Search results for Ypres.
Nature of War
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A range of materials for mixed ability classes, for year 7, 8 and 9. Right click to save documents. If you have any resources you wish to share, please let us know! Document Title Focus Format Death of Red Baron Mystery activity Word FWW Dressing station Medical services information Word …
10 August 1918 First Lieutenant George L Howard, 53rd Infantry Brigade
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First Lieutenant George L Howard was a resident of Brooklyn, New York and a graduate of Yale University, Class of 1905. (1) A longtime member of the 71st New York Infantry, George came up through the ranks and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant prior to his service along the border with Mexico. George returned from border service in September 191…
25 August 1918 : Private Charles William Hoadley
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Charles was born on 6 February 1893 in Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania and resided in Bradford, PA.Shortly after the United States declared war on the Germany, Charles crossed the border into nearby New York and enlisted with the 3rd New York Infantry on 29 May 1917. (1) At the time of registration he was living at 14 Allison St, Bradford. After tr…
2 September 1917 : Pte George Fieldhouse
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His parents were Charles (a foreman at a carpet works) and Elizabeth Fieldhouse. They lived at 21 Armitage St, Raventhorpe, Dewsbury. At the 1901 Census George, age 7, was at home with his parents and six siblings: an older brother Herbert and four sisters. Circumstances could not have been easy; their father spent 14 days in prison for debt an…
10 September 1917 : Sgt Jules Tiberghien
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One of the three Tiberghien brothers to die in the Great War, Jules was born on 22 January 1892 and began his military service at Lille with the 43rd RI in 1912. After serving as an infantryman and being wounded in action (gaining the Medaille Militaire and Croix de Guerre in the process), he became attached to the Air Corps. Killed in aerial com…
22 November 1917 : Pte Alexander McNab
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His parents were Alexander (a blacksmith from Argylshire) and Janet (née Wardrop and from Stirlingshire) McNab. At the 1891 Census the family lived at 20 Buck St, Burnley. This included older brother William (age 2) and Alexander (six months). At the 1901 Census there were five more children (including twins) and 12 year old William was worki…
23 November 1917 : Pte Joseph Hoole
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His parents were Edward and Mary Ann (neé Hodson). At the 1891 Census, age 2, Joseph ('Jos') lived at home (44 Bow Lane, Preston) with his parents, older brother Frederick and a lodger (his mother's brother). Both parents worked in a local cotton mill. Joseph's father died in April 1897 when Joseph was still only five years old. Fred joined …
009: Winter 1983
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Passchendaele and the Flanders U-Boats
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There can be no doubt that the Flanders U-boats, the thirty seven small UB and UC vessels based at Bruges and going to and from sea via Ostende and Zeebrugge were important factors in the strategic judgement that led to the Third Battle of Ypres. The fears of the Admiralty that the contribution these boats were making to the overall unrestricted su…
I Embarked for France: The War Diaries and letters of an English family in the Great War: Evelyn Ansell, 19th King’s Liverpool Regiment
Reviewed by Linda Parker. Although this narrative of a family’s journey and the mixed fortunes of war is focused on Evelyn Ansell, its first chapter, describing the end of a family holiday in August 1914, introduces his family as the lens through which the Great War is seen. As Meryl Moore comments 'I read these family letters and lived the war ye…
Battle Lines: Ypres - Nieupoort to Ploegsteert
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Authors: Jon Cooksey and Jerry Murland ISBN 978 1 84884 783 4 Publisher: Pen and Sword 31 March 2013 240 pages including maps and illustrations When I signed up to provide a book review for the Western Front Association I was curious as to what book I would receive, given the information I had provided on my area of interest. However, when I rec…
A Memoir of the Final Advance 1918
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A Memoir of the Final Advance 1918 by Sergeant W G Sweet, 2nd Monmouthshire edited by Barry Johnson (This article first appeared in Stand To! pp13-16 No.30 Winter 1990) Sergeant W G Sweet The Monmouthshire Regiment of the Territorial Force, sent all three of its first line battalions to the 28th Division in France in 1914-15. The 1st Bn, raise…
Stand To! No.1 to No.133 Full Contents Listing
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Stand To! 1-133 Content
Stand To 1 Spring 1981
Editorial Notes (Peter T. Scott)
Serving members of the Western Front Association
Early Days, New Paths and Acknowledgements
Inaugural Meeting: John Terraine's Address. Historian John Terraine berates those who indulge in ‘purely tragic pilgrimages to the Western Front’.
