Blue Cross War Horse collection now open to the public

The Blue Cross animal charity have made available a special edition War Horse collection of material from their archives. Blue Cross has been helping animals since 1897 and cared for sick and injured horses during World War One. On the new site you can explore our images, memorabilia and stories from the front line…

"Take a look at our audio slideshows to find out more about the role of horses during World War One and discover a real-life story of a young boy and his horse on the battlefields of France. Step back in time and explore our historic gallery of photographs, books, logos and paintings from World War One or flick through the pages of our iconic book Blue Cross at War to learn more about our role in helping animals on the front line."

You can look at the archive on the Blue Cross website

First World War Victoria Cross paving stone design announced

The design of the paving stone which will commemorate recipients of the Victoria Cross during the First World War has been announced..

Charlie MacKeith from London was announced as the winner of the main paving stone competition. "His circular design seeks to ‘make one pause and remember’ and uses the material, form and lettering of the family of memorials used by the War Graves Commission, bringing this well understood layout into cities, towns and villages across the United Kingdom."

The paving stones will be installed in over 400 communities across the United Kingdom to commemorate those First World War soldiers who were awarded the Victoria Cross for valour ‘in the face of the enemy’.

The design will also incorporate an electronic reader which people will be able to scan using their smartphones to discover more information about their local Victoria Cross recipient.

You can find out more and see the design on the Gov.uk website

The National Archives launches its new First World War portal

The National Archives has launched a new First World War portal and announced its plans to mark the centenary of the First World War with an extensive programme, spanning a five-year period from 2014 - 2019.

The programme, First World War 100 , has primary sources at its heart and aims to attract a new audience for archives during the centenary, as well as offering historians and regular archive users fresh insights into this landmark conflict.

The  National Archives will be exploring key aspects of the war through the themes of diplomacy, technology, home front, air and sea, peace, bravery and courage, medicine and health, and global perspectives. The first of these themes, diplomacy, will be the subject of a conference at the Kew site in June 2014.

The National Archives will also open its unique collection of millions of First World War records through a rolling series of digitised record releases, including the popular unit war diaries, online and on site events and education resources from 2014, all of which will be accessible through the new portal.

Online collections - such as medal cards, service records and prisoner of war interviews - and resources including the popular My Tommy's War blog posts form part of the new First World War portal and ongoing centenary programme to draw attention to lesser-known series of records and help people to discover the stories behind the war.

You can find out more on the National Archives website

Lewisham Remembers - on Pinterest

We are now using Pinterest to collect and curate online images connected with Lewisham and the First World War. Pinterest enables you to 'pin' images from anywhere on the web onto a themed board. We have pinned images from the Imperial War Museum, Wikipedia, BBC, Great War London blog, and many more. You can add your own comments and share any information you may have about the photos of people, memorials and places.

You can see what we've collected and comment on any of the images on the Lewisham Remembers board at Lewisham Heritage on Pinterest

First World War soldiers wills digitised and online

HMCTS is releasing the Probate Office’s huge archive of 280,000 soldiers’ wills ahead of next year’s First World War centenary.  "Every soldier had to complete a will before they headed to the front line so that their estate could be dealt with if they lost their life. They carried a copy with them and many used the will to write letters to their loved ones, expressing their feelings. Many of the historic documents show the physical damage suffered in the war..."

Members of the public can now search an online database for a will left by a relative who died in battle, or any other soldier they are interested in learning about, and request copies of any available documents. You need the surname of the soldier you are looking for and the year of death. A fee of £6.00 is payable to access a will.

Find a soldier's will

New memorial to Royal West Kent Regiment

"The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment Living History Group has raised the funds required to erect a new memorial dedicated to the men of the Royal West Kent Regiment. It will be sited where the regiment first saw action on the morning of 23rd August 1914 at Tertre in Belgium.

The memorial was constructed using Kentish ragstone and has been completed in time for the community dedication on 23rd August 2013. The dedication will be led by the Mayor of Tertre and Saint-Ghislain.

Major Peter White M.M. (Retd) will represent The Queen’s Own Buffs Regimental Association on behalf of the Regimental Association President.

The memorial will be the main focus for the local centenary commemorations in 2014. These will be supported by The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment Living History Group, The Queen’s Own Buffs Regimental Association, and representatives from The Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment."

11th (Service) Battalion (Lewisham) of the Regiment was formed at Lewisham on 5th  May 1915 by the Mayor and a local committee. It trained at Catford and was attached in July 1915 to 118th Brigade in 39th Division, then transferred in October to 122nd Brigade in 41st Division. The Battalion moved to Aldershot in January 1916.  On 3rd May 1916 the Battalion landed in France. In November 1917 it moved with the Division to Italy but returned to France in March 1918. The Battalion was disbanded in France on 16th March 1918.

