The family were tanners in Kingsland, Shrewsbury. Adeline and James Cock had three daughters and two sons spread over seventeen years. They were affluent with four female servants; cook, kitchen-maid, parlour-maid and housemaid. When they named the last child, a son, had they anticipated that he would have to live up to that name? Geoffrey […]
Who would have guessed that barbed wire would prove the inspiration for Shropshire’s own war poet Wilfred Owen? At the opening of Exposure he draws upon those years walking from their home in Cherry Orchard, Shrewsbury along the Severn. Exposure Our brains ache, in the merciless iced east winds that knive us . . . Wearied we keep […]
It has often been remarked that many young men joined up seeking adventure as an escape from dull lives in crowded homes and the endless drudgery of many jobs, including those in agriculture. This certainly applied to Len Cooke of Grange Farm, Bicton. Len packed his bags and left the family farm at the age of […]
During the First World War, the west side of England was relatively safe from aerial attack and more airfields were desperately required for the rapidly expanding Royal Flying Corps (RFC). New squadrons were being formed as fast as possible and pilots had to be trained to equip them. In 1915, to the north-west of the […]
When the First World War began, the army was in the middle of field trials for an improved version of the Boots, ankle, General Service (BGS). They were designed to be hard-wearing and long-lasting rather than comfortable. They were worn with long puttees – rolled round the legs from the top of the ankle boot […]
Visitors to this website may have noticed the line of weary soldiers trudging across the header of the screen. These figures are taken from a postcard issued by the 6th battalion of the regiment for Christmas 1916. There is a marked difference in tone between this and other, earlier regimental postcards. In 1914 there was […]
Nationally, we can understand why there’s Trafalgar Square and Waterloo Station. Historic England tells us “Battlefields have frequently been the setting for crucial turning-points in English history.” In Shrewsbury we have Battlefield Road, Battlefield Heritage Park and the church. In town there’s Alma Street marking the first battle in the Crimea and Salamanca Avenue from the […]
Admiral ‘Jackie’ Fisher wrote of HMS Warrior ‘It was not appreciated that this, our first armour-clad ship of war, would cause a fundamental change in what had been in vogue for something like a thousand years.’ Having spent a good part of my life on new product development; rather than the battle itself, it is […]
No sooner had the short war of movement ended with the retreat from Mons and victory in the Battle of the Marne, than the BEF faced a new grave threat. In October 1914 No 6 Casualty Clearing Station encountered a condition which was to become known as ‘trench foot.’ During the first winter more than 20,000 […]
Following the implementation of the Military Service Act almost all unmarried men between the ages of 18 and 41 were expected to join the military after 2nd March 1916. Many appealed and a series of tribunals were set up by local authorities to hear their cases. Due to the sensitivity of the subject very few […]
