Lincoln in WW1

We commemorated Lincoln in WW1 on 18 October 2018 at Lincoln Drill Hall which was home to the Lincolnshire Volunteers. 

We were joined by representatives and regimental drums from the Royal Anglian Regiment (successors to the Lincolnshires) and a representative from RAF Cranwell.

We had silhouettes from There but not There 

Some wonderful memorabilia 

and the film of the performance of Green Fields Beyond about the making of the tank in Lincoln. 

Andy Blow showed original film of the tank and aircraft being made in Lincoln. Charles Parker told the story of the engineering companies who turned their hand to aircraft production and Richard Pullen told the remarkable story of the tank. I offered the background including that of the Drill Hall Christ's Hospital which treated the wounded. Melvyn Prior of BBC Radio Lincolnshire introduced the evening.

Our wonderful Drill Hall team dressed up as munitionettes.

A Commemoration of Lincoln in WW1

Lincoln, like probably all towns and cities across Britain, lost a great many young men to the carnage of the Western Front and elsewhere. It did however also make a quite particular contribution by the invention of the tank and the manufacture of military equipment. This story will be told in words, film and contemporary images.

The evening on 18 October 2018 will be hosted by BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Melvyn Prior and hopes to be a real community commemoration.

Two of Lincoln's military gurus, Richard Pullen and Charles Parker, will tell the story of the city's contribution to the national war effort by the invention of the tank and the huge efforts made by Lincoln companies in aircraft and aero engine manufacture.

They will be joined by film maker Andrew Blow who discovered a copy of the only known film of the Lincoln tanks on Foster's training ground taken a hundred years ago. Andrew will also show footage of aircraft production.

All this will be told in the the broader context of just how the army was equipped.

On display will be an exhibition of memorabilia collected by Friends of The Lincoln Tank.

We will tell of the Drill Hall's own role in the war and we will be joined by representatives of the Royal Anglian Regiment who are the successors to the 4th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment for whom Lincoln Drill Hall was home. We will also be joined by representatives of the RAF.

A film of the 'Green Fields Beyond' tank drama, performed in Lincoln Castle grounds in July 2016, will be shown and some of its props exhibited.

We will be joined by five silhouettes from the charity There but not There and granted by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. We asked for five to represent the brothers in the Beechey family who died. The silhouettes will go on display in September and remain for a while thereafter as a focus for quiet reflection. We hope also to show extracts from the play The Beechey Brothers.

Tickets from Lincoln Drill Hall in person, by phone 01522 873894 or by following this link

How the British army came to be so well equipped in the latter part of 1918

My mind still boggles when I step back and contemplate just how the British Army came to be so well equipped in the latter part of 1918.

In 1914 it was hopelessly ill-prepared as I wrote in my piece on Military History Now, Woolwich Arsenal and the race to Modernise Britain's armaments industry for WW1.

In the course of the war Britain's engineering industry would pay a major role, not least in Lincoln whose engineers were born from the needs of our farmers and who used the technology learnt there to produce the tank and the skills to manufacture aircraft.

Under Lloyd George and The Ministry of Munitions, probably the greater part of British Industry became involved in the war effort. New factories were built, not least the massive shell filling factory at Chilwell near Nottingham, which came at great cost, as I tell in my piece for The History Press,  Disaster at Chilwell shell-filling factory.

The role of the USA was significant.

All this materiel had to reach the troops at the right place and at the right time. This was both far from easy as I tell in another piece for The History Press, From socks to scout cars, how to supply the army at war.

On 18 October in Lincoln's Drill Hall, which was home to the 4th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment we will be commemorating the role Lincoln played in WW1.

There, but not There

Thrilled to have been awarded a grant for five silhouette figures representing the fallen of WW1. They will sit by the paving stones at Lincoln Drill Hall bearing the memorials of Lincoln's VCs, Leonard Keyworth and James Upton.

Lincoln Drill Hall was home to the 4th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, who mustered at the Drill Hall on 4 August 1914 and who left to serve in France on 15 February 1915.

The silhouettes come as part of the initiative by There, by not There and were granted by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. I hope people will see them every day and that this will prompt quiet reflection.

They will be particularly visible for the performances of Private Peaceful, the play by Michael Morpurgo which relives the life of Private Tommo Peaceful, a young soldier awaiting the firing squad at dawn. This comes as part of the Lincoln Book Festival, the leading speaker at which is Michael Morpugo himself, whose other works include the highly acclaimed War Horse.

They will take pride of place at our Commemoration of Lincoln in WW1 on 18 October, when we remember also those Lincoln men and women who worked so hard in the invention and production of the tank and in aircraft production.

We asked for five, being the number of sons of the Beechey family who lost their lives in WW1.

Our plan

Lincoln in WW1

A night of commemoration on 18 October 2018 at 7pm at Lincoln Drill Hall

A recognition of the contribution made by Lincoln engineers and the ordinary workers of Lincoln, both men and women.

We would also love you to bring and show your memorabilia but also the stories that have been passed down in the family. What was Lincoln like in those dark war years? Please contact BBC Radio Lincolnshire or me through this website.

Lincoln, like probably all towns and cities across Britain, lost a great many young men to the carnage of the Western Front and elsewhere. It did however also make a quite particular contribution by the invention of the tank and the manufacture of military equipment. This story will be told in words, film and contemporary images.

We are delighted that Radio Lincolnshire's Melvyn Prior will be comparing the evening.

Two of Lincoln’s military gurus, Richard Pullen and Charles Parker, will tell the story of the city’s contribution to the national war effort by the invention of the tank and the huge efforts made by Lincoln companies in aircraft and aero engine manufacture.

Some of the employees of Wm Foster & Co

They will be joined by film maker Andrew Blow who discovered a copy of the only known film of the Lincoln tank on Foster’s training ground taken a hundred years ago. Andrew will also show footage of aircraft production.

We will place all this into the broader context of equipping the army.

We will tell of the Drill Hall’s own role in the war. We will be joined by representatives of the Royal Anglian Regiment who are the successors to the 4th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment for whom Lincoln Drill Hall was home.

On display will be an exhibition of memorabilia collected by Friends of the Lincoln Tank.

A film of the ‘Green Fields Beyond’ tank drama performed in Lincoln Castle grounds in July 2016 will be shown and some of its props exhibited.

We hope also to show extracts from the play The Beechey Brothers.

Tickets for the event are available from Lincoln Drill Hall in person or by following this link.

“Sponsored by Cartwright Brothers hauliers”