| Recently I had the opportunity to purchase a World War One Memorial Plaque to Private Leslie Harold Dodge who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
These Memorial Plaques were issued by the British government to the next-of-kin of Servicemen who died during that war. Each plaque was individually named to the deceased service member.
The Registers of The Commonwealth War Graves Commission are now available on Internet at - (www.cwgc.org.uk), and these give casualty details, names, branch of service, date of death, next of kin (sometimes), details and location of the cemetery or memorial that commemorates the deceased.
It is also possible to print a memorial certificate from the website.
The plaques were issued until 1919, as although the Armistice was declared in 1918, the Peace Treaty was not signed until 1919. Leslie Harold Dodge died on February 18th 1919, aged 21, the son of Arthur and Alice Dodge of Leicester, he is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, near Boulogne.
I found from the CWGC, that 27 Dodges died while serving between 1914 - 19, of this total:-
20 served in the British Army
4 served in the Canadian Army
2 served in the Royal Navy.
1 served in the Merchant Navy.
Again, of this total, 4 died in 1919. possibly because of the Influenza epidemic that swept across Europe. Another fact, 4 of these Dodges were from the Leicester area.
I consider myself fortunate to have obtained this Plaque, - the survival rate of these is not good, some families disliked them, others had them mounted and polished them lovingly.
It would be interesting to hear of any other plaques known to DFA members.
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