Adrian Monck
@amonck.bsky.social
Yep. And Nick Robinson not so much.
November 10, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Yep. And Nick Robinson not so much.
A lot of it stolen from Adrian Gregory archive.org/details/sile...
The silence of memory : Armistice Day, 1919-1946 : Gregory, Adrian : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
vii, 245 p. : 23 cm
archive.org
November 9, 2025 at 5:38 PM
A lot of it stolen from Adrian Gregory archive.org/details/sile...
34/ All of it compressed into two minutes of silence that feels timeless, natural, universal.
That is what we inherited. /ends
That is what we inherited. /ends
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
34/ All of it compressed into two minutes of silence that feels timeless, natural, universal.
That is what we inherited. /ends
That is what we inherited. /ends
33/ It endures because it found a way to create solidarity without requiring anyone to believe in what was being commemorated.
We participate in structures whose origins are lost. The English colonial fathers in Cape Town, the mutinying soldiers at Calais, the striking workers in Glasgow.
We participate in structures whose origins are lost. The English colonial fathers in Cape Town, the mutinying soldiers at Calais, the striking workers in Glasgow.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
33/ It endures because it found a way to create solidarity without requiring anyone to believe in what was being commemorated.
We participate in structures whose origins are lost. The English colonial fathers in Cape Town, the mutinying soldiers at Calais, the striking workers in Glasgow.
We participate in structures whose origins are lost. The English colonial fathers in Cape Town, the mutinying soldiers at Calais, the striking workers in Glasgow.
32/ The lost imperial history of Remembrance: it emerges at empire's moment of maximum fragility.
Human crisis, political crisis, imperial crisis – all converging. The silence answered all three by requiring nothing except shared grief.
But only for deaths that served a greater, political purpose.
Human crisis, political crisis, imperial crisis – all converging. The silence answered all three by requiring nothing except shared grief.
But only for deaths that served a greater, political purpose.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
32/ The lost imperial history of Remembrance: it emerges at empire's moment of maximum fragility.
Human crisis, political crisis, imperial crisis – all converging. The silence answered all three by requiring nothing except shared grief.
But only for deaths that served a greater, political purpose.
Human crisis, political crisis, imperial crisis – all converging. The silence answered all three by requiring nothing except shared grief.
But only for deaths that served a greater, political purpose.
31/ Today we inherit the ritual. We stand silent, in universal respect for sacrifice, rarely asking: whose sacrifice? For what? Who decided which losses were nationally significant?
The silence works because it makes those questions feel inappropriate.
Grief demands solemnity, not interrogation.
The silence works because it makes those questions feel inappropriate.
Grief demands solemnity, not interrogation.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
31/ Today we inherit the ritual. We stand silent, in universal respect for sacrifice, rarely asking: whose sacrifice? For what? Who decided which losses were nationally significant?
The silence works because it makes those questions feel inappropriate.
Grief demands solemnity, not interrogation.
The silence works because it makes those questions feel inappropriate.
Grief demands solemnity, not interrogation.
30/ The practice spread empire-wide not because everyone actually observed it, but because the "claim" that they did idealised the unity it so desperately craved.
"Throughout the Empire" was less fact than aspiration. But observance made it true.
"Throughout the Empire" was less fact than aspiration. But observance made it true.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
30/ The practice spread empire-wide not because everyone actually observed it, but because the "claim" that they did idealised the unity it so desperately craved.
"Throughout the Empire" was less fact than aspiration. But observance made it true.
"Throughout the Empire" was less fact than aspiration. But observance made it true.
29/ The silence arrived at the twilight moment of imperial weakness – when Britain could no longer command compliance, when workers and soldiers were in active revolt, when wars raged across five continents – and that's precisely why it worked.
It needed no political justification, just emotion.
It needed no political justification, just emotion.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
29/ The silence arrived at the twilight moment of imperial weakness – when Britain could no longer command compliance, when workers and soldiers were in active revolt, when wars raged across five continents – and that's precisely why it worked.
