The East Sussex WW1 website was launched at 11am on 4 August 2014, to coincide with the day in 1914 that Britain declared war on Germany. The original aim of the project was to firstly record and document the experiences of those in East Sussex during the war and also to help assist and facilitate ongoing projects in the county to mark the centenary. From this starting point the project would rapidly grow beyond all expectations.

The project was largely run by the Project Officer Chris Kempshall, the Project Manager Lee Banner before his departure in October 2017, and the Policy Development Officer Indea Cadman-Rivers before she departed and Policy Officer Beth McGhee joined in November 2015.

In the earliest weeks and months of the project an additional publication board met regularly, composed of members of The Keep archives, Sophie Unger of the Historical Environment Record and our sister project Recording Remembrance, along with Madeleine Whitty and Lesley Fairbairn from East Sussex County Council’s Communications and Graphic Design Teams.

Partners and networks

Before the website launched, our Project Manager began the process of liaising with museums and projects in the East Sussex area. During this period of time they visited museums in Newhaven, Eastbourne, Brighton and Seaford and also formed relationships with ongoing projects such as Brighton and Hove Black History, Gateways to the First World War, and the Sussex Archaeological Society.

As the project grew year on year we built new relationships with more organisations and museums.

Through this network we would be able to advertise ongoing events in East Sussex during the centenary and also source information and topics for new stories on our website.

Stories and events

At launch, the website had over 20 stories split across several initial categories: ‘East Sussex Soldiers’, ‘East Sussex Front’, ‘East Sussex & Beyond’, ‘East Sussex & the Sea’, and ‘Did you know?’. In the following years, as the number of stories on the website grew new categories would be added such as: ‘East Sussex Medical’, ‘The Wider War’, ‘East Sussex Remembers’ and ‘Our Project’. The existing category ‘East Sussex & the Sea’ was expanded to become ‘East Sussex Air & Sea’.

When it came to content on our project website, the aim was always that the majority of it should come from public submissions and these would be the articles given preference.

In addition to public submissions, the Project Officer and others working on the project would also produce further articles and content on areas of the war in East Sussex that were yet to be featured and also on wider moments in the war that could provide context to ongoing activity.

Alongside story submissions, the project also regularly received event listings through our submission system. These events were then added to the database of Culture24 and advertised across the county.

What resulted from this policy was a continually growing number of stories and events year on year. By our 1st anniversary on 4 August 2015, our website had hosted over 130 stories and events. A further 35 stories and events were added to the website at the end of the project’s 2nd year. Our 3rd year saw another 41 stories and events displayed on the website and at the end of our 4th year on 4 August 2018, another 29 had been published.

As our project now comes to an end, in total we have published 175 stories and 81 events on the website. Of these, 65% came from the general public. Of all the stories on our website the most viewed has been Food during the First World War, viewed 37,000 times.

However, as our project evolved we soon decided that stories and events were not the only content we wished to offer.

Expanded content

For each year of our project we aimed to introduce some new form of content that would be useful for the years of the centenary but that also might have a legacy beyond 2018.

Eastbourne Chronicle – 1914

During the first year of our project we began to explore the possibility of utilising the microreels of newspapers held at The Keep archives and also within East Sussex Libraries. Our belief was that whilst our ongoing story articles were providing an important insight into wartime experience, we could also provide newspaper coverage for every week of the war. This undertaking proved to be much larger than we’d originally expected.

Having initially selected the Eastbourne Gazette, Eastbourne Chronicle, Hasting & St Leonards Observer and the Hastings & St Leonards Pictorial Advertiser as our four newspapers, we sent them away for digitisation and then, once that was completed, began assembling them into readable and searchable pdf copies. We also began digitisation of a 5th newspaper by ourselves; the Sussex Daily News. This latter newspaper would be published online at the end of our 2nd year.

Together these newspapers meant that our users could follow the ongoing details of the war and its impact in East Sussex on an almost daily basis.

This entire process was hugely ambitious for a project like ours; such attempts are normally reserved for organisations and institutions such as the British Library, the National Newspaper Archive, and the National Library of Wales. As a result we were the first project of our kind to offer such a large and varied collection of newspapers online.

In our 2nd year we began converting existing stories on our website into educational resources that could be downloaded and used by both teachers and school students. One of the long-running desires of the project was to ensure that the work done in collecting information about East Sussex during the First World War could then serve an educational value.

Educational Resources

In consultation with several teachers and Isilda Almeida-Harvey, the Outreach and Learning Officer at The Keep, we produced an initial three categories of educational resource; Soldiers, Women, and Children. Each of these categories had three stories within them but they were then further divided in two, with material suitable for teachers and a version for students.

After the initial success of these resources, in February 2017 we returned to our resources to create two further categories; Places and Empire. Like the existing categories these each featured three stories with versions for teachers and students.

Our final large piece of new content was of a visual nature. Early on in the project we had digitised a collection of original First World War recruitment and propaganda posters. For our 3rd anniversary we collected these 42 posters into four different categories; ‘Soldiers, Service and Recruitment’, ‘Women’, ‘Economy’ and ‘Food’. All of them were made available for downloading.

Paving Stone Ceremonies

In August 2013, as part of the preparations for the centenary commemorations for the First World War, the then Department for Communities and Local Government announced a memorial paving stone design to commemorate recipients of the Victoria Cross during the First World War in their home towns.

There were four eligible men who were born or lived in East Sussex that then received VC Paving Stones during the First World War centenary: Sidney Woodroffe, Cuthbert Bromley, Nelson Carter, and Claude Nunney.

A major part of the East Sussex WW1 project has been coordinating and organising the installation and unveiling of these new war memorials with the relevant local councils. The creation of new war memorials is extremely rare. Additionally, these memorials in particular were not just a record of the actions of these soldiers during the war, but also a record of how the centenary itself was marked.

The creation and installation of these memorials was important for the community today and will be important for them in the future as well, as permanent reminders of these men and the centenary.

Reach and statistics

Since the day of our website’s launch, the reach of our project has been extraordinary.

A world map showing ‘sessions’ for our website

By our 2nd anniversary the website had been viewed over 100,000 times and the views consistently rose month on month and year on year. Shortly after our 3rd anniversary our total website views passed 200,000.

Now, at the end of our project, the website has been viewed 375,000 times in total by 188,000 users.

Over the duration of the project our website has been viewed on every continent.

The busiest days over the centenary for our website were 30 June 2016, the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Boar’s Head also known as ‘the day that Sussex died‘ and the centenary of the end of the First World War when the website was viewed thousands of times.

