About 70% – almost 8,400 – of the total graves in Tyne Cot cemetery are marked with headstones which are inscribed with the words ‘Known unto God’. These are some of the 90,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought and died in the Ypres Salient but whose identities could not be established at the time of burial or reburial. The names of these unidentified soldiers are inscribed either on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres or on the Memorial wall at the rear of Tyne Cot cemetery.
The Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing was designed by Herbert Baker, one of four Principle Architects engaged in directing the construction of over 1,200 cemeteries and memorials along the Western Front. The sculptured figures were by F V Blundstone.
As seen in the photograph (left) the Memorial is a semicircular flint wall of 4.25 metres high and over 150 metres long, faced with panels of Portland stone on which are carved nearly 35,000 names of those who have no known grave. There are three apses and two rotundas.
Two domed arched pavilions mark the ends of the main wall, each dome being surmounted by a winged female figure with head bowed over a wreath.