Mobilising the Troops 1914

On this significant anniversary, it seemed logical to refer to our archives to find something to support this date. Today, at 2300hrs, Britain was at war with Germany. The First World War had begun.

Looking back at it now, you wonder how people felt in August 1914 when they realised the country was at war. We know about the volunteers, Kitchener,'s 'Your Country Needs You', the introduction of conscription, the mass mobilisation, total war. We have seen photographs and read books, watched films and television programmes, studied it at school or university. We are aware of the huge losses of life, the massive impact on society, the role of women and development of medicine...and much more. Yet,what were people thinking one hundred and six years ago, and how did the news impact on them?

Of course, society was different to today. I am often told by school children that they wouldn't have gone off to war, but we cannot apply today's rules to life a century ago. The impact of four years of war changed people, changed society. Life would never be the same again. So this telegram from over a hundred years ago, mobilising the 4th Battalion, not only connects to this momentous event in history but reflects a society that no longer exists.

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