The Loving Care of the…
What did you do in the Great War Grandfather? The Life and Times of an Edwardian Horse Artillery Officer.
What did you do in the Great War Grandfather? The Life and Times of AN Edwardian Horse Artillery Officer. Helion, £16.95. 187pp, 187 ills, 4 maps, bibliog., index ISBN 978 1 91217403 4 Charles Barrington Author, Charles Barrington, enjoys the good fortune of being published by Helion, and, consequently, the assurance of quality productio…
Walking Ypres
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Walking Ypres Pen & Sword Barnsley 2017 £15.99, 296 pp, pb ills & maps throughout. ISBN: 0-17815-900-3 Paul Reed As the title suggests ‘Walking Ypre’ is standard ‘Battleground Europe’ fare intended for the footslogger rather than the exponent of mobile battlefield visiting. The book offers 14 chapters, each a walk from a designated …
10 September 1918 : L/Cpl John James Clegg
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Son of John (a cotton weaver) and Sarah. At the 1901, age 13, along with is older sister and father, John was working as a cotton weaver. Ten years later John was living with his mother at 100 Robinson Street, Burnley. The area has been run down for some decades. John Clegg was an employee of Messrs. Grey Ltd at Livingstone Mill, Burnley …
Corporal Henry I Ingersoll, Company K: 15 September 1918
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Henry's parents were Mr. and Mrs. Oliver W. Ingersoll of 876 Park Place, New York City. Henry Ingersoll graduated from Erasmus Hall High School and attended Cornell University where he studied civil engineering. After graduating from Cornell in 1916 he was employed with the family business. Henry enlisted with the 7th New York Infantry in A…
The Annual General Meeting Address delivered by Mr John Terraine at the AGM on 31 January 1987
[This article first appeared in Stand To ! 20 Summer 1987] pp 7 - 8 First let me say a word of reassurance: it's only a few weeks ago that a number of you will have received a longish burst from me at the National Army Museum on Founder's Day. Don't worry - this time I shan't keep you long. I only want to say two things, really, about ourse…
20 December 1914: 820 Marsouin Simon Chantelot
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Simon Chantelot had just begun his compulsory military service with the 6th Colonial Infantry at Lyon at the time of the outbreak of war. Seeing action in the Vosges/Alsace and the Argonne, he was wounded in action near Ypres in mid-December and died in the auxiliary hospital at Mantes-la-Jolie/Yvelines on 20 December 1914. Simon Chantelot is …
21 December 1914 : A/Cpl Simon Bennett
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After a number of years as a coal miner, Simon Bennett had enlisted into the army in 1904. After spending most of his service in India, Simon returned home and, while still held on the reserve, he became employed as a miner at the Towneley colliery in Burnley. He had just entered the final year of his reserve commitment (and was temporarily work…
Defending the Ypres Front 1914 – 1918: Trenches, Shelters and Bunkers of the German Army
By Jan Vancoillie & Kristof Blieck Pen & Sword, £25.00 (E–book: £14.40), 294 pp, ills, 34 maps, bibliog., index. ISBN: 978–152–670–746–8 In outline this comprehensive book describes the German structures employed to defend the territory captured around Ypres and makes excellent use of official drawings and maps as well as photographs fro…
109 : June/July 2017 Special Edition
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8 April 1918 : Pte Arthur Algernon Pickles MM
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His parents were John Pickles (an antique dealer and Sexton) and Hannah. Arthur had a much older brother Hartley, as well a younger brother George and a younger sister Mary Lucy. Before the war Arthur was a cotton weaver. His father's first wife had died in 1886. Arthur had to much older half-brothers, Hartley who died in 1983 age 102, and …
13 May 1918: Trumpeter Johnnie Whitaker
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His parents were Jonathan (a labourer from Holbeck) and Emily (a housekeeper from Ruthin, North Wales). Johnnie was the eldest of six in 1911 (three each of boys girls), eight of then living in a 3 roomed dwelling - No.64 Main Street, Addingham (dwelling since cleared). John was employed as a silk spinner by Lister & Co at Burnside Mill,…
