The Harvest for War THE PHRASE 'over by Christmas' has echoed through history as a symbol of misplaced optimism. Yet, in 1914, as Europe slid inexorably toward a full-scale Continental war, there were men in positions of command who knew better. Britain's newly appointed Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener was one of them. …
The Last Harvest ON A CRISP November morning in 2021, three elderly men gathered beside a newly erected street sign in the Lincolnshire village of Hacconby. They stood proudly, smiling for the photographer as the street sign denoting Wyer Close was formally unveiled ahead of Remembrance Sunday. To many people passing by today, it is …
AMONG THE MORE revealing records to survive from nineteenth-century England are those created under the administration of the Poor Laws. We have already glimpsed one aspect of the dystopian Poor Law Act in my July 16 post: 'The Examination of Anne Wyer'. Here is another. Intended as administrative documents rather than family histories, Poor Law …
Newly Discovered Photographs of Walter Sandall THE PAST RARELY yields its secrets in a single revelation. Instead, history tends to disclose itself one tantalising piece at a time. When I published Walter Sandall's story, I believed I had gathered together everything that remained of his military service. His Army records, family memories and official documents …
The Horseman who Rode East FOR MOST YOUNG men of the Lincolnshire fenlands in the early 1900s, life seemed destined never to carry them far from the place where they began. For Walter Sandall, that place was the quiet fenland village of Rippingale. Here, the rhythm of life was aligned to the seasons, the weather …
Changing Landscapes WHEN ROBERT WAND left Hacconby in September, 1914 he could scarcely have imagined that, two years later, the war that pundits considered would be ‘over by Christmas’ would continue to consume men at an unimaginable rate. Expected to last only a few months, the conflict had become one of endurance, measured not in …
Remembering the Men who Never Came Home OUTSIDE VILLAGE HALLS, beside churches, on roadside verges and in market squares, steel silhouettes of a First World War soldier stand in silent vigil. The familiar figure of 'Tommy Atkins' has become an increasingly common feature of remembrance throughout our towns and villages. He is often accompanied by …
Private William Ainger Howman, 1895–1916 AS WE HAVE learned in the previous post ― From the Farm to the Veldt ― Private Robert James Howman stepped off a train at Fakenham station in December, 1901 and returned home after almost seventeen years in the service of the Crown. His military career had carried him to …
The Military Service of a Victorian Soldier IN DECEMBER 1884, eighteen-year-old Robert James Howman left his home village of Great Ryburgh in Norfolk and travelled to Great Yarmouth, where he enlisted in the Norfolk Regiment. Like many young labourers of Victorian rural England, he sought opportunities beyond those offered by agricultural life. What followed was …
Wills and Continuity in the Sandall Family WHEN WE THINK of inheritance in eighteenth-century rural England, we often imagine little more than the passing of possessions after death. But the wills left behind by members of the Sandal family of Rippingale suggest something altogether more deliberate. These highly-informative documents reveal ordinary villagers thinking strategically about …
