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{{short description|Unidentified British soldier killed in World War I}}
{{for|the steam locomotive|LMS Patriot Class 5551 The Unknown Warrior{{!}}LMS Patriot Class 5551 ''The Unknown Warrior''}}
{{Distinguish|Unknown Soldier (disambiguation){{!}}Unknown Soldier}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox military memorial
|name = The Unknown Warrior
|image = Tomb of the Unknown Warrior - Westminster Abbey - London, England - 9 Nov. 2010.jpg
|caption = The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior
|country = United Kingdom
|commemorates = the unknown war dead, wherever they fell
|unveiled = 11 November 1920
|coordinates = {{Coord|51|29|58|N|0|7|39|W|type:landmark_region:GB-WSM|display=inline,title}}
|nearest_town = London, England
}}
'''The Unknown Warrior''' is an unidentified member of the [[British Empire|British Imperial]] armed forces who died on the [[Western Front (World War I)|western front]] during the [[First World War]]. He is interred in a grave at [[Westminster Abbey]], also known as the '''Tomb of the Unknown Warrior'''.
He was given a [[state funeral]] and buried on 11 November 1920, simultaneously with a similar interment of a [[Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (France)|French unknown soldier]] at the [[Arc de Triomphe]] in France, making both graves the first examples of a [[tomb of the Unknown Soldier|tomb of the unknown soldier]], and the first to honour the unknown dead of the First World War.
Officially, the buried man may be from the army, navy or airforce (hence the name ''warrior'' instead of ''soldier'') and from any part of the [[British Empire]] at the time.<ref name="WestAbbeyComm" /> However, the [[National Army Museum]] notes that the UK Government had also previously confirmed that the interred was a soldier and that he was most likely from the British Isles, not the Empire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The mysterious story of the Unknown Warrior |url=https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/unknown-warrior-mystery-solved |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=[[National Army Museum]] |language=en}}</ref>
==History==
==
[[File:The Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, November 1920 Q31514.jpg|thumb|The coffin of the Unknown Warrior in state in the Abbey in 1920, before burial.]]
The idea of a Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was first conceived in 1916 by the Reverend [[David Railton]], who, while serving as an [[army chaplain]] on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], had seen a grave marked by a rough cross, which bore the pencil-written legend 'An Unknown British Soldier'.<ref name="Memorial">{{cite book |first1=Henry |last1=Allingham |first2=Dennis |last2=Goodwin |year=2011 |title=Kitchener's Last Volunteer: The Life of Henry Allingham, the Oldest Surviving Veteran of the Great War |page=132 |publisher=Random House}}</ref>
He wrote to the [[dean of Westminster]], [[Herbert Ryle]], in 1920 proposing that an unidentified [[Armed Forces of the United Kingdom|British]] soldier from the battlefields in France be buried with due ceremony in Westminster Abbey "amongst the kings" to represent the many hundreds of thousands of [[British Empire|Empire]] dead. The idea was strongly supported by the dean and the prime minister, [[David Lloyd George]],<ref name="Memorial"/> who later wrote "[[The Cenotaph]] is the token of our mourning as a nation; the Grave of the Unknown Warrior is the token of our mourning as individuals".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bryan|first=Rachel|date=February 2021|title=Unlived Lives, Imaginary Widowhood and Elizabeth Bowen's ''A World of Love''|journal=The Review of English Studies|volume=72|issue=303|pages=129–146|doi=10.1093/res/hgaa043|url=https://academic.oup.com/res/article/72/303/129/5880243|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
===Selection, arrival and ceremony===
[[File:Burial of the British Unknown Warrior, 1920.jpg|thumb|Burial of The Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, with King George V in attendance, 1920.]]
Arrangements were placed in the hands of [[George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston|Lord Curzon of Kedleston]] who prepared in committee the service and ___location. Suitable remains were exhumed from various battlefields and brought to the chapel at [[Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise]] near [[Arras]], France, on the night of 8 November 1920. The bodies were received by the Reverend George Kendall OBE. Brigadier L.J. Wyatt and Lieutenant Colonel E.A.S. Gell of the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries went into the chapel alone. The remains were then placed in four plain coffins each covered by Union Flags: the two officers did not know from which battlefield any individual soldier had come. Brigadier Wyatt with closed eyes rested his hand on one of the coffins. The other soldiers were then taken away for reburial by Kendall.
