The Papers of the Birmingham Book of Remembrance Office

BCC/5

The Papers of the Birmingham Book of Remembrance Office

1940s - 1950s

The collection consists of records created by Book of Remembrance staff during the production of the book and records received by the department from other individuals and institutions during its course of duty. It includes administrative papers, financial documents, research papers, correspondence with a variety of individuals and institutions, copies of publicity documents and printed material. The collection contains correspondence with national institutions, however, the geographical scope of the subject is almost entirely local to Birmingham. The collection includes documents produced by local institutions including a number of Birmingham City Council Departments, Birmingham University Registrar, Birmingham and District Association of Boy Scouts, Birmingham British Legion, Camp Hill Old Edwardians, The Birmingham Mail, Birmingham Branch of the British Red Cross, a number of local churches and some local schools. Documents created by national institutions include papers from the Imperial War Graves Commission, Air Ministry, War Office, Navy Accounts Department., Admiralty, Ministry of Pensions, Merchant Navy, General Register of Office of Shipping and Seamen and the House of Commons. Also in the collection is correspondence from a significant number of local firms and over 3000 business reply cards and related correspondence from members of the public. Possible uses of the collection include the study of the development of a publication, the study of Birmingham City Council, local civil defence research, local armed servicemen research, local business research and genealogical research. The correspondence with local businesses section [BCC/2/3] includes the letterheads of most prominent Birmingham firms in the late 1940's and as such may prove useful to the study of typography in the Birmingham area.

Birmingham Book of Remembrance 1914 - 1918. Photographic Copy and CD version. (2003). L 75.9. Later book currently being worked upon

0.63 Cubic metres

The Birmingham Book of Remembrance Office existed between 1948 and 1949. The Birmingham City Council General Purposes Committee authorised the preparation of a Book of Remembrance in April 1947. The office was located in premises on 2-4 Edmund Street, Birmingham. It was established on June 29th 1948 and was opened to the public on July 1st 1948. The purpose of the department was to create a permanent record of the names of all of the people of Birmingham who lost their lives in the Second World War, to be deposited at the Birmingham Hall of Memory. Reporting to the Town Clerk, F.C. Minshall, the former Chief Librarian of Birmingham, H. M. Cashmore was entrusted with the compilation of the book, assisted by two full time members of staff.

Qualification for inclusion to the book was any connection to the city. The majority of people who were included in the roll were done so on the basis of birth, residence, education or employment in Birmingham or due to relation to Birmingham citizens. The record includes the names of people who died on active military service in the armed forces, as well as civilians and members of emergency services and auxiliary services who died as a result of enemy action in Birmingham.

Staff who produced the book relied upon a great deal of co-operation from the public and from various institutions in order to compile the list. In order to undertake this research, five principal methods of gathering information were employed by the office. Firstly, correspondence with local public institutions, i.e. Birmingham British Legion, in order to request that they provide the names of those people known to them who qualified for inclusion in the book. Secondly, correspondence with national institutions, i.e. The Imperial War Graves Commission, in order to request details relating to Birmingham people from national records and rolls of honour. Thirdly, correspondence with local private firms to provide the names of employees who had lost their lives. Fourthly, correspondence with members of the public in order to provide names and details of family members and people known to them. In order to obtain information from the public, 'business reply cards' containing fields asking for details of the particulars of individuals were collected or sent out to people upon request. Finally, staff used 'in memoriam' notices in local newspapers in order to find details of people of whom they were otherwise unaware.

The Book of Remembrance Office closed on 31 May 1949, once the final lists of those who died had produced. At this stage, the lists were sent to be published at Edward Morton and Foster Newey Illuminating Artists. During the interim period between the closure of the office and the final presentation of the book, correspondence continued to be received about the book, at the Town Clerks Department at Birmingham City Council House. The final illuminated copy of the book was deposited during a ceremony at the Hall of Memory immediately after Two Minutes Silence on Remembrance Day 1950.

Although the overall date span of the collection is between 1910 and 1950, the papers were predominantly created between 1947 and 1950.