Joseph Rowan, killed in action on 14th July 1916 and later buried near to where he fell by his comrades, left a widow and young son at home in Rawtenstall. He was only 22yrs of age at the time but had been promoted twice in his short period of army service. A labourer by trade, [...]
Great–grandfather of our parishioner Catherine Wallwork (nee Ives), John Edward Whittaker was one of over a million men from Britain and Ireland who enlisted for military service between May 1916 and April 1917. At the age of 31, married with a young family and parishioner of St James the Less, John Edward joined the East [...]
In September 1999, after many years of searching by family members and before First World War military records became accessible via the internet, our parishioners Kathleen Testa and her son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Jackie, travelled to Gorre, a small village in the Pas de Calais region of France. There, in a cemetery first established [...]
On August 4th 1914 the declaration of war between Great Britain and Germany was announced in a short statement by the Foreign Office at11 p.m. On that morning day, the Tuesday edition of the Accrington Observer & Times, (which served Haslingden) carried front page news about the conflict in Belgium and the threat of war. [...]
Armistice means the ending of hostilities before peace negotiations start. At the end of the First World War several armistices were signed by different countries before the main agreement to end the war, now known as ‘The Armistice’, was signed between the Germans and the Allies on November 11th 1918, over four years after the war [...]
World War 1 was fought in different parts of Europe, and in other parts of the world such as The Middle East and on the seas. From the records we have searched we have found that soldiers from St. James-the-Less fought, died and are buried in France, Germany and what is now Iraq. Many men [...]
Between early August 1914, when the war started, and 1916 over 150 men from St James-the-Less had joined the armed forces and gone to war, nine were reported dead and numerous men injured. By the time the war ended, on November 11 1918, over four years after it started, 30 men from St James-the-Less were [...]
Between late August 1914 and May 1915 250,000 Belgian refugees escaping the war in their country arrived in Britain. Now, one hundred years later, Europe is again dealing with the problem of large numbers of refugees, some escaping war. It is interesting to compare how British people reacted a hundred years ago with how they [...]
Despite the many thousands in the UK who thought it was their patriotic duty to enlist and fight the enemy at the start of the war, there were many ordinary people who objected to the war on moral or religious grounds. Conscription When the war effort needed more men to join the armed services, the [...]
