Monthly Archives: April 2014

War Horse exhibition opens at Parsonage Farm, Devon

Posted on April 30, 2014 by DH

A First World War exhibition has opened at the farm in Devon that provided the inspiration for Michael Morpurgo’s book War Horse. Parsonage Farm and the surrounding area of Iddesleigh are the setting for the opening scenes of the book. … Continue reading →

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London Scottish RFC stages First World War Centenary rugby match

Posted on April 29, 2014 by DH

Rugby clubs London Scottish and Blackheath will contest a First World War Commemoration Match at Richmond Athletic Ground on Saturday 3 May. London Scottish, with its connection to the London Scottish Regiment (1/14th County of London Battalion), and Blackheath, through … Continue reading →

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The enemy aliens of 30th Battalion Middlesex Regiment

Posted on April 28, 2014 by DH

In 1916 Britain’s Army Council authorised the Middlesex Regiment to form two battalions (the 30th and 31st) formed from recruits who were naturalised British citizens but of enemy alien parentage. Most of the men were of German ancestry and of … Continue reading →

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WW1 firing range discovered in Wales

Posted on April 26, 2014 by DH

A First World War rifle range has been discovered by a recently formed Welsh history society. Ian Fewing, secretary of the Aberystruth Archaeology and History Society was out walking in Cwmcelyn, Blaenau Gwent, Wales when he came across a collapsed … Continue reading →

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Australian PM highlights importance of WW1 in shaping nation

Posted on April 25, 2014 by DH

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has said Gallipoli was one of a ‘tide of events’ that shaped the Australian nation. In his Anzac Day address at the Australian War Memorial, Abbott also called for Australians to remember the Western Front … Continue reading →

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Wildlife at Gallipoli, December 1915

Posted on April 24, 2014 by DH

‘Bird and insect life is most interesting here… Larks can always be seen, and their presence seems to lessen in some degree the sordidness of war. One feels thankful that, no matter how many guns may be thundering, the noise … Continue reading →

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First WW1 British casualty may have been victim of friendly fire

Posted on April 23, 2014 by DH

Private John Parr of the Middlesex Regiment, the first British soldier to be killed in the First World War, may have been a victim of ‘friendly fire’. Speaking to The Sunday Times historian Jon Cooksey said: ‘There was no German … Continue reading →

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Old soldiers of St Pancras cemetery, London

Posted on April 23, 2014 by DH

The CWGC section of the St Pancras cemetery in north London includes the headstones of a number of soldiers who were well into their forties and fifties when they died either in the final months of the First World War … Continue reading →

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Private Percy Hamlen of the Artists’ Rifles

Posted on April 22, 2014 by DH

Hidden away in a partially overgrown area of St Pancras Cemetery, North London, is the grave of Private Percy Hamlen of the Artists’ Rifles, who died in March 1915.  

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Paddington War Memorial, London

Posted on April 22, 2014 by DH

The First World War memorial in Paddington Old Cemetery, Kilburn, London. Rather unusual in that it’s not the conventional Cross of Sacrifice that one tends to see in most city cemeteries where there is a CWGC section.

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