Over the duration of the project our material has been used for school projects in the Netherlands and to inform discussions about First World War computer games. Our material and activities have been covered locally and nationally by radio, newspaper and television.

People have used our newspapers to discover obituaries of their relatives. Through the publication of stories on our website we have put long-lost relatives in touch with each other.

Testimony

Below are testimonies from those that have engaged with and provided invaluable support to our project.

The East Sussex First World War project has been a valuable regional partner to the Gateways to the First World War public engagement centre. We have enjoyed working with the project team on events and following the local stories that have been shared on the East Sussex FWW website and social media. The website has provided interesting, well-researched content presented in a very accessible way and is a great resource which we have recommended to local community project researchers. Dr Chris Kempshall, the East Sussex FWW Project Officer, has given talks at a number of our events in the region and his expert knowledge of the period and engaging presentation style have contributed to their success. The project has uncovered fascinating insights into wartime lives in East Sussex between 1914 and 1918 and has played an important role in the commemoration of the First World War centenary in the South East.

Dr Zoë Denness – Gateways to the First World War public engagement centre, University of Kent

It has been a privilege to be able to contribute towards this excellent project. Not only does it underline the importance of commemorating the fallen, in a way in which they are no longer just names on a memorial, but it has opened a window giving us a glimpse into their lives and the lives of the people and communities of East Sussex at one of the most significant times in modern history. By giving the opportunity for the public to contribute, personal stories often known only to families, have also been shared and recorded. These stories paint a picture of heroism, tragedy, yet, determination and resilience. Stories which were perhaps forgotten or untold, will now provide an invaluable permanent resource in our County for future generations alongside the official histories of WW1. Congratulations and thanks to all those who masterminded and organised this WW1 project.

Rosalind Hodge – Archivist, Willingdon Parish Church

The East Sussex in WWI project has not only been a fascinating resource for me as someone interested in Sussex Great War history, but as a professional, it’s really helped my organisation to create our own schemes about this period of time. This has been consistently with expert advice for the project manager Dr Chris Kempshall who has been an amazing and enthusiastic fount of knowledge. 

Key things that have helped us to deliver have been newly digitised local newspapers, new found photos, study resources, information on the contribution of Indian, African and Caribbean soldiers in the war as well as the role of women in service and on the home front.

As a result of East Sussex in WWI, we’ve been able to find new resources and develop information found on the site for the enriching the following four projects with a First World War focus –  The Orange Lilies: Brighton & Hove in the Somme, Trench Brothers (with HMDT Music), The Unremembered (with the Big Ideas Company) and Dr Blighty (with Nutkhut). Finally we most recently engaged with the project in September 2018 for advice on the Jewish Community in WWI in Sussex and have as a result submitted an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund. 

Nicola Benge, Strike a Light Arts and Heritage Project

Since moving to The Keep, we have really enjoyed the opportunities of contributing to some outreach projects that the East Sussex WW1 project has been involved in such as the Brighton’s Graphic War group visit. With that project we worked with East Sussex Records Office colleagues and East Sussex WW1 to promote and share the local history resources held here. Also we’ve been able to share updates and details with our users from your newly digitised resources.

Additionally other highlights have been the WW1 talks by the East Sussex WW1 Project Officer at The Keep. The three different talks were brilliant and really well attended. We were also very pleased to have the Project Officer as a speaker at this year’s Open Day, where the themes were the twin centenaries of the Armistice and female suffrage campaign.

Kate Elms – Royal Pavilion and Museums, The Keep

East Sussex WW1 – Four years of links and learnings.

I’ve visited many Western Front CWG sites from Australia. Originally, I was on the lookout for the graves of comrades of my grandfather (48th Btn, AIF). But the experiences broadened my appreciation of the sacrifice of so many soldiers and support workers, including the many British regiments, Commonwealth forces, Germans and others. So, the tweets from East Sussex WW1 was one of those sources during these four centenary years that have helped deepen that understanding. I am very proud of my grandfather and in awe of his generation’s sacrifices. Thank you for your tweets!

Jenny Gardiner, Australian Politician and Campaigner.

The First World War East Sussex project has been an important project, compiling all the information about events, stories and newspapers into one place and has allowed many individuals and groups to discover what’s happening in East Sussex to commemorate 100 years since World War One. The First World War East Sussex project has also been fundamental to the delivery of the Recording Remembrance project, a sister project to record all the known war memorials in the County of East Sussex and City of Brighton and Hove. It has been a hub of information and resources which has been pleasure to be involved with and watch grow over the four years.

Sophie Unger – Historic Environment Record Officer & Project Manager, Recording Remembrance

The End

With the conclusion of this project, the information contained within it is intended to be archived and remain accessible into the future.

Over the past four years everyone associated with the project has felt that we have made a crucial contribution to the understanding of the First World War in our county and also nationally.

We hope that everyone who has interacted with our website, read one of our articles, used our newspapers, viewed our posters or downloaded our educational resources has benefited from our efforts and been informed by the material we have collected and made available.

On our part, the project would not have been such a success without the regular interactions with the public, with museums and historical societies, and with various historical experts.

To all of you: thank you and goodbye.

The post East Sussex First World War – Project End appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

We launched our website on 4 August 2014 (to coincide with the centenary of the start of the First World War) and, in the first, second, and third years of the East Sussex WW1 project we delivered substantial achievements. During the first three years of the project we published 218 stories and events. Of these 62% came from the general public. We released digitised copies of the local newspapers; Eastbourne Gazette, Eastbourne Chronicle, Hasting & St Leonards Observer, and the Hastings & St Leonards Pictorial Advertiser covering the First World War period. For our 2nd anniversary we followed this up with digitised copies of the Sussex Daily News. Alongside this we released a number educational resources for students and teachers, and, last year, newly digitised First World War posters that are all downloadable.

Barbara Bodichon portrait by Samuel Lawrence

We created and held ceremonies to unveil three new war memorials in honour of East Sussex soldiers (Cuthbert Bromley, Sidney Woodroffe, and Nelson Carter) who were awarded the Victoria Cross during the war.

For our fourth year, we aimed to continue the progress we had already made, introduce exciting new material, and also reflect on some of the stories we have featured in the past.

Stories, Events and Statistics

During the final year of our project we published 16 new stories and 13 new events to the website. 82% of this new content was submitted by members of the public. The project also chalked up a number of notable milestones regarding visitors to the website during our final year, receiving our 250,000th and 300,000th total views in this period. In total 68,191 number of users visited our website 114,002 times during the last year.

