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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 …

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…

Aubers Ridge 9 May 1915

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At the end of April 1915 the Sussex Express carried a cheering report from one of its former reporters, Private W G Horton of the 5th Royal Sussex. Seated on a straw bale in “glorious sunshine” at a rest billet 10 miles from the Front, he expressed the optimism of Lewes’s territorials on a beautiful spring day, that the war would soon be over an…

Lewes Casualties : September 1918 and the impact of 'Spanish Flu'

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September 1918 brought a further 14 Lewes casualties, 10 on the Western Front where the arrival of the Americans had helped change the balance of forces firmly towards the Allied side and four others, one from Baku on the Caspian Sea, one from a submarine attack off Brittany, one the result of tuberculosis and one from influenza. Private Albert…

Lewesians in the Great War by Graham Mayhew

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First and foremost, I should state that I have a personal interest in this book. 'Lewesians in the Great War', written by fellow Lewes Town Councillor and former Mayor Dr. Graham Mayhew. The project was brought to the attention of the Lewes Town Council Grants Committee meeting, and I argued in favour of supporting the project well in the hopes of …