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Film of the Wokingham men we lost in 1914
What was the impact of World War One on Wokingham in 1914? Here is a short film which shows the… Read more…
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Cecil Culver's Wokingham. One: The early years
Jim Bell continues with the magnificent series of recollections by Cecil Culver, one of the great cornerstones of Wokingham's 20th… Read more…
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1914 – The 9th Lancers and Europe’s last charge.
Frederick Allfrey at the age of 22 was a Lieutenent in the 9th Lancers and killed in the minutes following… Read more…
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Welcome to Wokingham's Halloween !
Aside from the plastic pumpkins, fancy dress witches, sweets and latent threats which accompany the Trick or Treater, there lies… Read more…
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1856: Cholera arrives in Wokingham
Flush the loo, turn on the taps and wash your hands; a simple act which came from decades of debate… Read more…
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The Somme Tunnels on BBC 4. Monday 19th May 9pm
One of the Western Front's great journeys is a visit to the Lochnagar Crater in La Boisselle, a huge hole… Read more…
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Names on St Paul's Church Memorial: St Paul's Church was built by John Walter, entirely at his own expense, during… Read more…
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A family reunites for Alfred Hurdwell.
Although we are still adding the names of the Wokingham Fallen to our website, we have already witnessed our first… Read more…
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Visit to Dachau – Summer 2013.
Here are some notes from a family visit to Dachau in the summer of 2013. It was part of a… Read more…
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The double life of Arthur Hill, 6th Marquess of Downshire
By Jim Bell. This article first appeared in 'The Wokingham Paper', 24th April 2015 A young man sits holding the… Read more…
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Recent Posts
Category Archives: Aspects of World War One
Local exhibition for India’s warriors of the Great War
An exhibition organised by the Wokingham and Reading Sikh community will recount India’s support for the British Empire during World War One. India provided Britain with a massive volunteer army in its hour of need with over 1.5million Indian soldiers … Continue reading
1915. Wokingham's heroes from The Great War
In this article we will take you back one hundred years to early 1915, a time when the first cinema had recently arrived in Wokingham, when the unsealed roads were either rutted in the winter or dustbowls in the summer, … Continue reading
1914 – The 9th Lancers and Europe’s last charge.
Frederick Allfrey at the age of 22 was a Lieutenent in the 9th Lancers and killed in the minutes following Europe’s final ‘lance of lance charge’ on the 7th September 1914. The charge has become a famous moment in the … Continue reading
The importance of newspapers as source material
Newspapers provide invaluable sources of information for historians seeking to present the Great War from varying positions. They also help place the reader into the story of the war rather than through the words of a historian. You can gain … Continue reading
Where They Lived
For me, this is possibly the most fascinating and the saddest part of the research. Once we discovered the stories of the men, we started pinning their addresses to a modern map of Wokingham. Although we suspected that they would … Continue reading
The Great War: “I just think of all the poor mothers”
Mother’s Day: Thinking of Mothers Past. Although we have posted over 200 biographies of the men of Wokingham on this website, many more names have been investigated and in truth, it has at times been hard going. After looking through … Continue reading
The Somme Tunnels on BBC 4. Monday 19th May 9pm
One of the Western Front’s great journeys is a visit to the Lochnagar Crater in La Boisselle, a huge hole which is now the subject of a wider investigation called the La Boisselle Project. It is also a central site … Continue reading
1919: The British keep fighting.
Here is a story from the author’s own family history. Tracing our own ancestry can provide real insights into some historical events which have slipped by without recognition. How many of us knew Britain was still fighting into 1919? On … Continue reading
Another casualty of the Great War: Wokingham's Mayor.
Our focus on the government of the Great War tends to be at national level, but Jim Bell’s extensive research has enabled us to look into local government from a Wokingham viewpoint. His latest book ‘Memories of the Town Hall’ … Continue reading
1919 Victory ! Wokingham celebrates.
Local Historian, Jim Bell unearths this extensive coverage of Wokingham’s Armistice Celebrations: “On Saturday, Wokingham duly celebrated the peace. The proceedings commenced at 7 a.m., when peals were rung on the church bells. At 10 a.m. the town band commenced to … Continue reading