Remembering Charles and Desmond Gorman
//William Cowlishaw's memorial in Pozieres cemetry, final resting place of my uncle Desmond. From Silent Cities, RIBA, 1977.//
I have many times asked myself whether there can be more potent advocates of peace upon earth through the years to come than this multitude of silent witnesses to the desolation of war.
George V, 1922.
The result of being the youngest offspring of parents of more advanced years than the norm, I am an anomaly of my generation (as is Mrs G of her’s) in that I have close relations who died in the First World War.
My father’s brothers Charles and Desmond Gorman both perished on the Western Front in 1918, the former aged 17 a bit more than a week before the cessation of hostilities. Desmond was 19 when he was killed outside Jussey in March that year.
//Notices on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.//
When I mentioned this to writer Gavin Stamp earlier this year, he kindly sent me a copy of the book published to accompany Silent Cities, the exhibition of WWI memorial and cemetery architecture he mounted with John Harris at the RIBA in London in 1977.
Stamp’s essay in Silent Cities honours the dignity which the team of architects led by Sir Edwin Lutyens drew on to create the lasting testaments to those – including my poor young uncles – who lost their lives. I recommend it highly; copies may be purchased here