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The Gotha Air Raid on London – 13 June 1917
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German air raids on Britain during the First World War began in early 1915 when Zeppelins were used to bomb coastal targets in Eastern England. The use of Gotha bombers began in May 1917 - these aircraft were capable of long distance flights and were used to make daylight raids on South East England. On 13 June 1917, German Gotha aircraft carried…
'Gilbert the Filbert' during the Great War RIP 20 August 1916
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Captain Basil Hallam Radford, No 1 Army Kite Ballon Section, Royal Flying Corps was born on 3 April 1888 and lived on Cromwell Road, South Kensington. He was at the public school Charterhouse from 1903 to 1907. Basil Radford became an actor and went on stage as 'Basil Hallam'. He became a star of the Music Halls and was known in particular for his …
Cecil Patrick Healy: the only Australian Olympic Gold medalist to die in war KIA 29 August 1918.
Cecil Patrick Healy - the only Australian Olympic Gold medalist to die in war – was a prominent figure in the swimming world in Australia and beyond, for more than 15 years. An early proponent of the new crawl stroke and the side breathing technique, he contributed articles to the press about swimming and surf-bathing. Above: Cecil Healy picture…
The Baralong Incident 29 January 1917
/world-war-i-articles/the-baralong-incident-29-january-1917/
The Baralong was a 'three island' tramp steamer built in 1901 by Armstrong & Whitworth. She was requisitioned by the Navy in 1914 intended as a supply ship but in early 1915 was identified as a potential decoy ship. Modification works to equip her for this role, including the installation of three concealed twelve pounder guns, were carried out…
The R38 disaster 24 August 1921
/world-war-i-articles/the-r38-disaster-24-august-1921/
At the start of the war, in contrast to Germany, the British had limited experience of airships. Under the Royal Naval Air Service there were only a handful of airships in service but with increasing U-Boat activity and the resultant impact on shipping, the Navy began to further develop its use of airships to counter the U-Boat threat. The R.38 c…
A Century Old 'Thank you' : Frederick Clark KIA 21 March 1918
/world-war-i-articles/a-century-old-thank-you-frederick-clark-kia-21-march-1918/
The events of World War I have burned themselves into the national consciousness - especially during the past four years, when every battle, every incident, every death has had its 100th anniversary. With the centenary of the end of the war in sight, many are the stories that have been told and are waiting to be told. This is just one. My father […
Max Immelmann – the ‘Eagle of Lille’
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The first German air ace of the war was Max Immelmann – known as ‘Der Adler von Lille’ – ‘the eagle of Lille’. Over a period of just over a year, he would claim 17 victories until his death on 18 June 1916. Above: a commemorative coin Born in Dresden on 21 September 1890, Max enrolled in Dresden Cadet School in 1905. By 1912, he had left the ar…
A Father’s Search
/world-war-i-articles/a-father-s-search/
For many families of ‘the missing’, the absence of a known grave in the immediate aftermath of the war was unbearable. It would, of course, be some years before the Memorials to the Missing were constructed after the war. Field Marshal Lord Plumer, when unveiling the Menin Gate in 1927, acknowledged the void that many families of ‘the missing’ woul…
The Even Shorter, Sadder Military Career of Thomas Beech
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Thomas Beech’s military service in the Great War lasted officially for thirty-five days. He attested on 5 January 1915 and killed himself on 1 February while home on leave.(1) He never served abroad. Thomas was born on 25 January 1885 at 16 High Street, Burslem, the so-called Mother Town of the Staffordshire Potteries.(2) His mother, Emily (née Fo…
HMS Zubian: A Tale of Two Halves
/world-war-i-articles/hms-zubian-a-tale-of-two-halves/
On 15 February 1907 the first of the new Tribal Class destroyers, HMS Cossack, was launched and over the following two-and-a-half years she was followed by another eleven sister-ships. The last of them, HMS Zulu, was launched on 16 September 1909 and commissioned in the following March. At 285 feet long (86.9m), with a beam of 27 feet (8.2m) and …