The Lost Lives exhibition is a simple but challenging installation that generates powerful emotions and gives a graphic sense of the large numbers killed. One shrouded figure, hand stitched by Rob, is laid out to represent each of the 1,561 days of the First World War and records on a small plaque the number lost on each day. The daily record of lost lives highlights the scale of the conflict that saw 983,779  killed from the British Empire. The worst day of the War was on 1 July 1916 when 19,240 were killed at the Battle of the Somme.

The losses for each year are:                        The casualties by nation are:
1914             36,780                                         Australia                62,149
1915           150,881                                         Canada                 64,996
1916           235,457                                         India                      73,905
1917           292,860                                         New Zealand        18,166
1918           263,227                                         Newfoundland        1,570
.                                                                         South Africa            9,726
.                                                                         UK                       744,000
Total   953,104

Casualty statistics for World War I vary to a great extent.  Military casualties reported in official sources list deaths due to all causes, including killed or died of wounds, accidents, and disease.

The exhibition has great educational value as laying out 1561 plaques and figures for each day of the war and highlighting the campaigns shows the scale of the war and enables people to connect with individual dates, particular battles or be mesmerized by the enormity of the daily and monthly losses over 52 months of war. It also facilitates discussion about military history, ethics and the impact of the war.

Some of the major battles highlighted:

23 Aug 1914                  Battle of Mons
26 Aug  1914                 Battle of Le Cateau
22 Sep 1914                  Loss of 3 RN ships
19-22 Oct 1914             1st Battle of Ypres
1 Nov 1914                    Battle of Coronel
17 Feb 15 –9 Jan 1916 Gallipoli Campaign
22-25 Apr 1915              2nd Battle of Ypres
25 Sep – 8 Oct 1915      Battle of Loos
31 May -1 Jun 1916       Battle of Jutland
1 July – 18 Nov 1916     Battle of the Somme
9 Apr -16 May 1917       Battle of Arras
7-14 June 1917             Battle of Messines
31 Jul -10 Nov 1917      3rd Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele)
20 Nov -6 Dec 1917      Battle of Cambrai
21 Mar -5 Apr 1918       German Spring Offensive
9-29 Apr 1918               Operation Georgette
8 Aug – 11 Nov 1918     Hundred Day Offensive

Displayed in Exeter from 30 Jun – 8 July 2018, the exhibition drew over 15,000 people and generated some powerful comments from the public:

A fitting tribute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice
A very poignant and thought provoking exhibit
Very emotional but very educational for young and old
A very humbling and powerful exhibition
A fantastic way to display the sheer volume of the many thousands lost

SSAFA was there throughout the First World War and continues to support serving personnel, veterans and their dependents today by offering practical, emotional and financial support through a network of trained volunteers and professional staff

The post Lost Lives exhibition appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

The Shrouds project will form one of the major centrepieces of commemorations and teachers are being urged to get involved to give pupils an unforgettable way of marking the historic landmark.

Artist Rob Heard has spent the past five years making more than 72,000 small shrouded figures each one representing one of the men killed in the bloodiest battle in British military history whose bodies were never recovered.

In November each of the shrouds will be laid out in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a graphic reminder of the scale of sacrifice in the Great War.

School children reading the names of the 72,396 with no known grave, displayed on walls of The Trench.

As part of this major piece of public art, schools will be able to download tools helping teachers bring the sacrifices and significance of the First World War to life.

Shrouds has teamed up with University College London and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to produce a self-guided teaching resource as well as free-online learning resources aimed at supporting staff exploring the topic of the First World War and in particular the Battle of the Somme.

Vicky Price, Education Co-ordinator at UCL Special Collections, said: “You can teach the details but one thing that’s almost impossible to do is help children to understand the scale of the sacrifices made during the First World War.”

Artist Rob Heard talking to students about the project during visit to The Trench

“Visiting the site of the Shrouds in November will bring this message home and I would urge schools to take this unique opportunity. Those who cannot visit the installation itself, can still be part of this unique project by accessing our online tools as a teaching aid as the nation marks the 100^thanniversary of the end of the Great War.”

