World War I
Tewkesbury Historical Society received £4,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund [HLF] for a project aiming at, “Researching & Publishing biographies of all those killed in World War I from Tewkesbury”. Led by volunteers from the Society, the project focused on the publication of a book containing biographies of all those who lost their lives in the war together with a narrative history which placed their deaths into the context of the war. One hundred and fifty-four local men have their names inscribed on the War Memorial but some families missed the opportunity of commemorating the loss of their loved ones so their biographies have been added in the published book. The result of the THS project is the book, A Noble Band of Heroes, published in November 2015 and now available online.
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Head of HLF South West, Nerys Watts, said: “The impact of the of First World War was far reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond. The Heritage Lottery Fund has already invested more than £15million in projects – large and small – that are marking this global centenary; with our new small grants programme, we are enabling even more communities like those involved in this project from Tewkesbury Historical Society to explore the continuing legacy of this conflict and help local young people in particular to broaden their understanding of how it has shaped our modern world.”
THS would now like to make available
- the biographies of the Tewkesbury War dead
- information of those from WWI whose names were added to the War Memorial on Armed Forces Day, July 2018
- The context in which all these local people lost their lives
- All Those Who Served – a running list to establish those who served in the armed forces even in a minor way
All Those Who Served
The THS WWI Research Project naturally started by focusing upon those who lost their lives. It was logical, therefore, to extend it to include those who were also wounded or made a POW – and finally to those who served in any way.The list is no way exhausted and is being updated as we learn more, especially from Family Historians. If we have missed anyone then please forward details on johnhistory46@btinternet.com .
For reasons of size, only certain elements of information have been included in this display for the website.William Thomas Clarke
The Battles of the Somme
The Battle conjures up images of the 1 July - the “most disastrous day in the History of the British Army” with 57,470 casualties of which 19,240 were killed. The infamy lies in the fact that many of them were volunteers [V] in “Pals Battalions”, when ...
A Noble Band of Heroes
With support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Tewkesbury Historical Society published its book, A Noble Band of Heroes on 7 November 2015 - a history of all those from Tewkesbury who lost their lives because of the 'Great War'.<...
ANZAC Centenary 25 April 2015
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
The Gallipoli Campaign
Background A HistoryExploring the Gallipoli ...
A "Pleasant Experience" in Italy for the Gloucesters in the Summer 1918?
As far as the Territorial Gloucesters were concerned, the fighting at Passchendaele in October 1917, in the infamously atrocious weather conditions, came to a premature end. The reward was not well earned rest but what one ...
War-time Manslaughter by the ‘Spanish Lady’
In focusing upon the ‘Kaiserschlacht ’, the great German attack of 21 March 1918, attention has been taken away from a death on 22 March of Kathleen Rose Sallis - she died not on the battlefield but of influenza; she did not die in France but ...
Kaiserschlacht! 21 March 1918
Before 21 March 1918, Tewkesbury had lost 131 sons of Tewkesbury to the first three and a half years of the war. Before the war ended, another 64 sons - and a daughter - were lost. It might seem as though the worst was over - but the average loss per ...
Battle of Loos 1915
689 Tewkesbury men responded to Lord Kitchener’s famous appeal - and some of them joined the 10th Gloucesters. They trained to be soldiers over one year - partly on Salisbury Plain but managed to spend the winter lodging in Cheltenham. <...
Battle of Jutland 1916
This commemoration will mean a lot to our esteemed Sea Cadets but in terms of the war, the Battle did not make a huge impact on the town. The role of the Royal Navy in World War I also seems paradoxical. In 1914, one of the major causes of tension was the ...
Winter War 1916-1917
After the final phase of the campaign in November 1916, military operations by both sides were mostly restricted to survival in the rain, snow, and shell-holes. The army was ordered to keep German attention on the Somme front, by making ...
Battle of Ypres/Passchendale 1917
On 29 July 2017 the Town Council’s War Memorial Working Party proposed to lead a Commemoration of the start of the Third Battle of Ypres, commonly known as the Battle of Passchendaele. Members of the public were strongly invited to join us at 1...
1918 100 Days in August
After so much death and destruction, Allied Forces must have been truly reeling by 1 August 1918. Yet, though they had suffered so many defeats, the Germans had not been victorious, Paris was safe and the attacks had petered out. So now was the ...
George Hawkins Brotheridge
A century ago, on 23 October 1918, what turned out to be the last battle in the so called '100 Day's Campaign' took place – and Tewkesbury lost two county grammar school boys in that battle. GEORGE HAWKINS BROTHERIDGE was born in 1898 in ...
Armistice 1918
There are few photographs of this day on the Front Line – just ceasing to fire guns is not photogenic. In addition, there is little record of soldiers celebrating: they could hardly believe it was over as the painting suggests. There are no ...
The 1914-1915 Medal unveils the Rowley Family
The discovery of this medal on Ebay and its subsequent purchase by local supporters of the town’s Museum unveils some important aspects of World War ...
Pte. Clarence Howell
Private Howell is featured in the THS World War I book, A Noble Band of Heroes . Obtaining extra information from families has proved difficult after 100 years. However, in working with the Howell family who had emigrated to ...
