Ceremony of the Unknown Warrior:
HMS Verdun brought the Unknown Warrior back to Britain
10 November 1920
The
casket was banded with iron and a medieval crusader's sword, chosen by
the king personally from the Royal Collection, was affixed to the top
and surmounted by an iron shield bearing the inscription 'A British
Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914-1918 for King and Country'. The
coffin of the Unknown Warrior spent the night of 9 November being
watched over by British and French soldiers in the thirteenth century
castle at Boulogne before being transferred with great respect and
ceremony to HMS Verdun. The events are described in great detail in the
following day’s ‘Yorkshire Post’.
“At a quarter to
eleven the procession began to move towards the harbour. The massed
drums thundered out the opening bars of Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’, which
was taken up by the bands along the entire route. When the harbour was
reached the Verdun which had
arrived somewhat late owing to fog, was lying alongside the jetty. On
her after-gun platform gleamed the proud motto of the ship: “On ne
passe pas”. The crew of the ship were drawn up facing the jetty and
presented arms on the arrival of the wagons containing the body.
There was a short pause before the coffin was carried on board. Marshal
Foch and General Macdonagh both delivered short speeches extolling the
work of the British and Allied armies, and underlining the deathless
significance of today’s ceremony. Then the body was taken up by its
escort of British soldiers representing all parts of the Empire and
carried on board. As it passed over the gangway the boatswain’s mate
piped the body on board with honours generally accorded to admirals and
captains. General Macdonagh and his aide-de-camp followed, and the many
wreaths were taken on board and laid around the coffin, which had been
put on the quarterdeck with four soldiers standing with reversed arms
around it. Another general salute was given by the troops, and Marshal
Foch advancing almost to the water’s edge stood alone saluting his dead
comrade. The Verdun
unmoored and slowly glided away from the pier. As she moved away into
the mist one could hear the guns of her escorting French flotilla fire
the Field Marshal’s salute of nineteen guns”.
HMS Verdun was met in the Channel by a flotilla of British warships, which escorted the ship to Dover. The Yorkshire Post once again describes the scene:
“The thunder of
the salute of nineteen guns fired by the RGA from Dover Castle heralded
the arrival of HMS Verdun in Dover Harbour. The Verdun was brought
alongside the Admiralty Pier about one hundred yards from the Marine
Station and six warrant officers representing the Navy, the Marines,
the Army and the Air Force, all of whom had seen considerable war
service, went on board to act as bearers.
One by one the massive wreaths were reverently removed from the coffin
and on the shoulders of six stalwart bearers the remains of the unknown
soldier were brought to shore. As the last echo of the guns died away
the band of the Royal Irish Fusiliers played Elgar’s ‘Land of Hope and
Glory’. The passing of the coffin from the quarter-deck of the Verdun
was honoured by a salute of bluejackets who stood in line with their
arms at the ‘present’ and with a mournful dirge of the bosun’s pipes
the Verdun’s share in the Empire tribute was ended”.
The coffin was then taken in a
special train to Victoria Station and remained there overnight before
the burial on 11 November with full military honours at Westminster
Abbey. You can view a short film of the return home of the Unknown Warrior on the British Pathé website
The cortège was followed by the
King, Royal Family and ministers of state to Westminster Abbey, where
the casket was borne into the West Nave of the Abbey flanked by a guard
of honour of one hundred recipients of the Victoria Cross. The Armed
Services then stood as honour guard as tens of thousands of mourners
filed past.
At the west end of the Nave of
Westminster Abbey is the grave of the Unknown Warrior, whose body was
brought from France to be buried here on 11th November 1920. The grave,
which contains soil from France, is covered by a slab of black Belgian
marble from a quarry near Namur. On it is the following inscription,
composed by Herbert Ryle, Dean of Westminster:
BENEATH THIS STONE RESTS THE BODY
OF A BRITISH WARRIOR
UNKNOWN BY NAME OR RANK
BROUGHT FROM FRANCE TO LIE AMONG
THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS OF THE LAND
AND BURIED HERE ON ARMISTICE DAY
11 NOV: 1920, IN THE PRESENCE OF
HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE V
HIS MINISTERS OF STATE
THE CHIEFS OF HIS FORCES
AND A VAST CONCOURSE OF THE NATION
THUS ARE COMMEMORATED THE MANY
MULTITUDES WHO DURING THE GREAT
WAR OF 1914 - 1918 GAVE THE MOST THAT
MAN CAN GIVE LIFE ITSELF
FOR GOD
FOR KING AND COUNTRY
FOR LOVED ONES HOME AND EMPIRE
FOR THE SACRED CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND
THE FREEDOM OF THE WORLD
THEY BURIED HIM AMONG THE KINGS BECAUSE HE
HAD DONE GOOD TOWARD GOD AND TOWARD
HIS HOUSE
The bell of HMS Verdun in which the Unknown Warrior
was brought from Boulogne to Dover
on the eve of Armistice Day 1920.
Presented by Cdr. J.D.R. Davies, M.B.E., R.N.
Remembrance Sunday 1990.
If
you want to find out more about the wartime service of a member of your
family who served on HMS Verdun you should first obtain a copy of their service record To
find out how follow this link:
http://www.holywellhousepublishing.co.uk/servicerecords.html
If
you have stories or photographs of HMS Verdun you would like to
contribute to the web site please contact Bill Forster
