Ebook The Roll of Honour

The purpose of the Roll of Honour is to place on permanent record the name of every officer, non-commissioned officer and man of His Majesty's Forces, on land or sea, who is killed in action, who dies of wounds, or whose death is otherwise resulting from the present war. The work is to be issued in a series of volumes, and the arrangement is alphabetical. The name, rank and regiment of every one whose name appears in the official casualty lists are included, and where details have been obtainable, the parentage, place and date of birth, schools, a biographical sketch of career, and date and place of death, with extracts from letters of Commanding Officers or comrades relating to the action in which the officer or man fell, or to the particular circumstances of his death. The names of children have been included so that in the years to come they may themselves read, or teach their children to read, of the glorious way in which their fathers died and of those individual acts of bravery that are the chief redeeming features of war. The, present volume contains some names, and deals with casualties during the first year of the war, though certain exceptions have been made in order that relatives, though killed at different periods, may be included together. In every case it has been found possible to give the full name and to state the actual date, and the locality, of death, and these details must add very greatly to the value of the record, as they are not to be found in the Official Casualty Lists. A large number of portraits of officers and men will be found included. With some casualties it was obviously clearly impossible that one should be given in every case, but when a portrait is supplied, the publishers do their best to include it. The three following volumes, which are at present in course of completion or preparation, will, it is hoped, be issued this year. These are the second and third volumes for 1914-15, and the first volume for 1916. It is earnestly hoped that relatives of those deceased in the service will, by furnishing particulars, co-operate in carrying out what is, even with the official facilities which are being given, an exceedingly difficult task.