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Chief Historian Glyn Prysor says “Many visitors to the CWGC’s Thiepval Memorial in France are overwhelmed by the 72,000 names of the missing inscribed on its walls. Rob Heard’s powerful and challenging artwork confronts us with the human impact of that loss. We are proud to be partnering with Shrouds of the Somme and UCL to deliver a learning programme to explain the history behind the art, as well as encouraging a new generation to reflect on our cemeteries and memorials.”

The Shrouds of the Somme presents schools with an invaluable opportunity to engage with the history of the First World War around this year’s important Armistice Day; it is a unique representation of one artist’s efforts to memorialise the many thousands of soldiers lost in action at one particularly devastating battle.

The First World War is an immense topic to teach to young people, and providing the right stimulus and environment to allow pupils to develop their own emotional and intellectual response is a real challenge. Learning about the artist Rob Heard’s journey to creating this installation, using the online resources, visiting the installation and, for local schools, inviting the team to deliver workshops or introductory talks to pupils can all contribute towards pupils making a meaningful connection between the Armistice tradition and the magnitude of the First World War.

For all schools:

See www.shroudsofthesomme.com/schools-programme/

• Free online learning resources: aimed at supporting teachers exploring the topic of the First World War, and in particular The Battle of the Somme.Classes do not need to visit the installation to benefit from these resources.  The activities enclosed will encourage pupils to lead their own historical enquiry, to discover the impact of the battle and to consider the act of memorialising those lost 100 years on.
• A self-guided resource for school groups to use when they visit the installation.This will go some way to helping pupils process the magnitude of what the Shrouds of the Somme represents.  It will also help pupils consider their own emotional and intellectual response to what they have learned.
• Pre-installation visit introductory sessions:Held in a venue close to the installation, these will be offered to classes from schools in the four neighbouring boroughs (Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Waltham) and will be designed to ‘set the scene’ before classes visit the installation.
• School workshops for Key Stage 2 and 3: delivered on site at schools in the four neighbouring boroughs, these will combine poetry, creativity and the use of primary resources to investigate the Battle of the Somme, its impact and how and why we remember it.

The post Schools’ Programme Launched appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

The Human Cost of War

One of the driving ideas behind the Shrouds of the Somme is to create a physical representation of the numbers involved in World War 1. When you hear a figure like 72,396, it is almost impossible to imagine what that many people would look like, let alone that they were lost over the course of a few months. And those 72,396 are just a fraction of the total losses. The Shrouds represent the Commonwealth soldiers who fell at the Somme whose bodies were never recovered. Their names are on the Thiepval memorial in France, but their broken bodies remain scattered beneath the battlefields. By the end of the battle, which lasted 141 days, over a million people on both sides had perished. By the end of the war, at least 9 million military personnel and 6 million civilians had died – followed by many more deaths caused by the knock-on effects of the war.

The Somme 19,240 and Beyond

The first public exhibition of the Shrouds of the Somme was in Northernhay Gardens in Exeter exactly two years ago. It marked the centenary of the beginning of the battle, on July 1^st. Artist Rob Heard created 19,240 Shrouds, to commemorate the commonwealth soldiers who fell on the first day of the battle. Rob felt that it was important to create each one himself, in a personal act of remembrance. After the event he felt compelled to keep going and honour all of the fallen recorded at Thiepval – which includes 12,000 of the 19,240 (this is why some of the figures in the Trench appear weathered and some do not). He now has around 19,000 shrouds left to make and is working for ten hours a day – almost every day – wrapping and binding the figures. They should be ready by November when all 72,396 will be laid out for the first and only time. Shoulder to shoulder in the Olympic Park in London, marking 100 years since Armistice – the end of the Great War.

A New Perspective

The Trench gives a new perspective of the Shrouds – as a mass, rather than as individuals. The big number that we try to imagine when we read about the losses in history books. It contains around 53,000 shrouded figures – getting on for three times as many as were laid out in Northernhay gardens two years ago. Seeing them arranged in this way – with bodies stacked upon bodies, over seven feet high – is having a huge impact on everyone who comes to see them.

