The Battle of Jutland - As Seen From Walthamstow

In this talk Chris Hunt takes a look at the events of the great naval battle of the First World War, the Battle of Jutland (aka the Battle of the Skagerrak), when the battle fleets of Britain and Germany finally came to blows in the North Sea in 1916, with a particular focus on the experience of the men of Walthamstow who participated.

A relatively new town in south-west Essex, Walthamstow had no particular naval connection, yet it provided more than two hundred and twenty crewmen serving on well over half of the hundred and fifty ships of the Grand Fleet. This did not make Walthamstow special in some way, but rather its' very ordinariness suggests it was representative of towns, cities and villages all across the country and speaks to the level of engagement that all communities would have had with this titanic battle.

Chris, a retired lecturer in science and technology, has spent the last decade immersing himself in the history of Walthamstow residents' service in the First World War, writing several related articles, giving talks and leading local cemetery walks based on his research.