The Church Lads Brigade In The Great War

It is estimated that around 50,000 Brigade Lads served in the First World War, during which many honors and distinctions were awarded. The Brigade contributed two Service Battalions of the King's Royal Rifle Corps whose members were comprised entirely of past and present members of the Church Lads' Brigade. These were known as ‘Pals’ Battalions. The story of the battalion centers around the experiences of eight men who served and some who died in the Battles of The Somme, Arras and The Lys. In the latter half of the nineteenth century influential Christians were worried about the poor spiritual and physical development of young people. It was at that time that ‘Brigade’ groups began to spring up all over the UK. Walter Mallock Gee, who was Secretary of the Junior Branch of the Church of England Temperance Society and a ‘Volunteer’ Army Officer, founded the Church Lads’ Brigade in 1891. By 1908 the membership of the brigade stood at about 70,000 in 1,300 companies. When the ‘Call to Arms’ came from Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener in 1914, thousands of Britain’s youth flocked to join the armed forces. Members of the Church Lads’ Brigade joined up in their droves at recruiting stations all over Great Britain. Two Battalions were formed entirely from serving and ex-members of the Church Lad’s Brigade. The 16th (Service) Battalion and later the 19th (Service) Battalion, both sponsored by the Church Lads’ Brigade, became known as ‘The Churchmen’s Battalion’. In 1914 no one could have imagined the horrendous stories that would unfold from the bloody massacre at so many notorious battles across Belgium and the fields of Flanders. Ypres, Passchendale, Somme, Arras, Lys, and the brutal decimation of the battalion during the hell of the fighting at High Wood. No one could have imagined the discomfort and disease brought on by living in a trench full of water for days on end, or ‘over the top’ through acres of knee-high mud. More than 24 of the Church Lads’ Brigade were awarded a Victoria Cross for their bravery, but by 1918 many of those gallant young Lads would not return home. This is their story. The Author and the Publishers acknowledge that some material in this title has been taken from the website www.1914-1918.net without permission or acknowledgement and are grateful to the copyright holder, Chris Baker, for granting this permission retrospectively.

Bognor at the time of the Great War was a small seaside town, quiet in winter but full of visitors in the summer. At that time it was barely one hundred and thirty years old, developed from a hamlet by Sir Richard Hotham, a hatter, who wanted to create his own purpose built bathing resort, to attract the nobility to take the sea air and as a rival to other towns along the Sussex coast. rnrnIn 1911 the population of Bognor had grown to a little over eight thousand, of whom around eleven hundred men answered the call in 1914, around a third of whom never returned. The book tells their stories, not in alphabetical Roll of Honour order, but in real time as it happened. It also takes a close look at those who fought and returned to Bognor, albeit with some badly injured, facing the future carrying the scars of four years fighting. Also included are the local villages of Aldwick, North and South Bersted and Felpham.rnrnWartime life in Bognor has also been included, how the town coped from the influx of Belgian refugees in 1914, a look at the various voluntary organisations, recruitment, invasion fears, conscientious objectors, tribunals, lighting restrictions, Zeppelins, food shortages and the victory celebrations. rnrnQueen Victoria, who stayed at Bognor as a child, once referred to it in later life as 'dear little Bognor'. Some eighty years later 'dear little Bognor' flexed her muscles as her young men marched to war.As seen in the Bognor Regis Observer.

Romford in the Great War tells the remarkable story of Romford and its surrounding areas from the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, to the long-awaited peace of 1918. Romford had a considerable military connection during the war. The area was largely associated with the famous Sportsman's Battalions, the 23rd and 24th Battalions of the Royal Fusiliers, that, as the title suggests, was made up of well-known sportsmen of the day. Initially, the battalion stayed at Hare Hall camp in Romford and Grey Towers Camp in Hornchurch, respectively. The equally famous Artists Rifles took over Hare Hall after the Sportsman Battalion left, and went on to become a renowned officer training corps.The book takes a detailed look at the districts war memorials and rolls of honor, that commemorate the names of the local young men who answered the call to arms to protect their king and country. Wynn explores some of these names in more detail, tweaking out their individual stories of heroism, bravery and devotion to duty no matter what price they had to pay. He also offers a unique flavor of what everyday life was like for the local community, by looking through the local newspapers of the day. A growing paranoia among the masses is addressed, as are the important roles of women, who were keeping the country on top form, whether delivering mail, driving a taxi or working in a local factory, while their husbands, brothers, uncles, sons and fathers were off fighting the war. This is a superb account of the people of Romfords outstanding determination to see the war through.

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.

Religion did much to shape contemporary British opinion and behaviour during the First and Second World Wars, but it featured rather less in the initial historiography of either conflict. The situation has changed considerably in the past half-century, with a steadily increasing number of academic and popular outputs on the religious aspects of the wars. As key milestones, in connection with the centenary of the First World War and the eightieth anniversary of the Second World War, have occurred or approach, it seems an appropriate time to take bibliographical stock. This volume is the first to offer an in-depth listing of modern literature, in English and other European languages, on British religion and the First and Second World Wars, both on the home front and in combat zones. Coverage extends to Judaism and alternative religion, as well as Christianity. More than 1,200 items are included, comprising monographs, book chapters, journal articles, and postgraduate theses. They are arranged by subjects, in separate sections on each war, with cross-references and a cumulative index of personal names. Carefully compiled over several years by an accomplished religious historian and bibliographer, the work will be an indispensable reference tool to those embarking on investigations into the religious landscape of Britain during the World Wars, and those who wish to discover what has been written about their chosen field to date. It will also help identify gaps in scholarship and encourage researchers to try and fill them.

A brief history of how the people of Laindon and district coped with the problems of the First World War??´ Throughout the book are individual family memories, over 100 photographs and appropriate oems mostly written at the time.??´ Indication of why Britain went to war??´ Insight into the role of the local Explosive factories.??´ Individual stories of those who applied for exemption and the hysteria of suspected spies.??´ The role played by our Women Folk??´ Culminating in individual stories of our men folk who went to war on our behalf.

This book seeks to place children and young people centrally within the study of the contemporary British home front, its cultural representations and its place in the historical memory of the First World War. This edited collection interrogates not only war and its effects on children and young people, but how understandings of this conflict have shaped or been shaped by historical memories of the Great War, which have only allowed for several tropes of childhood during the conflict to emerge. It brings together new research by emerging and established scholars who, through a series of tightly focussed case studies, introduce a range of new histories to both explore the experience of being young during the First World War, and interrogate the memories and representations of the conflict produced for children. Taken together the chapters in this volume shed light on the multiple ways in which the Great War shaped, disrupted and interrupted childhood in Britain, and illuminate simultaneously the selectivity of the portrayal of the conflict within the more typical national narratives.

The townships of Urmston, Flixton and Davyhulme nestle neatly in a triangular area bordered on the south by the River Mersey, on the north-west by the River Irwell/Manchester Ship Canal and on the east by the M60 motorway. In this, the first substantial book on the area since 1898, local historian Michael Billington draws on census records, newspaper reports, antiquarian books, church accounts, Victorian church magazines, trial records, OS maps, burial records, Industrial School Act records and conversations with local historians and residents. The author, himself an Urmstonian, takes the reader on a journey of discovery in his portrayal of old houses (many now demolished due to disrepair or to make way for the motorway), churches, farms, weaving, the arrival of the railway, children and education, entertainment, sport, customs, culture, the war years and more. There are many previously unpublished photographs, maps and stories to take older residents on a nostalgic journey down memory lane whilst also introducing younger readers to a fascinating trio of townships some seven miles or so to the south-west of Manchester, itself immersed in the glory of the Industrial Revolution.