The BFHS War Memorials Project

The War Memorials project is under the guidance of the Bedfordshire Family History Society. The project co-ordinator is Lynda Smith, the vehicle for these pages is the England Genweb pages for Bedfordshire. Memorials have been transcribed for Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire as well.

Although designed as a project for the BFHS anybody can participate with a transcription, information about individual men and women listed, photographs, newspaper cuttings and articles. The following paragraphs detail how the information can be sent for inclusion and where information about the transcription project can be found.

For information about the Project please contact the Memorials Project Coordinator; email: memorials@bfhs.org.uk. Items for inclusion such as transcriptions, photographs, etc should be emailed to Lynda. A status list is available here but may not be up to the minute so please contact Lynda.

Notes on Transcriptions and Inclusions

1. A transcription can be sent in many formats either as in-line text in an email, as a Word document, as an Rich Text Format or as a text file attachement. The followng applies:
   1. The surname of each person should be in UPPER case.
   2. The initials or forenames should follow separated by a comma from the surname. Any forenames should be Captialised.
   3. If the person transcribed received an award then this should be ensclosed in brackets, as initials, after the forename/initials for example (VC) Victoria Cross, (MM & Bar) Military Medal and Bar.
   4. Any descriptive details should be separated on the same line with a TAB character. These should be listed as one continuous line (no separated lines - returns).
   5. All entries for a single person should be contained on one line.
   6. The transcription of the wording of the memorial should be at the start of the document and entries for various wars separated with the details, for example, 1914-1919, 1914-1918, 1939-1945.
   7. Any additional notes should be added after the list of names.
      
      
2. Photographs can be sent as and attachment or by post (email Martin Edwards for an address). Attachments should be 50k or less and preferrably in a Zip file (see Winzip). Photographs are preferred in JPG format.
   
   
3. Newspaper cuttings can either be transcribed or sent as scanned attachments. Please indicate the level of headings if you transcribe these as the layout will reflect this when posted.
   
   
4. Accreditation will be given to the transcriber(s) and photographs will be copyrighted.

Researching those on memorials

You can research the various men on the memorial or leave it to us to do after we have created the page. Information can be found in the following places:

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission website - details of the burial/commemoration of the dead
• Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19 CD (available at many libraries - cost £220 + VAT) - searchable database
• Bedfordshire Men Who Served in the Great War (only 14 volumes completed but Bedfordshire was one)
• London Gazette - gives details of awards and notable actions
• Local Papers - obituaries of dead, awards, local information
• Public Record Office - Kew
• War Memorials Trust website