The first ever Armistice Day, when Britain counted the cost of war
Most stood with their heads bowed, wearing black
IN NOVEMBER 1919, Britain marked the first anniversary of the end of the Great War. Signed one year earlier between Germany and the Allies, the armistice came into effect on “the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month”, as the guns fell silent along the western front. The moment marked the conclusion of a conflict that had cost Britain and its empire nearly a million lives. Such unprecedented losses triggered the desire to find lasting expression of the British people’s gratitude.
As the popular ‘Gunpowder Treason Day’ (as it was first known) demonstrated, doctoring the national calendar for the purposes of commemoration and political legitimation was not new. Yet the proper format and timing for the nation’s collective act of remembrance were not immediately obvious. It was Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, former British high commissioner to South Africa, who suggested a ceremony modelled on South Africa’s ‘three minutes’ pause’. The plans for a (slightly shorter) two minutes’ silence at 11am on 11 November were officially announced by George V in all newspapers on 7 November 1919.
The first Armistice Day ceremonies emphasised solemnity and mourning. Most chose to stand silently in a public place with their heads bowed, often wearing black. With few permanent memorials built by November 1919, people gathered in civic centres or at places of worship. In London, crowds congregated at the newly erected Cenotaph in Whitehall to lay wreaths. The silence was signalled in various ways, most commonly by maroons (a firework-like device), church bells or town hall clocks. For two minutes, everything stopped.
During the Second World War, remembrance participation dwindled as people focused on surviving. After 1945, it became necessary to remember those killed in a new conflict. Thus, the Sunday nearest Armistice Day (‘Remembrance Sunday’) was chosen to observe the silence, diluting the centrality of the First World War. Making it part of church services meant people had to expend more effort to participate and interest in remembrance declined.
In 1995, Armistice Day returned when the Royal British Legion lobbied to reintroduce the silence on 11 November as well as Remembrance Sunday. The recent resurgent interest is due, in part, to the declining numbers of veterans but also to UK involvement in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the need to legitimise further sacrifice.
One hundred years after the ceasefire, the Prince of Wales led the nation in remembering those who died in the First World War. He was joined at the Cenotaph by German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a historic act of reconciliation. To what extent Armistice Day remains a focal point of the British commemorative calendar – or indeed continues to encourage such internationalist gestures – in the aftermath of its centenary remains to be seen.