Dorking in the Great War
Dorking in the Great War examines how the ‘war to end all wars’ was experienced in a small English town and its surrounding villages, from the outbreak in 1914 to the peace celebrations of 1919 and beyond. All the usual tropes are here - the flag-waving recruitment campaigns and knitting parties, women drafted in to perform male roles and triumphant peace celebrations - but so are those who opposed employers’ pressure on their work-forces to enlist, the objectors to conscription and those who campaigned for peace. And with the billeted troops, refugees from Belgium and Jewish refugees from bombing raids in London came new ideas. Following the impact of the war on the economy and workforce into the 1920s, the book reveals how the social and economic structure of the town and villages was changed by the experience of war, never to return to the certainties of pre-war life.
by Kathryn Atherton
192 pp fully illustrated
By Kathryn Atherton
192pp; fully illustrated.
Dorking in the Great War examines how the ‘war to end all wars’ was experienced in a small English town and its surrounding villages, from the outbreak in 1914 to the peace celebrations of 1919 and beyond. All the usual tropes are here - the flag-waving recruitment campaigns and knitting parties, women drafted in to perform male roles and triumphant peace celebrations - but so are those who opposed employers’ pressure on their work-forces to enlist, the objectors to conscription and those who campaigned for peace. And with the billeted troops, refugees from Belgium and Jewish refugees from bombing raids in London came new ideas. Following the impact of the war on the economy and workforce into the 1920s, the book reveals how the social and economic structure of the town and villages was changed by the experience of war, never to return to the certainties of pre-war life.
by Kathryn Atherton
192 pp fully illustrated
By Kathryn Atherton
192pp; fully illustrated.
Dorking in the Great War examines how the ‘war to end all wars’ was experienced in a small English town and its surrounding villages, from the outbreak in 1914 to the peace celebrations of 1919 and beyond. All the usual tropes are here - the flag-waving recruitment campaigns and knitting parties, women drafted in to perform male roles and triumphant peace celebrations - but so are those who opposed employers’ pressure on their work-forces to enlist, the objectors to conscription and those who campaigned for peace. And with the billeted troops, refugees from Belgium and Jewish refugees from bombing raids in London came new ideas. Following the impact of the war on the economy and workforce into the 1920s, the book reveals how the social and economic structure of the town and villages was changed by the experience of war, never to return to the certainties of pre-war life.
by Kathryn Atherton
192 pp fully illustrated
By Kathryn Atherton
192pp; fully illustrated.