‘Lest we forget’: the significance and meaning of Remembrance Sunday in contemporary British society

ABSTRACT

Remembrance Sunday has been observed annually in the UK since 1919. The purposes and format of the service have remained remarkably unchanged despite marked changes in British society and the military context. Over recent decades, the British Legion has become concerned that the sacrifice of those ‘dying for their country’ will be forgotten or meaningless for younger generations. This article reports a case study, ‘Heroes and Loved Ones’, which formed one of 10 strands in an interdisciplinary research project on the changing face of memorialisation. The case study comprised a review of newspaper coverage from 1919 to 2018 (1,415 items), a questionnaire survey (504 returns) and 22 follow-up interviews. After summarising findings from the newspaper review and questionnaire survey, this article reports and discusses the qualitative interview data. It concludes by considering the relevance of these findings for contemporary memorialisations, including specific reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. Three themes of wider relevance are highlighted: (i) the importance of dedicated times and places, (ii) the cathartic value of immersing in private thoughts and emotions within a supportive public act and (iii) the value of facilitating empathy across different interests and circumstances.

KEYWORDS:

• Memorialisation
• military death
• religion
• spirituality
• remembrance
• healing

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to colleagues on the 'Remember Me' team - Professor Lisa Dikomitis (CI), Dr Nicholas Evans (CI), Professor Malcolm Lillie (CI), Associate Professor Liz Nicol (CI), Rev Dr Andrew Goodhead (project collaborator), Dr Louis Bailey (RF), Dr. Yvonne Inall (RF), Rev Jeremy Fletcher (project advisory group) and Dr Michael S. Drake (deceased) (CI) - for their shared insights.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics

Ethical approval was obtained by the University of Hull Ethics Committee, Social Sciences Research Ethics sub-committee.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council [AH/M009398/1]

Notes on contributors

Miroslava Hukelova

Dr Miroslava Hukelova was Research Fellow on the ‘Remember Me’ study and undertook the data collection and analysis of the interviews on the ‘Heroes and Loved Ones’ case study. Her research interests focus on the interface between nationalism, religion and culture in identity and belonging. She has worked with a range of private and public sector organizations and charities and is currently engaged in policy work arising from COVID-19.

Margaret Holloway

Professor Margaret Holloway was Principal Investigator on the ‘Remember Me’ study. She entered academia in 1990 after an early career as a social worker. From 2009 – 2013 she was seconded as Social Care Lead on the government’s National End of Life Care Programme and Editor of the British Journal of Social Work from 2015 - 2020. Her first research (for PhD studies in the late 1980s) was into philosophical and spiritual issues in death, dying and bereavement and she has retained this thread throughout her academic career, with a particular interest in older people and dementia. She has led this study of memorialisation following up themes which emerged from her study Spirituality in Contemporary Funerals, also funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.