Encompassing much of the final year of the First World War, there were less key anniversaries to commemorate than there had been previously. However, there were a few notable centenary moments for both the home and war fronts during this time period. We marked the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act with a week of engagement activity on our twitter account. We also nominated Barbara Bodichon a local suffrage campaigner as a Suffrage Pioneer to the Women’s Local Government Society. We published a story on Muriel Matters, a campaigner from Hastings who was also selected as a Pioneer, and another on the campaign for women’s suffrage in the Crowborough, Uckfield and Heathfield area

In March, we marked the beginning of the German Spring Offensives of 1918. These attacks by the German army on the Western Front nearly brought defeat to the allies but, once checked, would provide the opportunity for France, Britain, and America to counter-attack and eventually being the conflict to a conclusion.

Old Hastings House Entertainers – Image by Kieron Pelling

For experiences in East Sussex during the conflict, we published a story marking the 100th anniversary of the Willingdon Airship crash and another marking the life of Flight Sub-Lieutenant Richard Swallow who died in the disaster.

We also continued our quest to record any activities within the county to commemorate the centenary of the war. To this end we published stories on the torchlight procession through Lewes, the plan to mark the end of the centenary with bell ringing, and an exhibition by the Wadhurst History Society.

We were also able to publish two further collections of Kieron Pelling’s ‘Then and Now’ images, one on images from April – December 1917 and the other on July 1917 – February 1918.

Supporting projects and the community

One of the key aspects of our project has been our role of facilitating and supporting other ongoing projects around the First World War centenary. With this in mind over the last year we have acted to support ongoing centenary commemorations around the county.

Our Project Officer gave a talk on women’s experience of the war in East Sussex at the Bridge Cottage Museum in Uckfield. We have also written several letters of support for projects applying for money from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

On an individual level we have answered numerous requests on matters ranging from the location of soldiers’ obituaries in our digitised newspapers to providing advice on planned activities to mark the end of the centenary.

Whilst the end of the project and the centenary is now in sight we will continue our work until the end of November.

The future

With only a few months of the centenary and our project remaining we still have forthcoming plans.

There is one final Victoria Cross Paving Stone to be laid in East Sussex and it will commemorate Claude Nunney in Hastings. The ceremony to unveil this memorial will be held at Alexandra Park on Sunday 2nd September and will be open to the public.

As we know there has been a good deal of excitement and interest in the final months of the war, we have released all of our remaining historical newspapers online for the end of 1918. You can now read about how the local press covered the end of this conflict and its impact on the East Sussex front.

We also have a last few stories planned that will examine the conclusion of the First World War following the allied offensives during the summer and autumn of 1918, and we will continue to publish any stories submitted to us before the end of November.

We will also publish a final story looking back on the entirety of the project and our many achievements.

Our project will end in November 2018, and we are already exploring the options for the archiving of our website to ensure as much of its content as possible will remain as a resource for studying the First World War in East Sussex for years to come.

We’re very proud of all the achievements that this project has produced. We hope you will continue to participate in it up until the end of November.

The post East Sussex First World War – 4th Anniversary appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

We launched our website on 4 August 2014 (to coincide with the centenary of the start of the First World War) and, in the first and second years of the East Sussex WW1 project we delivered substantial achievements. During the first two years of the project we published 172 stories and events. Of these 64% came from the general public. We released digitised copies of the local newspapers; Eastbourne Gazette, Eastbourne Chronicle, Hasting & St Leonards Observer, and the Hastings & St Leonards Pictorial Advertiser covering the First World War period. For our 2nd anniversary we followed this up with digitised copies of the Sussex Daily News. Alongside this we Released our first educational resources for students and teachers.

We created and held ceremonies to unveil three new war memorials in honour of East Sussex soldiers (Cuthbert Bromley, Sidney Woodroffe, and Nelson Carter) who were awarded the Victoria Cross during the war.

For our third year, we aimed to continue the progress we had already made, introduce exciting new material, and also reflect on some of the stories we have featured in the past.

Stories, Events and Statistics

During the third year of our project we published 22 new stories and 19 new events to the website. 53% of this new content was submitted by members of the public.

There were a number of key centenary anniversaries for the First World War during the end of 2016 and the first 8 months of 2017 and we expanded our view beyond East Sussex to the wider global events of the war to help add context to our content.

Original image courtesy of Hastings Pier Charity. ‘Then and Now’ image and effect by Kieron Pelling

In November 2016, we marked the United States of America’s Presidential election of 2016 by looking back at Woodrow Wilson’s election campaign of 1916. This was the first in a number of stories about the American entry into the First World War which also included an article on the ‘Zimmerman Telegram‘ that brought America into the war and an article in June 2017, marking the arrival of the first American soldiers in France.

The Russian Revolutions began on 3 March 1917, and we marked this date with our own story chronicling the dramatic events in Russia. Also during March 2017, we once again celebrated Women’s History Month and turned the front page of our website and the content of our Twitter account over to highlighting our stories on women’s experience during the First World War. We also published a new story on the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. Over the course of March our website was viewed 8,274 times, an 82% increase on the previous year.

Closer to home, we published new stories on alcohol restrictions in East Sussex during the First World War, a story commemorating the East Sussex men lost at the Battle of Aubers Ridge, and a story featuring Kieron Pelling‘s astonishing ‘Then and Now’ photos on the Hastings Pier fire in 1917. This story was also featured on ITV Meridian News.

In June 2017 we published a new story on attitudes towards conscription during the First World War, drawing upon the records of Mass Observation held by the University of Sussex at The Keep. This new article allowed us to hold a ‘Supporting the War Effort’ week through our twitter account to highlight the various ways people in East Sussex assisted and reacted to the ongoing conflict.

Most excitingly, however, was the fact that our recent story on the beginning of the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as The Battle of Passchendaele) was the 150th story published on our website.

Over the course of our third year, our website has been viewed over 80,000 times and we are about to reach 200,000 views over the life of the project.

New Resources

Digitised First World War Posters

At the start of February 2017 we published new educational resources on our website. This saw the creation of two new categories for our educational resources; ‘places’ and ’empire’.

We added three stories on each of these topics to our collection with versions available for teachers and different versions for students. Each of these stories focuses either on specific places in East Sussex or on soldiers from across the British Empire who passed through East Sussex during the First World War.

