As the First World War raged, an Army Chaplain found himself at the grave of a soldier. All that was written on the white cross was ‘An Unknown British Soldier’.

He found himself thinking of how many unknown soldiers’ graves there were. He thought what could he do to ease the grief of so many families and had no idea of his fate. He came up with the idea to bring a man such as this from his grave, take him back to Britain and there let him represent all those ‘unknowns’ allowing the families who had no grave to visit one and pay their respects.

In 1920 he put forward the idea, the King agreed, and the journey began from Flanders to Westminster Abbey. The work of recovering and identifying soldiers from over a hundred years ago still goes on.

This is the story of that work, then and now.

Please book in advance.