24 May 1915: Harold Strachan Price
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Son of Edward Price, the major forestry and paper company in Canada) and Henrietta. 1891 age 9 Harold lived with his parents, family and domestic staff at 1 Craven Hill, Hyde Park. As well as his 5 siblings and parents there was a nurse, a cook, housemaid, a nursery maid and a kitchen maid. Harold, like the sons of leading Canadian mercha…
30 May 1918 : Dvr. Francis Brunt
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Francis Brunt was a hairdresser in business on Trafalgar Street, Burnely. He lived with his young family at 58 Nairne Street, Burnley, Lancashire with his wife Amy who he had married in September 1914. Francis enlisted in Blackburn on 28 April 1915. By this time he had two young children. After being held on home service duties, Francis emba…
2 June 1917 : L/Cpl James McCoubrey
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His parents were James and Margaret McCoubrey and he was a Protestant. At the 1901 Census James was at home with his parents and younger brother William. Ten years later he was still at home, 35 Main Street, Ballymoney and working as a painter. Age 20 he was at home with 12 year old brother William his parents and two boarders. James mar…
Lewes and the Great War : February Casualites
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February’s Lewes casualties provide a glimpse of the contrasting life experiences and backgrounds of residents of different Lewes streets, amongst whom three men’s very different stories stand out. Private Daniel Todman of the 9th Royal Sussex Regiment, who died of wounds at a field dressing station near Ypres on 18th February 1916, lived with his…
The Great War and March Casualities from Lewes, East Sussex
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During the early years of the war, March on the Western Front was a time of preparation for the spring offensives both sides knew would come as soon as the ground had dried out sufficiently to make a successful advance a real possibility. As a result there was only one Lewes casualty in March 1915 and two in 1916. March 1917 brought seven fatalitie…
7 July 1916 : Pte. William Edward Foster
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At the 1891 Census William, only 1, appears to have been living at his grandmother's house with his mother and older sister Elizabeth. By the 1901 Census, his sister had married and the 10 year old William was living wither her and his brother in law at 23 Ribblesdale Street, Burnley. At the 1911 Census, William was living with his sister and…
24 July 1917 : Pte Albert Hart
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He was the son of Charles (an agricultural labourer) and Anne (a straw platter). At the 1911 Census Albert, age 28, a married brick-layer's assistant, was living at Byslips Cottages, Byslips Road, Studham with his wife Jane (13 years his senior) her sons Raymond and George, and their own 4 year old son Harold. Later that year their daughter Vida…
8 August 1918 : Edward B Sargent
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Mother Florence Sargent. According to his completed Jewish Servicemen Questionnaire Edward had been educated at public schools and high schools and was an 'efficiency engineer before the war'. He worked in the iron and steel business with F J Myers for 9 years before the war and lived at home - 75th W, 715th Street, NY 71st. He was also a pre-war …
News from Ypres 25
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[This regular item by Dr Dominiek Dendooven, researcher and curator at the In Flanders Fields Museum, detailing recent and forthcoming events around Ypres was first published in the August edition of Bulletin, the in-house member magazine of The Western Front Association. It is sent to members three times a year]. It is the 25th time I have ha…
30 January : ‘Reconstructing Flanders' fields after the Great War’ with Dries Claeys
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Although the war damage in Belgium was nowhere near the scale of the French 'regions dévastées', the Belgian countryside as well had to be restored. This was particularly the case in Ypres and its surrounding areas. Passchendaele, Messines, Langemarck were only few of the villages that were completely wiped off the map. Refugees and policymakers …
Hooge Tunnel, Essex Farm and other drawings by Tony Spagnoly
