Mourning relatives lay flowers at a grave in a British war cemetery, former Western Front, c. 1921 [CWGC Archives]

Motherhood, Loss and the First World War Senate House, London, 5 – 6 September 2018

Call for Papers

TheextraordinarydeathtollssufferedonthefightingfrontsoftheFirstWorldWargaverisetounprecedented levelsof loss for individuals and communities across Europeand thewiderworld. Indeed, bereavement became so widespread during the conflict that it can rightly beregardedasoneof thedefiningexperiencesof thewar.Historianshavehadrelatively littletosay about wartime loss, however, and the bereaved have not been widely acknowledged orrememberedduringthecentenarycommemorationsoftheconflict.

In order to shed light on this much-overlooked theme, a conference will be held at theInstitute of Historical Research, Senate House, London on 5 and 6 September that will bringhistoriansandcommunitygroupstogethertoexplorematernalbereavementasaresultofthewar,anexperiencethatwasunderstoodtobeparticularlypainfulanddifficulttocometotermswith.Theconferencewillbeheldaspartofanongoingcommunityproject,Motherhood,Lossand the First World War, funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and LocalGovernment and led by Big Ideas, the London Centre for Public History and the Institute ofHistoricalResearch.

Proposals forpaperson relevant themes in the formof400-wordabstracts shouldbesent toedward.madigan@rhul.ac.ukby20June2018.