Rememberance

 Antique silk poppies, found via The Vintage Cottage HERE

Those who read regularly will know how growing up in Aldershot, Home of the British Army, has had a lasting effect on me, and encouraged my interest in military history. Today is such an important time for thought and reflection. It's the 93rd year of Remembrance day, and I hope that many will pause and think at 11 o'clock.

The First Two Minute Silence in London (11 November 1919) was reported in the Manchester Guardian on 12 November 1919:

"The first stroke of eleven produced a magical effect. The tram cars glided into stillness, motors ceased to cough and fume, and stopped dead, and the mighty-limbed dray horses hunched back upon their loads and stopped also, seeming to do it of their own volition. Someone took off his hat, and with a nervous hesitancy the rest of the men bowed their heads also. Here and there an old soldier could be detected slipping unconsciously into the posture of 'attention'. An elderly woman, not far away, wiped her eyes, and the man beside her looked white and stern. Everyone stood very still ... The hush deepened. It had spread over the whole city and become so pronounced as to impress one with a sense of audibility. It was a silence which was almost pain ... And the spirit of memory brooded over it all^"

If only the modern world showed the same decency.

Those who choose to wear the poppy carry a powerful symbol, the red flower that sprung from the bodies of ALL those who fell in those fields, not just British soldiers. There has been too many examples of negative journalism directed at wearing poppies this week. I find it utterly disgraceful that people could be so cruel, and mostly, it just shows how ridiculous people can be. I would probably care about it more if i thought they knew anything about history themselves.

Those men fought for us. Never mind if it was right or wrong, they went to those trenches no matter what they believed. How could we ever question remembering their sacrifice? For my age group particularly, it doesn't seem the done thing to be proudly wearing the poppy (i'm probably supposed to be off protesting somewhere and causing aggravation) but sorry, you will never change my mind on this one. We've lost our last remaining WW1 soldiers now, and I can't help worrying that we could ever loose our traditions too.

I think Britain should also be proud to have such a potent symbol of remembrance in The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey which was inspired by an inscription on an anonymous grave in Armentieres, France, on a rough cross upon which was pencilled the words "An Unknown British Soldier". After seeing this grave in 1916, The Reverend David Railton wrote to the Dean of Westminster suggesting having a nationally recognised grave for an unknown soldier. As it was 1920, memories of the War was still raw, and Britain had a guilty concious about the thousands of bodies which lay unidentified in those foreign fields,

"Those parents and wives who had lost men to war didn't have anything tangible to grieve at, so the unknown warrior represented their loss" says Terry Charman, a historian at the Imperial War Museum.

The unknown warrior's body was chosen from a number of British servicemen exhumed from four battle areas - the Aisne, the Somme, Arras and Ypres. These remains were brought to the chapel at St Pol on the night of 7 November 1920, where the officer in charge of troops in France and Flanders, Brig Gen L J Wyatt, went with a Col Gell. Neither had any idea where the bodies, laid on stretchers and covered by union jacks, were from.

"The point was that it literally could have been anybody. It could have been an earl or a duke's son, or a labourer from South Africa. The idea really caught the public mood, as it was a very democratic thing that it could have been someone from any rank." 

Gen Wyatt selected one body - it has been suggested he may have been blindfolded while making his choice - and the two officers placed it in a plain coffin and sealed it. The other bodies were reburied.
The next day the dead soldier began the journey to his final resting place. The coffin was taken to Boulogne and placed inside another coffin, made of oak from Hampton Court and sent over from England. Its plate bore the inscription: "A British Warrior who fell in the Great War 1914-1918 for King and Country". This second coffin had a 16th Century sword, taken from King George V's private collection, fixed on top. A two minutes silence marked it's placement in Westminster Abbey.

"To have its own unknown warrior, for a country that sent troops to WWI, is part of its own national identity” Terry Charman

Ninety years on, the dead soldier continues to be honoured, by the public and royalty alike.
What's more, the symbolism of the act has been mirrored by many other countries around the world. Iraq, the United States, Germany and Poland are just some of those which have created their own memorials.
I hope you will take a moment today to consider how different the world would be now if those men hadn't gone. I know I always will. After visiting the battlegrounds myself and standing on that very same soil, I feel like I owe it to each and every one of them. No matter WHAT side of the line they fought on, we should remember them.

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields."

John McCrae, May 1915 

Thanks for reading.