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Tony Spagnoly sent the following drawings. They were made in 1917 by a member of the 69th Field Ambulance and have to do with the Ypres area in 1917. The first has some notes on it which might be difficult to decipher, so here they are The School Mennin [sic] Gate This School has been the dumping ground for German shells for over three years. Sit…
'Missing-Died-Survived. The Senior Brothers and The Great War' by Guy Senior
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‘Missing-Died-Survived’ is a rich, complex, family story told by the the grandson of the brother that survived. In this book, Guy Senior, weaves together a story through a collection of letters home from the Western Front, qualifies what is said with original records and illustrates it all with privately held photographs from family, and family fri…
27 February 1915 : Pte John Barley
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His parents were Thomas, an agricultural labourer and his mother was Sarah Ann (née Sharp). He was one of seven children. A farmer labourer himself by the age of 14, living at 57 Farm Houses, Welbourn, Lincolnshire. Photography by Richard Croft CC BY-SA 2.0 John enlisted, age 17, 24 November 1893 in the Lincolnshire Regiment. He served nine…
27 February 1918 : Pte Henry Parrington
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His parents, father William ( a coal merchant) and mother Grace (née Hayed) lived at 26 Rowland Street, Skipton. At the 1901 Census, age 7, Henry was living with his parents, his 66 year maternal grandfather John Hayes and his three siblings Johnny (1), Thomas (4) and Mary (12). At the 1911 Census, Henry was living at the same address, age 1…
Menin Gate and Last Post by Dominiek Dendooven
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De Klaproos Editons, Hostenstraat 4, 8670 Koksijde, Belgium, 2001. 160pp, soft covers, 13.95 Euros. This year, 2002, the Menin Gate has celebrated its 75th anniversary - it was inaugurated on 24th 1927. This book is therefore a timely reminder of how the Gate came into being, and also tells the story of the Last Post buglers since they first soun…
Ep. 12 – The Diary of a Belgian Priest – 1917 with the British in Ypres – Dominiek Dendooven
Dominiek Dendooven, from the In Flanders Fields museum, discusses the recently published 1917 diary of Belgian priest Achiel Van Walleghem, who was based near Ypres behind the British lines (Edward Everett Root Publishers Co. Ltd).
26 April 1915 : Captain Percy D’Aguilar Banks
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Only son of Col Samuel Henry O’Brien of Eaton Place, Brighton, mother Katherine Rosa D'Aguilar (née Burton) daughter of the late Senior Chaplain to the Armed Forces and grandson of Dr Henry Banks of Wicklow, Ireland. Educated at St. Peter’s, Weston and Cheltenham College and Sandhurst. At Cheltenham he won the schools rackets and fives priz…
7 May 1918 : 2nd Lieut. John Leslie Godfrey
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Fourth son of Joseth (a chartered secretary) and Louisa (née William) Godfrey from Finsbury Park. 1901 John was 6, and living at home with his parents, his 4 sisters and 3 brothers and a nursemaid. 1911 now age 16, John was living at home still with his parents, four sisters and four brothers, a visitor and two servants in their 14 roomed ho…
Placing the Battle of Messines Ridge in context by Peter Simkins
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This is the Foreword to Ian Passingham's Pillars of Fire. The Battle of Messines Ridge June 1917 by Peter Simkins For the British Dominion divisions serving on the Western Front under Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, 1917 was a year of transition and mixed fortunes. In the collective folk-memory of Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand the st…
The Five Baldock-Apps brothers from Hurst Green
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Some people will know of the sacrifice of the Souls family from Great Rissington in the Cotswolds. The family's tragedy was recounted by Ian Hislop in the TV series 'Not Forgotten' on First World War memorials in 2005 and told again in a book that supported the series of the same name by Neil Oliver. Annie and William Souls of Hurst Green, East Su…
Tommy Capper's 'Immortals' : How effective was the 7th Division at the 1st Battle of Ypres?
