Category Archives: Centre Research Themes

Cartoons, trench publications and popular culture

December 23, 2015
Cartoons and cartoonists played a vital role in Britain and on the front line during the First World War. They boosted morale, served the requirements of propaganda, and contributed to British cultur...

Children and the family legacies of war

April 29, 2015
Contributed by Professor Mike Roper Although children growing up in Britain in the 1920s and 30s had no personal experience of the First World War, they were surrounded by its legacies in play, at sc...

Food and the First World War in Germany

April 29, 2015
Contributed by Dr Helen Boak In August 1916 a group of soldiers’ wives wrote to the Hamburg Senate demanding its support for a peace settlement: ‘we want to have our husbands and sons back from the w...

Farming in the First World War

March 23, 2015
Contributed by Julie Moore   Sources to Consider and Questions to Ask   The story of the impact of the First World War on farming is one which particularly benefits from research at the local le...

Conscientious Objection and Military Tribunals

February 26, 2015
Military Tribunals and the First World War An introduction to their value as a source for the local historian. Contributed by Julie Moore In January 1916 the British Parliament passed the first of th...

Theatre and Entertainment

February 3, 2015
Theatre and Entertainment During the First World War Contributed by Andrew Maunder It is difficult to ignore the hold which theatrical entertainment had on the public in the war years. There were ple...

Food and the First World War

January 26, 2015
Food and the First World War Contributed by Rachel Duffett   The First World War was a total war: the home front became the frontline and unprecedented levels of commitment to the nation’s war e...

Supernatural Beliefs

January 24, 2015
The Supernatural and the First World War Contributed by Owen Davies The interest in spiritualism during the First World War has been noted in many books. The support of the likes of Arthur Conan Doyl...