Kingston upon Hull War Memorial 1914 - 1918
The story of Hull in World War 1
This “Kingston-Upon-Hull Memorial” remembers all of Hull’s losses during the First World War. The 11,053 names recorded here, reflect the wider Hull casualties at the time. It records all service personnel who died, that were born in Hull, or resided, and worked in the city, recorded on official, and national records as well as local … Read more
The war was seen as a way to reduce crime by enlisting criminals into the army and putting them to useful war work at a time of labour shortages. However, after the war there was a “moral panic” that returning veterans brutalised by war, would cause violent disorder in society. In January 1919 there was … Read more
The conditions experienced by soldiers in the trenches of the Western front were unique. The use of mechanical warfare, with high explosive and rapidly firing heavy artillery. aimed at men, restricted in trenches with no route of escape, meant that conditions were more destructive and oppressive than had ever been previously experienced. High explosives, gas, … Read more
Hull City Police Force WW1 Memorial Plaque Name Rank Regiment Died Age Buried No: Address Mitchell, Ernest Frederick Pte Coldstream Guards, 3rd 15/09/1916 24 Thiepval, Somme, France 3 Wyndham Street, Hull Edlington, MM, John Holmes Pte Coldstream Guards, 1st 27/08/1918 24 Croisilles British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France 7 Park Terrace, Seaton Street, Hull Bird, William … Read more
“TO THE HONOUR AND GLORY OF GOD AND IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THE MEN FROM THIS PARISH WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918. THIS ORGAN AND OAK TABLET WITH NAMES INSCRIBED THEREON WERE GIVEN BY THE PEOPLE OF NEWLAND AND DEDICATED BY THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORK ON THE 11TH NOV 1920. JESUS SAID … Read more
St John The Baptist Church WW1 Memorial, Newington, Hull St John The Baptist Church, Newington, Hull. Unveiled on 11th August 1921, the white marble, WW1 Memorial, records 302 names, in five columns in alphabetical order. St John The Baptist Church, is a large red-brick, Victorian town church, built in 1878 in the Hessle Road area … Read more
30/05/2015 by admin These 27 Hull Teachers died in the 1914-18 War. Their names are recorded on a Memorial, Bronze Plaque, located at the Hull Guildhall. The following provides details of their full name, rank, serial number, regiment, date and place of death, their age and their last known address. Hull Teachers WW1 Memorial Plaque, Guildhall ALEXANDER, … Read more
This section is work in progress. The Hull Museum’s page notes that: “Hull also formed its own 32nd Divisional Ammunition Column, from members of the City Police Force and Tramways. This was commanded by Lt Col, James Walker. The original artillery of the 32nd Division moved to France to join the 31st Division on 8 December … Read more
Reckitt’s is a Hull based company, formed in 1842, internationally renowned for its health and cleaning products. By the time of the Great War it had already pioneered a number of scientific breakthroughs to create revolutionary cleaning products, such as Robins Starch (1899), the UK’s first liquid metal polish Brasso (1905), and the silver polish, … Read more
In Hull, income tax increased as did the number of people paying it. Whilst wages improved, many goods were more expensive and became un-affordable. Income tax increased five times between 1914-1918 and was paid by twice as many people. It would never fall to pre-war levels again. During the war, prices increased on all the basics: rent, fuel … Read more
At the time of the First World war, almost all Housing in Britain was privately built. Home Ownership was for the privileged few and over 90% of people rented their homes privately. In Hull 98% of people rented their home. Newspaper advertisements, reveal that a “desirable” home in the Avenues of Hull could be brought … Read more
The 4th Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment (T.F.) was raised in 1858 and was known for many years as the “Hull Rifles” and later as the “Fighting Fourth” After having various titles, as the volunteer system of the home defence developed, it became the Territorial Force in 1908, based at Londesborough Barracks, Hull. Under this … Read more
The Great War 1914- 18 The “Great War”, (or the First World War as it would be later known), was one of the most destructive wars in world history. It was a war like no other, where the British, French, Russian, German, Austria Hungarian and Ottoman Empires merged into two opposing forces. Centred in Europe, the Great … Read more
The Beginning of the War for Britain Britain in 1914 Britain at the start of World War One, was a much different place than today. Britain in 1914 ruled the largest empire in history, through industrial might, commercial prowess and maritime supremacy. Britain through its colonies, dominions, protectorates and mandates, controlled about a quarter of … Read more
The attack on the hill top fortress of Serre was one of the last attacks of the fateful Somme campaign. While history has rightly remembered the 1st July as being a horror story of monstrous proportions, little has been made of the Hull Pals attack at Serre. The overall British plan was to attack over … Read more