Lost Lives

On the approach to the Trench, SSAFA Devon have laid out 1,561 Shrouds in an installation called ‘Lost Lives’ with one Shroud representing each day of the war. Behind each figure is a little sign with the date and the number of men who fell on each day. You can see the number jumps significantly when you get to the first day of the Somme on 1^st July 1916 – and the count remains high for many months after.

Along the outer walls of the Trench you may read all of the 72,396 names of those who fell on panels created for us by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Imagination.  There is also a viewing platform so that you can walk up and gaze down into the structure as well as walking through it. The 72,396 are primarily British but are known to include 829 South African Infantrymen, 65 Canadians, 42 Australians, 13 New Zealanders and 2 Americans who were believed to be fighting with British units at the time.

The Impact and Importance of the Shrouds

Visitors to the Trench have been moved to tears by the scale of the loss conveyed in this unique format. They have lingered and observed, moving amongst the figures, searching for the names of fallen kin and talking to Rob and our volunteers about the display. As you walk around the exhibit you hear conversations about art, long lost relatives, modern military service, life, death and physical or emotional scars. Individual stories that show how this affects us all – both as individuals and as a mass. This work resonates with everybody. The loss of these men directly affected families and communities throughout the UK and those losses still have an impact on many of us today. If you’re driving to visit the Trench – every town or village that you pass through has a memorial to those who fell. Everyone in those communities felt the consequences of the conflict. Some returned home, but many did not. This is why it is so important for us to remember them as individuals as well as a mass – not just a figure on a piece of paper or a name carved in stone. Remembering them all with honour and respect and ensuring that we all comprehend the scale of their sacrifice.

The post The Somme in Numbers appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

Poor bloody Infantry, is the moniker we got.
Sat in trench, for duration, an army left to rot.
But this is the big one, all the ducks in a row.
Brass hats are right bullish, this one is the show.

Our poilu friends the French, are really under cosh.
Their line is weak and looking bad, under boot of Bosche.
Our push will help relieve them, so the chatter goes.
We’ll do our bit, we’ll have a go, we’ve got to try God knows.

After the bombardment, we’re up there with the lark.
Over the top you go boys, a wee walk in the park.
In Berlin by Christmas, we had heard it all before.
But this one’s going to break them, this will end the war.

Nine VC’s by teatime, for action, a’fore the Hun.
The first was earned at breakfast, before it all begun.
Some Tommy dropped a Mills bomb, Annie McFadzean lost a son.
Young William leapt upon it, for him the day was done.
The guns of Balaclava, with purple ribbon proclaim.
Of deeds so brave and selfless, “For Valour”, is the name.

O seven twenty, that’s how Army do the time.
Hawthorn Ridge exploded, the first almighty mine.
Don’t even wait for echo, still ringing in our ears.
Over top, kick some arse, or we’ll all be here for years.

Not twenty paces had we made, before we start to drop.
Dead Jerries shooting at us? Oh God we’re for the chop.
All around us men are falling, can’t stop we must press on.
Perhaps he’s caught a Blighty one, he’ll end the day in song.

Sixty thousand telegrams sent.
Sixty thousand broken hearted.
Sixty thousand telegrams sent.
We’re back just where we started.

© Michael Parris 2018

The post Somme, the First Day appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

The Trenches
These shrouds make up the trenches
Many, many, side by side
To try and make us understand
How many men have died
While fighting for our freedom
On a far off foreign shore
We’ll never know their hardship
Their fear, their pain, their war
We cannot know their suffering
Or know of their distress
But it would be disgraceful
To forget their sacrifice
These men and boys were never found
The conditions were so dire
They fell and died on the battle ground
And were lost in the foul quagmire
Their loved ones never new their fate
Or how their life had ended
They went to war and bravely fought
Because we had to be defended
So stand and look upon each shroud
That Rob has sewn by hand
And think of each and every man
That died in a hostile land.

The post The Trenches appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

What is the Trench?

Shrouds of the Somme is a unique art project commemorating the Commonwealth servicemen who fell at the Somme who have no known grave. The fallen are represented by 72,396 shrouded figures, which will be laid out shoulder to shoulder to mark the armistice centenary in London this November.