At the end of June we also unveiled a brand new section of our website containing digitised copies of First World War posters. These posters had been found by the East Sussex Library Service and temporarily granted to us in order to scan them and make them freely available on our website. The posters themselves are broken down into four categories: ‘Soldiers, Service and Recruitment’, ‘Women’, ‘Economy’, and ‘Food’.

In total, 42 posters are hosted in this new section and all are available to be downloaded for free.

Granting a platform

As we began the process of looking back on our third year, we reflected on the stories that we had published and featured that granted a platform or a voice to those whose stories are often overlooked.

There are many stories to tell about the First World War and with just over 150 stories on our website we had a good collection to consider. The East Sussex WW1 project team took the time to go back through these stories and choose our favourite stories that we have given a platform to.

Chris Kempshall – Project Officer for First World War Commemorations

Lee Banner – Policy Officer, East Sussex County Council

Beth McGhee – Policy Development Officer, East Sussex County Council

1. British Nannies in Great War Sussex: This story provides an account of the small gestures of kindness made by Britons for Belgian refugees in WW1, a part of our heritage that I think we should be proud of. The story also demonstrates the way that people at home adapted their lives to account for the consequences of WW1.

2. What happened to Kaiser Wilhelm?: Before I read this story I’d never actually considered what happened to Kaiser Wilhelm after WW1. I’m particularly pleased that this story was contributed by a local history group, as the website was in part set up to enable communities to share new perspectives on commemorating WW1.

3. Edith Cavell’s Railway Van: This story demonstrates how important and well-known national events have local ties, a theme in many of the stories on our website.

The future

As we enter into the final year of our project we are already beginning to explore new resources, material, and stories.

There is one final Victoria Cross Paving Stone to be laid in East Sussex and it will commemorate Claude Nunney in Hastings, following the stones to commemorate Cuthbert Bromley, Sidney Woodroffe, and Nelson Carter.

With the Centenary of the war’s end coming in 2018, there are many more important stories to tell about how the conflict played out both abroad and in East Sussex.

Our project will end in November 2018, and we will shortly begin the process of securing its legacy. At the conclusion of the project the website and all its material will be moved over to the database and website of The Keep to ensure that it remains as a resource for studying the First World War in East Sussex for years to come.

We’re very excited about the year ahead and hope you will join us for it.

The post East Sussex First World War – 3rd Anniversary appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

In late 2013, we took a blank piece of paper and on it we wrote “project to commemorate the centenary of World War 1 in East Sussex”. From these simple beginnings, the project has delivered and uncovered so much, has brought people together and has provided a platform to share previously untold or forgotten stories of the county’s rich history and involvement in the war.

We knew that the 100 year anniversary and the national programme of activity to remember the war was going to be important and were keen to find a way to share the unique stories of the people, organisations and communities of East Sussex during World War 1.

Our small team settled on the idea of the project being delivered through a website which would be centered on and dedicated to shining a light on the key role played by East Sussex during the war and, with a launch date of 4 August 2014 (to coincide with the centenary of the outbreak of the war), we had our work cut out for us.

It is now three years since the website launched and the project continues to surprise and excite me in so many ways:

• The level of engagement with the public has been amazing – the website has now held over 200 stories and events, of which 61% have been submitted/contributed to by the public. We have a large and growing community of Twitter followers – 1,500 people/organisations receive our regular updates on activity/progress.

• We continue to get increasing traffic to the website – last month we attracted 3,575 users, who viewed the site 6,677 times. The website has been viewed on every continent and, as I type, is being viewed as far afield as Vanuatu!

• The stories of bravery and resolve from the women, men and children of East Sussex and of those from further afield who trained, recovered and supported the war effort from within the county are inspiring! So many gave so much of themselves and the ability to share their stories with a new generation and with future generations is incredibly rewarding.

• The ceremonies we organised to unveil the memorials we created to honour the East Sussex recipients of the Victoria Cross were most humbling. Working with Local Authorities and schools across the county, regimental bodies, local cadet organisations and, where possible, family members to pay a fitting tribute to these local soldiers were emotionally powerful highlights of the project.

• The ability to digitise and make available contemporaneous newspapers and war posters and the response to them has been fantastic.

• The partnership we have with local photographer, Kieron Pelling, is wonderful and the series of Then and Now images he has produced never fail to induce goose bumps.

• Very early on in the project we struck gold in being able to appoint Dr Chris Kempshall as our Project Officer. Chris brought his vast knowledge, expertise and credibility to the project, and the enthusiasm with which he shares this and engages others is magical! Simply put – without Chris there there would have been no project.

The achievements of the project and the legacy that will be left beyond its 4 year lifespan (our website will become part of The Keep’s online catalogue and will be preserved for the ages) are truly significant and something for which we are all very proud.

As someone who, when the project started, could have guessed at but wasn’t certain of the exact years through which World War 1 was fought, this project has been a real gem and an opportunity to learn. Every new story, photograph and event has opened up a new world to me – of the soldiers, communities and families of East Sussex and their contribution to the war effort. I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to be involved in this project.

“There is nothing new in the world except the history you did not know” – President Harry S. Truman

The post Lee Banner – Project Manager appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

The first year of the East Sussex First World War Project had been a huge success. Over the first 12 months we published over 130 stories and events relating to the First World War in East Sussex, with over two-thirds of them submitted by members of the public, local community groups, historians and museums. We had also begun the process of publishing, on a monthly basis, First World War editions of the Eastbourne Gazette, Eastbourne Chronicle, Hasting & St Leonards Observer, and the Hastings & St Leonards Pictorial Advertiser.

For the 2nd year of the project it was important to maintain the existing momentum but also to start using the material we had gathered in different ways.

Stories, Events and Statistics

Over the 2nd year of the project we have published 35 stories and events, with 62% of them submitted by the public. More than 170 stories and events have been published on our website since the launch of the project.

The website itself has been viewed over 52,000 times in the last twelve months. Across its lifetime, the website has now been viewed over 112,000 times.

11th Battalion Southdowns

To mark Women’s History Month in March 2016, we showcased all our stories about women during the First World War on the front page of our website and through our Twitter account. Over the course of that month, we also published several new stories. For the entirety of March we had over 4,500 page views. On International Women’s Day (8th March) our website was viewed 227 times.

2016 has been an important year for national commemorations of the First World War and we have featured stories on the battles of Verdun, Jutland, and the Somme. Additionally, it has also been the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Boar’s Head; a battle were hundreds of men of the 11th, 12th, and 13th Southdowns Battalions of the Royal Sussex Regiment were killed in action during a diversionary attack the day before the Battle of the Somme.  The local significance of this battle was an important part of our plans for the 2nd year of the project.

