Not Forgotten

The Not Forgotten project was designed for KS2 children and funded as part of Their Past Your Future 2, a lottery initiative designed to raise awareness of remembrance amongst young people.

Westminster Archives developed a story book and resource pack, an animated film and an exhibition and play created around four soldiers who were killed in WW1 and who have no known grave.  Westminster Archives originally developed this project in partnership with Bexley and Medway Archives, and four primary schools from the home towns of the soldiers.  They worked closely with Westminster Abbey to engage children in the marking of the 90th anniversary of the Armistice on November 11th 2008.

The story book and animated film were based around a newspaper cutting from the Westminster Abbey archives ‘The Mother’s of Britain’ which told the story of two mothers meeting on the day of the burial of the Unknown Warrior.  This story was adapted so that it could tell the stories of the four soldiers involved ion the project.  It follows members of their families on their way to the funeral of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, all believing it is their loved one being buried within the abbey. The project was so successful that funding was awarded to repeat it in November 2009 with primary schools in Westminster and Bexley. 

The exhibition was displayed at Westminster Abbey to mark Remembrance Day.  The exhibition focused on the stories of four soldiers - Walter Tull; Capt. Francis Swainson MC; Thomas Highgate (the first man to be executed for desertion) and Richard ‘Monty’ Daniel –the great Uncle of Archives Education Officer Peter Daniel- each of whom has no known grave.

Monty Daniel was killed by a shell on 26th October 1916, after just six days on the front line. He left a widow, Jessie, nee Punnet. He had married her only three months before his death and she had to battle the army for her Sergeant’s widow’s pension.

Walter Tull was killed on 25 March 1918. An orphan who became a professional football player and joined the Football Battalion, he was to become the first black combat officer in the British army.

Thomas Highgate was the first British soldier to be shot at dawn for desertion. His alleged offence, trial, and sentence all happened on one day, 6th September; he died at 7.07 on 8th September, 45 minutes after he was informed he was to be executed. He was only 19.

Francis Swainson of the Queen’s Westminster Rifles died early in the morning on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, leading his men over the top. Two weeks before, he had been awarded the Military Cross. He was just 21.

Westminster Cathedral and St Vincent de Paul Primary school each received an outreach session based around the life of one of the soldiers, a Walter Tull drama workshop at the National Army Museum and an opportunity to visit Westminster Abbey on Remembrance Day.  The visits to the Abbey were combined with a Sub Rosa Theatre performance at Westminster Archives Centre, and an opportunity to meet relatives of the four soldiers.

For more information about the Not Forgotten project, please take a look at the links below:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2008/11/05/remember_monty_video_feature.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/content/articles/2008/08/15/not_forgotten_soldiers_feature.shtml