The Trench presents the Shrouds of the Somme in a different way – as a mass, rather than individuals. The figures are stacked together in a 7.5ft (2.3m) high installation, which is 150ft (45m) long. Visitors are able to walk right through the structure – in amongst the figures – to get a feel for what it was like to be inside a trench, along with an appreciation of the devastation experienced during the British Army’s bloodiest battle. In the original ‘layout’ form, the Shrouds provide dignity and attention to detail, representing the individuals who perished, which is important to give a scale to the loss. The Shrouds in the Trench represent the mass loss. The distinctly uncomfortable and oppressive image of a huge number of people crushed together.

Pictured above: Rob with a section of the Trench (Photo by Arthur Edwards)

It is hard to describe the emotions that people feel once they are inside the Trench. It is an intense and thought-provoking experience.

“Once you’ve walked down it, you’re going to know you’ve walked down it.” – Rob Heard

Inspiration for the Trench

For Rob, the Shrouds of the Somme project has always been about physicalising the number. To understand the sheer volume of loss – and why it is so important for us to remember those who fell – both as individuals and as a mass. When you see these huge numbers it is almost impossible to imagine them as individuals, which is why Rob set about creating this incredible artwork all by himself. To stitch the shrouds and wrap each individual figure, crossing them off a list as he goes to honour them all individually. Whilst working on this he formed the idea for the Trench as a way of exhibiting them in a different format:

“The idea for The Trench came to me one day as I was standing in amongst all the figures stacked up in bags.  I realised I was standing in what felt like a trench. It was very compressed and very claustrophobic in amongst all these dead bodies and I started to think about how we could actually represent that and it just came to me – the idea of a trench. Lines.”

Pictured above: Rob standing in amongst the Shrouds, having a lightbulb moment.

“It will be an unsettling experience to walk through and maybe that’s as it should be. It’s exactly the same piece but represented in a different way. It’s a much more hard-hitting image. It will be 45 metres long and two and a half metres high and I want to really get the feeling of being – like, when you’re in it, you can’t see the ends. This is really going to bring home the claustrophobic feeling of being in a trench – do you want to stay in this trench full of the dead or do you want to get out? For me personally it’s going to be quite an interesting feeling to be in that, having lived with these figures for as long as I have.”

Rob got a friend to create some CAD drawings of how the trench would look (pictured above) before developing a structure to house the figures and launching the concept at the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) in London with a prototype section on 26th April (pictured below).

Last month ‘History Guy’ Dan Snow came to film a section of the Trench with a BBC TV crew for a future episode of the One Show, where he described Shrouds of the Somme as “The most remarkable First World War commemoration you will ever see.”

He is pictured here standing inside a section of the Trench, which was set up in Rob’s garden during construction. The finished structure will be 4 times longer than the section pictured.

The Trench in Exeter

The Trench will not contain all of the 72,396 figures as Rob is still hard at work wrapping them all, with another 19,000 to go before November (at time of writing). The outside of the structure will feature all of the 72,396 names of those who fell along with some superbly detailed panels featuring information about the Somme and the Shrouds project created for us by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

1,561 Shrouds will also be laid out on the grass – in the same configuration as were recently displayed at Salisbury Cathedral – with one figure to mark each day of World War One. Individual signs detailing the losses on each day of the war will accompany the figures, again illustrating the sheer scale of the conflict and loss. This part of the exhibition is being organised by SSAFA Devon. Pictured below: The 1,561 being laid out at Salisbury – Photo by Ash Mills.

The event is free and will be open to the public from 9am on 30th June with a formal opening ceremony on Saturday morning. The Deputy Lord Lieutenant, Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Ridgway KBE CB (President SSAFA Devon) will arrive at Northernhay Gardens at 9am. He will proceed to the viewing platform where Commodore Jake Moores OBE DL and the Lord Mayor willformally welcome him and those present. The RSM of 6 Rifles WO1 N Beresfordwill then march down the length of the trench and lay the final shroud in place. The last post will then be sounded followed by a one minute silence and Rouse. General Ridgway will then declare the exhibition open.