On 30 June, we highlighted many stories examining the men of Lowther’s Lambs and drawing attention to the heroism of Nelson Carter VC who lost his life at the battle. The story on Nelson Carter was written by Michelle Pollard of Langney Primary School in Eastbourne who, along with the children there, had been researching the life of Nelson Carter.

Between 30 June and 1 July, we received a total of 3,236 views to our website, which at the time made up 9.8% of our total website views for 2016, including 1,822 views of our story about the Battle of Boar’s head. 87.1% of these views were from users new to the website.

One of our proudest achievements this year has been to spread awareness and information about the events of the Battle of the Boar’s Head, 100 years after it happened.

Recording Remembrance

49 memorials have been recorded on our sister site, Recording Remembrance, in the past year. The project, run by East Sussex Historic Environment Record, aims to ensure that there is a lasting record of war memorials in East Sussex by encouraging members of the public to submit details of memorial’s inscriptions, location and condition.  The number of small, local memorials in Sussex makes the role of volunteer contributors vital – sometimes they are as simple as a plaque on a village hall, or a stained glass window.

One great piece of local history that volunteers have uploaded on the site this year is a small roadside memorial at Herstmonceux, dedicated to a young Flying Officer named Peter Crofts, who was shot down during the Battle of Britain and was killed as he parachuted to the ground. These kind of small memorials, that tell important stories, are impossible to keep track of without a brilliant helpful network of volunteers.

Educational Resources

Educational Resources

From the start of the project it has always been important for us to find ways to assist in the education of local school students in the First World War. At the end of our first year we had enough stories of different topics and focuses to begin building educational resources.

On 1 October 2015, we launched a number of educational resources on our website for both teachers and school students. These resources are combined into three groups; soldiers, women, and children. All of the information within them relates to people and places within East Sussex and helps ensure that the next generation can understand the effect of the war on their communities.

We selected nine different stories and rewrote each one into a resource pack for teachers. These packs contained images, information on dates and context, key questions for students, and a condensed version of the original story from our website. We then rewrote these stories for school children. We kept the images and presented the information from each story so it was easy to understand and use and added questions for the students based on the material they’d read.

All of these educational  packs are free to download from our website and we are in the process of introducing new categories of stories to expand these resources.

Victoria Cross Memorial Paving Stones

A few days before our 1st anniversary, on 30 July 2015, we assisted in the planning, installation and unveiling of a Victoria Cross Memorial Paving Stone in Lewes for 2nd Lieutenant Sidney Woodroffe. On 16 August 2015, we then unveiled a Memorial Paving Stone in remembrance of Seaford resident, Major Cuthbert Bromley.

These two events have since been followed by the unveiling of a paving stone on 2 July 2016 in Eastbourne, to commemorate the bravery of Company Sergeant Major Nelson Carter, who was posthumously awarded his Victoria Cross for the bravery he showed rescuing wounded men at the Battle of the Boar’s Head.

By helping install and unveil brand new war memorials that commemorate soldiers from East Sussex, we have ensured that the legacy of their sacrifices will exist in their hometowns beyond the end of the First World War Centenary.

To help showcase the planning process from inception to unveiling of these stones we have documented the planning and delivery of the Nelson Carter ceremony.

Sussex Daily News

The Keep archives near Falmer hold comprehensive microreels of the Sussex Daily News. The four newspapers we have already published on our siteallow viewers to follow the course of the war and everyday life in East Sussex on a week by week basis. We realised that by publishing the Sussex Daily News it would be possible for viewers to follow the war day by day.

Sussex Daily News

Developing this additional resource was no small proposition. The four newspapers we have already digitised were hugely ambitious for a project of our kind; such attempts are normally reserved for organisations and institutions such as the British Library, the National Newspaper Archive, and the National Library of Wales. As a result we were the first project of our kind to offer such a large and varied collection of newspapers online.

But, we had decided that the First World War Centenary offered us an opportunity to dream big.

Two University of Sussex history students helped us to begin the long process of digitising the microreels held at The Keep. These two dedicated workers visited The Keep every Monday, the day it is closed to the public, for several months and then also began the process of ordering the images into recognisable editions of the newspapers. This was an arduous process. The images on the microreels themselves varied dramatically in quality and some reels could not be scanned at all. However, we also maintained the view that it was best to make use of what we could and explain that which we could not.

Once these two students had completed their task, we passed the files onto another history student at the University of Sussex, and she began combining thousands of images into PDFs for each edition of the newspaper.

After many months of hard work we are now in a position to begin releasing editions of the Sussex Daily News.

The collected and digitised copies of these five newspapers on our website may well be one of our finest achievements to date.

Feedback

We have always believed that the primary purpose of our project has been to provide the people of East Sussex with a central hub for learning about the First World War. To achieve this we have published dozens of stories and events from members of the public and from different community and historical groups.

To mark our 2nd anniversary here is some of the feedback these people have given us along the way:

Although I do not live in Eastbourne I was born there and continue to be a member of the Local History Society and carry out research resulting from enquiries. I have also written a book, nearing completion ready for publication, on the history of the pubs in Eastbourne, and I am co-editing another on the many street names, past and present, of Eastbourne. As such, my research has sometimes had to wait for a visit to Eastbourne and to the library where I have trawled through the microfiche copies of the paper. Having these digitised newspapers has helped, as the papers have provided several pieces of information for the books as well as details to help in responding to enquiries such as Shackleton’s visit to Eastbourne in August 1914 and also Gustav Hamel’s visit in February 1914. – Alan Smith, Member of the Eastbourne Local History Society 

Favourite Stories

To finish our reflection on our second year we would like to provide you with a selection of our favourite stories from the last 12 months. As our project prepares to enter its third year we are already planning new stories and resources that we would like to explore and introduce. The last two years have shown us all that there is so much left still to come. If there are any stories that you would like to see on the website or stories that you could contribute, please do not hesitate to get in touch!

Chris Kempshall – Project Officer for First World War Commemorations 

From the last year I probably have two favourite stories; one produced by us and another submitted to us by a local historian.

For ‘our’ story, I’m normally drawn to those which are perhaps difficult to write, be that because of the topic, or the huge amount of information that needs to be made manageable. With this in mind my favourite internal story of the last year is on John Kipling. His father, Rudyard, is still such a famous and recognisable figure but I am unsure of how many people knew about the tragedy of his lost son John.

