Public-domain ebook
by Ruvigny et Raineval, Melville Henry Massue, marquis de
Language: en14,248 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Biographies·History - British·History - Modern (1750+)
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #75883.
The Roll of Honour, Volume 1 is a solemn register of every British officer, non‑commissioned officer and enlisted man who fell in the First World War during its opening year. Compiled by the Marquis de Ruvigny and Raineval, the work opens with a reverent preface that frames the sacrifice of the dead as a lasting tribute to the nation’s ideals, then proceeds to list roughly eight thousand entries alphabetically. Each entry supplies the soldier’s full name, rank, regiment, and, where available, details of birth, education, family, and the circumstances of death, often accompanied by excerpts from commanding officers’ letters and occasional portraits. The introductory material explains the project’s aim to create a permanent record beyond official casualty lists, inviting relatives to contribute further information.
Written in the formal, commemorative style of early‑twentieth‑century British memorial literature, the text reflects the period’s patriotic tone and meticulous documentation. Its dense, factual prose will appeal to genealogists, military historians, and readers interested in the human dimension of the Great War, those who value primary‑source registers, biographical sketches, and the collective memory of a generation of servicemen.
These men have laid down their lives for England. In the future, History will pass its verdict upon the War, its causes and its consequences, the methods of its accomplishment, and on the men who planned and schemed and fought to bring it to a triumphantly victorious ending. Our children, and the generations which are to follow us, for whose sake we have believed this war is being waged, will sit in judgment on all that has been done in it for good or for ill. Let us be content to be so judged. But, whatever may be that verdict, what grander tribute can we humbly pay to those who have fallen, what else can we proudly say of them than the bare reiteration of the simple fact that they have made that last and greatest sacrifice of all? …
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