Visitors to the event will have the chance to pre-order a shroud or a copy of the commemorative Shrouds of the Somme book. It will also be the first time that the public will be able to buy one of our exclusive limited edition Shrouds of the Somme pin badges. Each badge is individually numbered (up to 72,396) and Rob has made the first 19,240 available exclusively for the people of Exeter to come and buy in person. They are not currently available for sale anywhere else.

“The reality is that literally thousands upon thousands of men perished together, en masse. The 72,396 represent only those with no known grave – a fraction of those who died in the whole battle. Walking through a 45 metre trench of bodies will be like nothing else.” – Rob Heard

Getting to the event:

• Train station: Exeter Central (closest) or Exeter St David’s (less than a mile away)
• Directions by road: Only a minute’s walk off the High Street, the main access is on Northernhay Gate off Queen Street.
• Nearest Car Park: Harlequins Shopping Centre & Guildhall Centre car parks are the closest, but there are many more throughout the city within walking distance to the gardens. Find a car park.
• Park and Ride: There are three Park and Ride sites – further information can be found on the Park and Ride site.

This event would not have been possible without the tremendous support of our project partners, detailed below and we would like to take this chance to thank them all again.

• NEX for their incredibly generous donation which has allowed Rob to continue making the Shrouds
• Exeter City Council for sponsoring the build of the Trench
• SSAFA Devon for their constant support throughout and team of fabulous volunteers
• 6 RIFLES who continue to provide a fantastic level of support to this project
• Imagination who have created and produced the boards of the 72,000 names free of charge
• VolkerFitzpatrick who supplied all of the wood for the trench free of charge
• DHL for their unfailingly professional transport and logistics service which they are very generously providing free of charge
• Hawerby Trust for a very generous donation
• Commonwealth War Graves Commission who have designed the interpretation materials and provided their invaluable historical knowledge
• Warwick Events providing marquee and PA system free of charge
• Rokk Media for our excellent website

The post The Trench in Exeter appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

A couple of weeks ago the Shrouds of the Somme were featured in an incredibly sensitive and well-written article for the Sun newspaper. The journalist Mike Ridley and legendary photographer Arthur Edwards were both clearly moved as they talked to Rob about the project and looked around the shed where the Shrouds are created. Arthur has very kindly given us permission to use some of his photographs, shown here.

Hot on the heels of the Sun, came History Guy Dan Snow, filming a piece about the Shrouds and the Trench for the One Show. he declared them “the most remarkable World War One commemoration you will ever see.” We will let you know as soon as the piece is broadcast on BBC One.

You can read the full Sun Article here

Rob Heard by Arthur Edwards

 

Rob Heard by Arthur Edwards

 

Rob Heard by Arthur Edwards

The post Lost but not Forgotten – The Shrouds in The Sun, 8 June 2018 appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

We had waited a boat, beside the scruffy chalk
That lay white across the water, when we looked back.
Wider ways regained, now free for us to roam,
On parts of lands that stretch half across the world,
Anywhere we please, on safe and open roads,
Gorbachev – Our Common European Home.

Smooth rural autoroute after England’s street,
Between fields, rich emerald with winter wheat.
Above, in cold air, dark dense clouds roil,
But below, despite the drumming rain,
No mud smears the land, except
Where great tractors work the giving soil.

Above the fields of white stones in their neat grids
Still well-tended by those whose gift it is,
The slender spires that slowly reap the wind
With their whirling white arms, bring better lives
To little homes below them, amongst the shelt’ring trees
That soften the solstice east wind’s din.

Our car, living-room smooth, reliable, quiet, warm,
Glides the easy bridge across the Marais de la Somme.
To this wide valley, men came innocent, and some yet lie
Below us, with their broken kit and horses,
Their battered nameless faces still,
Still screaming at the sky.
They came from the lands of Shakespeare and Schiller,
Beethoven, Constable, Elgar, Mahler,
Newton, Bragg, Einstein, and Yeats.
A culture of noble dreams.
Armstrong, Whitworth, Mauser and Benz,
Creators of perfect machines.