As a First World War historian it can sometimes be a struggle to balance the wider view of the War with its impact on individuals. The story of John Kipling is a perfect representation of the fear, the desperation, and the sadness that was felt by those at home in Britain upon hearing that their loved one could not be found.

My second favourite story of the last year comes from Louise Heren and examines British Nannies during the First World War. I’ve always believed that one of the greatest strengths of our project is the ability to give voice to the stories that do not normally get told. Louise’s story of trained British Nannies looking after Belgian children during the First World War is not only a deeply touching one it is also an example of how people found ways to live their lives whilst under the shadow of the First World War, and of those stories which are in danger of slipping out of memory if they can’t be saved and recorded now.

Lee Banner – Policy Officer, East Sussex County Council

Looking back on the last year my favourite stories are as follows:

Amelia Joel Mihlenstedt and the Alien Register – for the power and mystery of stories that get passed down through families across the generations. This story contains intrigue, some unanswered questions and talk of spies! Recording the story as part of this project allows the life of real East Sussex people to be remembered forever.

East Sussex Women’s Institute – when this project was first devised, we wanted to provide a platform to remember (in addition to the important stories that must obviously be told about the First World War) some previously hidden, unknown or forgotten individuals and organisations. This story shines a light on the everyday activities of women in the county responding to and making their valuable contribution to the war effort.

Beth McGhee – Policy Development Intern, East Sussex County Council

Looking back on the last year my favourite stories are as follows:

Homosexuality in the First World War – it feels like cheating to pick a story that I wrote, but our story on homosexuality is one of my favourites of this year because writing it granted me the opportunity to learn about a part of our social history that I previously knew nothing about. Although I had assumed, when starting my research, that I was going to discover that homosexuality was not accepted in society at the time of the First World War, what I hadn’t expected was to find that the experiences of homosexual men have practically been written out of the history of this period. Due to the threat of punishment, including imprisonment, there are scant records of homosexual men discussing their experiences. This, for me, made this story all the more important for us to write. We have made a start in recording these men’s experiences, and I hope it be added to in years to come as others continue to revise and shine a new light on the history of WW1.

Battle of Jutland – before we published this story for the Battle of Jutland centenary, I knew nothing about this event in WW1. Therefore, I’ve picked it because reading it reminded me that even some of the biggest and most famous events from the First World War, that have lived on in our national memory, can be forgotten if they’re not recorded and taught to future generations.

The post East Sussex First World War – 2nd Anniversary appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

In August 2013, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced a competition for a memorial paving stone design to commemorate British recipients of the Victoria Cross during the First World War in their home towns. The winner was subsequently selected in November 2013, and plans were put in place for each town and county to begin receiving the memorial stones to place in whatever location and manner they saw fit.

Having been born in Eastbourne and lived there at various points in his life it was decided that Nelson Carter’s memorial paving stone should go to that town. East Sussex had already unveiled memorial paving stones to two other VC recipients in 2014; Sidney Woodroffe and Cuthbert Bromley. Nelson would be the third.

Planning

In August 2015, Eastbourne Borough Council and East Sussex County Council began the preliminary planning process for Nelson Carter’s stone and ceremony. It was important during the early planning process to consider a variety of key questions:

1. What would be the location of the memorial?
2. What would be its design?
3. When would the unveiling take place?

To answer these initial questions regular meetings began between Peter Finnis (Senior Head of Corporate Development and Governance) and Nicola Metcalfe (Personal Assistant, Corporate Development and Governance) of Eastbourne Borough Council, and Lee Banner (Policy Officer), Beth McGhee (Policy Development Intern), and Chris Kempshall (Project Officer for First World War Centenary Commemorations) of East Sussex County Council.

Location

With the two previous paving stone memorials in East Sussex it had been important to find a location that was both fitting and suitable, and that would also allow members of the public to see it. Most towns across East Sussex have a main war memorial commemorating those killed in the two World Wars. However, because of their role as a focal point for the community in the years immediately after the First World War they are often located at key road junctions without much additional space around them.

In order for the paving stone memorial to be frequented by the public, and also to allow for a full unveiling event, it was decided that more space would be needed than the Eastbourne War Memorial could offer. Fortunately there was a fitting alternative.

Eastbourne Redoubt has a long tradition of showcasing the town’s military history. Both the fortress itself and the connected Pavilion Tearoom and gardens offer a substantial amount of space as well as an unobstructed view out over the shore to the sea. Moreover, Nelson Carter’s daughter had bequeathed his Victoria Cross to her four children. In time they then passed it on to the Royal Sussex Regimental Collection, which is held in the Redoubt museum in 2001. All of this made the gardens outside the Pavilion a desirable option.

After consulting with Spyke Baker, Nelson Carter’s grandson, this location was deemed fitting for the placement of the memorial.

Design

By the very nature of its design the paving stone memorials can either be laid directly in the ground or, alternatively, displayed upon a plinth or pillar. During the planning for Sidney Woodroffe’s memorial outside Lewes library it was decided that a plinth had the benefits of turning the memorial into a focal point and also removing the possibility that people could unwittingly walk upon the paving stone.

The gardens outside the Pavilion tearoom already host a memorial, on a plinth, to the men of the 9th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment who fought at the Battle of Pinwe in the Second World War. We identified that the addition of a plinth to hold Nelson Carter’s memorial stone would tie in with the existing memorial in the garden and also make it easily identifiable to passersby.

Alongside the plinth it was also decided that the memorial would consist of an explanatory plaque which would recite the citation details for Nelson Carter’s Victoria Cross from the London Gazette. This plaque would also give key details as to the nature of the memorial and its date of unveiling.

The job of organising the construction of the plinth and the sourcing of an explanatory plaque was given to Gareth Williams, Senior Specialist Advisor, Eastbourne Borough Council.

On 28 June, the memorial paving stone for Nelson Carter was installed on the plinth alongside the explanatory plaque, ready for unveiling.

Unveiling date

In recent years it has become tradition for members of the Royal Sussex Regimental Association and some of Nelson Carter’s descendants to travel to France to commemorate the men of the Royal Sussex Regiment who fought and died at the Battle of the Boar’s Head. This trip has always been scheduled for 30 June, the date of the battle in 1916.

It was agreed that it was important for the Nelson Carter commemoration not to clash with events in France. This meant that the days surrounding the 30th also needed to be kept relatively clear to enable people to travel to and from France.