The coffin of the unknown warrior then stayed at the chapel overnight and on the afternoon of 9 November, it was transferred under guard and escorted by Kendall, with troops lining the route, from St Pol to the medieval castle within the ancient citadel at [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]]. For the occasion, the castle library was transformed into a [[chapelle ardente]]: a company from the French [[8th Infantry Regiment (France)|8th Infantry Regiment]], recently awarded the [[Légion d'Honneur]] en masse,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.france-phaleristique.com/lh.htm |title=Collectivité décorées de la Légion d'honneur, 8eme régiment d'infanterie de ligne |publisher=France-Phaleristique.com |language=fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105140300/http://www.france-phaleristique.com/lh.htm |archive-date=5 January 2010 }}</ref> stood vigil overnight.<ref name="Hanson">[[#Hanson|Hanson]], Chapters 23 & 24</ref>
The following morning, two undertakers entered the castle library and placed the coffin into a casket of the oak timbers of trees from [[Hampton Court Palace]].<ref name="Hanson" /> The casket was banded with iron, and a 16th-century sword chosen by [[King George V]] 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'.<ref name="Hanson" />
The casket was then placed onto a French military wagon, drawn by six black horses. At 10:30 a.m., all the church bells of Boulogne tolled; the massed trumpets of the French cavalry and the bugles of the French infantry played ''Aux Champs'' (the French "[[Last Post]]").<ref name="Hanson" /> Then, the mile-long procession—led by 1,000 local schoolchildren and escorted by a division of French troops—made its way down to the harbour.<ref name="Hanson" />
[[File:British Unknown Warrior Plaque.jpg|thumb|A plaque at Victoria Station marking site of the arrival of the coffin on 10 November.]]
At the quayside, [[Ferdinand Foch|Marshal Foch]] saluted the casket before it was carried up the gangway of the destroyer, {{HMS|Verdun|L93|6}}, and [[Boatswain's call|piped]] aboard with an admiral's call. The ''Verdun'' slipped its moorings just before noon and was joined by an escort of six destroyers ([[HMS_Witherington_(D76)|HMS ''Witherington'']], [[HMS_Wanderer_(D74)|HMS ''Wanderer'']], [[HMS_Whitshed_(D77)|HMS ''Whitshed'']], [[HMS_Wivern_(D66)|HMS ''Wivern'']], [[HMS_Wolverine_(D78)|HMS ''Wolverine'']], and [[HMS_Veteran_(D72)|HMS ''Veteran'']]).<ref>Michael Gavaghan in The Story of the Unknown Warrior: 11 November 1920 (London: M. and L. Publications, 1995) </ref> As the flotilla carrying the casket closed on [[Dover Castle]] it received a [[21-gun salute|19-gun]] [[Field Marshal]]'s salute. It was landed at [[List of railway stations in Dover|Dover Marine Railway Station]] at the Western Docks on 10 November. The body of the Unknown Warrior was carried to London in [[South Eastern and Chatham Railway]] [[General Utility Van]] [[Cavell Van|No.132]], which had previously carried the bodies of [[Edith Cavell]] and [[Charles Fryatt]]. The van has been [[Rolling stock of the Kent & East Sussex Railway (heritage)|preserved]] by the [[Kent and East Sussex Railway]].<ref name="BBC8393192">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8393192.stm |title=Bid to save WWI heroes' carriage |publisher=BBC News |access-date=3 December 2009 | date=3 December 2009}}</ref> The train went to [[Victoria Station (London)|Victoria Station]], where it arrived at platform 8 at 8:32 p.m. that evening and remained overnight. A plaque marking the site was unveiled on 10 November 1998.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/11609 |title=Memorial – Arrival of the body of the Unknown Warrior at Victoria Railway Station |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=www.iwm.org.uk |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=5 October 2022}}</ref> Every year on the same date, a small Remembrance service, organised by [[Western Front Association|The Western Front Association]], takes place between platforms 8 and 9.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nam.ac.uk/press/buried-among-kings-story-unknown-warrior |title=Buried Among Kings: The Story of the Unknown Warrior |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=www.nam.ac.uk |publisher=National Army Museum |access-date=5 October 2022}}</ref>
