Durham was, and still is, one of the country's oldest and best-loved cites. The very name was synonymous with dedication, dependability and determination.

Men from the city answered the call to arms with an eerie normality, no matter what their age or social class. Many had been miners before the war and had spent their working life down a pit, but just as many had been teachers. Others were students at the Durham School, one of the most prestigious in the land, going on to further greatness at Durham University. When the announcement of war was made, they all enlisted to do their...

The Isles of Scilly, five inhabited islands 24 miles west of Land s End, were of low priority to the War Department when the First World War was declared. With no manufacturing capability, no industry other than flower growing and agriculture, no electricity or gas, no mains water supply, no wireless station, and a population of only 2,000, the islands did have one feature in their favor their location. Sitting at the cross roads of six major shipping routes, Scilly had been a recognized ship-park since 1300AD, where sailing ships anchored to safety awaiting a suitable wind, to re-victual,...

Few towns equalled Colchester in their role in the Great War. In this expert account, Colchester historian Andrew Phillips records four of the most dramatic years in the town's history.

As Headquarters of Eastern Region, Colchester's garrison supplied many of the men who prevented the early defeat of France. The town then became a training area for at least 100,000 recruits. While training, guns on the Western Front could often be heard.

At times Colchester's civilian population of 40,000 was equalled by 40,000 troops, who often billeted with local families or housed in...

Warwick in the Great War is a detailed account of how the experiences of war impacted on the garrison town from the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, to the long-awaited Armistice in 1918, and its immediate aftermath.

The troops went off to war, cheered and supported by their friends and family, all in a high holiday mood, but underneath this jovial facade, their loved ones knew that some of the men would never return. Yet life went on, albeit with progressive and totally new experiences.

As the war stagnated, Warwicks citizens offered practical support for troops both at...

Stafford in the Great War tells the fascinating story of a county town and its people between the catastrophic years of 1914-18 . The title was written as a companion volume to the author's earlier work, Stafford at War 1939-45, and adopts the same successful formula. The book examines the work of local men and women on the Home Front, before providing details of the towns contribution in every theatre of the war. Early chapters examine the role of Staffordians who served in the British Expeditionary Force, nicknamed The Contemptible Little Army by Kaiser Wilhelm II, and who took part in the...

The Great War came as a shock to the citizens of Bury St Edmunds, a rural Suffolk town. One day they were celebrating a beautiful, hot August bank holiday at a large well-attended country fete; the next they were plunged into the deadliest war in history. Men from the Suffolk Regiment, who were based in the town's barracks, marched off to war and fought valiantly in Flanders, France and Gallipoli. Folk left at home devoted their time and energy to supporting the troops, the war effort and themselves, but they also found time to mark the 700th anniversary of the drawing up of Magna Carta in...

Situated on the south coast of England, geographically and strategically, Dover more than played its part in the First World War. It was from its harbor that the many vessels of the Dover Patrol set about preventing German ships from using the English Channel. It was undoubtedly one of the most important Royal Naval units that Britain had during the First World War.

Because of its important defensive roll, Dover was identified as a legitimate and relevant target by the German authorities. As a result, German Zeppelin's and Gotha aircraft subjected Dover to 113 aerial attacks,...

Chatham played a very important part in the nation's Great War effort. It was one of the British Royal Navy's three 'Manning Ports', with more than a third of the town's ships manned by men allocated to the Chatham Division. The war was only 6 weeks old when Chatham felt the affects of war for the first time. On 22 September 1914, three Royal Naval vessels from the Chatham Division, HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, were sunk in quick succession by a German submarine, U-9. A total of 1,459 men lost their lives that day, 1,260 of whom were from the Chatham Division. Two months later, on 26...

Folkestone became one of the most important British towns during the First World War. Through its harbor, an estimated 10 million troops and nurses either departed from or arrived back in England between 1914 and 1919. For those leaving it was, for the most part, to fight on the battlefields of the Western Front. For those returning, it was either because they had been wounded or that they were coming home for some well-earned leave.

Because of its geographical location along the south coast, the town was always going to be heavily involved in the course of the war. Shorncliffe camp...

Geoffrey Howse is well known for his books on Yorkshire subjects, including six books in the Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths series, two of which cover Barnsley and District and a third which covers South Yorkshire as a whole. In Barnsley in the Great War, he has pulled out the stops and delved deeply into a wide range of diverse events that took place throughout Barnsley during the time when the most horrendous conflict known to man was raging abroad. As well as including interesting passages about the enormous changes that were taking place concerning the employment of women in roles they...