by peter sweeting education outreach officer torfaen museum trust press ‘esc’ at any time to...

By Peter Sweeting

Education Outreach OfficerTorfaen Museum Trust

Press ‘ESC’ at any time to stop the presentation.

Reproduced by kind permission of Torfaen Museum Trust

When was this memorial unveiled in Panteg?

What does this tell you (along with the inscription) about how people viewed

the Great War of1914-1918?

The Memorial in 2005

Reproduced by kind permission of M. Williams

Who does this document belong to?

What job did this person do and where did they live?

Why do you think that British citizens were

‘Registered’ during and after 1915?


When soldiers joined up to go to war they were

presented with a Small Book. Any entry in the Small

Book was supervised by a superior officer. The

contents gave general guidance and information to

the soldier, but it also contained personal information

and documentation. Such facts as your regiment and

regimental number, postal address, height, eye

colour and even bodily marks (just in case you had to

be identified) were added.

It also contained details of your next of kin ‘still

living’ . This was in case a soldier were badly

wounded or killed. If he were killed in action (K.I.A)

the next of kin would be sent the Small Book and its

contents.

This is part of a Small Book

Who did this Small Book belong to and where was he from?

What else can you find out about this soldier?

Which Regiment did he belong to?

Where was he born?

How old and how tall was he?

What was his job before the war?

Does he have any ‘Marks’?

What religion did he follow?Reproduced by kind permission of Torfaen Museum Trust

This is part of a Small Book

Who is Ernest’s only next of kin still living and where does she

live?


A typical enrolment advert from WWI

Why did men volunteer to go

to war?

Knowing what you do about

war, would you have joined

up?

Click here to enlarge


One of the men who answered the call and joined up in South Wales.

Describe the uniform that this man is wearing.

What is the object slung across his chest used for?

What is he wearing on the lower part of his legs? Why?

What is on his cap badge?


Which armed service do you think this gentleman belonged to?

What helped you to make up your mind?

Many men who were swept up by the wave of

enthusiasm for war were extremely young.

How old do you think that this soldier is?

Which regiment do you think he joined?

(Look at his cap badge, his feet and

what he is holding)


As more and more young men joined up to go to war,

some women fought to keep them at home. Not everyone

was convinced of the Country’s need! Below is an

extremely persuasive letter sent to a troubled mother by

the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee.

Click here to enlarge

the documents

Transcript

December 1914

Dear Sir and Madam

We desire to draw your attention to the enclosed

form, in which you are asked to state the names of

your household who are willing to enlist for the

War. By filling in and posting the Householder’s

Return without delay, you will be entered in a

Register, and the nearest Recruiting Office will

arrange to attest those registered as their services

are required.

There has been a generous response to the appeal

for men for the new armies, but the numbers of

recruits, though large, does not nearly meet the

Nations need. In order to maintain and reinforce

our troops abroad and to complete the new armies

which we hope within a few months to throw into

the field, we and all the best the Nation can give us

of its youth and strength.

If we are to repair as far as may be humanly

possible the immeasurable wrongs inflicted on our

Allies, if we are to avoid for ourselves the ills which

they have suffered, if we are to maintain for our

children all that we hold dear – honour, freedom,

our way of life as a Nation – we must fight with the

courage and endurance which was for us the

struggle of the past.

Every man, therefore, who is eligible will ask his

own conscience whether, in this emergency, it is

not his duty to hold himself ready to enlist in the

forces of the brave.

The difficulties and dangers which confront us have

never been so great; we await the issue with

confidence, relying on the spirit and self-sacrifice

of our fellow countrymen to prevail.

We are your obedient servants

W.W.Asquith, A.Bonnar Law, Arthur Hendusoy ?

(Presidents)

Mrs Bowen and her friend

‘doing their bit’ for King and

Country as lady porters at

Cwmbran railway station.

Can you think of any other jobs

that women may have been

expected to do during the war?

Why was this?


Women munition workers employed by theBlaenavon Works at Forge Side.

Such was the quality of their work that a high commendation came from no less a person than David Lloyd-George, the

Prime Minister of the wartime coalition government.

Can you see what one of the ladies in the front row is holding?

Reproduced by kind permission of W.G. Lloyd

Makepiece’s Angels - so named because the foreman of the nut and bolt fitting shop at the Nut and Bolt Works

Cwmbran, was Mr. Makepiece, a man of fine character who also used to be the Captain of Pontnewydd Fire

Brigade.

Are you surprised by some of the ages of these workers?