The Unknown Warrior was granted a full [[State funerals in the United Kingdom|state funeral]],<ref>Hall 2012, p. 91</ref> the only time that this honour has been bestowed on an anonymous person or a representative of a whole group of people.<ref>Range 2016, pp. 289–290</ref> On the morning of 11 November 1920, the casket was placed onto a gun carriage of the [[Royal Horse Artillery]] ([[N Battery (The Eagle Troop) Royal Horse Artillery|N Battery RHA]]) and drawn by six black horses through immense and silent crowds. As the cortege set off, a further Field Marshal's salute was fired in [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]].<ref>[http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=8052904 Memorial Services (November 11th) Committee], [[Maurice Hankey]], ''Cabinet Office Papers, 1915–1978'', [[The National Archives]]. ([http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/ExternalRequest.asp?RequestReference=CAB+24%2F114 CAB 24/114]).</ref> The route followed was [[Hyde Park Corner]], [[The Mall (London)|The Mall]], and to [[Whitehall]] where [[the Cenotaph]], a "symbolic empty tomb",<ref>[[#Holmes|Holmes]], p. 630</ref> was unveiled by King [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]]. The cortège was then followed by The King, the [[British Royal Family|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 100 recipients of the [[Victoria Cross]].<ref name="WestAbbeyComm">{{cite web |title=Unknown Warrior |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/unknown-warrior |access-date=14 July 2024 |work=Commemorations |publisher=[[Westminster Abbey]]}}</ref> The guests of honour were a group of about 100 women.<ref name="Hanson" /> They had been chosen because they had each lost their husband and all their sons in the war.<ref name="Hanson" /> "Every woman so bereft who applied for a place got it."<ref name="Hanson" />
The coffin was then interred in the far western end of the Nave, only a few feet from the entrance, in soil brought from each of the main battlefields, and covered with a silk pall. Servicemen from the armed forces stood guard as tens of thousands of mourners filed silently past. The ceremony appears to have served as a form of catharsis for collective mourning on a scale not previously known.<ref name="Hanson" />
The grave was then capped with a black Belgian marble stone (the only [[tombstone]] in the Abbey on which it is forbidden to walk) featuring this inscription, composed by [[Herbert Edward Ryle]], Dean of Westminster, engraved with brass from melted down wartime ammunition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/Information/Educational/Unknown%20Warrior.pdf |publisher=The Dover War Memorial Project |title=The Unknown Warrior: A Dover Tale |last1=Daniel |first1=Julie |last2=Daniel |first2=Peter |access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref>
{{cquote|Beneath this stone rests the body<br />Of a British warrior<br />Unknown by name or rank<br />Brought from France to lie among<br />The most illustrious of the land<br />And buried here on Armistice Day<br />11 Nov: 1920, in the presence of<br />His Majesty King George V<br />His Ministers of State<br />The Chiefs of his forces<br />And a vast concourse of the nation
<p>Thus are commemorated the many<br />Multitudes who during the Great<br />War of 1914 – 1918 gave the most that<br />Man can give life itself<br />For God<br />For King and country<br />For loved ones home and empire<br />For the sacred cause of justice and<br />The freedom of the world</p>
<p>They buried him among the kings because he<br />Had done good toward God and toward<br />His house</p>
}}
This last sentence is a paraphrase of [[2 Chronicles]] 24:16, taken from the story of Jehoiada: "And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God, and toward his house."
Around the main inscription are four [[New Testament]] quotations:
* The Lord knoweth them that are his (top; [[2 Timothy]] 2:19)
* Unknown and yet well known, dying and behold we live (side; [[2 Corinthians]] 6:9)
* Greater love hath no man than this (side; [[Gospel of John|John]] 15:13)
* In Christ shall all be made alive (base; [[1 Corinthians]] 15:22)
===Later history===
[[File:SECR PMV 132.jpg|thumb|The [[Cavell Van]] - the van in which the body of the Unknown Warrior was carried - before restoration in 2010.]]
