No one alive today has any living memory of
the First World War.
Yet when Charlie Gilmour swung from a flag
at the Cenotaph during the 2011 student protests,
public reactions were so strong that one commentator
suggested that he "should have been shot by
the police."
But those expressing disgust have no memory
of those whom the memorial was built to originally
signify
So the main aim of my research is understand
the continued use of memorials many years
after the events they commemorate, challenging
the notion that memorials are only important
to those with autobiographical memories of
these events.
To investigate this I carried out extensive
fieldwork, at the memorials themselves and
collected over 200 questionnaires from individuals
associated with memorials, such as volunteers
at the War Memorials Trust.
I asked questions such as is continued construction
of expensive memorials to historic conflicts,
such as the recent Bomber Command memorial
appropriate and can the use of memorials for
political protest be justified.
As you can see memorials increasingly make
media headlines as acts of vandalism or disrespect
are committed against them; or as they're
drawn into political debate.
You might remember recent protests surrounding
the murder of drummer Lee Rigby.
Her English Defence League marches to lay
wreaths at memorials in memory of Rigby gave
a clear message that they believed memorials
to represent a white British past .
Yet, many criticised the EDL's use of memorials
in this way, suggesting it was inappropriate,
and a memorials sacred role in representing
loss of life should transcend political rhetoric.
It might be imagined that memorials, have
always been revered in this way, this is far
from true.
Following the First World War memorials regularly
became sites of class-based protests surrounding
returning service men and during the 30s many
criticised the hypocrisy of memorialising
'the war to end all wars' whilst preparing
for a second conflict.
Yet results of my questionnaires indicates
that over 95% of people today believe that
that memorials should transcend contemporary
issues,
only two respondents commented that political
protest was freedom for which those listed
on the memorial had died.
And not one respondent thought commemoration
of past conflicts was hypocritical within
the context of Afghanistan and Iraq
It is my intention that by developing a greater
understanding of the changing use of memorial
by those with no memory of the events that
we will be able to protect these historic
objects and create a sustainable way to commemorate
past conflicts in a way that is not only acceptable
in the present but which will continue to
be found appropriate by future generations.
