Colchester in the Great War - Review

Colchester in The Great War

Pen & Sword Books

£12.99 (or less)

Colchester in the Great War, by local author Andrew Phillips, is certainly one of the better books in this particular Pen & Sword series. For a start, having already published eight books about Colchester and its history, the author knows his stuff and has almost certainly drawn on those earlier accounts in this new publication. He also tells a good story and writes engagingly and informatively about the town. I lived in Colchester for a while and have family who still live there, but the vast majority of what Andrew Phillips writes about was certainly news to me, and fascinating news at that.

Above all though, Mr Phillips never loses sight of the town; how the town was situated before the war, the effect the war had on ordinary lives, and the aftermath. At least 1250 local men died during the conflict and whilst the author pays tribute to them, this book is not essentially about the players but rather the stage from where they sprung, and to where the survivors limped back home afterwards.

As is customary with the books in this series, Colchester in the Great war is well illustrated and even includes a photograph, I was interested to note, that I owned some years ago; a photo of the unveiling of the impressive war memorial outside the equally impressive castle. 

This is a good read and a nice addition to books on Essex generally and Colchester specifically. As a former and current garrison town it is also almost certainly long-overdue.

Birmingham in the Great War

There are two words which should instantly recommend this title to anyone with even a passing interest in Birmingham during the First World War, and those words are "Terry" and "Carter". Terry's 1997 work on the Birmingham Pals remains a staple ingredient for anyone with an interest in Kitchener volunteers, pals battalions or Birmingham and this new publication in Pen & Sword's "Your towns and cities..."series is the ideal complement as it looks at Birmingham in the first 18 months of the war at a time when the pals battalions were recruiting and training.  There are useful chapters on the 1st Southern General Hospital, Belgian refugees in Birmingham, HMS Lusitania, HMS Birmingham, the expansion of the Territorials and, of course, the pals battalions.  One of the better books in this series, I would suggest, and well worth the £14.99 investment. Anything less should be considered a bargain.

Northampton & Frome in the Great War

 

Having an unplanned and extended break over the Christmas period allowed me to at least catch up on some reading - at least until the school Christmas holidays began.

In retrospect you wonder why these books which focus on a particular community during the Great War, weren't published many years ago. Having added a few of these to my own collection - including a cracker for my home city of Chelmsford - I can say that they are a mixed bag, both in terms of the subject matter - cities on the one hand, small towns on the other - and in terms of the treatment meted out by the authors. The best examples, to my mind, are those books that strike the right balance between telling us something about the community during the war, and informing us about the men and women from that community who served King and Country.

Northampton in the Great War and Frome in the Great War would both, I suggest, be essential reading for anybody with an interest in these towns. The volume on Frome has more to say about the men and women from this Somerset community, and at 184 pages long it its page count be argued to represent better value for money than Northampton which weighs in at around 140 pages. But for the military researcher, both volumes - and for that matter probably - all of the volumes in this series will be worth having on standby.

Both books have good indexes - although Frome's is the better of the two - and both volumes also acknowledge local archival resources which is always encouraging to see.

Brighton & Norwich in The Great War

Pen & Sword's Towns and Cities in the Great War series has a lot to commend it, and I've just finished reading a couple of recent additions: Brighton in the Great War (Pen and Sword, £14.99) and Norwich in the Great War (Pen and Sword, £12.99).

Brighton in the Great War

At 266 pages, this is one of the better value books in this series. Of particular interest to me are the sections dealing with the military and auxiliary hospitals in the town. The vast majority of the men who found themselves transferred out to Chailey's two auxiliary hospitals had originally been treated at the 2nd Eastern General Hospital in Dyke Road. That hospital is well-covered in this book, as are many others, including the Kitchener Hospital and the Brighton Pavilion, transformed as a hospital to treat Indian troops. The author must have spent many hours on this particular research project and has mad good use of contemporary reports published in local newspapers and elsewhere. This is an easy and compelling read.

