Lancaster In The Great War

Although Lancaster was the ancient County town, it had a population of only 40,000 in 1914. Of these, it is thought that some 5,000 men saw war service between 1914-18, and over 1,000 did not return. In consequence, the recruiting drives, the tribunals to consider exemption from 1916, and the ever-growing casualty lists provide the main theme for this book.Some 3,000 men had volunteered by December 1914, to join those already serving. While the depot of the Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment was in the town, about eighty regiments had Lancaster men in their ranks, and both the casualty lists and the awards for gallantry reflect this.The town was out of range for shelling from the sea, or aerial bombardment, but did experience an explosion at its munitions factory in 1917. Apart from this, the mayor and council endeavoured to continue with their primary duties as far as possible in running the town.

The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, including the deaths of over a thousand 'Men of Lancaster', and its legacy continues to be remembered today. This book looks at the impact that the loss of so many men had on the community and offers an intimate portrayal of Lancaster and its people living in the shadow of the 'war to end all wars'.Drawing on detailed research conducted by the authors and their community partners, it describes the local reaction to the outbreak of war, the experience of individuals who enlisted, the changing face of industry, the women who defied convention to play a vital role on the home front, and how Lancaster coped with the transition to life in peacetime once more.The Great War story of Lancaster draws on all of these experiences to present a unique account of the local reality of a global conflict.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The military toll of World War I is widely known: millions of Britons were mobilised, many thousands killed or wounded, and the landscape of British society changed forever. But how was the conflict experienced by the people of Surrey on the home front? Surrey Heritage's project Surrey in the Great War: A County Remembers has, over the four-year centenary commemoration, explored the wartime stories of Surrey's people and places. The project's discoveries are here captured through text, case studies and images. This book chronicles the mobilisation of Surrey men, the training of foreign troops in the county, objection to military service, defence against invasion, voluntary work and fundraising, the experiences of women and children, shortages, industrial supply to the armed forces and the commemoration of Surrey's dead. Drawing heavily on the rich archives of Surrey Heritage, it is an engaging exploration of a county in the shadow of the first globalised war between industrialised nations.

The village of Givenchy-ls-la-Basse sits on a small rise in the Pas de Calais Department in northern France. One hundred years ago it was overtaken by the First World War. The fighting there was intense eleven Victoria Crosses were won in this tiny locality between 1914 and 1918. Phil Tomasellis in-depth account shows what happened at Givenchy when it became a battlefield, and the story here was repeated in the other villages and towns on the Western Front. Givenchys key position made it the target for crushing bombardments, infantry assaults and subterranean warfare. The landscape was pulverized by shellfire, the ground beneath was honeycombed with tunnels. Mining operations, shelling, sniping and trench raids took place around the remains of the village even when this stretch of the front line was relatively quiet. The grueling struggle of attrition that characterized the fighting on the Western Front continued here throughout the war. Phil Tomasellis gripping narrative makes extensive use of war diary extracts, personal stories, official and unofficial histories.

This volume synthesises the latest scholarship on First World War veterans in post-war Britain and Ireland, investigating the topic through its political, social and cultural dynamics. It examines the post-war experiences of those men and women who served and illuminates the nature of the post-war society for which service had been given. Complicating the homogenising tendency in existing scholarship it offers comparison of the experiences of veterans in different regions of Britain, including perspectives drawn from Ireland. Further nuance is offered by the assessment of the experiences of ex-servicewomen alongside those of ex-servicemen, such focus deeping understanding into the gendered specificities of post-war veteran activities and experiences. Moreover, case studies of specific cohorts of veterans are offered, including focus on disabled veterans and ex-prisoners of war. In these regards the collection offers vital updates to existing scholarship while bringing important new departures and challenges to the current interpretive frameworks of veteran experiences in post-war Britain and Ireland.

Durham was, and still is, one of the country's oldest and best-loved cites. The very name was synonymous with dedication, dependability and determination. Men from the city answered the call to arms with an eerie normality, no matter what their age or social class. Many had been miners before the war and had spent their working life down a pit, but just as many had been teachers. Others were students at the Durham School, one of the most prestigious in the land, going on to further greatness at Durham University. When the announcement of war was made, they all enlisted to do their duty for King and country. They asked nothing in return, despite knowing the inherent dangers of what they were about to do. They carried on regardless, selfless in their readiness to give to a greater cause. There was a similar determination amongst the city's people. For some that meant working for the local Voluntary Aid Detachment or the Durham Volunteer Training Corps, whilst still going about their day job. They knew that no matter how hard things were for them, it was much more trying for their sons, brothers, husbands, uncles and other loved ones who were fighting on the Western Front. Hundreds went off to fight in the war: men who had been born in the city, who lived and were educated in the city, and men who had worked in the city. Some 360 of them never made it home. They are gone, but never forgotten.

This is the first book to bring together an interdisciplinary, theoretically engaged and global perspective on the First World War through the lens of historical and cultural geography. Reflecting the centennial interest in the conflict, the collection explores the relationships between warfare and space, and pays particular attention to how commemoration is connected to spatial elements of national identity, and processes of heritage and belonging. Venturing beyond military history and memory studies, contributors explore conceptual contributions of geography to analyse the First World War, as well as reflecting upon the imperative for an academic discussion on the War’s centenary. This book explores the War’s impact in more unexpected theatres, blurring the boundary between home and fighting fronts, investigating the experiences of the war amongst civilians and often overlooked combatants. It also critically examines the politics of hindsight in the post-war period, and offers an historical geographical account of how the First World War has been memorialised within ‘official’ spaces, in addition to those overlooked and often undervalued ‘alternative spaces’ of commemoration. This innovative and timely text will be key reading for students and scholars of the First World War, and more broadly in historical and cultural geography, social and cultural history, European history, Heritage Studies, military history and memory studies.