Katie

Little Wooden Huts

I recently purchased a set of "photographs" off Ebay which were described as "Little wooden Aldershot huts built to shelter Kitchener's Army over the winter".
The seller also said:"I know nothing else about these, the various images from the whole box look like the owner was practising his photography, I may be wrong therefore listed to see if they are of interest".
The picture online wasn't great, but I thought they could be a nice addition to the collection. Once they arrived, let's say I was slightly surprised!

They are 5x7 sized prints, but each had a negative attached to the reverse, as they are 'portrait' aligned, they are actually from a moving image camera.



The first image gives a clue to it's origin:



As you can see in the bottom corner, it belongs from a Pathé cinema production, which first began in 1896 by French brothers Charles, Émile, Théophile and Jacques Pathé. During the first part of the 20th century, Pathé became the largest film equipment and production company in the world as well as a major producer of phonograph records.







As you can see from the other four prints, the scenes are of the construction of 'Kitchener's Army' huts following the outbreak of the First World War. They were otherwise known as the "New Army" or even "Kitchener's Mob" and were (initially) a volunteer army formed after recommendation by the then Secretary of State for War, Horatio Kitchener. I'm sure you will all recognise him from this campaign:



Kitchener predicted that the war would be long and brutal (unlike the popular belief of "it'll be over by christmas!") so set about preparing a force of newly-trained divisions to be used after the first wave of troops. He fought off any concerns, and refused to use the existing territorial army for the basis of the new regiments as many of its members had volunteered for "Home Service" only, he didn't deem them suitable prototypes. The territorial army lacked equipment and took time to form when needed.

This NEW army was used to form Battalions under existing British Army Regiments. These were put to practice in the Battle of the Somme and Passchendaele, where the Field Marshal General Haig used them in a risky and highly criticised attrition strategy.

All the five New Army groups were made up of volunteers, and at the beginning, due to huge numbers wanting to sign up, the queues ran a mile long outside the recruitment offices. It was due to this influx of soldiers they had to build quick accommodation for them, hence these Aldershot "Little Wooden Huts". Almost 2.5 million men volunteered for Kitchener's Army.







Needless to say, by 1916, when the news of these controversial war tactics had been leaked back home, the queues were no longer stretching around the block. Moral and enthusiasm was lacking, therefore Britain had to begin conscription like the other great powers involved in WW1.

AND, excitingly, after searching through the Pathé online archive, I have found the exact film that my negatives come from! It's only a 30second clip, but it's still exciting to think I own some of the stills.

(WOODEN HUTS) - British Pathe

(WOODEN HUTS)

The description of the film reads:

"Aldershot, Hampshire?

Construction on military base. Several identical small wooden buildings are under construction. Horse pulling wagon carrying building supplies, pan to a long building with just the frame built, worker leaning over in foreground using pickaxe. Foundations of more new buildings at right.
Army huts now built and painted a dark colour, soldiers and army officers mill about outside huts.
American cataloguer's note: maybe these are extra barracks built at Aldershot during World War One to accommodate huge volunteer army."


For me, these images are another fantastic example of the "Home Front" approach to warfare, and the feeling of misplaced optimism about their situation. No-one could have guessed the brutality of what was to come, it was still almost seen as an adventure. Those still at home were still unaware of what was occurring on those foreign fields, they probably had in mind the glory days of the British Empire and all those long ago battles we had won with glorious men on horseback. For these Aldershot men, it wouldn't have been long until they found out the truth for themselves.

Hope this provided another good insight into my Aldershot exploration.

In other news, I have an interview at Winchester University this week....exciting times!

Thanks,

Katie

John Singer Sargent - Sketches

On my usual commute, the train always passes by Brookwood Cemetery, the largest burial site in the United Kingdom. I plan to research the site very soon, as you must gain permission from the wardens before walking around un-guided. One interesting fact about it's residence, is that the artist John Singer Sargent is buried there (Brookwood was a cemetery for London inhabitants when the inner-city sites were under strain).

The painting I have always identified most with Sargent is "Gassed" which he painted in 1919 whilst he was commissioned by the British Ministry of Information. The painting portrays the disastrous aftermath of a mustard gas attack, with a line of blinded soldiers marching holding onto each other's shoulders.



Sargent travelled to the Western Front in 1918, he was determined to paint an epic work with many human figures, but struggled to find a situation featuring both American and British soldiers. The "harrowing sight" he encountered was at The Second Battle of Arras on the 21st of August 1918.

