Wandsworth and Battersea Battalions in the Great War
Wandsworth and Battersea Battalions in the Great War

Author: Paul McCue

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1848841949

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In 1915 Lord Kitchener extended his famous "Your Country Needs You" recruitment campaign by appealing to the Mayors of the London Metropolitan Boroughs, urging each Mayor to raise a unit of local men for active service overseas. In Southwest London, the response from two neighboring boroughs, Wandsworth and Battersea, could not have been more different. In Wandsworth, Mayor Dawnay personally took up the challenge and soon recruited, for the East Surrey Regiment, double the number of men needed for an infantry battalion. In Battersea, however, there was initially no more than lukewarm interest, partly due to the local Territorial Force unit, the 23rd London Regiment, having expanded from one to three battalions thanks to thousands of earlier volunteers. But as Wandsworth's efforts bore fruit, Battersea too pledged to raise a full infantry battalion. Mirroring the different political leanings of the two boroughs, Mayor Simmons pledged Battersea's battalion to the Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment. Wandsworth's 13th East Surreys and Battersea's 10th Queen's both served with honor and distinction. But they, and the communities from which they came, also suffered thousands of men wounded and killed. This sacrifice cemented links with France, Belgium and Italy that continue today. From the early tragic death of an adventurous boy of just 15, to the heroic deeds of a dustman who won the Victoria Cross, this book describes the pain and the glory of the volunteers of Wandsworth and Battersea on the Western Front.

VCs Cambrai 1917
VCs Cambrai 1917

Author: Gerald Gliddon

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2012-02-29

Total Pages: 348

ISBN-13: 0752483773

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Featuring the careers of forty-three men, this volume tells the story of the Battle of Cambrai, famous for being the first occasion when tanks were used en masse in battle. Its first day was so successful that church bells in Britain were rung in anticipation of a great victory. A tank crewman numbers among the recipients of the VC.Containing biographies of a broad cross-section of men from Britain and the Dominions including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even the Ukraine. It includes a sapper, a former miner, who chose to stay with his seriously wounded colleague underground and die with him, rather than obey an order to leave him and save his own life; a maverick lieutenant-colonel who was relieved of his command and a padre who worked tirelessly over a period of three nights bringing at least twenty-five men to safety from No Man’s Land, who otherwise would have been left to die.

Searching for Pop
Searching for Pop

Author: Michael R. Brookbank

Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Published: 2018-08-21

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1789014832

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At the age of 43, Thomas Brookbank volunteered to join the army in September 1914 just weeks after the start of the war and when the wounded from the first encounters with the German army at Mons and Le Cateau were arriving back in England. There was nothing special about Tom Brookbank. He was a painter and a decorator by trade, but he was swept along in the surge of patriotism that drove hundreds of thousands of ordinary men and women to respond to the Kitchener's call for the raising of a great volunteer army - an enterprise that most military men of the time, friend and foe alike, regarded as a ludicrous waste of time and money. This much was known by family legend, together with knowledge that he had gone to Italy in November 1917 with the 41st Division in response to the near collapse of the Italian army at Caporetto that he ended the war in Belgium with this Division. Tom Brookbank need not have volunteered at all. He was too old to be fighting a soldier and was well over the age group that Kitchener was calling for, but there was also a need for men in the support services behind the lines - the men of the Army Services Corps - and this is where Tom Brookbank and fellow men like him ended up. Early research showed that he did not start the war with the 41st Division, so, what happened to him, what did he do and where did he go? 'Searching for Pop' is the story of a grandson's search for the answers to what he did and where he went between the time he volunteered and his discharge at the end of the war. It illustrates what might be achieved from a very limited amount of initial knowledge by perseverance and the use of the records available in National Archives.

Great War Lives
Great War Lives

Author: Paul Reed

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2011-06-13

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1844686582

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The Great War was a key event of the twentieth century and it is one of the most popular and rewarding areas for historical research—and for family historians. More records than ever are available to researchers whose relatives served during the war, and Paul Reeds new book is the perfect guide to how to locate and understand these sources—and get the most out of them.In fascinating detail he follows the stories of twelve service men who fought and died in the Great War a rifleman, an infantry officer, a tunneller, a gunner, a Royal Marine, a naval rating, an airman, and others. He describes their wartime careers and shows how they fitted into the armed forces. He looks at what they did, at their lives in the front line, in the rear areas, on leave, and at the conditions they endured and the experiences they had. And he demonstrates how the research was done and how the lives of these individuals were reconstructed—the methods that were used, the sources that were consulted.Paul Reeds informative and accessible book will be essential reading and reference for anyone who wants to find out about the Great War and is keen to understand the part an ancestor played in it.

Wandsworth & Battersea Battalions in the Great War
Wandsworth & Battersea Battalions in the Great War

Author: Paul McCue

Publisher: Casemate Publishers

Published: 2010-05-19

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 1783461276

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The service and sacrifices of two London boroughs are chronicled in dramatic detail in this WWI military history. In 1915, the Mayors of the London Metropolitan Boroughs were each urged to raise a unit of local men for active service overseas. The responses from Wandsworth and Battersea, two neighboring boroughs in Southwest London, could not have been more different. Mirroring their different political leanings, Battersea raised a full infantry battalion for the Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, while Wandsworth sent double the men needed for an infantry battalion to the East Surrey Regiment. Wandsworth’s 13th East Surreys and Battersea’s 10th Queens both served with honor and distinction. But they, and the communities from which they came, also suffered thousands of men wounded and killed. This sacrifice cemented links with France, Belgium and Italy that continue today. From the early tragic death of an adventurous boy of just 15, to the heroic deeds of a dustman who won the Victoria Cross, this book describes the pain and the glory of the volunteers of Wandsworth and Battersea on the Western Front.

The Times Index
The Times Index

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 1496

ISBN-13:

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Indexes the Times, Sunday times and magazine, Times literary supplement, Times educational supplement, Times educational supplement Scotland, and the Times higher education supplement.