By delaying the unveiling ceremony until the first weekend in July it not only became much easier for Royal Sussex Regimental Association representatives and members of Nelson Carter’s family to attend but it also would allow more residents of Eastbourne to attend and pay their respects as well.

With this in mind the date for the ceremony was set for 2 July at midday.

The Ceremony

With the date for the ceremony set and the major preliminary details agreed, attention turned to the ceremony itself. Previous ceremonies had provided a successful template for future ones but each would need personalisation to reflect the different nature of each occasion and the individual soldiers and towns.

The Plan

A list of local dignitaries and relations of Nelson Carter rapidly came together and invitations were organised through the office of the Lord Lieutenant for East Sussex. As the Queen’s representative to the county, the Lord Lieutenant would be the host for the event and all invitations were sent out in his name. Whilst the Lord Lieutenant himself was unable to attend, he was represented by his Deputy Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richards. The Deputy Lieutenant would be given the honour of unveiling the memorial paving stone and reading Nelson Carter’s VC citation. Additionally there would be further readings from Spyke Baker and Colonel Roderick Arnold, President of the Royal Sussex Association.

School children from Langney Primary School in Eastbourne had been working on a longstanding project to commemorate Nelson Carter, including writing poetry about him. All parties were keen on including future generations of Eastbourne residents in this service of remembrance. Therefore, Spyke Baker selected the poem he found most moving and appropriate from a group of six and four of the authors of the poem, Lee, Leo, Luke, and William were asked to read it at the ceremony. All of the poems written by the Langey School children would be displayed within the Pavilion Tearoom itself alongside Nelson Carter’s original Victoria Cross.

After the unveiling, memorial wreaths would be laid by the Deputy Lieutenant, Spyke Baker, Colonel Roderick Arnold, Dave Smedley of the Royal British Legion, and Philomena and Matthew from Langney Primary School.

The stone would then be blessed by Father David Charles, Vicar of Christ Church with St Philip who would also read the Exhortation and the Kohema Epitaph.

The ceremony would conclude with the sounding of the Last Post, a two minute silence, and the Reveille.

The Day

In glorious sunshine on Saturday 2 July 2016, hundreds of people gathered in the Pavilion Garden near Eastbourne Redoubt to pay tribute to the memory of Nelson Carter.

Images and thoughts on the ceremony were soon spread through social media:

Reaction

Dozens of people had been involved at every stage of the ceremony from its inception to its culmination. Here, some of them look back at their role it commemorating Nelson Carter.

Spyke Baker:

“Having been made aware of the gift of the paving slab to Nelson’s home town, my family and I were keen to take part in any ceremony that might be arranged. However, we appreciated that such events are extremely complicated and require a lot of logistical effort. I was absolutely delighted, therefore, to be as involved as we were in the plans for the siting and display of the slab and with the format and content of the ceremony itself and, of course, in being present on the day. The consultation with us made it feel like a real family event as was evidenced by the number of Nelson’s relatives that attended and chatted, many for the first time, and the organisation on the day was just perfect. The combination of pomp and informality was just right and gave to each of us a memory which will last forever.”

Lee, Luke, Leo, Matthew, Philomena and William of Langney School:

“We felt honoured to take part in the ceremony, and really liked the part when we saw the Victoria Cross as we’d only seen one in pictures before.”

Peter Finnis:

“We were already in the process of planning a series of World War 1 commemorative events when we learned of the Government’s initiative to provide memorial stones for those individuals who were awarded the Victoria Cross for outstanding bravery during the conflict. Knowing that Eastbourne had one such recipient in Nelson Carter, it was always going to become the centrepiece of our commemorative activities. It was also clear to us from the start that this was to be a very poignant event and it was soon lent additional importance when we were able to make contact, and work, with current day members of Nelson Carter’s family and, in particular, his grandson, Spyke Baker.

The planned event contained every element that we would have wished for, hosted by the office of the Lord Lieutenant, with major representation from civic dignitaries, regimental groups, local school children and, of course, a huge contingent from Nelson’s family who had come from all over the UK and abroad. Naturally, such an event with so many component parts takes a great deal of careful planning and organisation. The greatest pleasure in achieving this was the way in which a small team of officers from across Eastbourne Borough and East Sussex County Councils came together to construct and deliver such a fantastic event. The greatest reward was seeing the fruits of those labours materialise and, ultimately, the lasting presence of a permanent monument befitting the heroics of Nelson Carter for future generations to remember and appreciate.”

Barry Lane, Royal Sussex Regimental Association:

“The Regimental Association is proud to be part of the government sponsored programme for honouring the WW1 Victoria Cross recipients with memorial plaques. The Regiment won 4 VC’s during the conflict and the ceremony in Eastbourne is the second one of ours to be unveiled. and it is always an honour to mark the occasion in style to honour the awarding of the country’s highest award for valour in the face of the enemy.

In this case we were especially lucky in that the man came from Eastbourne and therefore we were able to display the actual VC in the Pavilion Tearoom for all to see, especially the family. Naturally, due to their value, the actual VC’s are kept in a vault, so it was a very special day for all concerned, and this was mirrored in the number of standards and Association members who were on parade to commemorate the event.”

Colonel Roderick Arnold:

“I think the Eastbourne Commemoration was superb and hit all the right points. As a Regiment we have long lived with the exploits of Nelson Carter and the Southdown Battalions and it has been so reassuring this year to see Boar’s Head given more recognition. You will rarely see the battle mentioned in any history book because of the overwhelming influence of the Somme on the following day. I sincerely hope that we don’t have to wait another 100 years to remind Sussex of the gallantry and losses of the officers and men of the 11th, 12th and 13th Battalions of The Royal Sussex Regiment on the 30th of June 1916.”

Deputy Lieutenant, Colonel Nick Richards 

“I was honoured to be asked to unveil the Memorial Stone to commemorate Nelson Carter’s Victoria Cross on behalf of the Lord Lieutenant. The ceremony itself was not only a very fitting tribute to an incredibly courageous man, who finally gave his life rescuing his wounded comrades almost exactly 100 years ago, but it was also provided an inspiration for the future as personified by the six young pupils from Langley Primary School. 

Nelson Carter was clearly very much a family man and in that context it was also a great pleasure meet so many members of his delightful family at the ceremony. I’m sure that he would have been very proud of them all.”