The Battalion is commemorated in St Laurence’s Church, Catford  with a stained glass window

Posted from the First World War Centenary

Louis Raemaekers - Dutch cartoonist of the First World War and Sydenham resident

Louis Raemaekers (born April 6, 1869 in Roermond, Netherlands – died July 26, 1956 in Scheveningen) was a Dutch painter and cartoonist for the Amsterdam Telegraaf newspaper during the First World War. He was perhaps, the best known propaganda cartoonist of the War. His graphic cartoons depicted the rule of the German military in Belgium, portrayed the Germans as barbarians and Kaiser Wilhelm II as an ally of Satan.

The German government offered a reward of 12,000 guilders for Raemaekers, dead or alive and forced the Dutch government to place him on trial for 'endangering Dutch neutrality'.  A jury acquitted him and he escaped to England. In December 1916 he was resident in Sydenham Hill Road in Sydenham. 

His work was published in The Times and he released a collection of cartoons – Raemaekers’ Cartoon History of the War - in 1919. His work was also exhibited across the country.

Raemaekers' Cartoon History of the War is available on Project Gutenberg

You can find out more about him at the following websites -
http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/raemaekers.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Raemaekers
http://louisraemaekers.com/

Do mention the war - report from British Futures

In British Future's latest report, Do Mention The War, they highlight why the first world war remains a pivotal cultural reference point for understanding the last century and how it shaped the country we have become today. It draws on original research into what the public do and don’t know about the first world war, why they think next year’s centenary will matter and what they want it to be about.

British Future writes:

"Will 1914 matter in 2014? Nobody who experienced the war is still alive. Most of us struggle to recall more than the most basic facts about what happened and why. However, the first great global conflict remains a pivotal cultural reference point for understanding the last century and how it shaped the country we have become today.

In our new report, Do Mention The War, we highlight these points and more. Do Mention The War draws on original research into what the public know and don’t know about the first world war, why they think next year’s centenary will matter and what they want it to be about. For example, more people think Britain declared war in August 1914 because Germany invaded Poland (as was the case in 1939) than Belgium: only 13% knew the right answer. However, 81% do know that Germany was an enemy of Britain in 1914, but 8% of the under-24s believe that Britain and Germany were allies in the first world war trenches.

Drawing on public workshops in England, Scotland and Wales, alongside the new national polling, the report also reveals why most people think we should seize this chance to learn, and explores which meanings of the centenary people agree on and which ones don’t. Overall, research into public attitudes throughout the UK finds a strong commitment to using the centenary to learn about how the war changed Britain, from the million British lives lost to women getting the vote.

Highlights of Do Mention The War include:

• Baroness Warsi looks at the contribution made by soldiers from the Commonwealth.

• Alex Massie, a former correspondent at The Scotsman, asks how the vote for Scottish independence in 2014 will impact its ability to reflect on 1914.

• University of London’s Dr Daniel Todman suggests that it is healthy for us to challenge the widely-held perceptions of the war and even to disagree about the routes into our understanding of this period.

• Imperial War Museums’ Samantha Heywood discusses how the first world war changed everyone’s attitudes towards warfare, challenging its legitimacy as a way for states to achieve or defend their political aims..."

You can find out more at British Future

First World War Centenary design competition for VC commemorative paving stones

As part of the First World War commemorations the Government is working alongside partners including the Heritage Lottery Fund, Commonwealth War Graves Commission and Imperial War Museums, on a series of national remembrance events, an extensive cultural programme and educational schemes.

As part of this programme of events, the Department of Communities and Local Government would like to help local communities to commemorate Victoria Cross recipients of the First World War by designing and producing commemorative paving stones. The paving stones will be presented to councils across the country in the areas where the Victoria Cross Award winners were born, beginning in 2014.

Lewisham Heritage knows of 6 First World War recipients of the Victoria Cross who were born in the borough. Details are listed on our Lewisham War Memorials wiki 

DCLG is holding a national competition open to everyone to design these paving stones. The conditions of entry are:

• The design must be able to fit a 600mm by 600mm paving stone, and submitted on A4 paper.
• Designs should incorporate some aspect of the Victoria Cross medal.
• Designs should allow space for the name of a Victoria Cross recipient, the date that the Victoria Cross was awarded and for a QR reader.
• Drawings, paintings and computerised designs will all be considered as acceptable media.

The winning design will become a high-profile and enduring symbol of the Centenary commemoration, and used across the country on every commemorative paving stone of the campaign.

Please submit designs electronically to: VCdesigncomp@communities.gsi.gov.uk (no more than 15mb)
Or by Post to:
Sally Sealey
5th Floor Zone B2
Eland House,
Bressenden Place,
London
SW1E 5DU

The deadline for all entries is 5pm Friday 4th October 2013

You can find out more on the Gov.uk website

British Pathe newsreel - Victoria Cross winner Rev. Edward Noel Mellish is honoured at Deptford in 1914

REV. MELLISH; V.C. HONOURED AT aka REV.NOEL V.C