University of Birmingham, , 4th August 2014 'Tommy Capper's Immortals' : How effective was the 7th Division at the 1st Battle of Ypres?” Major-General Thompson Capper, C.B., D.S.O. The Immortal 7th Division…. For Dad 1921-2014 'Tommy Capper's Immortals…
Ep. 174 – Ypres and its meaning through time – Prof Mark Connelly & Dr Stefan Goebel
Professor Mark Connelly, Professor of Modern British History, University of Kent and Dr Stefan Goebel, Reader and Director of the Centre for the History of War, Media and Society, University of Kent, talk about their recent book on Ypres. This is published by OUP. Your brows…
Died one day, buried two days later by his father
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On 8 November 1915 a young officer, 2/Lt Kenneth Theodore Dunbar Wilcox, was killed whilst serving in the 8th Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment).Two days later he was buried by his father the chaplain to the forces. Kenneth Wilcox was the only son of Rev. G.A. Wilcox and Mrs H.L. Wilcox. Rev. Wilcox was the vicar of St George’s Battersea Park an…
Commercialism the new enemy of the Salient (The Times 1919)
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How many of us have paused to ponder the incongruity of our comfort break in the Grand Place at Ypres? How fine, or blurred, the line between pilgrim and tourist? It’s a tough call, and most readers will be familiar with the post-war argument – made by the like of Winston Churchill - that the city should be left in ruin as a lasting tribute to the …
Memories of the child of an Imperial War Graves Gardener
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In November 1999, a WFA member called Frank Burns of Scruton, Yorkshire, was invited to address a local branch of Probus on the subject of ‘Visiting the Battlefields of the First World War’. Enjoying a coffee before the meeting began, he was approached by a man carrying a plastic bag containing old photographs and newspaper cuttings. The man was ca…
The First Phosgene Attack on British Troops : 19 December 1915
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The first use of phosgene gas against British troops by the German army took place on 19 December 1915. The gas attack took place north of Ypres where the 49th (West Riding) Division was in the line. This attack had been ‘given away’ when a German prisoner had been interrogated. As a result an artillery barrage on the German trenches was ordered o…
In Flanders Fields by Leon Wolff
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In the history of the Great War, are there two names more freighted with the encumbrance of ‘mud, blood and futility’ than Ypres and Passchendaele? Yet, when reading Leon Wolff’s In Flanders Fields, notably the latter chapters which focus on what became known as the Battle of Passchendaele, it is difficult not to give way to such sentiments. Wolff…
A soldier of the Cheshire Regiment - thrice missing: Private Peter Mahon
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On the day I began writing this article, 11 November 2020, I reflected, as did we all, upon the burial of the 'Unknown Soldier' on this day a century ago at Westminster Abbey. He was, of course, one of the many 'Missing – Known unto God'. What follows is an attempt at revealing something of the story of a soldier. Again, one of the 'Missing. Kill…
Haig’s Tower of Strength. General Sir Edward Bulfin – Forgotten General by John Powell
£25, Pen & Sword, 294pp, 37 photographs, 10 maps. ISBN 1526722607. What a pleasure it is to say that this is a well written biography of a First World War general who had a good war! Edward Bulfin was not well known, save to specialists, until a seminal article by Michael LoCicero in Stemming the Tide (edited by Spencer Jones, Helion: 2013…
Riding through the ruins of war on the Circuit des Champs de Bataille
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In April 1919, barely six months after hostilities had ceased, the toughest bicycle race in history was staged across the former battlefields of the Western Front. It was an event that proved so hard it would never be staged again. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Western Front Association we have been dipping into the archives; what foll…
A Mother’s pilgrimage to Ypres 1921
