99 years since Great Britain entered the Great War

This Sunday, 4th August, marks the 99th anniversary of Great Britain entering World War I. Next year is, of course, the big one - the centenary year. There will be events all over the UK and Europe to mark the occasion. Is this is a celebration, a thanksgiving, a commemoration, or a re-appraisal? It is hoped that the planned events will add to the sum of knowledge on what was certainly the most devastating war ever known up to that point.


The Library will have a major exhibition next summer and autumn, and meantime you can re-visit the other posts on this blog about the Great War.

 

British army, navy, air force lists online

Military lists can help if you are researching ancestors who were in Britain's armed forces.

These publications can provide information about the units that individuals served in, but you should be aware that most of these directories only list officers.
At the National Library of Scotland we hold:

The official Army List from 1714

The Navy List from 1804

The Air Force List from 1919

Some militia listings

The muster roll of the Jacobite Army.

You can use these lists in conjunction with published regimental histories and the 'London Gazette', 'Edinburgh Gazette' or 'Belfast Gazette', which list officer commissions and awards for gallantry.

If you get fed up with flicking through these, the good news is that some of the British military lists are now online.
They provide details of officers who served in the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force during the First and Second World Wars.

War Horse, Army Donkey, Military Mule

I was pleased to be alerted to this blog entry which features a National Library of Scotland photograph.

The photograph, taken during World War I, shows a man with his arm around a mule . On the back he has written about his animal companion: "She is very stupid but I am very fond of her."

Michael Morpurgo's 2007 moving book War Horse is due out as a Steven Spielberg film this month. It tells the story of farm horse Joey's journey through the battlefields of the First World War.

Morpurgo was inspired to write the book after reading that millions of horses perished on the Western Front. Used in the thick of battle in cavalry charges and for pulling artillery, horses, mules and donkeys were seen as more reliable than
mechanised means.

Horses were very important in British India for the same reasons. The National Library's Medical History of British India website contains many digitised reports dedicated to the procurement of suitable breeding horses for serving the army. Horses imported from England often sickened and died en route. Those which survived were found to be unable to stand hard work in a tropical climate. In 1892 it was recorded that Indian-bred horses were hardier, with greater powers of endurance. Arab and Persian breeds had the same sought-after traits.

Horses, donkeys and mules who served in India, like their human counterparts perished from a variety of ailments and afflictions as this page shows.

Perhaps Michael Morpurgo would consider writing a book about one of these animals?

(Photograph is from the National Library of Scotland's Digital Gallery, First World War Official Photographs collection, image number 74549584)

Armistice day

We're planning a major exhibition for 2014 to commemorate World War I. I've been reading a lot on the subject, and one book which caught my eye was "The Quick and the Dead" by Richard van Emden.
At the end of the First World War more than 192,000 wives had lost their husbands, and nearly 400,000 children had lost their fathers. A further half a million children had lost one or more siblings. One in eight wives died within a year of receiving news of their husband's death.
Richard van Emden has produced his book from many interviews with families of those lost in the Great War, as well as diaries and letters.
Through the stories in this groundbreaking history, we realise not just what became of our grandfathers but how their experiences influenced the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of a generation that they left at home.

90th anniversary of the Armistice

The Armistice with Germany was signed at 5 a.m. on the morning of 11th November, 1918. The Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, rose and made the announcement to the House of Commons. He then read the conditions of the armistice. In conclusion, he said:
"I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars."

One of the most poignant items we have in our collection is Soldiers Died in the Great War, especially the page (above) listing all those killed and injured on the day of the Armistice itself.

The Great War

With the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I approaching, we've been looking at some of our official publications from that time. From
Notes from The Front, and The field service pocket book we found some diagrams of the trenches, not only British, but German ones, too. The German trench even has a figure of a soldier with his trademark pointed steel helmet, and what appears to be a handlebar moustache. There's a lot of detail on construction and materials used, and also signs for sketching routes and battlefields, such as roads, woods, villages and churches.