Lest we forget

War memorial photographer David Austin visited the Oxford Union in July 2024  to photograph the Union’s war memorials as part of a nationwide project. The memorials register of the Imperial War Museum is currently being updated to add images of the memorials upon which the names of thousands of women and men that fell in war have been recorded.  

The work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and the Royal British Legion has provided us with a perpetual record of the thousands of men and women for whom we have nothing but memories. Another layer, the photographs of the memorials themselves, is now carefully being curated - with the help of dedicated photographers like Austin. 

As he explained: 'The memorials register of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) is being updated to add images of the memorials upon which their names are recorded. There is a benefit to the communities who have raised funds in the past to pay for these memorials and, in today's world of electronic communication, for those who are unable to personally visit the graves of relatives'. 

David Austin has been photographing war memorials all over the country since his retirement six years ago. 'In my retirement in 2018 I found myself in a position to contribute to the documentation of the memorials in Warwickshire. A love of cycling meant that I found myself huffing and puffing past many war memorials on my cycle training route around Stratford. It made a lot of sense to combine my need for cycling miles with the need to record those memorials for the nation and our community'. So far Mr Austin has visited 1,070, memorials, photographed about 8,500, number of images taken 35,000, nearly 7,000 miles cycled with more on foot, in motorcar and sailing boat, and 350,000 feet climbed on his bicycles. He is currently touring Oxfordshire.

The War Memorial Register

The War Memorial Register (WMR) has over 100,000 records and can be found online at the IWM website. The register has a search facility by which the record for a place or person can be inspected. David Austin has contributed at least 300 memorials' photos - and there are more to come! 

You can find the Oxford Union's war memorials on the Imperial War Museum's register of war memorials by following the links:

Oxford Union Society Officers and Staff WW1 | Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk)

Oxford Union Officers and Members WW2 | Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk)

https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials