The First World War

[shoestring7]

Derek Smith said:

[

Although it sounds a bit morbid, it can be useful to look at the village war dead memorials. See the list and then work out what the proportion was to the population at the time.

.

And by way of balance go to the chapel of any of the public schools and look at the Roll of Honour and work out their proportion to the leavers. The war was quite egalitarian in its slaughter.

SS7

[Art0ir]

Great grandfather fought in the Somme. He was from Dublin and fell out with his father at a young age, cleared off and joined the British Army. Oops.

There's a box of 8 or 9 medals in my grandparents house, must find out what they were for some time. I'm told a few of them are just for surviving...

[Bill]

Art0ir said:

Great grandfather fought in the Somme. He was from Dublin and fell out with his father at a young age, cleared off and joined the British Army. Oops.

There's a box of 8 or 9 medals in my grandparents house, must find out what they were for some time. I'm told a few of them are just for surviving...

It's worth having a search on the London Gazette website, that's where I found my grandfather's citation.

[Rude-boy]

I know little about me Grandparents involvement in WW1 other than that neither of them were on the front line.

Maternal Grandfather would have been sent to war but for the 'luck' of being born with a club foot. He was also a sadler which was a protected trade.

Will have to ask Dad more aout his father.

I had an uncle who was gassed but he died long before i was born.

Read this book in February and would recomend to others:-

http://www.bluewatersports.com/shop/scapa-flow.htm...

[Eric Mc]

Art0ir said:

Great grandfather fought in the Somme. He was from Dublin and fell out with his father at a young age, cleared off and joined the British Army. Oops.

There's a box of 8 or 9 medals in my grandparents house, must find out what they were for some time. I'm told a few of them are just for surviving...

My grandfather was 24 when WW1 broke out. He was Irish, Protestant and from Co. Wexford. He did NOT join up and it is thought he actually helped hide weapons on behalf of Republican sympathisers.
There is no evidence that he took part in the actual 1916 Rising though.

[plasticpig]

I don't know much other than one of my Grandfather's fought at Ypres and was wounded. Later he fought in the battle of the Somme. What's slightly confusing is that he was apparently a cavalry man at Ypres and a machine gunner at the Somme. Looking at the regiment he was in this is possible as they were a mixed cavalry and mounted infantry regiment.

[Eric Mc]

I think a lot of cavalry units were reallocated to other duties when it became obvious that traditional cavalry action was not suitable to a static war.
Many individuals transferred out of the cavalry on their own volition - often to the Royal Flying Corps.

[QuantumTokoloshi]

My Great-grandfather fought in the Portuguese battalions in the trenches. He was gassed in 1918, probably during the battle of La Lys, and died a year later, his remains are interned in the war memorial in Lisbon.

[The Don of Croy]

My maternal Grandfather was in the Army in WW1. He had a string of medals but otherwise had an unremarkable time as far as we know...

It's the scale of the slaughter that boggles the mind...my son goes to choir in Penshurst, Kent, a small church serving a nice village of several hundred. The memorial to those lost in the first war lists fifty men, the second war just twelve. Fifty young men out of one village - plus how many more wounded and returned never to work again?

[toppstuff]

shoestring7 said:

And by way of balance go to the chapel of any of the public schools and look at the Roll of Honour and work out their proportion to the leavers. The war was quite egalitarian in its slaughter.

Indeed it was. One of the reasons for the decline of the British Empire was the simple fact that wars had reduced the stock of senior administrators and agents of the state to run these places. It was harder to run a far flung outpost of the empire when the educated upper middle classes of working age were not as numerous as they used to be.

[williamp]

Dont know what either of my great grandparents did in WW1, but I remember reading a very interesting fact about the build up to the battle of ghe Somme.

Ther artillery barrage (1 millon shells) was so intense and so concentrated that an individal bang could not be distinguished from all the other bangs. In other words, one constant baaaaaaaaannnnnnggg. For days.

[Digga]

FWIW, having spent a few quid this morning on Ancestry.co.uk, I now know a lot more (worth doing on trial) about exactly where my grandfather and when he was wounded, so for others here with relatives who (whether they survived, or were killed) it's not too hard to find out quite a bit more.

The date of his injury (shown in the Military pension records) was in April 1917 and coincides exactly with where other sources on the web say his regiment were - pushing through Wancourt, east of Arras.

My father and I had been researching the general area for some time, but now I know for sure where he was fighting, I feel compelled to go and see the place.

[Art0ir]

Eric Mc said:

Art0ir said:

Great grandfather fought in the Somme. He was from Dublin and fell out with his father at a young age, cleared off and joined the British Army. Oops.

There's a box of 8 or 9 medals in my grandparents house, must find out what they were for some time. I'm told a few of them are just for surviving...

My grandfather was 24 when WW1 broke out. He was Irish, Protestant and from Co. Wexford. He did NOT join up and it is thought he actually helped hide weapons on behalf of Republican sympathisers.
There is no evidence that he took part in the actual 1916 Rising though.

My paternal grandmother's family were quite involved in the Rising, particularly the planning stages. Her uncle I believe helped take the Four Courts and later in the week fought off reinforcements by the Grand Canal at Mount St. He escaped from there and joined the fighting elsewhere, but was eventually arrested and interned in England for a number of years.

[Eric Mc]

Most Irish families will have a mix of ancestors who fought against the British Crown and others who fought FOR the British Crown.

It was for that reason that conscription was never introduced in Ireland during WW1. The British government (due to manpower shortages) were INTENDING to bring in conscription after 1918 but the war ended before it could be implemented. It had been in place in Britain since 1916.

[einsign]

Eric Mc said:

Hope his wife didn't claim any UK benefits

No need Eric, at that time there was more jobs available than people!

Surely you remember those days

[Eric Mc]

einsign said:

No need Eric, at that time there was more jobs available than people!

Surely you remember those days

Before my time.

[DBSV8]

Eric Mc said:

einsign said:

No need Eric, at that time there was more jobs available than people!

Surely you remember those days

Before my time.

Eric you know he was refering to "Boer war "

[Eric Mc]

Which one?

[rpla102]

On my fathers side, his mothers two brothers both fought in WW1. The older brother Clem died about 10 days before the end of the war after being hit by an errant shell, whereas Llewellyn the younger managed to survive.

My parents thought Llewellyn was 'lucky' and I have his name as my middle name.

[DBSV8]

Eric Mc said:

Which one?

"the first one old boy" ! ...................."when your in charge old boy your on your own ,first thing, the general , my father ever taught me !