It needed no political justification, just emotion.
It needed no political justification, just emotion.
28/ But what you were mourning, who counted as mournable, whose sacrifice was nationally significant – all of that remained encoded in the infrastructure.
The cenotaphs, the war memorials, and the civic ceremonies.
The silence was also an act unity that made hierarchy feel like shared humanity.
The cenotaphs, the war memorials, and the civic ceremonies.
The silence was also an act unity that made hierarchy feel like shared humanity.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
28/ But what you were mourning, who counted as mournable, whose sacrifice was nationally significant – all of that remained encoded in the infrastructure.
The cenotaphs, the war memorials, and the civic ceremonies.
The silence was also an act unity that made hierarchy feel like shared humanity.
The cenotaphs, the war memorials, and the civic ceremonies.
The silence was also an act unity that made hierarchy feel like shared humanity.
27/ The ritual worked by taking something saturated with specific imperial loyalties – an Anglo-South African elite mourning Oxford-educated sons – and presenting it as universal human mourning.
Who could object to honouring the dead? The form felt neutral. Everyone silent together.
Who could object to honouring the dead? The form felt neutral. Everyone silent together.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
27/ The ritual worked by taking something saturated with specific imperial loyalties – an Anglo-South African elite mourning Oxford-educated sons – and presenting it as universal human mourning.
Who could object to honouring the dead? The form felt neutral. Everyone silent together.
Who could object to honouring the dead? The form felt neutral. Everyone silent together.
26/ This isn't to say the silence was cynically designed. The fathers' grief was genuine. The ritual met real human needs.
But grief happens within political structures. Those structures determined whose losses became publicly speakable, whose became marginal, and whose remained invisible.
But grief happens within political structures. Those structures determined whose losses became publicly speakable, whose became marginal, and whose remained invisible.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
26/ This isn't to say the silence was cynically designed. The fathers' grief was genuine. The ritual met real human needs.
But grief happens within political structures. Those structures determined whose losses became publicly speakable, whose became marginal, and whose remained invisible.
But grief happens within political structures. Those structures determined whose losses became publicly speakable, whose became marginal, and whose remained invisible.
25/ The genius was that it bypassed justification entirely.
You didn't need to believe Britain fought for democracy.
You didn't need to agree the sacrifice was worthwhile.
You didn't need to share political interpretation.
You only needed to grieve. And the grief was real.
You didn't need to believe Britain fought for democracy.
You didn't need to agree the sacrifice was worthwhile.
You didn't need to share political interpretation.
You only needed to grieve. And the grief was real.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
25/ The genius was that it bypassed justification entirely.
You didn't need to believe Britain fought for democracy.
You didn't need to agree the sacrifice was worthwhile.
You didn't need to share political interpretation.
You only needed to grieve. And the grief was real.
You didn't need to believe Britain fought for democracy.
You didn't need to agree the sacrifice was worthwhile.
You didn't need to share political interpretation.
You only needed to grieve. And the grief was real.
24/ The silence addressed all three crises simultaneously.
It met genuine human need for collective mourning.
It created political solidarity without requiring shared interpretation of what the war had been for.
It was an act of imperial unity at the moment empire could no longer command it.
It met genuine human need for collective mourning.
It created political solidarity without requiring shared interpretation of what the war had been for.
It was an act of imperial unity at the moment empire could no longer command it.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
24/ The silence addressed all three crises simultaneously.
It met genuine human need for collective mourning.
It created political solidarity without requiring shared interpretation of what the war had been for.
It was an act of imperial unity at the moment empire could no longer command it.
It met genuine human need for collective mourning.
It created political solidarity without requiring shared interpretation of what the war had been for.
It was an act of imperial unity at the moment empire could no longer command it.
23/ An Imperial crisis: Britain fighting wars across five continents whilst facing potential revolution at home. The war's justifications – democracy, civilisation, freedom – ring hollow. Soldiers form councils. Workers shut down cities. Police strike.
