Around 2 million soldiers, sailors and airmen came home with some level of disability: over 40,000 were amputees; some had facial disfigurement or had been blinded.Read more
Posts filed in: First World War
An introduction to ‘Thankful Villages’
In the First World War every village saw young people leave to serve their country. Over 700,000 Britons died, yet 53 village communities suffered no fatalities.Read more
6 things you may not know about POWs in England during the First World War
Prisoners were interned in hundreds of locations across England, ranging from purpose-built camps holding thousands of men, to locations that held just a few individuals. Read more
Life behind the wire: rare images of Prisoner of War Camps
From the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, German prisoners of war (POWs) began arriving in England.Read more
War memorials of the north: then & now
A mystery postcard collection documents the unveiling of local war memorials, with hundreds of people present. Each memorial represents a different tale of loss in a northern town.Read more
The Chilwell catastrophe: Fatal explosion on the home front
One hundred years ago a catastrophic explosion tore through the National Shell Filling Factory at Chilwell, Nottinghamshire.Read more
6 Sites of Suffragette Sabotage
The escalating militant activism of the suffragettes shook the establishment and made the front page.Read more
Forgotten Seafarers of the First World War
During the First World War the Merchant Navy – the Mercantile Marine – was thrust into the conflict, becoming the supply service of the Royal Navy.Read more
9 places that tell the story of the Royal Air Force
Some of our most important listed structures help to illustrate the key achievements of the RAF during the twentieth century. Read more
7 places with First World War connections to the Commonwealth
During the First World War, Britain turned to the Empire for assistance – including New Zealand, India, the West Indies, Australia, Canada and South Africa. Read more