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6 August 1914 : Charles George McConachy, Royal Navy
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He was a student of Ballymena Academy. On 3rd August 1905, while a student of Ballymena Academy, he enlisted into the Royal Navy (Boy service). He was then living at home with his father David, two sisters and younger brother. The McConachy family lived at 5 Kentullagh Terrace in 1901. On 11th July 1907 his adult service began. He signed up …
'Frederick Septimus Kelly, Royal Naval Division' by John Cooksey
JON COOKSEY is a leading military historian who takes a special interest in the history of the world wars and the Falklands War. He is the former editor of Battlefields Review and the current editor of our very own Stand To!. This talk is about the extraordinary story of Frederick Kelly, the musician, composer and Olympic rower, killed in action d…
Understanding the Ledger Indexing
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This article aims to set out some of the technical aspects of the indexing of - and subcategories that make up - the 'ledgers' in The Western Front Association's collection of Pension Record Cards. These ledgers have been scanned and digitised by our partner, Ancestry.co.uk and are available on their fold3 website. These are now available for WFA…
Battle of the Falklands 1914
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“We landed to bury our dead. The dignified memorial service in Port Stanley Cathedral, and the sight of four boy buglers of Invincible, with tears streaming down their cheeks, blowing the Last Post over the graves of their comrades, are imperishable memories.” Thus wrote Lloyd Hirst who, as Assistant Paymaster in HMS Glasgow, was one of the of…
Pantomime at Sea: Q-ships in the First World War
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The use of deception in warfare at sea was not new to the First World War – as an example, in 1681, HMS Kingfisher was designed to counter the attack of pirates by masquerading as a merchant ship, with her armaments hidden behind false bulkheads, and with various means of changing her appearance. Conversely, the tactic of making merchant ships loo…
A Royal Navy rating discharged as epileptic and destined for the Asylum
/world-war-i-articles/a-royal-navy-rating-discharged-as-epileptic-and-destined-for-the-asylum/
George Henry Howlett was born in Shoreditch the son of George William Howlett, a metal worker from Norfolk, and Alice Harriet Davis from Gloucestershire. George’s first period in the Royal Navy was from 1906, his civilian occupation on enlistment being a gas fitter. His initial posting was to the training ship HMS Impregnable, a 121 gun ship of 1…
Shout at the Devil –The story of the German cruiser Königsberg by Kevin Patience
Shout at the Devil –The story of the German cruiser Königsberg by Kevin Patience The story of SMS Königsberg is a unique piece of naval history from the First World War. After a short period of action off the coast of East Africa, the German cruiser suffered an engine failure and took shelter in the Rufiji Delta. There it was blockaded and destro…
ONLINE - The Dover Patrol by Robin Broadhurst
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Zoom Talk – ONLINE ONLY – The Dover Patrol by Robin Broadhurst Given the surge of the Omicron strain we have taken the decision to hold the January meeting on-line rather than gather at Cobham. Peter Hart prefers face-to-face meetings so we have rescheduled his talk on the Butte de Warlencourt until a later date. We are delighted that Robin Broa…
ONLINE: 'The Harwich Submarine Flotilla in the Great War' by Mark Harris
Caption: HMS D1 of the Harwich Flotilla About the speaker: Mark Harris is a military historian specialising in telling the story of the naval aspects of the Great War. He aims to reveal new insights from previously unpublished material, using both official archives and archived records/documents from participants. Before turning to writing full-ti…
The Fear of Invasion Strategy, Politics, and British War Planning, 1880-1914 By David G. Morgan-Owen
Oxford University Press, £65.00, vi + 250pp, hb, index, notes and refs. ISBN: 978–019–880–519–9 [2022 Prices: £74 Hardback, £25 Paperback, £22 Kindle] [This review first appeared in Stand To! November 2018 Ed. 113 'The Armistice Remembered. Stand To! is the journal of The Western Front Association and is now published four times a year]. Occa…
The British War of War by Andrew Lambert
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Yale University Press 2021 £25.00, 533 pages ISBN 978–0–300–25073–2 [This book review first appeared in the April 2022 issues of Stand To! No.126] This is a weighty book in every sense. It is lengthy, not surprisingly, as it deals with a complex and important matter, but more significantly it deals with serious concepts which are all too rare…
The Royal Navy and the Dardanelles with Dr. John Peaty
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Our presentation this month explores the naval actions in the Dardanelles at the effect on the Royal Navy and future naval strategy. John's presentation will include details of the involvements of different personalities and discuss success or failure!
