---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:21:58 +0100
Subject: GWR Casualties project
From: ruth wood <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]

Dear Mr Divall,

*PRESS RELEASE*




I would be most grateful if you could let your readers know about the GWR
casualties project, outlined below. I believe it is a valuable [yet free]
source for family, railway and social historians alike.

Any queries can be directed via [log in to unmask] or the flickr
site. There is a short paragraph as well as a more detailed outline of the
project, please feel free to use either or both, depending on your available
column width. If your company or organisation has a website, I would very
much appreciate a link to the project, thankyou.

Yours sincerely,

Ruth Wood









*The 'GWR casualties' project. *



A valuable resource for family historians, railway and social history
historians.  The project is based on the information taken from the GWR
magazine from 1914-1920 and includes information about individual
servicemen, many with photos, who worked for the Great Western Railway and
who lost their lives in the First World War. The *flickr* page,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwr_casualties/ and available Access database
for this project offers a minefield of information.  The database will allow
you to extract data for specific projects or subjects [database design©Ruth
Wood 2011] either for an individual, a location, department etc. At present
there are almost two thousand servicemen in the database, who worked for the
GWR, from Guernsey to Shrewsbury and from Paddington to St Ives. Both the
flickr page and the database are free to use and you can request a copy of
the database to be sent by email or on cd. A contribution towards postage is
appreciated and can be donated to help for heroes and/or the Royal British
Legion.

Ruth Wood 2011

* *





The GWR casualties project came about when browsing the image sets for
Swindon Libraries on Flickr.com

Swindon Library had begun there own project, scanning the GWR magazine which
published lists, and in most cases, photos, of men who were employed by the
GWR and who had died in the Great War.  Ms Cole had identified those working
at Swindon, and with the permission of the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission, had included other information such as service number etc.

I came to the conclusion that if others could search for their relatives it
would offer a great deal of information, as well as basic data such as date
of death, regiment etc. I contacted Katherine to explain what I wanted to do
and to check that I wasn't breaching any copyright permissions as regards
the photos and/or information provided by the GWR magazine.



The bulleted list below shows the various stages from downloading the GWR
magazine pages and uploading to the GWR project page on *flickr.com*

* *

   1. download the large version of the magazine from Swindon libraries 
*flickr
   *page.
   2. open in photo editor and crop, cut and save individual photos of
   serviceman in folders ready for uploading.
   3. save the information for each serviceman in the GWR *Access* database,
   which includes service no, date of death, occupation, department and
   location eg carriage builder, carriage works, Old Oak Common etc.
   4. Upload individual photos to GWR *flickr *page, and include other
   information.



Anyone can view the photos on the GWR flickr site at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gwr_casualties/ and can request a copy of the
database by email or post. [a contribution to postage/blank cd].



*What information can be gleaned from the project?*



As well as the basic info of name and occupation, there is often additional
information which has been taken from other resources such as the CWGC or
family members who have offered additional information. Below is a list of
the information that is available on many of the servicemen's records in the
database.

   1. first name and initials
   2. surname
   3. occupation in GWR
   4. department that he worked in
   5. location eg Paddington Goods
   6. age
   7. service number
   8. date of death
   9. regiment
   10. battalion/brigade etc
   11. parents/next of kin's address
   12. sometimes the wife or mother's maiden name is also given
   13. memorial/cemetery location and memorial ref
   14. details of medals awarded.