The Children's War: British children's experience War Great the of

Rosalind Joan SarahKennedy Goldsmiths College, University of London. Submittedfor the award of PhD. 1 x,

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Abstract Britain's debate heart about of the The First World War placed children at the life the of human sacrifice destruction and future. In the face of the enormous of future. brighter held the a of promise the the economyto needsof war, children Britain but lost it had to a rebuild Britain was looking not just to rebuild what key that of to the process Children before. better than it had been as seen were reconstruction. had that the To preparethem for the task children neededto understand sacrifices been made for them and the importanceof acceptingtheir role as responsible the through to future. The children ways war was represented citizens of the the in and their organisations, participation school/youth school curriculum, be felt highlight this the way adults could production of toys and games harnessed leaders Teachers children's genuine and youth group achieved. interest in the war to teach them lessons at school and give them practical desired that the would self-sacrifice and of obedience characteristics of examples help Britain win the war and maintain its Empire in the future.

Children were surroundedby the war everyday,at home, at school and in their it in books, it They magazinesand newspapers,studied read about youth groups. from it in fathers The their private games. separation. re-enacted at school and fight, brothers, to they or conscripted meant that the volunteered were when and international conflict took on a personalsignificance, endangeringthe men wider thesechildren loved. Children's experienceexploredthrough memory, personal documents,institutional experienceand play, showsthe diversity of children's in the the context of their lives. Children to significance and of war response war by the to sense of war combining what they learnt from adults struggled make it for to they themselves. came understand about with. what

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Table of Contents Page Title Page

1

Abstract

2

Table of Contents

3

Acknowledgements

4 5

Chapter 1:

Introduction

Chapter2:

Childhood Memories of War

39

Chapter3:

War in the Classroom

99

Chapter4:

Children in Uniform

148

Chapter 5:

War as Entertainment

192

Chapter6:

`Dear Father' - Family Correspondencein Wartime

226

Chapter 7:

Conclusion

262

Select Bibliography

272

Appendix A

286

Appendix B

290

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Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Departmentof History at Goldsmiths for granting me a bursary during the courseof this researchand thank the staff of the department for all their advice and encouragement.I received great help from the staff of severallibraries and archivesand I would particularly like to acknowledgethe to I individual me the the allowed who assistanceof schools visited archivists at use their collections. This researchwould not havebeenpossiblewithout the support and like I Sally Alexander, from I and would encouragement received my supervisor to thank her for all her patient and wise advice. I thank my family and my husband Ben in more ways than.I can express.

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Chapter 1- Introduction in Britain Child` The first Europeanwar in.the 'Century of the propelled children never scale a debate on them forefront touched personally to the and of national life human the ' destruction and before imagined. In the face of the enormous of be the to as seen sacrifice of the economyto the needsof war, children came fears birth declining over future. The brighter and rate precious promise of a had the immediately provoked in war the preceding national efficiency years Britain's health and welfare of researchand legislation designedto promote the future imperial leadersand workers.Now the enormousuncertainty and upheaval the that level home front meant of carnageabroad, on the and the unparalleled but lost, it had to looking rebuild a to country was not merely rebuild what Britain better than shehad beenbefore. Children were seenas the key to that Government Coalition Committee Reconstruction the of successand the

job health from their to prospects and education children's consideredeverything and moral development. But the war affected children not only in terms of legislation. Children did. Four just fear loss them. the the around as adults and pain of experienced hardship, separation, uncertainty and grief took their toll on children too. years of It affected everything from their relationships with. their parents to their helped shapetheir memories of their childhood experience of schooling and An exploration of the experience of children provides the possibility of years. its its itself, how British society saw children, and understanding more about future development at this pivotal moment in modern history.

The Great War coincided with, and encouraged,the developmentof a new and in Eighteenth BritainRosseauian ideas the of child century conception exciting innocence 'naturalness' being the the of childhood and of children about were by complemented a growing understandingon the part of psychologists, the medical professionof children's particular physical and and psychoanalysts 2 1880s From development. like the the Childhood onwards, groups mental I Hugh Cunningham, Children and Childhood in WesternSociety since 1500 (London: 1995) p 163. 2 Ibid_ pp 165-69.

