Saturday, February 21, 2015

WW1 newspapers

I've recently been going through the WW1-era editions of the Bucks Herald. Some interesting changes in reporting during this time:

  • Any marriages of servicemen may include their regiment - handy!
  • The annual Flower Show/Fete at Ascott began to feature more war-related demonstrations (eg Red Cross), and was cancelled from 1916 since the August Bank Holiday was cancelled.
  • Oh, the woe - each year a letter to the editor would appear from the Master of the Hunt at Ascott asking farmers to take down wire so this year's hunts could proceed without injury. Once we hit WW1, the letter always included specific comment that the huntsmen now serving at the front were extremely keen to see that the hunts continue for the amusement of those at home (oh yes, I'm sure this was foremost in servicemen's minds) and so the horses and hounds didn't rust (I'm paraphrasing here).
  • Reports of military tribunals begin to appear - I'm sad (I'd say devastated but in the context of the overall tragedy of war that seems very selfish of me) that generally these don't name names, however in a number of cases the descriptions of the men seem specific enough that it might just be possible to identify one or two. 
  • There's many war-specific committees being established, including the Bucks Women's County War Agricultural Committee which was responsible for getting women to sign up for land work. Reports were periodically published stating the numbers signed up in each parish.
 And in other news, I've just published a page of some very early international immigrants to Wing found in 15th century  tax and fealty oath records.

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