Abstract
Thus far in the twenty-first century there has been an increase of interest, and historiography, in the memory of war and its commemoration. Much of this has understandably been directed toward the Great War of 1914-1918: understandably because various centenary anniversaries would occur in contemporary times and huge numbers of families, only distant by two or three generations, were tragically affected. The second Boer War of 1899-1902, however, shocked late-Victorian Britain, and its Empire, as such an intractable enemy, and large loss of life in international conflict, had not been experienced within living memory. The memorialisation which followed recognised the individual as never before and went a long way toward acknowledging equality of sacrifice by affording casualty names uniformity of treatment. My thesis will focus on the sites of remembrance erected in schools but will also branch out into the wider community to make comparisons. It will look back into the nineteenth century to examine the traditions of memorialisation and forward into the twentieth to juxtapose Boer War memorials with those of WWI. In between it will discuss and analyse the men memorialised and how those who commissioned, designed, constructed, and unveiled a wide variety of memorials, went about their task.Records pertaining to a substantial number of schools, located throughout the British Isles, have been uniquely interrogated and the resulting work adds to the knowledge of how that section of the community reacted to, and remembered, the loss of alumni life in circumstances of war. Existing historiography is both enhanced and confronted.
| Date of Award | 16 Jan 2019 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | John Tosh (Supervisor) & Margaret L. Arnot (Supervisor) |