Ludlow In The Great War

Wars affect everyone. Whether they are fought on the battlefields or on the home front, by the armed forces or civilians, sacrifices have to be made, and everyone suffers one way or another. This book gives a flavour of what it was like to live in Ludlow through the Great War years. Ludlow was proud to send its brothers, husbands, uncles and fathers to fight for King and Country, many of whom had never been far from home before, some who came from decorated service backgrounds for whom the armed services was in their blood. Rich or poor, farm worker, office manager or son of a wealthy estate owner, they all united to defend their town and protect British values and way of life. Life continued as usual for many of those on the home front despite, amongst other things, the introduction of DORA, rationing and the loss of the labour force from the farms. Ludlow was already generous in its giving to the poor but this was taken to a whole new level with the introduction of many national and local war charities. They knitted, sewed, auctioned and sung their way through the war even a patriotic donkey called Willie and a pig did their bit by being auctioned several times to raise money for the war effort.This show of patriotism and stoicism was made against the backdrop of a bloody and heinous war that went on far longer than anticipated. The constant threat of receiving the dreaded telegram indicating their loved ones fate was never far from the minds of Ludlow's civilians, yet the people of Ludlow kept the home fires burning brightly.

The Second World War brought for the people of Ludlow and the surrounding countryside a complex mixture of trials and temptations, tragedy and farce. By scouring the local press of the time and interviewing people who remember it all too vividly and express their memories with vigour, indignation and humour, Derek Beattie has produced an honest and powerful portrait of a town at war. The threat of invasion prompted the formation of the Home Guard, whose volunteers were hastily kitted out with ill-fitting uniforms and borrowed weapons: 'It was noted that one man found it impossible to keep his rifle at the slope and his trousers up simultaneously.' Extraordinary things happened: the ploughing up of ancient grassland, the updating of Ludlow's steam-powered fire engine, and girls lowered on stretchers from the castles walls as air raid wardens practised first aid. One man took the blackout so seriously that he covered up the white flowers in his moonlit garden. People found themselves in court for everything from driving into a cow in the dark to receiving stolen goods in the form of Army woollen underpants or selling falsely labelled 'onion powder'. The mayor was fined for obstructing the police, whom he accused of Gestapo tactics, and the rector declared Sunday cinema to be 'a thing of evil'

"On April 20, 1914, in the small railroad town of Ludlow, Colorado, striking coalminers and state National Guardsmen waged a day-long battle that ended with the burning of a strikers' tent colony. The "Ludlow Massacre," as it is known, was only part of a seven-month war in which at least seventy-five people were killed. In Blood Passion, journalist Scott Martelle explores this largely forgotten American saga of coalminers rising against political and economic corruption, a fight that embraced some of the most volatile social movements of the early twentieth century."--Cover.

The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Stroud’s Five Valleys in the Great War offers an intimate portrayal of the region and its people living in the shadow of the 'war to end all wars'. This highly accessible volume explores themes of local reaction to the outbreak of war; the experience of individuals who enlisted; the changing face of industry and related unrest; the work of the hospitals in the area; the effect of the conflict on children; the women who defied convention to play a vital role on the home front and how people coped with the transition to life in peacetime once more. The Great War story of the Stroud Valleys – including Stroud, Brimscombe, Chalford, Bussage, Woodchester, Stonehouse, Minchinhampton and Rodborough – is recalled by those who were there and is vividly illustrated with photographs, postcards, documents and other First World War ephemera.

This study is the first thorough analysis of the extent of the opposition to the Great War in Wales, and is the most extensive study of the anti-war movement in any part of Britain. It is, therefore, a significant contribution to our understanding of people’s responses to the conflict, and the difficulty of mobilising the population for total war. The anti-war movement in Wales and beyond developed quickly from the initial shock of the declaration of war, to the civil disobedience of anti-war activists and the industrial discontent excited by the Russian Revolution and experienced in areas such as the south Wales coalfield in 1917. The differing responses to the war within Wales are explored in this book, which charts how the pacifist tradition of nineteenth-century Welsh Nonconformity was quickly overturned. The two main elements of the anti-war movement are analysed in depth: the pacifist religious opposition, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and the Nonconformist dissidents who were particularly influential in north and west Wales; and the political opposition concentrated in the Independent Labour Party and among the radical left within the South Wales Miners’ Federation.

The years 1914-1918 cost many lives in the trenches of France and Belgium. Those trenches and the battles that were fought from them are well documented. But back home in towns and cities up and down the United Kingdom death and desperation were also apparent. Those left behind to carry on suffered from harsh winters, lack of food and fuel and flu epidemics. This is the story of the struggles of ordinary people with their everyday lives. It includes the opportunities presented to the criminal fraternity and the contribution that women made to the war effort by filling men's jobs and providing a home for the men to return to. If they were lucky enough to come home from the war.

Committee Serial No. 8.