[[File:CavellVanQEIIJ60.jpg|upright|thumb|Replica coffin of the Unknown Warrior; interior of the Cavell Van, Bodiam.]]
A year later, on 17 October 1921, the unknown warrior was given the United States' highest award for valour, the [[Medal of Honor]], from the hand of [[John J. Pershing|General John Pershing]]; it hangs on a pillar close to the tomb.<ref>{{cite web |title=Unknown Warrior |date= |website=[[Westminster Abbey]] |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/unknown-warrior |access-date=2021-09-19 |quote=General Pershing, on behalf of the United States of America, conferred the Congressional Medal of Honor on the Unknown Warrior on 17th October 1921 and this now hangs in a frame on a pillar near the grave.}}</ref> On 11 November 1921, the American [[Tomb of the Unknowns|Unknown Soldier]] was reciprocally awarded the Victoria Cross.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1921/10/18/archives/victoria-cross-award-to-americas-unknown-war-secretary-evans-makes.html "Victoria Cross Award to America's Unknown]; War Secretary Evans Makes the Announcement at an Official Dinner to Pershing", ''The New York Times'', 18 October 1921, p. 5</ref>
When Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]]) married Prince Albert, Duke of York (who became [[George VI of the United Kingdom|King George VI]]) on 26 April 1923, she laid her bouquet at the Tomb on her way into the Abbey, as a tribute to her brother [[Fergus Bowes-Lyon|Fergus]] who had died at the [[Battle of Loos]] in 1915 (and whose name was then listed among those of the missing on the [[Loos Memorial]], although in 2012 a new headstone was erected in the Quarry Cemetery, Vermelles).<ref name="Hanson"/><ref>{{cwgc|id=728198|name=Bowes-Lyon, The Hon Fergus|access-date=16 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/queens-uncles-grave-1268868|title=Final resting place of Queen's uncle discovered nearly a century after his death |work=[[Daily Record (Scotland)|Daily Record]]|date=19 August 2012|access-date=20 August 2012}}</ref> Royal brides married at the Abbey or elsewhere<ref name="Twitter account of The Royal Family">[https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1325197742969294848 In an act of remembrance, a bouquet of flowers featuring orchids and myrtle - based on Her Majesty’s own wedding bouquet from 1947 - was placed on the grave of the Unknown Warrior. Watch this film to find out why]</ref> now have their bouquets laid on the tomb the day after the wedding and all of the official wedding photographs have been taken.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7100282.stm |publisher=BBC News | title=Queen releases 60 wedding facts | date=18 November 2007 | access-date=18 November 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8485728/Royal-wedding-Kate-Middletons-bridal-bouquet-placed-at-Grave-of-Unknown-Warrior.html | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Royal wedding: Kate Middleton's bridal bouquet placed at Grave of Unknown Warrior | date=1 May 2011 | access-date=1 May 2011 | ___location=London | first=Sean | last=Rayment}}</ref> It is also the only tomb not to have been covered by a special red carpet for the wedding of the Philip Mountbatten and Princess Elizabeth.<ref name="BBC"/>
Before she died in 2002, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother expressed the wish for her wreath to be placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Her daughter, Queen [[Elizabeth II]], laid the wreath the day after the [[Death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother|funeral]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/04/06/uk.royals.funeral/index.html | publisher=CNN | title=Details of the Queen Mother's funeral | date=7 April 2002 | access-date=25 May 2010}}</ref>
The British Unknown Warrior came 76th in the [[100 Great Britons]] poll.<ref>{{cite book |title= Great Britons |last= Cooper |first= John |year= 2002 |publisher= National Portrait Gallery |___location= London |isbn=1855145073 |page= 9}}</ref> A new steam locomotive, [[LMS Patriot Class 5551 The Unknown Warrior|LMS Patriot Class 5551 ''The Unknown Warrior'']], is being constructed by a charitable project, the LMS-Patriot Project, at [[Tyseley Locomotive Works]]. The new locomotive is destined to be the new National Memorial Engine, continuing the Remembrance tradition of the Patriot class steam locomotive and its predecessors. A public appeal to build the locomotive was launched in 2008 and work continues today.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.lms-patriot.org.uk | title=The LMS Patriot Project | publisher=The LMS-Patriot Company Ltd. | access-date=24 October 2014}}</ref>
