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The Great Britain Guide

Memorials & monuments · Yorkshire & the Humber

The Unknown Warrior

Free admission

The Unknown Warrior is a memorial in the United Kingdom.

The Unknown Warrior, memorials & monuments in Yorkshire & the Humber

Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
15 min–45 min
Nearest railway station
Dewsbury · 1.0 km
  • Free entry
  • Dog-friendly

About

The Unknown Warrior is a public memorial in Yorkshire, recording local sacrifice and named in the parish register of war and civic monuments. It sits within the Dewsbury and Batley parliamentary constituency. The nearest railway station is Dewsbury, about 1.0 km away. Postcode area WF13.

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From the Wikipedia article

The Unknown Warrior is an unidentified member of the British Imperial armed forces who died on the Western Front during the First World War. He is interred in a grave at Westminster Abbey, also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. He was given a state funeral and buried on 11 November 1920, simultaneously with a similar interment of a French unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe in France, making both graves the first examples of a tomb of the unknown soldier, and the first to honour the unknown dead of the First World War. Officially, the buried man may be from the army, navy or airforce (hence the name warrior instead of soldier) and from any part of the British Empire at the time. However, the National Army Museum notes that the UK Government had also previously confirmed that the interred was a soldier and that he was most likely from the British Isles, not the Empire.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

The idea of a Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was first conceived in 1916 by the Reverend David Railton, who, while serving as an army chaplain on the Western Front, had seen a grave marked by a rough cross, which bore the pencil-written legend 'An Unknown British Soldier'. He wrote to the dean of Westminster, Herbert Ryle, in 1920 proposing that an unidentified British soldier from the battlefields in France be buried with due ceremony in Westminster Abbey "amongst the kings" to represent the many hundreds of thousands of Empire dead. The idea was strongly supported by the dean and the prime minister, David Lloyd George,

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
53.6881, -1.6463
District
Kirklees
Parish
Kirklees, unparished area
Postcode
WF13 2SG
Parliamentary constituency
Dewsbury and Batley
Nearest railway station
Dewsbury1 km

Sources

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Nearby

More memorials in this region

Frequently asked questions

Where is The Unknown Warrior?
The Unknown Warrior is in Yorkshire, United Kingdom (postcode WF13 2SG), in the parish of Kirklees, unparished area.
Is The Unknown Warrior free to visit?
Yes, The Unknown Warrior is free to enter.
How do I get to The Unknown Warrior?
The nearest railway station is Dewsbury, about 1.0 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode WF13 2SG.