The Commission decided to use headstones rather than crosses to mark the graves so that people of every religion (and those with none) would be respected. Any chosen religious symbol could be carved into the stone instead. Headstones would be simpler to produce, stand up better against the weather and have more room for inscriptions. This upset many people. Lady Florence Cecil, wife of the Bishop of Exeter, who lost three sons, pleaded ‘in the name of thousands of heartbroken parents, wives, brothers and sisters. It is only through the hope of the cross that most of us are able to carry on the life from which all the sunshine seems to have gone.’