Heads of state from over 70 countries have lain wreaths in memoriam of the Unknown Warrior.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8533856/Barack-Obama-lays-memorial-wreath-at-Westminster-Abbey.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526011701/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/8533856/Barack-Obama-lays-memorial-wreath-at-Westminster-Abbey.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=26 May 2011 | ___location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | title=Barack Obama lays memorial wreath at Westminster Abbey | date=24 May 2011}}</ref>
On the 100th anniversary of the interment, a ceremony attended by Prince Charles (later [[Charles III]]), his wife [[Queen Camilla|Camilla]], and the then prime minister, [[Boris Johnson]], was held at the Abbey and broadcast live to the nation by the [[BBC]]. The [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]], [[Simon Armitage]], read a newly written poem "The Bed".<ref name="bbc2020nov11">{{cite news |title=Armistice Day: Centenary of Unknown Warrior burial marked |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54897427 |access-date=17 November 2020 |work=BBC News |date=11 November 2020}}</ref><ref name="bed">{{cite web |last1=Armitage |first1=Simon |title=The Bed |url=https://www.simonarmitage.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Bed.pdf |access-date=17 November 2020 |date=11 November 2020}}</ref> Queen Elizabeth II also laid a wreath at the tomb.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54856877|title=Queen wears face mask as she marks Unknown Warrior centenary|work=BBC News|date=7 November 2020|accessdate=28 November 2022}}</ref>
==Related memorials==
There have been three related memorials erected since 1920 for the Unknown Warrior:
* St. Pol where the Unknown Warrior was selected<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ternois-tourisme.com/en/history-heritage/remembrance/1596-st-pol-british-unknown-warrior | title=British Unknown Warrior | publisher=Ternois Tourisme | access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref>
* Dover harbour at the cruise terminal where the Unknown Warrior was brought ashore<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/239585/ | title=Unknown Warrior Dover | publisher=War Memorials Online | access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref>
* [[London Victoria Station|Victoria Station]], London, where the Unknown Warrior rested before his burial on 11 November<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/11609 | title=Unknown Warrior Victoria Railway Station Plaque | publisher=Imperial War Memorials | access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref>
==References==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}
=== Works cited ===
* {{cite book |last=Hall |first=John |author-link=John Hall (priest) |date=2012 |title=Queen Elizabeth II and Her Church: Royal Service at Westminster Abbey |url= |___location=London |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1441114181}}
* {{cite book |last=Hanson |first=Neil |year=2005 |title=The Unknown Soldier |___location=London |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=978-0552149761 |ref=Hanson}}
* {{cite book |author-link=Richard Holmes (military historian) |last=Holmes |first=Richard |year=2004 |title=Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914–1918 |___location=London |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0007137510 |ref=Holmes}}
* {{cite book |last=Range |first=Matthias |date=2016 |title=British Royal and State Funerals: Music and Ceremonial since Elizabeth I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kn1FDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA289 |___location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |publisher=Boydell Press |page=268 |isbn=978-1783270927}}
==Further reading==
* Gavaghan, Michael. ''The Story of the British Unknown Warrior''. 1995. ISBN 978-0952446408
==External links==
* [http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/unknown-warrior The Unknown Warrior (Westminster Abbey)]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8353648.stm What is the Grave of the Unknown Warrior?] – The Dean of Westminster Abbey, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall explains its significance
* [http://www.lms-patriot.org.uk The LMS-Patriot Project]
* [http://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/neil-hanson-unknown-soldiers/ Hanson discusses ''Unknown Soldiers: The Story of the Missing of the First World War''] at the [[Pritzker Military Museum & Library]]
{{State funerals in the United Kingdom}}
[[Category:
[[Category:1920 sculptures]]
[[Category:British military personnel killed in World War I]]
[[Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey]]
[[Category:Date of birth unknown]]
[[Category:World War I memorials in London]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Medal of Honor|+United Kingdom]]<!-- Awarded the US Medal of Honor, per this page's "Later history" section). -->
[[Category:Tombs of Unknown Soldiers]]
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