After returning to England, he completed the painting from his studio in Fulham. It was voted picture of the year by the Royal Academy of Arts in 1919, and is now held in the Imperial War Museum, along with these charcoal sketches of the plan.

The painting provides a powerful testimony of the effects of chemical weapons, as vividly described in Wilfred Owens "Dulce et Decorum Est"


I found some large scans of his original charcoal sketches for "Gassed", I would assume he completed them whilst posted at the Western Front, he took his findings back home to complete the commission for the British Ministry.









These are all now in the collection of the Imperial War Museum. I have never seen these before, and i think they actually give a very different response to the scene.
To those familiar with the painting, I hope these are interesting to see!

ALSO, leading on from this,

I had a fantastic reaction to my last post regarding Frith Hill POW camp, some very interesting responses. I am planning to take the slide to the Aldershot Military Museum, to see if they can determine if it definitely IS from Frith Hill, then, we may have some interesting prospects for it in the future!

Thanks for reading, as always!

Aldershot History - Frith Hill

As some know, I am currently undertaking a research project of the Hampshire and Surrey area during the first and second world wars. Obviously, Aldershot has a rich and proud military history, but i am more interested in digging out lesser-known events and areas, particularly the few prisoner of war camps that featured on the heathland very near my home. I was lucky enough to discover a 'Magic Lantern' glass slide on Ebay, which depicted (very unclearly in their original picture) a photograph taken of a very early camp of German prisoners. I managed to buy it, and after a long wait for it to arrive, I have finally scanned it in. Here is the first one to show you the slide casing details,



As you can see, there was a clear headline of "The Great European War" - referring to the First War of 1914-1918. The second line reads "German Prisoners at Aldershot" but does not provide a date.

After my own research (which could very well be incorrect, but I'm pretty confident!) I believe this to be a photograph of the 'Frith Hill' prisoner of war camp which was created in Aldershot during August 1914, as there were no other specifically built prisoner of war camps built in Britian at the time. It was a disused industrial area, in a suitable position due to it's closeness to the coast and rest of the south's road access. It was initially used to process prisoners before they were passed to various locations around the country.

I scanned the glass plate and managed to get quite a good result, considering it's nearly 100 years old! I chose not to edit out the damage to the plate, as i find it all part of it's interest!



My research leads to believe that there were both German and Austrian prisoners at the camp, and the description's i have found of "vast wire fencing and guard posts linked by telephones" fits the picture well enough! Inside the camp, they lived in the same bell tents as the British Army. Inside the camp there was also a post office a hospital and sports areas. The prisoners and internees received the same food ration as the British Front Line troops, which of course, wasn't the case for the captured British prisoners by Germany. This is what interests me about these British camps, it was a completely different environment to those abroad. I agree that it must have been awful for the prisoners to have been kept away from their homeland and families for so long, but no evidence states that they were mistreated. I was relieved to hear this, as i would have hated finding out a more unpleasant story about a place so near to my home!

I asked my Grandad about these camps which were in the area during World War 2, and he confirmed that the later camps involved the prisoners in the agriculture of the area, with German and Italian soldiers helping in the surrounding farmland.

Apparently, there was 6 successful escapes from Frith Hill, which caused serious alarm to the surrounding areas, with thousands of police and soldiers joining the search to find them. Only one evaded their capture, and escaped the camp.

In four years, only 3 or 4 inmates died at the camp, and were buried nearby. I would be interested to see what lies on this area now,

I know of later camps being build on the common land very nearby, so that is my next research venture, but to find such an early example is very exciting!
The picture is very telling of the fear, the barbed wire fence in the foreground preventing the photographer from approaching, and the men clasping at the fence is of course, upsetting. I wonder if it was taken by a soldier or civilian? For a local of the area, it must have been quite a spectacle to behold, and i would imagine, a very frightening prospect.

Now, for the record, this is simply for my own historical understanding, I obviously find these events upsetting, however, we can't deny the past, and also, one must remember that the English camps were very different to those over seas. Considering my paternal Grandmothers side of the family were Jewish and living through each of the world wars, I do not take this matter of history lightly, but that is another story all together! But I find it very important that we learn as much as we can about our (not so distant!) past.

I hope for those familiar with my local area, that was useful!

Thanks for reading!

Katie