The post Commemorating Nelson Carter VC appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

A large proportion of my time is spent recording and mapping data of sites on archaeological and historical importance in the local area. I am also the project manager for the Recording Remembrance project, which is a sister project to the East Sussex WW1 project. The aim of Recording Remembrance is to do just that- to record the war memorials across the county and the stories of the individuals who are engraved on them.

Ernest Saunders (© David Dyer)

The majority of my work consists of managing data, so it can sometimes be easy to forget that these records document people’s real life experiences; we can’t always see the thoughts, feelings and emotions attached to them. However, one of the first photographs submitted to the website by contributor David Dyer was of Ernest Saunders from Hailsham.

Ernest was a Private in the 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment. He died aged 31 in May 1917 and is buried at Etaples Military Cemetery, in northern France. His name is recorded on three memorials in Hailsham – on the town’s main First World War memorial in the High Street, and in plaques at the former Council Boys School and Parish Church. Ernest is pictured with his wife, Elizabeth.

As well as losing her husband in the war, within the space of two years Elizabeth also lost her brother, George Smith. As we are now celebrating women’s history month, what struck me most about this photograph was how it is also important to remember the women’s experiences of war. Although it is important to remember the sacrifice of the men and women who went off to contribute to the war effort, the families left behind at home also had ordeals to face, such as the prospect of losing many of their loved ones.

If you would like to contribute to the Recording Remembrance project and record your local war memorial then please visit our website for more information.

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I was a late addition to the project team, joining in November 2015, 18 months after the website launched. 

I studied History at the University of Sussex, so I was really excited when I found out that part of my new role would be working on a project to commemorate WW1. WW1 was, however, one area of history that I had never really studied. Rather coincidentally the only lecture I ever attended about WW1 at University was given by Dr Chris Kempshall on the way European states have commemorated WW1 since it ended.

I studied a lot of ‘intellectual history’ at University, a very broad and different sort of history to the grass roots history explored and created on this site. For this reason I have found this project fascinating. When I started I was impressed by the level of community involvement that the site had generated and the number of people who had got involved to share their own and their families’ stories.

The post Beth McGhee – Policy Development Intern appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

The website for the East Sussex First World War Project was launched at 11am on 4th August 2014. However, the team behind the project had been hard at work for months beforehand. The website was launched with an initial seventeen stories written by both project staff and also local museums and historians. Since that point the website has rapidly grown.

The primary purpose of the East Sussex First World War Project was to provide a space for the residents of East Sussex to pass on their stories about how the war affected the county, and we are all immensely proud of how we have achieved this goal. The website has hosted over one hundred and thirty different stories and events highlighting the First World War and its impact on East Sussex. Two-thirds of these have been contributed by members of the public, local museums, and historians. Since the day it went live, pages on the website have been viewed sixty thousand times by people on every continent except Antarctica.

We have continued to explore new and exciting ways of exploring the First World War in East Sussex. In collaboration with the local photographer Kieron Pelling, we continue to showcase amazing ‘Then and Now‘ photographs that compare images of East Sussex during the war to how those locations appear today.

Our sister project Recording Remembrance continues to map and document every single war memorial in East Sussex.

We have undertaken the mass digitisation of four East Sussex Newspapers which we will release online every month, in semi-real time, so that you can watch the war play out in the local press just as residents of the country did one hundred years ago. No project of our size has ever completed such an ambitious newspaper digitisation process. Further newspaper titles are also being digitised at the moment and will be added into the historical records here in the future.

Selected stories that appear on our website are also being converted into educational resources for local schools. Therefore ensuring that schoolchildren will be able to study and learn about the war through the experiences of those who lived here during it.

The East Sussex First World War Project will continue for the duration of the centenary. All of the stories and images, the newspapers and memories that have been displayed on this website will eventually be archived in The Keep and will exist forever as historical archival records.

We would like to thank everyone who has contributed stories and events to the project, and everyone who has viewed and enjoyed the website. If you have stories about the county during the First World War, or any upcoming events then please submit them to us.

Thank you very much indeed and, whilst we look forward to the next year and the next one hundred stories, we would like to look back at some of our team’s favourite stories and material.

Chris Kempshall – Project Officer for First World War Commemorations

My favourite story is probably the one documenting the East Sussex men who were Shot at Dawn. It was one of the most difficult stories to write in regards to finding the right balance of explaining why some soldiers were executed during the war but also highlighting the contentiousness of the topic today. It’s now a story that I’m incredibly proud of as it represents an acknowledgement that, as a project, we weren’t going to shy away from topics that were difficult and emotional.

Aside from that, the thing I am probably most proud of is the collection of digitised newspapers. It was about eight months in the making, but I am delighted at the results and the fact that the project has created such a wonderful new digital resource.

Indea Cadman-Rivers – Policy Development Officer

East Sussex Munitionettes is my favourite story to date since it shows the resilience of women in the war, with them producing approximately 80% of the weaponry and ammunition used by the British Army by June 1917.

It highlights the long-standing political issue of the gendered wage gap, but also tells of the incredible efforts of women working in hazardous conditions. It was also through the Munitionettes’ Cup that women’s football teams became increasingly popular. Women made a tremendous contribution to the war, and the Munitionettes are a true testament to this.

Lee Banner – Policy Officer

I would say my favourite stories are the ones about the many communities who contributed so much to the war effort but who don’t always feature in the main narrative of the First World War. Picking out just a couple, the stories about the Gypsy Traveller, Chinese and West Indian communities really struck a chord with me.

Madeleine Whitty – Senior Graphic Designer

For me, I think it has to be Feathered Warriors. Not only was the story’s image the face of our campaign to promote the website, personally I think this story is so striking. It’s a powerful reminder that the war effected absolutely everything and in this case, even the pigeons had a part to play.

The post East Sussex First World War – 1st Anniversary appeared first on WW1 East Sussex.

I started using Then and Now imagery to show changes to buildings, structures and even the shoreline to my home town of Hastings. Of course many of the old photographs I’ve used show the residents of the town. In some of them they are staring at the photographer. During the editing process these faces of the past fill my screen. I can’t help but wonder who they were and what they did.

I had no idea that my home town of Hastings acted as a staging post for British soldiers as they moved from training towards the front line. Like most people, I associated WW1 with European battlefields. The images of the soldiers parading, training and living in East Sussex brings home how deeply involved everyone was in the war. No one was untouched by it.

The people in these images stood where we now stand. We should never stop remembering what they went through. I hope that my contribution to this website helps to bring the past to the present.

See Kieron’s First World War ‘Then and Now’ photographs on our website

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