Bennett Kirsty - In the Shadow of the Great War

First published 2019

The History Press

97 St Georges Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

Surrey County Council and Contributors, 2019

The right of Surrey County Council and Contributors to be identified as the Authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 0 7509 9342 5

Typesetting and origination by The History Press

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd.

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

Postscript
Michael Page

Between 2014 and 2018, communities, boroughs and indeed the country came together to remember the ultimate sacrifice paid by so many of our young men during World War I. There were few families who were not affected by the loss of a loved one. I am sure I am not alone when I say that I have learnt a great deal about my familys experience in the Great War. I participated in two moving battlefield tours and retraced the steps of my grandfather, who survived the conflict. I am fortunate enough to remember every activity I did with him. Like all brave men, he was incredibly modest and, of course, never talked about his experiences.

My great-uncle also served in the Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, as a captain. He received the DSO for crawling to within 25 yards of a German stronghold, bombing it and then returning with a sergeant and a private to take forty uninjured German soldiers prisoner. He sadly died in action and is buried in Heninel Communal Cemetery, France.

Like so many others in the county, I attended a great number of events to mark the centenary of the end of the Great War: from the small, such as the anniversary presentation of a Victoria Cross to a Coldstream Guardsman in Brookwood Cemetery, on a day with the sunshine pouring through the trees, to the large, such as the event at the Peace Garden, Woking, organised by the Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking Borough Council and the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment, to remember the 400,000 Muslims who fought for our king and country during World War I. On this occasion it poured with rain, but somehow it was appropriate to the conditions that were experienced in the trenches. Finally, there was the weekend of remembrance at Guildford Cathedral, with its climax of Armistice Day. Many organisations played key roles in these events, including Surrey County Council, Surreys Borough and District Councils, the armed forces, the cadets, the Royal British Legion and faith groups, to name but a few. In addition, almost every parish used imagination and invention to make us all reflect and remember.

I feel honoured to have been asked to write a short foreword to this excellent book, which reveals the vital importance of the part played in the Great War by those on Surreys Home Front. Surrey was mobilised as never before, both men and women, whether for the production of food, the manufacture of armaments (including some of the most iconic aircraft of the war), the raising of funds, the tending of the wounded or the defence of the county. As the book makes clear, almost no aspect of daily life was left unaltered by the war and the legacy of the conflict changed the face of Surrey in so many ways.

After the war, my grandfather returned to Loseley Park with several of his men, including his machine-gun officer, who became the head carter; his batman, who helped in the house; and two others who worked on the farm. Comrades-in-arms remained comrades in peace. The memory of World War I, and indeed of World War II, and the contribution that was made by so many, must never be forgotten. It is imperative that educating the young continues, so that in 100 years time the poignancy of Remembrance Sunday will be just as vivid as it was in 2018.

Michael More-Molyneux
Lord Lieutenant of Surrey
April 2019

The four-year centenary commemoration of World War I sparked an extraordinary worldwide outpouring of activity and creativity, inspired by a desire to reflect the significance of the conflict that marked a turning point in Britains social, economic and political structures, and has so gripped our nations consciousness. From individuals searching for information on a grandfather who fought, to organised projects such as Surrey Heritages Surrey in the Great War: A County Remembers (SGW), which has sought to investigate the wars impact on a wider scale, it has been a time of great historical exploration and discovery.

World War I caused unprecedented upheaval in Britain. Six million men were mobilised, with, for the first time, civilians called up to join the professional armed forces. Women not only had to keep the family together during the absence of male relatives, but also to fill the gaps in the workforce, whether on the land, in factories or in voluntary roles. They took on jobs previously perceived as the preserve of men, earning a wage and enjoying new social freedoms. It is no coincidence that the campaign for womens suffrage gained momentum during the war, with some women aged 30 and over winning in 1918 the right to vote.

Wartime loss was suffered indiscriminately: from the brother of a factory worker to the sons of Lord and Lady Ashcombe (respectively Lord Lieutenant of Surrey and President of the Surrey Branch of the British Red Cross), everyone lost a loved one or knew someone who had. It was a time of enormous change, too. War demanded each side strive to gain a technological advantage; this stimulated (often deadly) innovation, such as radio, the tank, poison gas, aerial bombardment, submarine warfare and the wristwatch (personal timepieces had previously taken the form of a pocket watch, which was too cumbersome and impractical for trench warfare). New weapons and tactics wounded soldiers in fresh, horrific ways, driving medical advances including prosthetic limbs, X-rays and blood transfusions.

Surrey Heritage (part of Surrey County Council) is responsible for the archive and local studies library for Surrey, collecting and preserving the records of the countys past and present. Its base is the purpose-built Surrey History Centre (SHC) in Woking. Its ambitious project