On their Flanders battlefield trip Wenlock U3A visited Talbot House in Poperinge, not far from Ypres in an area of Belgium the Germans never occupied. Talbot House opened in 1915 as a club for soldiers. Everyone was welcomed equally whether officer or private. ‘All rank abandon, ye who enter here’ is one of the signs […]
The following extracts are from letters written by Private 22219 Bert Oakes, KSLI, No 28 Hut 4th Camp, Prees Heath. He writes to his parents Edward and Eliza Oakes of 5 Barber Street, Broseley and describes the daily routine of military training and life in the camp, in 1916. “We get up at 6 o’clock, dress […]
When the armies of Europe went to war in August 1914 they did so in headgear of cloth or leather. Much as they would have done for the previous 50 years. Since I came upon a battered British First World War Brodie helmet (designed and patented by J L Brodie in 1915) in a disused-quarry-cum-rubbish-tip […]
At the outbreak of war the first soldiers to be mobilised were members of the Regulars – full time soldiers, and Special Reserve and Territorial Battalions made up of part time soldiers. This photograph shows D Company, 4th Battalion, Kings Shropshire Light Infantry which consisted of Territorials from the Ironbridge area. These men were mobilised on […]
These men were remembered at the St Chad’s memorial service on the 8th April 2015. Driver Charles Jones, Regimental ID T4/070482, of the Army Service Corps died on the third of April. He is remembered on the Bridgnorth memorial. Private Walter Harold Overson, Regimental ID 27432, of the Royal Army Medical Corps died on the fourth […]
Lives remembered at St Chad’s Great War Remembrance Service – 11 March 2015 Captain Henry Trelss Watson of the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) attached to the 2nd Battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry died on the sixth of March. He is remembered on the Bitterley Memorial. Private Charles Jones, Regimental ID G/913, of The Buffs (East […]
A letter within the collections at the Shropshire Regimental Museum holds testament to the remarkable truce which took place between opposing sides on Christmas Day, 1914. At the time it was officially denied but letters like these and eye witness accounts of men who were there prove otherwise. This letter was written on 28th […]
When did the First World War end? Certainly not in that railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne. There were still German troops in France. There were prisoners-of-war to exchange. The Armistice ended the fighting, but not the War. Before talking to the German government, the Allies would first have to agree amongst themselves […]
The increasing sight of German PoWs would have been a sign of the First World War in the county. It all began modestly with a handful of civilian enemy aliens secured temporarily on the former premises of the Midland Railway Wagon and Carriage Works in Old Coleham. The works closure in 1912 meant there were […]
