Commonwealth War Graves Commission

"CWGC" redirects here. For the secondary school in Hong Kong, see Christian Alliance Cheng Wing Gee College.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Logo of CWGC of
Logo of CWGC
HeadquartersMaidenhead, United Kingdom
Official languagesEnglish
TypeIntergovernmental organization and commission
Membership
Leaders
• Patron
The King
• President
The Princess Royal
• Director-General
Claire Horton
Establishment
• Founded as the Imperial War Graves Commission
21 May 1917 (1917-05-21)
• Name changed to Commonwealth War Graves Commission
28 March 1960 (1960-03-28)
Website
www.cwgc.org Edit this at Wikidata

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War.[1] The commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through royal charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission.[1] The change to the present name took place in 1960.[2]

The commission, as part of its mandate, is responsible for commemorating all Commonwealth war dead individually and equally. To this end, the war dead are commemorated by a name on a headstone, at an identified site of a burial, or on a memorial. War dead are commemorated uniformly and equally, irrespective of military or civil rank, race or creed.

The commission is currently responsible for the continued commemoration of 1.7 million deceased Commonwealth military service members in 153 countries.[3] Since its inception, the commission has constructed approximately 2,500 war cemeteries and numerous memorials.[1] The commission is currently responsible for the care of war dead at over 23,000 separate burial sites and the maintenance of more than 200 memorials worldwide.[2] In addition to commemorating Commonwealth military service members, the commission maintains, under arrangement with applicable governments, over 40,000 non-Commonwealth war graves and over 25,000 non-war military and civilian graves.[1][4] The commission operates through the continued financial support of the member states: United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa. The current and first ever Patron of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is King Charles III.[5] The current president of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is Anne, Princess Royal.[6]

  1. ^ a b c d Peaslee 1974, p. 300.
  2. ^ a b Gibson & Ward 1989, p. 63.
  3. ^ Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2013, p. 2.
  4. ^ "Facts and figures". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Archived from the original on 5 November 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
  5. ^ Majesty Magazine [@MajestyMagazine] (10 November 2023). "The King becomes Patron of CWGC" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Majesty Magazine [@MajestyMagazine] (10 November 2023). "The Princess Royal becomes President of CWGC" (Tweet) – via Twitter.