KATE PULLINGER AND NEIL BARTLETT
LETTER
TO AN
UNKNOWN
SOLDIER
1418NOW.org.uk/letter
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Why do we have memorials?
Memorial statue © Creative Commons
Poppy wreaths at a memorial © Creative Commons
Cenotaph in Whitehall © Creative Commons
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The Unknown Soldier
During the First World
War over 800,000
British soldiers were
killed during the war,
but the vast majority of
the dead were never
brought home.
HMS VERDUN carrying the body of the Unknown Soldier
to Dover at Boulogne Harbour, 10 November 1920 © IWM
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The Unknown Soldier
The families and friends
of the dead needed
somewhere to grieve.
After the war finished an
anonymous body was
dug up in France, and
on 11th November 1920
he was buried in
Westminster Abbey in
London.
The coffin of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey before its final burial
on 11th November 1920 © IWM
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The Unknown Soldier
It deliberately says on the
gravestone that the soldier
is unknown, so he can
represent anyone and
everyone.
In the first week the soldier
was in his grave 1.3
million people went to visit
it.
The Unknown Soldier’s grave in Westminster Abbey © Creative Commons
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The Unknown Soldier
at Paddington Station
The Unknown Soldier statue in Paddington Station © Dom Agius
The Unknown Soldier statue in Paddington Station
© Dom Agius
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The Unknown Soldier
at Paddington Station
What is the difference
between a memorial
with hundreds or
thousands of names,
and a statue of a single
soldier?
The Unknown Soldier statue in Paddington Station © Dom Agius
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What questions would you
ask to get to know him
better?
The Unknown Soldier statue in Paddington Station © Dom Agius
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The Importance of Letters
At the height of the First
World War an average of
twelve and a half million
letters were sent each
week by family, friends
and lovers to soldiers.
Letters were directed
through a vast, makeshift
sorting office called the
Home Depot, erected in
London's Regent's Park.
The Unknown Soldier statue in Paddington Station © Dom Agius
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The Importance of Letters
Working in what was at the
time the largest wooden
structure in the world, 2,500
mostly female staff (35,000
women were employed by
the Post Office in the first
two years of the war)
handled over two billion
letters and 114 million
parcels in the course of the
conflict.
Letter written to a soldier in First World War © Creative Commons
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How many of you still
write letters?
What do letters achieve
that emails, texts and
tweets can’t?
Writing image © Creative Commons
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Writing your letter
LETTER TO AN UNKNOWN SOLDIER is a project which invites
you to help create a new kind of war memorial, one made only
of words.
There is a statue in Paddington station of a soldier reading a
letter. Everyone in the UK is invited to write their own letter to
the soldier, telling him what they think and feel as we approach
the 100 year anniversary of the First World War.
As they arrive the letters will be published online for everyone to
see. In a few years, the letters will be added to the British
Library web archive, where they will be kept for future
generations to read.
1418NOW.org.uk/letter
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How to start
• Are you writing as yourself or
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•
•
•
someone else?
Are you writing as someone
in 2014 or as someone in
1914?
What do you really need to
tell him?
What does he really need to
know?
What’s important enough to
put in a letter?
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