World War I
Soldiers in WWI Tom Moore is tall and standing at the back Photo: The Joe Moore Collection
Kirby Muxloe Free Church, November 19th 1940
World War 1
Tensions had been running high in Europe for some time, but in June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austro- Hungary, and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo. This is widely accepted as being the start of World War 1.
The continent was now in crisis. Europe's armies were mobilizing against each other with more nations joining the fight at a fast pace. On 4th August 1914, German troops invaded neutral Belgium which prompted Britain to declare war on Germany. In England over 750,000 young men signed up to fight in less than a month. Queues formed outside some recruitment offices which stretched for over a mile. The minimum age for volunteers was 18, but boys as young as 13 gave false names so that they could join up.
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Most people in Britain believed their country would win a quick decisive victory in the war. Street parties were held and huge crowds gathered in London to show support. They thought the war would be over for Christmas. It was to last for four years. In Autumn 1918, the German armies had been defeated and their hungry citizens had started to rebel. The German government approached the United States with a request for an Armistice, which was the first step to ending the war. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, artillery fire abruptly went silent along the Western Front in France. Armistice Day.
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During the four years of conflict 16 million soldiers and civilians had been killed.
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The Effects of World War 1 on the village
One of the best ways to envisage life in 1911, is to take a close look at the census returns for that year. This gives us a clear picture of the village and its inhabitants. Before 1900, the village was mainly a farming community. However, the railway came to the village in 1850, initially as a freight carrier and by 1859, the service had opened up to passengers. When much of the land surrounding the one house on Kirby Fields was sold off in large plots, many families came to live in the village, leaving the smog which surrounded the area of Stoneygate where they had previously lived. By 1905, most of the large houses were built and together with the new houses on the Land Society ground between Main Street and the recreation ground. These terraced houses were the homes for the many cleaners, cooks, chauffeurs and gardeners who all worked in the large houses.
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When war was declared and the call came for volunteers to join the armed forces in 1914, many of these young people left their current employment, sometimes on the instruction of their employer, who told them 'to be a man and join up'. The village then became reliant on the elderly, the very young or women, to carry on the general running of the community.
The Aeroplane at Britions Camp
Photograph Helen Taylor Collection
WWI Recruitment Poster
Braunstone Hall children sent a Christmas letter to 'Tommy' Photo Helen Catterwell
Trench Art
To relieve the boredom and to keep their minds focused when off duty, soldiers often made items out of pieces of spare wood and shell casings. These were often items they could use such as cigarette cases. At other times, they fashioned some type of souvenir that they hoped to take home with them when the hostilities ceased.
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Although these items were called 'trench art' most things were not actually made in the trenches, but in the machine shops behind lines. There they would have access to some machinery for styling their items.
Ypres Jug
The Judith Upton Collection
Dead Man's Penny
Memorial plaques, often referred to as the 'Dead Man's Penny', were issued to the next of kin members of the British Empire who died during WWI.
They were initially issued to the relatives of men , bearing the lettering 'He died for Freedom and Honour'. The wording on some plaques was changed to 'She died for Freedom and Honour', so that the relatives of some women who had died on active service could also receive the plaque. 1,355,000 plaques were issued to the families of men and 600 to the families of women.
William Henry Smith of Kirby Muxloe
The Kerry Burdett Collection
Women joining the war effort
Many women felt that they needed to join the war effort and were greatly encouraged to do so. As more and more men were conscripted, women were badly needed to take over important work. These women took over such jobs as bus and tram conducting, farm work, munition factories, maintaining power supplies and work in many more areas. Some women worked in factories, using the chemical compound trinitrotoluene (TNT), an explosive. In many cases their skin turned yellow and they became referred to as 'canaries'. More than 400 women died during the war due to over exposure to the chemical.
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Other women became V.A,D, nurses (Voluntary Aid Detachment). These women worked alongside the qualified nurses either at home or abroad. Many of the women who worked as V.A.D. nurses in Leicester, were assigned to the 5th Northern General Hospital. By the end of the war, the hospital and its annexes had cared for more than 95,000 casualties.
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May Tyler of Kirby Muxloe and friend Con Vice, in Egypt working as V.A.D.'s The Wilshere Collection
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