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Society and the Child Study Association,had beenpromoting the study of young into more insight securing and in nature child children an attemptto gain' greater discipline of -)3 For the new the relatively training scientific methodsof youngfor the psychology the study of childhood representeda significant opportunity for to field. Psychologists carve out a niche able the were professionalisationof in in turn, offered that, themselvesmeasuringand categorisingchildren schools the possibility that the scientific approachmight elevatethe statusof the teaching profession. The influence of educational psychology on work in schools was in the development of child-centred teaching methods that were based around the discipline's understanding of child-nature. Old methods of instruction were Pestalozzi Froebel, based the favour in work of on abandoned of new techniques for learning discover themselves rather to that and others, encouraged children than having it imposed on them by adults. The physical environment of the child learning increasingly their to potential.. recognised as significant was also Influential Independent Labour Party pioneer Margaret McMillan. was key to the in idea transformed as she worked with, and wrote about, children spread of this health and well being by spending time at her open-air school camp in Deptford 5 (opened in 1910).

McMillan, an establishedcampaigneron child welfare issues,usedher skill- as an knowledge for Labour to the press advertisescientific about orator and writer it in fictional by development, health personifying working-class and child findings 1904 Report Physical Her the the the of of supported work children. Deterioration Committee,which had beenset up in responseto fears over by Britain's in South African the performance poor prompted efficiency national War (1899-1902). The report was significant as it rejectedthe then popular degenerative for that the argued stock which was responsible view, eugenicists' deterioration Instead it forward the of race. put a more perceived physical.

3 Hugh Cunningham, The Children of the Poor Representations of Childhood since the SeventeenthCentury (Oxford: 1991) p 198. 4 Ibid. p 199. 5 Carolyn Steedman, "Bodies, Figures and Physiology Margaret Mcmillan and the Late Nineteenth-Century Remaking of Working Class Childhood, " in In the Name of the Child Health and Wefare, 1880-1940, ed. Roger Cooter (London: 1992).

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be improvements made could that optimistic neo-hygienist view, which stressed 6 if attention was paid to the diet, health and hygiene of young people. The welfare legislation of the Liberal governmentafter their 1906 election (Provision Education 1906 The of in this view. victory was part a recognition.of School Meals) Act and the 1907Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, the inspection, for feeding making children, the of school provided and medical The for health the nation's childrenstatepartially responsible the and welfare of 1908 Children Act was concernedvariously with. everything from the prevention juvenile to smoking, reformatory and of cruelty children and young persons, industrial schools,and the establishmentof a separatesystemof courts to deal it juvenile Its the public emphasis placed on with offenders. significancewas children's rights, representing: belied incomprehensible to earlier generations,that children are citizens a State have independent the their parents,rights which of who social rights has a duty to protect.? So then, the outbreak of war in 1914 occurred at a time when State and been higher. Children had interest in were seen as never children professional both the problem. and the solution for the strength and security of the British Empire. The war reinforced this vision, but with an added urgency that placed both desire heart to the physically and psychologically of a national children. at lost hoped damage It the to the replace generation` with a of war. was repair happier, healthier, better-educated new generation, ready and willing to rebuild a Britain_ stronger

For children themselvesthe war meant somethingdifferent. It was at times the It both for the and great excitement. could grief mean great separation of cause fathers loved brothers, from dearly time and or the opportunity to play years at a helping in Boy Scout through Girl the effort war work as a role or active an Guide. It meant changesto life at home and at school, somewelcomed and others

6 Harry Hendrick, "Child Labour, Medical Capital and the School Medical Service, 1890-1918," in In the Name of the Child - Health and Welfare, 1880-1940, ed. Roger Cooter (London: 1992). 7 Ivy Pinchbeck and Margaret Hewitt, Children in English Society Vol Ii from the Eighteenth -. Century to the Children Act 1948 (London: 1973) p 637.

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to from for inspiration schoolwork It everything much resented. provided new had followed most fantasy. Some the closely, war of events private children in the friend form in up caught or relative of a somepersonalconnection the fighting.

The experienceof the children thereforeis a major focus in.this thesis. Their Using testimony. experienceis reconstructedas far aspossiblethrough personal their own words, both those written at the time in letters sentto friends and to later in down attempt those can relatives, and autobiography,we set Their how themthe understand war around children made senseof lives into their own contemporary writing tells us that children accepted the war through their relationships with men fighting abroad. Confronted with the but had from fathers brothers to engage with no choice separation children and the events and circumstances of war if they were to find any common ground on few For build this posed most which to a relationship with their absent relatives. fathers hard tried to make their war accessible to their children, who problems, as in turn were also becoming familiar with it through lessons at school and in the books they read and games they played. This childhood understanding of war becomes strengthened and altered when we consider children's experience There through we can accessmemories mediated autobiography. reconstructed by time and life experience, where the author attempts to recall their childhood but is forced to see it through adult eyes. This allows us to both glimpse the frightened them, what upset them, and what they and children's war, what excited did not understand, while at the same time suggesting ways in which those individual becomes This both telling the then the story. a experiences shaped history of individuals and a history of collective experience; there are themes feelings but interpret them to autobiographers who remember similar common differently just as there are amongst correspondents who allow the war into their letters.