The stuff of war, and bones that lie there now,
Have lain quiet, unworried, except by the plough,
Since that time of the madness of leaders, who then,
Believed in their right to send those men to war,
Who had no power, to choose to keep those lives where
There were children to cherish and women to love them.

I carry a picture of an infant, with ready smile and loving face,
(As you might well have brought to this ravaged, bloodied, place)
Who knows nothing but fond welcomes, adorations;
I can be amongst you, then see his willing smile again.
But you will not leave this safe, green, well-kept land.
Still, silent, dark, the earth of our now peaceful nations.

As more of us lose sight of how many were bereft,
As we pass all those we do not see, but never left,
We mean no disrespect when we forget the clouded veils;
And as we pass, in our freedom, we should listen.
The land is alive with the sadness of the past. Listen.
Hear the distant ache across the quiet, wide, and rolling fields.

© Tony Richardson
February 2014 – 2018.

The post The Bridge – Viaduc de la Somme, 245m. appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

Soldiers from the 5 Rifles Battalion laid out each of the shrouds in the sacred garth at the heart of the cathedral’s cloisters.

The Shrouds Project installation

Each of the 1,561 shrouds represent one day of the war.

The Shrouds Project, created by artist Rob Heard, represents the servicemen and women killed on each day of the First World War.

The shrouds laid out at the heart of the cathedral cloisters (Steve Parsons/PA)

It was installed at the cathedral on Thursday and will be available to view there until Sunday, with further exhibitions in Exeter and Belfast to follow.

In November, 72,396 shrouded figures representing those killed at the Somme with no known grave will be laid out at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London to form a focal point for the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.

The post Shrouded figures laid on burial ground in First World War commemoration appeared first on Shrouds Of The Somme.

The ‘Shrouds Of The Somme’ project is a powerful piece of commemorative art which marks the centenary of the end of the First World War by remembering more than 72,000 Commonwealth servicemen who were killed at the Somme who have no known grave, many of whose bodies were never recovered and whose names are engraved on the Thiepval Memorial.

For the artwork, artist Rob Heard has hand stitched and bound 72,396 figures, one for each fatality: the shrouds depict a human form, individually shaped, shrouded and made to a name.

From 23 August – 16 September, 3,762 of the miniature shrouded figures will be laid out in the Garden of Remembrance at Belfast City Hall, representing those from the Ulster and Irish regiments, or from Belfast, with no known grave and whose names are on the Thiepval Memorial.

In November, all 72,396 shrouds will be laid out, shoulder to shoulder, in hundreds of rows at Queen Elizabeth Park on Armistice Day.

Similar shrounds have already been displayed in Exeter and Bristol, and attracted more than 145,000 visitors.

More information on the project can be found at shroudsofthesomme.com/.

As a lasting legacy of the project, relatives of those who lost their lives are being asked to share photos and stories of the men, telling who they were, where they were from and what they did. The aim of the project is that, by bringing the individual to the forefront of these unimaginable numbers will help the nation to truly understand the scale of the loss of those who gave their all. Memories, stories and photographs are being collected through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission digital archive: http://blog.cwgc.org/thiepval-stories/

RELEASE ENDS

ISSUED BY CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, BELFAST CITY COUNCIL

NOTE TO EDITORS

The ‘Shrouds Of The Somme’ commemorates the 72,396 allied soldiers who died in the Battle of The Somme and who have no known grave.

Of these, 3,762 either served in the Ulster and Irish regiments, or were from the city of Belfast.  The Belfast shrouds represent soldiers from:
Royal Irish Rifles (1,199)
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (841)
Royal Dublin Fusiliers (428)
Royal Irish Fusiliers (343)
Royal Irish Regiment (276)
Royal Munster Fusiliers (230)
Irish Guards (212)
Leinster Regiment (112)
London Irish Rifles (60)
Other Irish regiments (5)
Men from Belfast who served in other regiments (53)

For further information, please refer media enquiries to:
Media Relations Office, Belfast City Council
Tel:      +44 (0)28 9027 0221
E:         [email protected]

For media enquiries outside normal office hours, please call +44 (0) 79 1745 8070.

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