An ordinary meeting of the Society was held on January 14th 2015. The President Dr John Dracass was in the chair. A minutes silence was held in the memory of Professor Jack Howell and Dr Peter Todd. The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The President then introduced the speaker Mr John Garfield who spoke to the title The Great War Cemeteries – A Journey. ‘This is not a lecture’, he said, ‘I want to provoke thoughts and comments. It is an unfinished journey’. The journey started when he was lent a Zeiss Ikonta camera at Cambridge. He became fascinated by the process of photography and the artistic possibilities of black and white. When he arrived at St Mary’s there was a superb enlarger he could use and he found being in the darkroom composing a picture was inspirational. In 1961 he visited a war cemetery in France in winter . The low sun and enhanced shadows produced very powerful images. Through a contact at the War Graves Commission he was then able to arrange to visit all their cemeteries and take photographs. He put on an exhibition of these photos at the Camden Arts Centre to which the publisher Leo Cooper came and which resulted in his first book, The Fallen, being published. He was asked by Professor Gavin Stamp, who had also been to this exhibition, to do a room of Lutyens war grave designs in an exhibition of Lutyens work that Professor Stamp was curating at the Hayward Gallery. John Garfield visited many of the cemeteries with his friend the late Mr John Jenkins [a Southampton urological surgeon] and both of them liked to spend time alone to absorb the meaning of these places. This collaboration resulted in the 1986 Foott Memorial Lecture in which they presented a moving evening of photos and literature. Mr Garfield then asked us ‘are the words on the graves and memorials appropriate?’ ‘Glory and Glorious’ he found difficult. Do we have Glory because we won? He was not sure if similar wording appears on German memorials. ‘Honour and Honourable’: he asked what is Honour ? Is it derived from dulce et decorum est? ‘Revere and Reverence’: ‘I revere people who went to fight but Reverence?’ ‘God’: each side had its particular God and each side thought He would help them. There were other words usually written by a post-war generation in the 1920s: ‘bitterness’ which implies doubt about what was done; ‘Sacrifice’ which is seen on so many memorials, which to him meant it was done voluntarily, and is often linked with Glory. ‘Hate’ is not mentioned in any of the literature. ‘Respect’: He respected the generals and field marshals and asked us to put ourselves in their position. ‘Desolation’ is a word he liked as it applies to so much of the First World War. Mr Garfield said to us that he needed guidance. This resulted in a stimulating discussion and here are some of the comments that were made.
‘There is a desire for euphemism and rationalisation for the next of kin who need to know that the life was not given in vain.’
‘We went on a tour last year and were very moved but I agree with John there is a need to be on one’s own to contemplate.’
‘ I took my four sons and the youngest, who is much younger than the others, looked at the rows of graves and said ‘all my older brothers could have been killed’
‘Children see the cemeteries and it makes them think how wars come about and how they affect us.’
‘War cemeteries will have a profound effect on future generations too – but now we ship the dead home and the graves are dispersed around the country and the impact will be lost’
‘Clapping the cortege – surely silence is appropriate?’
‘Clapping is an indication of our appreciation of the life given.’
‘Visiting the [888,246] poppies at the Tower of London brings back the futility of war. Each poppy also represents the 30 or 40 relations and friends who were also affected.’
The President thanked Mr Garfield for such a memorable evening. He hoped the long discussion was to his satisfaction though we had not come to a conclusion.
He then announced that the committee had decided that the Society should use Gift Aid and if possible members should sign up.
There being no other business the meeting was closed at 10.05pm.