Here are 10 facts that tell the story of World War One at sea. Although primarily a land-war, there were significant skirmishes at sea. 1. The Battle of Heligoland Bight (August 1914) was the first naval battle of WW1 The British fleet ambushed and sunk three German light cruisers and one destroyer. 2. In 1914 SM U-9 (a German … Read more
‘HMT ARGYLL H923’ sunk 15th June 1915 On the 15th June 1915, the Hull vessel, was torpedoed by the submarine UC-11, off the Harwich coast. All seven Hull fishermen were lost: * ALDAN Albert (46), 4 St Andrews Street, Hull. Chief Engineer * BOWLES Fred (35), 6 Rugby Terace, Rugby Street, Hull. Deckhand * COWLAM Jack (29), 3 … Read more
New Laws – Restricting Public Rights to win the war. The Government introduced new laws to help pay for and win the war. This started with the ‘Defence of the Realm Act or (DORA) in 1914‘. Basic tax increased from 6% to 30% and the number of people in Britain who paid tax, tripled to … Read more
On the 7th August,1915, the Yorkshire regiments landed at Sulva Bay to capture a number of commanding hills. Tekke Teppe Hill above was most prominent and its capture promised a break through to the stalemate at Gallipoli. THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN Background. The Gallipoli Peninsula runs in a south-westerly direction into the Aegean Sea between the Hellesport (now known as the Dardanelles) … Read more
World War 1, lasted four years, three months and one week (1,564 days). About about 10 million military personnel and about 7 million civilians died in World War 1, with some 23 million wounded – an estimated casualty total of 40 million people. As calculating casualties is often complex and controversial, others estimate that the … Read more
After the Great War, a national debate was ignited concerning, how disabled servicemen from the Great War would support themselves and their families, if they could not return to their former trade because of their disabilities. Hull had lost over 7,000 men in the war with another 14,000 wounded and the Hull Daily Mail had … Read more
The outbreak of war in 1914 brought many new rules and regulations to Britain. The most important of these was the Defence of the Realm Act (DORA), passed on 8 August 1914 ‘for securing public safety’. DORA gave the government the power to prosecute anybody whose actions were deemed to ‘jeopardise the success of the operations … Read more
This World War 1 timeline covers all the key WW1 dates, all the way from the start, to the end of the war. 1914 28 June: Franz Ferdinand (Archduke of Austria) is assassinated in Sarajevo. 28 July: Austria declares war with Serbia. 1 August: Germany declares war with Russia. 3 August: Germany declares war with France. On the same … Read more
Britain’s War Memorial. We tend to approach war memorials with pathos and a narrative about the futility of war, but the generation that built them were actually proud of them. People wanted to show the pride of sacrifice. They even experienced joy that their fathers, husbands and sons, had stepped up to the plate in the time … Read more
The following are examples of some Hull Seamen, not recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission:- Fireman, Joseph Smith, lost at sea, on the Steam Ship, ‘Hildago’ on the 28th August 1917, aged 27. Cook, George Nunn, lost on the ‘Montebello’ on 21st June 1918. He was a 32 year old fisherman. Son of Sarah Nunn, 95 … Read more
Background When war began in 1914, there was already much anti German feeling in Britain. This Anglo German enmity, probably started 50 years before, when Britain supported Denmark, against the German reunification of Schleswig–Holstein in 1863. Britain had also sold weapons to France against Germany, during the Franco Prussian war in 1870. There was an … Read more
During the First World War, Hull was a much smaller and densely populated City, than it is today. Most people lived in the City Centre or were crammed around the fish docks of Hessle Road and the warehouses of Wincolmlee. In 1914, Hull’s population was around 300,000 people, a much larger number than now. North … Read more
Due to its coastal location many men joined the Navy in its many forms. As a City with long standing maritime history, Hull men served throughout the world in the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Naval Reserve, Merchant Service and the Hull Fishing Feet. 14,000 merchant seamen were to die in the war, over a thousand … Read more
Between 12th April 1915 to 5th August 1918, there were 51 air attack warnings in Hull, lasting a total of 206 hours. Air raid sirens or “Buzzers”, sounded 22 times in 1915, 23 times in 1916, 3 times in 1917 and 5 times in 1918. Most of the air raid warnings were false alarms (On one … Read more
Keeping Britain supplied, the sea’s safe and the enemy blockaded became the primary tasks of World War 1. The war at sea is one of the lesser researched subjects of the 1914-18 War . The main focus is usually on the naval battle of Jutland in 1916, or the lesser known sea battles off the … Read more
Britain was the first county in history to experience widespread strategic bombing of civilians. Two large, rigid air ships, named Zeppelins L3 & L4, after their creator Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin, dropped bombs on eastern coastal towns in January 1915. They caused casualties in Great Yarmouth and Kings Lynn. As in the Second World War, … Read more