Norwich in the Great War

This volume, slightly cheaper than the Brighton in The Great War, also has a 50 per cent lower page count. That's a shame because Norwich was an important hub in this part of England and I would have thought that there would have been plenty more relevant information that could have usefully been published here. The Norfolk Regiment, for instance, is barely touched upon, and yet the city of Norwich provided two companies for the 4th Battalion (Territorial Force), and one battalion for the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion (TF). The Norfolk Yeomanry was also headquartered in the city, and Norwich provided one of the regiment's four squadrons. None of these men have a voice in this book. The author also asserts that the Norfolk Regiment's nickname, "Holy Boys", owes its origins to the city of Norwich having many churches. More colourful - and, I have to say, plausible - origins of the nickname which the author might have added are that it was gained when a) the men sold their bibles during the Peninsula Wars to buy drink or b) Spanish soldiers mistook the figure of Britannia on the men's badges for the Virgin Mary.

Local effort in the Great War

I have several of the books in Pen and Sword's Towns and Cities series but it is really pot luck as to whether the author has gone the extra mile to really get under the skin of the place during the Great War. Douglas D'Enno has done so for Brighton, Stephen Browning could have done more for Norwich. Having said that, both books - and books in the series in general - are full of evocative photos, many published in book format for the first time, and there are plenty of snippets of information which help to paint a picture of the time. Were I living in Brighton or Norwich with only a passing interest in local history I would still consider both books essential additions to my library. I just might feel I'd got better value if I lived in Brighton.

I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information. 

Section D, Army Reserve 1923

I spotted this tucked away in a man's service record in WO 363 recently and thought I'd post it here as a matter of interest. I'm not sure which newspaper this particular appeal was published in but it must have been quite a tempting inducement to many. I presume that this appeal for men to join Section D of the Army Reserve was also open to men who had enlisted for wartime service only during the Great War - as was the case with the man who filled in this particular form.


The image is Crown Copyright, courtesy of The National Archives.

I also offer a comprehensive, fast and cost-effective military history research service. Follow the link for more information. 

First World War British Army identity discs

I was in Cambridge in the week and popped into G. David's bookshop, emerging a short while later with a coffee table book on the CWGC and Richard van Emden's The Quick & The Dead. In the latter, on page 136, Richard talks about identity discs. I hadn't realised that it was an Army Council Instruction of 1916 that introduced the two discs which most of us will be familiar with: the red circular disc (to be removed in the vent of death) and the octagonal green disc (to be left on the man's body). I thought it might be an idea to provide some brief information on identity discs for the British Army in the run up to and during, the First World War.

January 1907
Army Order 9 states that an aluminium identity disc fitted with a 42 inch cord is to be worn around the neck and underneath the clothing. The disc should contain the soldier's number, rank, name, regiment and religious denomination. A change in regiment or rank would result in a new disc being issued.

May 1907
Army Order 102 introduces slight changes to the above including the dropping of rank. (So if you have an aluminium disc with a soldier's rank on it, you can date it quite precisely).

April 1908
Army Order 83 authorised the issue of discs to Special Reservists and also authorised the dropping of religious denomination on discs issued to men serving with the Territorial Force.

21st August 1914
A new, red/brown disc 35mm in diameter and made of vulcanised asbestos fibre replaces the more expensive aluminium disc. The stamping regulations were the same as those of AO 102 of May 1907. Aluminium discs also continue to be used until stocks run out.

September 1916
Army Order 287 introduces the two disc I referred to at the top of this article. The reason for the introduction was to counteract the problem of identifying men after they had been killed. Although many men (including Vera Brittain's officer fiancé Roland Leighton) purchased their own identity bracelets, these were unofficial.  The green disc (referred to as No 1 disc) was to be threaded on a long cord around the neck with the red/brown disc (No 2 disc) threaded on a shorter cord from disc number 1.

The Western Front Association has chapter and verse (and scans of the Army Orders) on its site. Image courtesy of Orkney Image Library.

Old Harrovians in the Great War

I get sent so many links one way or the other and I forget that not everybody may be aware of the treasure trove of information available on-line. This link will take you to biographies of Old Harrovians who died during the Great War:

Harrow School - Fallen in WW1

The period covered in this volume is 23rd August 1914 to 20th March 1915.