| Content Note | Topics covered:
Proposal by Colonel Vanier and seconded by Mr Lawson for Sir George Macdonogh to take the Chair.
Mention of Sir Fabian Ware’s visit to Egypt and postponement of his trip to Italy due to ill health.
Mention that several ceremonies were held in France and Belgium on All Saints Day. Some 17 ceremonies were held in the Ypres area, 54 in the Bethune area and 80 in the Albert area. At the ceremonies in Arras Captain Haworth represented the Commission and over 100 ceremonies had been reported from different cemeteries in that district. Some 40 ceremonies were held in the Abbeville area, and a ceremony was held in the British cemetery at Marseilles.
Mention of a ceremony held in Paris on Armistice Day, attended by Mr Chettle who represented the Commission and laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Dr Roy, the Canadian Minister in Paris laid a wreath and others present were Colonel Branch and Captain Douat.
Mention of a ceremony in Brussels at the tomb of the Belgian Unknown Soldier where Commission was represented by Colonel Higginson.
Description of ceremonies held all over the world, including Cologne and Ohlsdorf cemeteries in Germany; the war cemeteries at Cairo, Hadra, Minia, Ismailia, Port Said and Suez in Egypt; Jerusalem, Ramleh and Haifa in Palestine; and Damascus, Beirut, and Baghdad.
Mentions the British Minister at The Hague visited the British war graves in the General and Catholic cemeteries and laid wreaths, and the Charge d'Affaires at Tallinn in Estonia laid wreaths on the British war graves there.
Description of ceremonies held in the United Kingdom, including at Cannock Chase War Cemetery in Staffordshire, at Brookwood Military Cemetery, at St. James's Cemetery, Dover, and at the Tower Hill Memorial.
Mention that Lieutenant-General Gill, G.O.C. Palestine, visited Jerusalem War Cemetery and expressed satisfaction with its condition.
Mentions a report sent by Colonel Jarvis regarding his visit to war graves in Holland where he was accompanied by Mr Gill, the Commission’s Horticultural Officer in Ypres district.
Description of recent visit to France and Belgium by Mr W. Dallimore, late of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, at the request of the Vice-Chairman and that he had submitted a long and interesting report which was being carefully looked at by the Commission’s horticultural officers.
Mention that the number of visitors signing the Visitors' Books at the cemeteries and memorials in October was 3,181, which compared with 3,217 for the corresponding period in the previous year.
Report of the 257th Meeting of the Finance Committee
Discussion of matters in the report of the 257th meeting including:
Item 1 concerned the purchase of five motorcycles of £160 and other purchases including a valve and valve seating grinding machine urgently needed in the Commission's workshops in France, and a machine for grinding the of the lawn mowers to replace the one present in use in France.
Items 5 and 6 concerned exchange relief payments which had been in operation since 1931 and a circular sent to all individuals in France about the issue by F. Higginson, Chief Administrative Officer.
Appointment of New Member of the Finance Committee
Concerns the appointment of the Hon. Sir Edgar Bowring, K.C.M.G., as a member of the Finance Committee in place of Hr. Thomas Allin who had retired.
Anglo-Greek Mixed Committee
Resolution that Mr E.G. Sebastian be appointed an Official Member of the Anglo-Greek Mixed Committee.
Discovery and reburial of bodies in France and Belgium
Mention that the Chairman invited attention to the figures on the paper before the Meeting and particularly to the fact that more bodies had been found in the previous seven weeks than in the corresponding weeks of 1934 and 1935.
Attendees:
Lieut.-General Sir George Macdonogh, G.B.E., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., in the Chair
Lieut.-Colonel A.F. Rawson Lumby, C.I.E., O.B.E. (Representing the Secretary of State for India)
Lieut.-Colonel G.P. Vanier, D.S.O., M.C. (Representing the High Commissioner for Canada)
S.R. Skinner, Esq. (Representing the High Commissioner for New Zealand)
G.W. Klerck, Esq. (Representing the High Commissioner for South Africa)
The Hon. Sir Edgar Bowring, K.C.M.G. (Representing the Government of Newfoundland)
Admiral Sir Morgan Singer, K.C.B., K.C.V.O.
J.J. Lawson, Esq., M.P.
There were also present:
Edmund Blunden, Esq., M.C.
Lieut.-Colonel C.P. Oswald, C.M.G., O.B.E. (Assistant Secretary, Finance)
Lieut.-Colonel H. F. Robinson, C.M.G. (Director of Works)
Major H.F. Chettle, C.M.G., O.B.E. (Director of Records)
F. Tyrrell, Esq., M.B.E.
B. S. Conyngham Greene, Esq.
O. Holt, Esq. |