north from the Aishe. Sir Nevil Macready, then Adjutant-
General to the British Expeditionary Force, perceiving that both
the unprecedented number of casualties and the personal interest
of the whole British public in the New Armies would demand
attention to the graves of the fallen beyond that which was pro-
vided for in the existing organization of the Adjutant-General's
Branch, transformed this unit, in Feb. 1915, into a department
of his branch. The work increased so rapidly that it was soon
found necessary to promote the department" to the status of a
Directorate of the British Army, and later to create a corre-
sponding department of the War Office, with the title Directorate
of Graves Registration and Enquiries.
By the autumn of 1915 the number of registered graves scattered over the countryside or situated in established com- munal or British military cemeteries had reached considerable proportions. Discussions therefore took place between the British officers responsible for the organization and the French Government, with a view to insuring the permanency of the British graves and cemeteries and their security from disturbance. The result was the passing of the French Law of Dec. 29 1915, one of the most generous and interesting enactments made by one nation on behalf of others. The law provides that all Allied graveyards on the soil of France shall be acquired by the Govern- ment of the Republic at its own expense and that the rights of ownership shall be enjoyed in perpetuity by the Allied nations concerned. This practical tribute to the valour of the British armies was profound in its effect on the relations between the two Allies during the war.
Under this law it was possible for an " association reguliere- ment constituee " by an Allied government to be entrusted with the care of its graves in France. The result was the establishment in Great Britain (Jan. 1916) of a National Committee for the Care of Soldiers' Graves, the presidency of which was accepted by the Prince of Wales. In its establishment there was to be found the germ from which developed the Imperial War Graves Commis- sion, a body of wider powers and much deeper significance.
By May 1916 the extension of the fighting to more distant battlefields than France and Belgium had very greatly increased the work of the department. In the same month Graves Regis- tration units were established in Egypt, Salonika, Mesopotamia and E. Africa. The large and rapidly growing number of cas- ualties made it evident that the care of the graves after the war and the erection of permanent memorials would be a task too extensive for a body with the limitations of the National Com- mittee to undertake. Among these limitations was the lack of direct representation of the Dominions and other parts of the Empire, whose soldiers were falling and being buried side by side with those of the United Kingdom. The first Imperial Conference since the beginning of the war was to be held in March 1917, and it was felt that this was an opportunity of suggesting to the Governments of the Empire the creation of an Imperial body responsible equally to the British and Dominion Parliaments, to whom the great work could be entrusted. In a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister, dated March 15 1917, the Prince of Wales, as president of the National Committee, suggested that the formation of " a joint Committee of the Governments of the Empire, or a statutory body of Commis- sioners somewhat on the lines of the Development Commission," should be proposed to the forthcoming Imperial Conference. The question was accordingly laid before the Conference on April 13 1917, when a resolution was passed praying His Majesty to grant a Royal Charter for the constitution of an Imperial War Graves Commission, which should be empowered to care for and maintain the graves of those fallen in the war, to acquire land for the purpose of cemeteries and to erect permanent memorials in the cemeteries and elsewhere. The charter was passed under the Great Seal on May 21 1917, and the Commission, of which the Prince of Wales became president, was duly established.
Constitution. The provisions of the charter stipulate that the members of the Commission shall be:
"The persons for the time being holding the offices of: Our Principal Secretary of State for War (ex-officio Chairman), Our Prin-
95i
cipal Secretary of State for the Colonies, Our Principal Secretary ot State for India; and First Commissioner of Our Office of Works and Public Buildings, . . . and such persons as may be appointed by the Governments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Newfoundland ..." and " such other persons, not exceeding the number of eight in all, as may from time to time be appointed members of the Commission by Royal Warrant under the sign manual of the Sovereign for the time being."
The nomination by the Britjsh Overseas Dominions of their representatives and the selection of non-official members of the Commission were completed in Oct. 1917, under the chairmanship of the then Secretary of 'State for War (the Earl of Derby), and the persons nominated were appointed by Royal Warrant on the 26th of that month. In every case the Dominions nominated their High Commissioners or official representatives in London.
The first non-official members were: Sir William Garstin, Harry Gosling, Rudyard Kipling, Gen. Sir C. F. N. Macready (then Adjutant-General to the Forces, subsequently succeeded in that office by Lt.-Gen. Sir G. M. W. Macdonogh, who was ap- pointed to fill one of the vacant unofficial memberships, thus in- dicating that the Adjutant-General for the time being should always be a member of the Commission), Gen. Lord Plumer, Adml. Sir Edmund S. Poe, Maj.-Gen. Sir Fabian Ware (subse- quently appointed permanent vice-chairman).
One of the first duties which the newly formed Commission had to perform was, in the words of the resolution of the Imperial Conference on April 23, " to prepare an estimate of the probable cost of carrying on the work entrusted to them and to submit the same to the Governments of the United Kingdom and Over- seas Dominions with their recommendation as to the proportion that should be borne by each."
The Commission's deliberations on this question resulted in the double proposal laid before the next Imperial Conference on June 17 1918, that 10 per grave should be taken as the probable cost of the construction of cemeteries, and that the cost of carrying out the decisions of the Commission should be borne by the respective Governments in proportion to the numbers of the graves of their dead. It is hardly necessary to emphasize the significance of the 'adoption of this proposal; a precedent may thus have been established with far-reaching effects; at any rate a most interesting experiment in cooperative administration among the nations of the British Commonwealth had been initiated. It is based on the principle that each shall be finan- cially responsible in proportion to the amount of service rendered on behalf of the whole. In this connexion it is important to note that estimates are presented yearly in identical form to each of the participating Governments, the respective Parliaments being asked to vote a proportion of the total in accordance with the decision of the Imperial Conference of 1918 referred to above. The Commission administer the grants in aid thus received "hrough a finance committee, which meets regularly at short ntervals and on which the British Treasury is represented. The principle of complete cooperation runs through all the work of the Commission, the participating Governments being repre- sented in the administrative personnel, both in London and abroad, on the same proportional basis as has been adopted for
- he sharing of expenditure.
Policy. While their constitutional history was thus develop- ng, the Commission were busy arranging for the discharge of their responsibilities. One of their first acts was to lay down as a
- uiding principle that the graves of all ranks and ratings should
>e treated on a basis of absolute equality.
With this principle as a foundation on which to build, the commission, desiring that the various proposals which had been placed before them as to the best method of discharging their responsibility should not become the subject of controversy, invited Sir Frederic Kenyon to report to them, the following being the terms in which the matter was referred to him:
" Sir Frederic Kenyon's duties will be to decide between the various proposals submitted to him as to the architectural treatment tnd laying out of cemeteries, and to report his recommendations to he Commission at the earliest possible date.
" I. He will consult the representatives of the various churches and religious bodies on any religious questions involved.
