The Story of Archie Winn, a Young Man from Grimsby SOME LIVES survive in letters and photographs, diaries and memories—whilst others have been reduced, over the passing of a century, to a mere handful of official documents. There may be a census return. A military service number. A medal roll. A war gratuity payment recorded …
A Horseman of Dunsby Fen Names carved upon the war memorials of south Lincolnshire are of men whose lives were cut short before they had the opportunity to discover what the future might hold. Thomas Wand was one such man. Thomas was born in the south Lincolnshire village of Dunsby. By the time he was …
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 …
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 …
The Double Sacrifice JOHN WILLIAM SANDALL is, in many ways, representative of countless young men from rural Lincolnshire whose lives followed the steady rhythm of the seasons until the First World War shattered the familiar order of things. He was a cousin of mine, and this is his story. JOHN WAS BORN at Rippingale in …
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 …
The Horseman Goes to War IIN THE SUMMER of 1914, Hacconby and neighbouring Stainfield were quiet Lincolnshire farming communities whose rhythms had altered little for centuries. Spring brought ploughing and sowing. Summer promised long days for haymaking and harvest. Autumn filled the barns with wagonloads of grain and winter feed, while winter offered little respite …
From Farm Labourer to NCO SOMEWHERE AMONG THE rolling farmland of northern France, not far from a place called Vaurolet Farm, Sergeant Edward Ellis disappeared. There was no final letter home. No comrade was able to tell his parents exactly what befell him. And no grave marked the place where he met his end. 'Somewhere …
A Horseman of Hacconby AMONG THE NAMES carved upon the memorials of south Lincolnshire are men whose potentials were never realised, their lives cut short by war. Private Tom Hutchins was one such man. Tom was a young horseman working on one of the farms in the fen-edge village of Hacconby. He answered his country's …
RAVEN MOON 