage nature and do not attach any sentiment to marking the graves of their dead’.
“He thought the erection of individual headstones in the case of African natives would constitute a waste of public money.”
The War Graves Commission will now “extend the search” for inequalities in its historical records, Mr Wallace told MPs.
He added: “The commission will renew its commitment to equality in commemoration through the building of physical or digital commemorative structures.
“Finally, the commission will use its own online presence and wider education activities to reach out to all the communities of the former British Empire touched by the two world wars to make sure their hidden history is brought to life.
“Over the coming six months, the commission will be assembling a global and diverse community of external experts who could help make this happen.”
Originally named the Imperial War Graves Commission, it was founded in 1917 to commemorate those who died in the war.
Errors
But the investigation found that the failure to properly commemorate the individuals was “influenced by a scarcity of information, errors inherited from other organisations and the opinions of colonial administrators”.
“Underpinning all these decisions, however, were the entrenched prejudices, preconceptions and pervasive racism of contemporary imperial attitudes,” it added.
One example given is based on communications in 1923 between F.G. Guggisberg, the governor of the Gold Coast colony, now Ghana, and Arthur Browne, from the commission.
At a meeting in London, it was said that the governor said “the average native of the Gold Coast would not understand or appreciate a headstone” as he argued for collective memorials.
Outlining work the Government can do, Mr Wallace said: “In order to honour the contribution to our armed forces by our friends from the Commonwealth and Nepal, myself and the Home Secretary will shortly be launching a public consultation to enable non-UK service personnel who choose to settle in the UK on proposals to remove their visa settlement fees.”