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Private Joseph French was born in Dallas, Morayshire in December 1895, the son of William and Elizabeth French. The family later moved to live in Garmouth, Morayshire. Joseph enlisted in the Morayshire Territorials – the 6th Seaforth Highlanders – in 1912. Above: Joseph and his friends at camp, pre-war. Joseph is sitting, front row left, holding…
"Ypres: Holy ground of the British Empire" by Prof Mark Connelly
Prof Connelly teaches at the University of Kent. He has a particular interest in the commemoration of the two world wars with a specialism in the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Please note that this talk replaces any talks previously planned for this date. Finally, the suggest amount for the voluntary donation by attendees has be…
A Liverpool Lad at Ypres Pte Joseph Gough KIA 31 July 1917
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“The Valley of the Shadow, 31 July 1917. Down in the valley the Steenbeek flows, A brook you may cross with an easy stride, In death’s own valley between the rows of stunted willows om either side. You may cross in the sunshine without a care, with a brow that is fanned by the summer’s breath, Though you cross with a laugh, yet pause with a pr…
The Eitel Fritz Farm Raid
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We welcome Douglas Furn to present a talk about a specific raid at Eitel Fritz Farm, in the Ypres Salient, in which a family member participated. The talk will be in the bar area of the Village Hall in Hatfield Peverell. As ever, the meeting is open to members and non-members of the WFA. Meet 7:30 for an 8pm start. There is a suggested entrance …
Ypres: Holy Ground of the British Empire - Professor Mark Connelly
Mark looks at the special place of Ypres in British commemoration 1914-1939, the feelings of pilgrims, the role of the Ypres League and the rise of an Anglo-Belgian community as ex-service IWGC gardeners married local women and started families.
Ep.233 – Moonlight Massacre at 3rd Ypres – Dr Michael LoCicero
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Dr Michael LoCicero, an independent scholar and the Commissioning Editor at Helion & Co., talks about his recent book, A Midnight Massacre, that explores the final operation at Third Ypres, in December 1917. Your browser does not support the audio element. …
ONLINE: The Demon Saves the Day: Charles FitzClarence VC and the First Battle of Ypres 1914 with Spencer Jones
The presentation will be live and online. In October and November 1914 the British Expeditionary Force was locked in desperate combat at the First Battle of Ypres, proportionately the bloodiest battle fought by the BEF in the entire war. Individual officers played a crucial role in this inferno. This lecture by Dr Spencer Jones studies the c…
Way of Revelation (1921) by Wilfred Ewart
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Wilfred Herbert as portrayed in Graham Stephen's 'The Life and Last Words of Wilfred Ewart' (1924) At the time of his death, the 30 year old Wilfred Ewart was a successful journalist and author who had given five years of his life to the Great War. Composed in notepads and published as reports under various names during the war his fictionalised…
‘The Life and Last Words of Wilfrid Ewart’ by Stephen Graham
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Wilfrid Ewart, journalist and author, served in the Scots Guards 1915-1919. A prolific writer, he kept a notebook with him at all times. Conveniently (for us) he was injured badly enough to return him home twice during the war during which time he wrote numerous accounts of his experiences ‘under a different name every time’. (Graham, 1924, p.14) F…
‘Missing-Died-Survived’ with Guy Senior
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‘Missing-Died-Survived’ is the story of three brothers who fought on the Western Front: Joseph, Walter and George Senior. Born in the Yorkshire town of Wakefield, all three were educated at Wakefield Grammar School. Joseph, the eldest, was one of the most academically gifted boys of his generation. In the 1911 Oxford Senior Examinations, he was ra…
'Eital Fritz Farm Trench raid' with Dougie Furn
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We welcome Douglas Furn to present a talk about a specific raid at Eitel Fritz Farm, in the Ypres Salient, in which a family member participated. He is buried at Wimereux Cemetery, France and is remembered on a ‘Roll of Honour’ in Christ Church, Seaham and a plaque in St Nicholas Church, Lillingstone Dayrell.
