An Upkeep update and some other matters

CWGC record plenty of graves that they are not responsible for and do not look after though their inspectors do seem to check them as they go around and will sometimes do some basic work. I have reported family memorials to them and they have passed on to the council who repaired them. I would think that the majority of RN and MN have no known grave, certainly a large proportion (as is also the case with many WWI soldiers). They are still recorded by the CWGC and commemorated on one of the large memorials.

Some crematoriums have a War Memorial panel which lists all those cremated there.

Some families apparently did not want a CWGC headstone on their relative's grave, sometimes because they were so upset about losing a loved one that they did not want anything to do with the authorities. Their wishes had to be complied with, which can be a problem if they want to do some work on the grave or even move it.

They do miss some, there is one person from the OTRANTO who was recorded as lost at sea (I think) but his body was recovered and buried on a small island. I managed to find a relative who knew nothing about this. She tried get them to put some sort of marker but I don't think they have.

The rules on who was classed as a war casualty were much stricter in WWI than later conflicts.

If you look up a name on the CWGC website, there is often more information on pages linked from the main one.

You often find civilians killed in air raids recorded by the CWGC i.e. killed by enemy action. But if his death was nothing to do with any enemy action then I don't think he would be recorded by the CWGC.

From the CWGC website
www.cwgc.org/find-records/commemorations/

WHO DOES CWGC COMMEMORATE?
The Commemorations team ensure that CWGC commemorates all Commonwealth war casualties. Not everyone who died during the two world wars is formally designated a war casualty. The intention was to ensure that everyone who had died during the official dates of the conflict and as a result of their war service would be formally commemorated. To achieve this Commonwealth military and auxiliary organisations set individual criteria to determine which of their servicemen and women qualified. Additional rules were introduced for Commonwealth civilians killed during the Second World War.

Individuals may not have been commemorated for various reasons. Many people died during the war years but in circumstances which mean they don’t meet the relevant criteria. Others were missed from a key record due to an administrative error. Often neither the military authorities nor the Commission were informed of the death of former servicemen and women who died after they were discharged. Where evidence confirms that the circumstances of their death meet the requirements set out in the Royal Charter we will arrange for them to be commemorated.

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