This was the world of November 1919.
This was the world of November 1919.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
23/ An Imperial crisis: Britain fighting wars across five continents whilst facing potential revolution at home. The war's justifications – democracy, civilisation, freedom – ring hollow. Soldiers form councils. Workers shut down cities. Police strike.
This was the world of November 1919.
This was the world of November 1919.
22/ It emerges as three crises converge.
A human crisis: millions bereaved, traumatised, seeking meaning in losses that felt senseless.
A political crisis: veterans returning to unemployment, strikes, the "land fit for heroes" revealed as empty rhetoric. No shared political narrative could hold.
A human crisis: millions bereaved, traumatised, seeking meaning in losses that felt senseless.
A political crisis: veterans returning to unemployment, strikes, the "land fit for heroes" revealed as empty rhetoric. No shared political narrative could hold.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
22/ It emerges as three crises converge.
A human crisis: millions bereaved, traumatised, seeking meaning in losses that felt senseless.
A political crisis: veterans returning to unemployment, strikes, the "land fit for heroes" revealed as empty rhetoric. No shared political narrative could hold.
A human crisis: millions bereaved, traumatised, seeking meaning in losses that felt senseless.
A political crisis: veterans returning to unemployment, strikes, the "land fit for heroes" revealed as empty rhetoric. No shared political narrative could hold.
21/ The King's proclamation was for silence: "Throughout the Empire, from the jungles of India to the snows of Alaska."
On 15 Nov, Fitzpatrick, travelling, read about it in American newspapers. He was so moved he couldn't leave his hotel room for hours.
The silence had become an imperial ritual.
On 15 Nov, Fitzpatrick, travelling, read about it in American newspapers. He was so moved he couldn't leave his hotel room for hours.
The silence had become an imperial ritual.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
21/ The King's proclamation was for silence: "Throughout the Empire, from the jungles of India to the snows of Alaska."
On 15 Nov, Fitzpatrick, travelling, read about it in American newspapers. He was so moved he couldn't leave his hotel room for hours.
The silence had become an imperial ritual.
On 15 Nov, Fitzpatrick, travelling, read about it in American newspapers. He was so moved he couldn't leave his hotel room for hours.
The silence had become an imperial ritual.
20/ Fitzpatrick wrote to Lord Milner – former High Commissioner for Southern Africa, now Colonial Secretary – proposing an annual empire-wide silence on Armistice Day.
The proposal reached the King in late Oct 1919.
The proposal reached the King in late Oct 1919.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
20/ Fitzpatrick wrote to Lord Milner – former High Commissioner for Southern Africa, now Colonial Secretary – proposing an annual empire-wide silence on Armistice Day.
The proposal reached the King in late Oct 1919.
The proposal reached the King in late Oct 1919.
19/ Sir Percy Fitzpatrick witnessed Cape Town's ritual through 1918.
Fitzpatrick was a mining financier, best-selling author of “Jock of the Bushveld,” Official Adviser to Britain during the Boer War, and knighted in 1902. His eldest son had been killed in 1917.
He recognised its power.
Fitzpatrick was a mining financier, best-selling author of “Jock of the Bushveld,” Official Adviser to Britain during the Boer War, and knighted in 1902. His eldest son had been killed in 1917.
He recognised its power.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
19/ Sir Percy Fitzpatrick witnessed Cape Town's ritual through 1918.
Fitzpatrick was a mining financier, best-selling author of “Jock of the Bushveld,” Official Adviser to Britain during the Boer War, and knighted in 1902. His eldest son had been killed in 1917.
He recognised its power.
Fitzpatrick was a mining financier, best-selling author of “Jock of the Bushveld,” Official Adviser to Britain during the Boer War, and knighted in 1902. His eldest son had been killed in 1917.
He recognised its power.
18/ Cape Town in 1918 was a fractured colonial society. In 1914, Botha and Smuts – former Boer generals – committed South Africa to Britain's war, triggering the Afrikaner Rebellion: 12,000 Boers took arms against their own govt.
