Above is the single candle that I lit for a shared moment of reflection, marking the centenary of the First World War. To reflect on the occasion I tuned into the BBC2 broadcast of the Vigil Ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

Drawing upon Sir Edward Grey’s famous remark that “the lights are going out all over Europe”, Westminster Abbey will mark the centenary by moving from light into darkness, until one candle remains at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, which will be extinguished at 11.00pm to mark the moment of the declaration of war.

The Abbey Vigil will metaphorically “pause” in penitence on the moments leading up to the outbreak of the war and on those first months of conflict without rushing to conclusions or adopting particular narratives. The Service will not be a premature marking of armistice, but rather a particular commemoration of the centenary of the beginning of the war: remembering the effects of human frailty and failure, as well as the looming violence which characterised so much of that lengthy and devastating conflict.
The Abbey will be lit so that the light falls away from the East to the West until the Procession reaches the Grave of the Unknown Warrior, where a single light will remain. The congregation will be given hand-candles, which will be extinguished in blocks as the Vigil proceeds. In the structure which follows, there are four moments where light can be extinguished before the final, symbolic flame is put out at 11.00pm.

The order of service can be found here.

Photographs of the BBC2 footage of the vigil:

Lights Out

Sir Edward Grey, British Foreign Secretary, August 1914

Photo Copywright – www.1418now.org.uk/lights-out/

Lights Out

The outbreak of the First World War was a cataclysmic event in world history. We know now that the enormous losses, huge economic cost and unprecedented political upheavals incurred by the conflict would change the world forever. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems extraordinary to us that no one was able to intervene to halt the slow descent into war triggered by the unexpected assassination, in distant Sarajevo, of a foreign royal by a 19-year-old terrorist. Were Europe’s statesmen blind to the catastrophe that they were bringing down upon the world?

The British Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, was among those to glimpse the enormity of the imminent war. For almost ten years he had aligned Britain into a deepening friendship with the great European powers of France and Russia. Although this new relationship had alienated Germany, Grey had tried to keep Britain free from any firm commitment to intervene should a wider European war break out. Yet in July 1914 he stood at the heart of the crisis as ultimatums came and went, and the political and military decisions were taken that made it increasingly likely that Britain would stand beside France and Russia if either was attacked by Germany or Austria-Hungary. The German invasion of Belgium en route to France finally tipped the balance, making Britain’s entry into war inevitable.

Late in the afternoon of 3 August, on the last day of peace, Grey stood at the window of his office in Whitehall and was overwhelmed by a sense of foreboding tragedy. As he looked out he saw that the streets lights were being lit down below. He turned to a visiting friend and observed, ‘The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.’

ON MONDAY 4 AUGUST 2014, EVERYONE IN THE UK IS INVITED TO TURN THEIR LIGHTS OUT FROM 10PM-11PM LEAVING ON A SINGLE LIGHT OR CANDLE TO MARK THE MOMENT THE UK ENTERED THE FIRST WORLD WAR, ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.