| Description | Efiles, short for Enquiry Files, are a collection of files of correspondence, usually covering an interaction between the Imperial War Graves Commission and the next of kin of a casualty commemorated by them. Subject matter can range from discussions around the maintenance of a grave, requests for personal inscriptions or the erection of a private memorial, return of original grave markers, transfer of grave rights to the Commission. |
| Content Note | By 1942 there were around 470,000 efiles in existence, but the vast majority of these were pulped at this time, under authorisation from the IWGC Vice Chairman Fabian Ware, to help contribute to the war effort by providing paper which could be pulped and reused. A select number were saved from destruction, with the criteria being if there had been correspondence added to the file within the last eight years, or if the files documented some particular decision which may have set a precedent. Further efiles were created during and after the Second World War. |