Not every man could be called up. Necessary trades and skills meant that their time was needed for the war effort.

What can you see within this photo that indicates that it was taken during wartime?


Soldiers waiting for their train at

Crane Street Station, Pontypool.



Fox Camp

What gives you the impression that some training camps were speedily put together?


Why do you think that it was important for soldiers to involve themselves in everyday activities like playing

sport?

Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment in a trench near Le Bizet, France,

April 1915.

What features of a trench can you pick out?

Reproduced by kind permission of the South Wales Borderers Museum

Behind the line, after the Battle of the Somme 1916.

South Wales Borderers officers and men. Many

‘Ponty’ boys are in this photo.



This photograph shows Belgian soldiers making trench art vases out of shell cases on the Yser front line, north of

Ypres in Belgium.

When not actually fighting, the men often turned their hand to art, using the raw materials around them.


Trench Art Today – the old with the new!


Located in the middle of the Somme battlefield, the Golden Madonna and Child was hit by shellfire in 1915 and leaned at a

precarious angle until 1918. It is commemorated here in a 1990’s mural.

The basilica at Albert in 1999

People of all ages were urged to contribute to

helping the ‘Boys’ at The Front.

Who has this certificate been awarded to and what

for?


Sponsorship is nothing new!

This picture shows the ship, ‘HMS Pontypool’’

that the people of Pontypool ‘adopted’ during

the First World War.

The people of Pontypool adopted another ship

– H.M.S. Kittiwake - during the Second World War too!

What do you think was involved in adopting a warship?(What would the people of Pontypool have had to have done?)


A gift from the Eastern Valleys. A Motor Ambulance donated by

the inhabitants of Monmouthshire as a gift to His Majesty’s

Army.


This photograph shows a captured German Gun outside

Pontypool Town Hall.

Why do you think that captured German weapons were

displayed in public areas where they could be seen by

everyone?


Many civilians had fled from Northern France and Belgium and came to live in Great Britain to escape the horrors of

war. This photograph shows Belgian refugees at Blaenavon.


What is happening in this photograph?


Do you remember looking at pages from Ernest Payne’s Small

Book?

Here is another of Ernest’s official

documents.

What is a certificate of discharge?

What rank had Ernest reached by the time he

was discharged?

When was Ernest finally discharged from the

army?

Now that Ernest had served his country in the army, did that mean that

he would not be called up to go to war in

future?

The Regimental Colours return to Pontypool

June 7th 1919.

Why do you think that this would have been such a happy and

proud, yet also an extremely sad moment for the people of

Pontypool and South Wales?


Monmouthshire Regiment’s Colours

The unveiling of Blaenavon Memorial

Look at the size of the crowd in Blaenavon who turned up to witness the unveiling of the memorial to honour the local

soldiers who fell during the Great War of 1914-1918.



The unveiling of Blaenavon Memorial

What does the unveiling of memorials such as this, the size of the crowds and the range of different people who turned up, tell you

about the impact that the First World War had on local communities?



There are other memorials and reminders of the war across the World and particularly in Europe where most of the fighting took place.

Sanctuary Wood, near Ypres in Belgium, has been kept as a museum since 1919. In 1914 the wood was where men who had been separated from their regiments came to rest before rejoining the fight. The wood was captured by the Germans in 1918.

More pictures of Sanctuary WoodReproduced by kind permission of P. Sweeting

Why do you think that the trenches zig-zagged across the landscape?


These photographs give you some idea of conditions in the trenches

Can you think of some key words to describe these conditions?


A shattered tree stump within Sanctuary

Wood.

What does this tell you about

the terrible damage that was

inflicted upon men, animals

and the landscape during

the First World War?

What could have caused

such damage to the trees

within these woods?A tragic memorial to shattered lives!

Reproduced by kind permission of P. Sweeting

Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the world with 11,953 burials. The back walls

record the names of 34,927 soldiers with no known grave.


The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres contains the names of 54,896 officers and men from the Commonwealth

forces who fell on the Ypres Salient before the 16th August 1917. Every evening at sundown buglers from the town play

The Last Post and Reveille in memory of the fallen.


This entrance to Pontypool Park is found opposite the Town

Hall.

It is known as the Memorial Gate.



The Memorial Gate.On the pillars on either side and on plaques on the railings are listed the men from the local area who fell during The Great

War and the Second World War.


Memorial to fallen Welsh soldiers at Mametz Wood

They shall not grow old as we grow old,

Age shall not wither them nor the years

condemn;

At the going down of the sun and in the

morning,

We will remember them. END