ONLINE: 'Bluebirds: Three Canadian Great War Nurses' by Andrea McKenzie
Caption: The staff of CCS No. 2, Poperinge Live zoom from Toronto, Canada About this talk: Three Montreal nursing sisters - Clare Gass, Harriet Drake and Mildred Forbes - ran Casualty Clearing Station No. 2 in Poperinge during the most violent and most crucial months on the Ypres sector in 1917-18. Together they endured bombing raids, shellfire, …
‘Missing-Died-Survived’ with Guy Senior
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‘Missing-Died-Survived’ is the story of three brothers who fought on the Western Front: Joseph, Walter and George Senior. Born in the Yorkshire town of Wakefield, all three were educated at Wakefield Grammar School. Joseph, the eldest, was one of the most academically gifted boys of his generation. In the 1911 Oxford Senior Examinations, he was ra…
THREE DAY EVENT: 'The First World War in the Middle East - Aftermath and Legacies'
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'The First World War in the Middle East Aftermath and Legacies' is a three day event 15th - 17th September 2022 at the Cultural Centre Het Perron and In Flanders Fields Museum Ypres
The Fighting Fifth and the First Attack at Bellewaarde Ridge 16 June 1915 - John Beech
Unfortunately the planned talk about Lt-Gen Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow by Andy Lonergan has been cancelled. Instead we will have a talk by our Branch Chairman, John Beech, entitled 'The Fighting Fifth and the First Attack at Bellewaarde Ridge 16 June 1915' which covers the attack made by 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers on this date. Memb…
A talk by Professor Mark Connelly 'The game of ghosts: visiting the battlefields of the Western Front, 1919-1939'
Mark Connelly is Professor of Modern British History at the University of Kent. His main research interests are the memory of war, the image of the armed forces in popular culture and aspects of operational military history. During the centenary he was director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded, ‘Gateways to the First World War’,…
In the Centennial Footsteps of the Great War from Sarajevo to Versailles VOL I by Attila Szalay-Berzeviczy
It is an ambitious author and photographer who states that the aim of his book is to ‘help prevent the Third World War’, but from someone who is now Hungary’s Ambassador to France, I applaud his ambition that if we ‘understand the reasons and the consequences of the First World War’, we can understand the reasons and consequences of all war, let al…
'Ypres: The Holy Ground of British Arms' with Mark Connelly
Our last meeting, in June 2023, before the summer break, will see Prof. Mark Connelly talk to us on the subject of: Ypres: The Holy Ground of British Arms. How a Belgian city was turned into an outpost of the British Empire, 1919-1939 By the time of the Armistice, Ypres was already a legend throughout the British Empire. Five battles had been fou…
“Ypres: from ruin to restoration” by Jeremy Gordon-Smith
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Jeremy will present a visual tour of post-war Ypres using photographs taken by Corporal Ivan Bawtree, his great-great-uncle who was an official photographer for the Graves Registration Commission during and after the war. Aside from his Army work photographing war graves, Ivan took many photographs of towns devastated by war in France and Flander…
'The Ypres Cloth Hall as Multiple Icon" with Dr Dominiek Dendooven (IFFM)
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This talk is the final session of the special seminar series in partnership with In Flanders Field Museum. It will be a generously illustrated presentation exploring the multiple and evolving iconic value of the Ypres Cloth Hall: as an icon of medieval civil architecture, of the power of destruction in an industrial war, of (the sacrifice of) the …
'Missing-Died-Survived' with Guy Senior
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‘Missing-Died-Survived’ is the story of three brothers who fought on the Western Front: Joseph, Walter and George Senior. Born in the Yorkshire town of Wakefield, all three were educated at Wakefield Grammar School. Joseph, the eldest, was one of the most academically gifted boys of his generation. In the 1911 Oxford Senior Examinations, he was ra…
