Epitaphs of the Great War: the Somme - 57734

It's the casualties that dominate our thinking on the First World War - the dead - all those thousands of soldiers who lie buried on the battlefields of the world.

Who were they? Where did they come from? What were they fighting for? How did their families cope? Can we ever know? In the case of the British we can get an idea because Britain, alone among the combatant nations, allowed their next-of-kin space for a personal inscription on the War Grave Commission's headstones. And these inscriptions give us a piercing glimpse into the minds of the men and women of the British Empire who mourned their dead; into their pride, love, patriotism, dignity, anger, grief, resignation and despair.