Content Note | Topics covered:
The Chairman welcomed H. D. Morgan, who succeeded William Halcrow as the Commission’s Honorary Consulting Engineer and was attending a meeting for the first time.
Account of visit by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to Kranji War Cemetery, the Singapore Memorial and Sai Wan Bay War Cemetery.
Announcement regarding the departure of Mr Mohammed Ikramullah from the position of Pakistan High Commissioner in London.
Report of the 468th Meeting of the Finance Committee Discussion concerning the normal annual authority issued to the Secretary; maintenance of Chapel Corner Cemetery and Le Quesnoy Communal Cemetery under the contract with Entreprise Reynes; extra-contractual payment to Messrs Basi & Company for construction of Taukkyan War Cemetery and Memorial; payment of the second instalment to the Trustees of the Imperial War Graves Commission Superannuation Scheme (1952); treatment of the bases of headstones at Medjez-el-Bab War Cemetery and Bone War Cemetery; replacement of six bronze name panels on the Malta Memorial; revisions of the scales of salary for primarily clerical grades.
Membership of the Finance Committee Alteration in the official Membership of the Finance Committee whereby Pakistan was to succeed India in 1962.
Commonwealth-European Joint Committees Appointment of Mr J. V. Wilson, New Zealand Ambassador at Paris, as Honorary Member and Mr Allen Brown, Deputy High Commissioner for Australia in London, and Brigadier Sultan Mohammed, Military Adviser to the High Commissioner for Pakistan in London, as Official Members of the Commonwealth-French Joint Committee; appointment of Mr J. R. Jordan, South African Ambassador at Brussels, and Mr M. A. Rauf, Indian Ambassador at Brussels, as Honorary Members and Campbell Moodie, Counsellor, Officer of the High Commissioner for Canada in London, and Mr Arthur Rucker as Official Members of the Commonwealth-Belgian Joint Committee; appointment of Mr C. P. Herbert, Canadian Ambassador at The Hague, as Honorary Member of the Commonwealth-Netherlands Joint Committee; appointment of Mr H. A. McClure Smith, Australian Ambassador at Rome, as Honorary Member of the Commonwealth-Italian Joint Committee; appointment of Mr Patrick Shaw, Australian Ambassador at Bonn, as Honorary Member and Brigadier D. G. R. Rajwade, Military Adviser to the High Commissioner for Indian in London, and Air Marshal Charles Guest as Official Members of the Commonwealth-German-French Joint Committee.
Unmaintainable Graves, United Kingdom – Bootle (St. Mary) Churchyard, Bootle, Lancashire Approval of the proposed removal of Commission headstones marking unmaintainable graves in Bootle (St. Mary) Churchyard and commemoration of those seven casualties on the Screen Wall at Liverpool (Anfield) Cemetery.
Imperial War Graves Commission Superannuation Scheme (1952) – Service in Specified Countries or Places: Amendment of the rules of the Superannuation Scheme (1952) by the Trustees of the Imperial War Graves Commission.
Purchase of office premises for Northern Area, United Kingdom Region Authorisation for William Alan Pettigrew, Area Superintendent, Northern Area, United Kingdom Region, to complete the tenancy agreement for the Northern Area Office premises.
Khayat Beach War Cemetery, Israel Authorisation for the Area Superintendent in Israel to complete the acquisition of a site to be used for the construction of caretaker’s cottage at Khayat Beach War Cemetery.
General Notes Presentation of the Commission’s film at Castleford, Yorkshire; sale of property at Peronne, which had been purchased in 1954 for a Head Gardener; proposal to relocate the Nigeria Memorial to an alternative site; account of visit by Air Chief Marshal Arthur Longmore to cemeteries in Jamaica and the Bahamas, including Kingston (Up Park Camp) Military Cemetery and the Nassau War Cemetery; details of visit by Brigadier Patterson, Principal Deputy Director of Works, to 60 cemeteries in the West Indies, including Port of Spain (St. James) Military Cemetery, Kingston (Up Park Camp) Military Cemetery, Bermuda Royal Naval Cemetery and Choc Bay Cemetery; recount of visit by Mr Harding, Chief Horticultural Officer for the Commission, to the Anzac Agency and cemeteries in India, Pakistan and South-East Asia Region, and Ceylon, including those at North Borneo and New Guinea, Karachi and Kandy.
ATTENDEES: General Sir John Crocker GCB KBE DSO MC (Vice-Chairman of the Commission) Major-General R. W. Knights OBE (Representing the High Commissioner for Australia) E. A. Broadbridge (Representing the High Commissioner for New Zealand) M. Hillebrand (Representing the High Commissioner for South Africa) Major E. K. Hari Krishna (Representing the High Commissioner for India) Captain K. K. Afridi (Representing the High Commissioner for Pakistan) S. H. Field (Representing the Secretary of State for the Colonies) A. J. Isaac (Representing the Minister of Works) Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore GCB DSO The Right Hon. Sir Patrick Spens KBE GC MP G. O. Sylvester MP Admiral Sir John Edelsten GCB GCVO CBE Air Marshal Sir Charles Guest KBE CB
SECRETARY W. J. Chalmers CBE
ADVISER Sir Edward Maufe RA FRIBA (Chief Architect and Artistic Adviser) H. D. Morgan MSc MICE (Consulting Engineer)
Also in attendance: W. Wynne Mason MC (Assistant Secretary (External Relations)) A. K. Pallot (Assistant Secretary (Finance and Establishments)) H. L. Simmons LLB (Legal Adviser) Brigadier N. E. V. Patterson OBE (Principal Deputy Director of Works) W. F. W. Harding OBE BSC (Chief Horticultural Officer) P. J. Cook |