The silence came from the English-speaking Cape Town elite.
The silence came from the English-speaking Cape Town elite.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
18/ Cape Town in 1918 was a fractured colonial society. In 1914, Botha and Smuts – former Boer generals – committed South Africa to Britain's war, triggering the Afrikaner Rebellion: 12,000 Boers took arms against their own govt.
The silence came from the English-speaking Cape Town elite.
The silence came from the English-speaking Cape Town elite.
17/ Who were the men behind the public mourning?
Hands was from Birmingham, knighted in 1919 for “sterling service to recruiting” in S Africa.
Brydon was from Edinburgh, an insurer.
Both were Britons in Africa, mourning sons who died for the Empire. Their positions gave their grief civic power.
Hands was from Birmingham, knighted in 1919 for “sterling service to recruiting” in S Africa.
Brydon was from Edinburgh, an insurer.
Both were Britons in Africa, mourning sons who died for the Empire. Their positions gave their grief civic power.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
17/ Who were the men behind the public mourning?
Hands was from Birmingham, knighted in 1919 for “sterling service to recruiting” in S Africa.
Brydon was from Edinburgh, an insurer.
Both were Britons in Africa, mourning sons who died for the Empire. Their positions gave their grief civic power.
Hands was from Birmingham, knighted in 1919 for “sterling service to recruiting” in S Africa.
Brydon was from Edinburgh, an insurer.
Both were Britons in Africa, mourning sons who died for the Empire. Their positions gave their grief civic power.
16/ Brydon proposes a public silence. Hands adopts it immediately: daily, the Noon Gun fires on Signal Hill. And for eight months, Cape Town stops. Trams, traffic, and pedestrians. The Last Post sounds. The city is silent.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
16/ Brydon proposes a public silence. Hands adopts it immediately: daily, the Noon Gun fires on Signal Hill. And for eight months, Cape Town stops. Trams, traffic, and pedestrians. The Last Post sounds. The city is silent.
15/ The silence didn't originate in Westminster. It came from Cape Town.
May 1918: the city's Mayor Harry Hands receives a telegram. His son – Rhodes Scholar, England rugby cap – is dead. Gassed at the Front.
Fellow Councillor Robert Brydon's son had died days earlier. Same unit, same battle.
May 1918: the city's Mayor Harry Hands receives a telegram. His son – Rhodes Scholar, England rugby cap – is dead. Gassed at the Front.
Fellow Councillor Robert Brydon's son had died days earlier. Same unit, same battle.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
15/ The silence didn't originate in Westminster. It came from Cape Town.
May 1918: the city's Mayor Harry Hands receives a telegram. His son – Rhodes Scholar, England rugby cap – is dead. Gassed at the Front.
Fellow Councillor Robert Brydon's son had died days earlier. Same unit, same battle.
May 1918: the city's Mayor Harry Hands receives a telegram. His son – Rhodes Scholar, England rugby cap – is dead. Gassed at the Front.
Fellow Councillor Robert Brydon's son had died days earlier. Same unit, same battle.
14/ There is no public memorial for the flu pandemic's victims. No ritual. No commemoration. Nothing.
The silence emerges to mourn war deaths.
War deaths can be mobilised for imperial unity, can encode sacrifice for the nation. Flu deaths can't. So they're forgotten.
The silence emerges to mourn war deaths.
War deaths can be mobilised for imperial unity, can encode sacrifice for the nation. Flu deaths can't. So they're forgotten.
November 9, 2025 at 5:10 PM
14/ There is no public memorial for the flu pandemic's victims. No ritual. No commemoration. Nothing.
The silence emerges to mourn war deaths.
War deaths can be mobilised for imperial unity, can encode sacrifice for the nation. Flu deaths can't. So they're forgotten.
The silence emerges to mourn war deaths.
War deaths can be mobilised for imperial unity, can encode sacrifice for the nation. Flu deaths can't. So they're forgotten.