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Lewes War Memorial by Dr Graham Mayhew

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Erected in 1922, following a design competition judged by the Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge University, Lewes War Memorial stands twenty-seven feet high in the middle of Lewes High Street, at the top of School Hill. Its Portland Stone obelisk is topped by a bronze winged victory looking straight down the hill. At its foot are two more …

Lewes and the Great War : January Casualties

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By the end of autumn 1914 the German advance on Paris had been halted and both sides had dug in for the winter, creating a system of opposing trenches separated by waste ground known as 'no man’s land', stretching from the Channel coast to the Swiss border. This was what became known as the Western Front. Until the German breakthrough during their …

19 March 1916: Pte Cecil Hugh Peckham

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His parents were Joseph (a domestic gardener) and Florence. Age 5, at the 1901 Census. Cecil was living at home, at Fern Cottage, High Street, Barcombe with his parents, older brother Charles and younger sister Florence and a lodger. Age 15, at the 1911 Census, Cecil was still living at home, with his parents and younger sister Florence, by t…

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…

Ep.277 – The Friendly Invasion of Lewes in 1914 – Jonathan Vernon

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Jonathan Vernon, Digital Editor for The Western Front Association, talks about his research into Lewes during the opening months of the Great War. Your browser does not support the audio element. Jonathan looks at how the town coped with th…