The Loss of HMS Pathfinder
/world-war-i-articles/the-loss-of-hms-pathfinder/
Within 24 hours of the declaration of war, on the 5th August HMS Lance, a Royal Navy destroyer, fired the first British shot of the war in action against the Koningen Louise, a German minelayer. The next day, HMS Amphion, a cruiser, became the first Royal Naval warship to be sunk in the war – having hit one of the Koningen Louise’s mines. Exactly a…
ONLINE: 'How the 10th Cruiser Squadron won the War' by Dr Graham Kemp
Image courtesy IWM/Collections: SP 1074 The armed merchant cruiser MOREA of the 10th Cruiser Squadron About the talk: During the First World War the 10th Cruiser Squadron operated the Northern Patrol, checking trade routes to Germany. This talk looks at the Allied Blockade of 1914-19 and tells how the Allies defeated Germany by siege/economic warf…
ONLINE: 'Countering the U-Boat threat in 1917' by David Stevenson
About this talk: In 1917, the Imperial German Navy adopted a policy of 'unrestricted' submarine warfare (that is, sinking without warning). They set a target of sinking 600,000 tons of British merchant shipping per month. The aim was to so disrupt supplies that Britain would be obliged to sue for peace within six months. This talk examines: Why …
A talk by Mark Harris 'Harwich Submarine Flotilla in the Great War'
Mark Harris is a military historian specialising in telling the story of the naval aspects of the Great War. He aims to reveal new insights from previously unpublished material, using both official archives and records of the experiences of the participants. This talk tells the authoritative story of the Royal Navy's first submari…
Dr Scott Lindgren - 'A Series of Unfortunate Events: the Battle of Coronel, 1914'
Scott will be making a welcome return to the branch and giving us a further talk on the 1914 naval campaign. On 1 November the German East Asia Squadron would be met by a small squadron of Royal Navy cruisers under Christopher Craddock, with a heavy defeat for the British force. This talk examines the engagement, its background and surrounding circ…
ONLINE: Sir Douglas Haig and the Royal Navy with Clive Harris
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The presentation will be live and online. Clive Harris will tell the story how Britain’s two military arms went from independent thinkers to close co-operating partners in the Great War. Britain’s position as a maritime power during the Great War is well documented. But as her land forces grew significantly and the Western Front became the key …
An Irish Family in War and Revolution by Denis Kirby
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The decade between 1913 and 1923 was a time of war and revolution for the people of Ireland. It was also a time of divided loyalties. While over 200,000 Irish men served in the British armed forces during the Great War, thousands of others would join revolutionary groups like the Irish Volunteers to fight for an independent Irish Republic. This pre…
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Graves and War Memorials in Ireland by Tom Spillane
Over a number of years, Tom Spillane has visited cemeteries all over Ireland to photograph the headstones on Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) graves from the Great War. He has also photographed a number of war memorials and the headstones of service personnel buried in Ireland who survived the conflict. In this presentation he shares some …
TALK RESCHEDULED FROM MARCH: 'Strategic choice: Lord Fisher, the Baltic and struggle for civilian control' A talk by Professor Andrew Lambert
THIS TALK HAS BEEN REARRANGED TO THE OCTOBER MEETING DATE This lecture examines the development of a classic 'British Way of war' strategy for World War One. Long term planning by Admiral Lord Fisher had focused on using control of, or the threat to enter the Baltic to leverage German strategy and complete the economic blockade. Fisher's plans we…
A Concept Vindicated: The Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914 - Scott Lindgren
In early 2023, Scott visited Ruddington to talk about the Battle of Coronel, and perhaps unwisely, offered to return to the branch and give his follow up talk on the Battle of the Falkland Islands 1914!Following Coronel, the Royal Navy dispatched three battlecruisers to hunt down the German East Asia Squadron. This lecture examines the engagement, …