Ypres Poppy Parade and Remembrance Ceremony
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Image: Sgt Christopher Pilkington. This photograph is © IWM Q57287 from the collections of the IWM - View across the market square of Ypres towards the Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle) and St Martin's Cathedral – November 1914. The annual Remembrance ceremony in Ypres this year will commemorate the 105th Anniversary of the Armistice. There will be a number…
‘The Casualty Evacuation Chain from Hill 60, Ypres in early 1915’ with David Blanchard
David Blanchard will discuss the story of the Field Ambulances 28th and 5th Division, a story which also features Railway Dugouts and other nearby CWGC Cemeteries. We suggest a voluntary donation of £3 per person. Come and join us – we welcome guests and first-time attendees as well as WFA Members. For further information please contact Dave B…
‘I shall hope to try an officer and at least one corporal for cowardice’. Talk by – Michael de Cicero
1916 was a pivotal year for the British Army, a year of intense combat defined by the Battle of the Somme and the appalling casualties of 1916. Yet it was also the year in which the British Army began to master industrial warfare and the tide of the war began to turn in favour of the Allies. Michael’s talk looks in detail at the German Tren…
Out Now. Bulletin 124. June 2023
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Our June 2023 issue of Bulletin came out today. In this issue you will find the following news, features and articles. Contents Page President’s Column 2 AGM - 22nd April - Minutes 3/5 German Capture of Fort Douaumont 6 ExCo Matters 6/7 The British West Indies Reg…
A Voice from the Trenches 1914–18: From the Diaries and Sketches of Bernard Eyre Walker by Bernard Eyre Walker and edited by Sara Woodall
(Blackthorn Press, 2020), £18.00, paperback, 192 pages with illustrations ISBN 978–1–906–25958–7 Bernard Eyre Walker’s diary was lost – not recently, as it has been known to be in the Liddle Collection for many years – but during the great retreat caused by the Kaiserslacht. It was returned to him some years after the war ended as the German soldi…
Yorkshire Trench and Dug-Out to Reopen to the Public
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From the 6th September 2023, the unique historical and archaeological site at the 'Yorkshire Trench & Dugout' in Boesinge will reopen following restoration work. The site includes a shallow trench dating from 1915 and a restored trench with entrances to a deep dugout from 1917. The latter is the only British trench in the Ypres Salient still in…
A Baptism in Fire and Blood: The 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers at Ypres 1915 by Peter Hart
A gut-wrenching account of men thrown into battle before they were ready, and the price they paid. The tragic story of the Baptism of Fire of the 1/7th Northumberland Fusiliers at Ypres in April 1915. It is truly heart-rending at times with a mixture of oral history and published accounts to bring it all home to you. Regarded as a lively, well-inf…
The Flying Sikh The Story of a WW1 Fighter Pilot – Flying Officer Hardit Singh Malik by Stephen Barker
Pen & Sword, 2022 £25.00hb, 224pp, including b&w images ISBN: 9781399083294. Flying Ace, first–class cricketer, golfer, civil servant, diplomat. Hardit Singh Malik was a man of many talents who lived an extraordinarily eventful and interesting life filled with adventure and camaraderie, nicely captured by Stephen Barker. Not unusually …
Ep.333 – Ireland in Ypres, 1914 – 2014 – Dr Dominiek Dendooven
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Dr. Dominiek Dendooven delves into the history of Ireland’s involvement and representation in Flanders during the First World War.
Dominiek, an expert in this field, offers insights into the c…
Jeremy Gorden-Smith: ‘Ypres – ruin to restoration’
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The speaker, Jeremy Gorden-Smith, will be giving us a visual tour of post-war Ypres using photographs taken by Corporal Ivan Bawtree, showing the town's reconstruction and influx of battlefield tourists and pilgrims. Aside from his Army work photographing war graves, Ivan took many photographs of towns devastated by war in France and Flanders. …