1

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) commemorates 1.7 million men and women who died during the First and Second World Wars. The CWGC database allows you to search through 1.7 million people to find the one you're looking for. This could be a family relative, a former pupil at your school or even someone named on your local war memorial.

Step one:Go to the CWGC website www.cwgc.org

Step Two:Click on ‘Find War Dead’. On this page there are four search boxes you can complete to help find an individual.

Step Three:Enter the surname and initial if you know it. If you have further information you can enter details of whether the person was in the Royal Air Force, Army, Royal Navy, Merchant Navy or even civilian war dead. You can then enter whether it was the First or Second World War. Click search to get your results.(example-Dingle, First World War)

Step Four:What have you found out?

You should have a list of casualties, similar to the example shownYou will see similar details: • Name – the name you entered in the search (Example A.E. Dingle)• Rank – this is the position the person has in the Armed Forces (Example: A.E. Dingle being a Private) • Service Number – this is the number that each individual in the Armed Forces is given as a form of identification and stays with them during

their career (Example: 72955)• Date of Death – Often this is not known (Example: 10 September 1918)• Age – Often this is not known (Example: not recorded)• Regiment / Service – this is a very interesting section- it tells you what section of the Armed Forces the person was serving with in.

(Example: Royal Welsh Fusiliers 25th [Montgomery and Welsh Horse Yeomanry] Battalion)• Service Country – this tells you where the person was from or had a connection to (Example: UK)• Grave / Memorial Reference – this is the exact location within a cemetery or on a memorial where the person is remembered (Example:

VII. C. 1.)• Cemetery / Memorial Name – this is the location of the cemetery or memorial where the person is remembered (Example: Heilly Station

Cemetery, Mericourt L’abbe, France)

Your results page may show a long list of people. You need to use your investigation skills to determine which person is the correct person you are looking for. The filter button will help.Some clues to think about…what do you know about the casualty? Where are they from? When did they die? How old were they?

When you have selected your person, click on their name and hopefully find more information about them.

By carefully going through these stages you will be able to search for many people from our past who have died in the two world wars.