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Childhood, Memory and History (1965/1991), Deluge The influential his Arthur Marwick in the secondedition of War, aspects World during what First on British speculated the a study of society He investigate. future to First World War the chose the might of researchersof considerschildren and writes: There is, I flatter myself, somelogic in the notions of working-class, or female participation in war, but what about children? Can one talk of in 'participation' the war effort? - most children, somechildren? children's What exactly doeshappento them? What, with respectto children, 8 would constitute 'gains'? In The Deluge Marwick is concerned with the civilian population's participation in the war and the way in which he believes that participation led to the various economic and political gains that sections of British society, notably women and the working classesexperienced. This thesis does not attempt to apply Marwick's reasoning to the situation of children dining the war but his questions in be I the war, through talking of children's participation are still relevant. will both their active participation (cultivating allotments, sounding air-raids, saving for instance), bonds joining Scouts Guides the and also through their and and war participation as consumers of the media and as students of a wartime education. However it is not so much any 'gains' that children made, but rather the for itself during that to the came mean and what war experience of growing up the children concerned that is of interest to me.

TheDeluge is typical of most social histories of Britain during the war in the way that it considerschildren. Marwick discussesthe curtailment of school medical in laws 1.916, the governing school and wartime changes servicesafter between Inconsistencies the age children were required to attend attendance. depending from local. 11 13 legislation) (which to on varied and the school until leave laws to that allowed children school or attendpart-time child employment if undertaking work of national,importanceleadsMarwick to say

8 Arthur Marwick, The Deluge British Society and the First World War, 2nd ed. (London: 1991) p 43.

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instruction inadequate was bare which Even the total amount of the and fall to the main business of the existing elementary structure was allowed the ph'sical demands in face the required that cause national of away development their minds. the than of rather services of children

It was often.the samelocal magistrates,Marwick points out, who suspendedthe school attendanceby-laws that then employedthe children to work as family land. labourers In agricultural casesof straightened on their circumstance,where the sole family wage

for earnerwas on active service,pleas

the releaseof school.children were hard to ignore. Marwick and others have also noted the apparent rise in juvenile delinquency 1917 looked has Marwick during faced at a that authorities were the war. with National Council of Morals investigation into allegations that it was the cinema that was responsible for the increase in juvenile crime, with children (particularly boys) imitating the crimes they had seen, as well as stealing the money for their theory this Marwick Council, The to the against was explains, shows. admission believing the extent of the increase in crime was probably inflated and noting that children. were now more rigidly supervised than ever before by a `veritable 10 army' of officials.

What this thesis will do is to look at some of these areas from the point of view during like? being Did What the the actually war at school was child. of depend the on what type of war children's experience and understanding of behaviour How they teaching type children's received? was affected of school, or by the war? In terms of the areasthat Marwick has looked at these are the kinds is Using to thesis this explore. autobiography and children's going of questions letters and diaries, these broader national trends and developments will be looked level from and through the eyes of the children themselves. a personal at

Anna Davin comments on the nature of childhood in the introduction to her study in in London late 19th the 20th growing up children class and early of working

is Childhood, from a social she ventures, construction, varying place to centuries. but: time place and over 9 Ibid. p 156. lo Ibid. p 158.

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in defined is In any culture or society, nevertheless, childhood ultimately leaving by Adults to approach or reach adult status relation adulthood. their is through frequently their adult authority confirmed childhood; and themselves both). `Grown-ups' (or remind control or support of children. have by they the grown out of. that they are adult past reviewing Children are always those who are not yet adult. Moreover, children's them in helplessness, makes their early years, usually relative especially dependent on and subordinate to their elders. Their survival depends in entirely or partly on adults; adults return exact obedience and il determine how they spend their time. This last sentence is particularly important to my research- I am interested in the like in in both. teachers and youth those public met way children which adults, leaders, and those who cared for them in their domestic life, wanted children. to how in is important the war This their time. considering spend not only influenced children's daily experiences, but also in looking at how adults during the period 1914-18 were preparing children to live in the post war era of reconstruction.. What did these adults who controlled children's activities and directed what they read and learnt want children to understand about the war and Britain's part in it? How did they want children to feel about Britain's allies and feel did how to these about adults want young people enemies and ultimately their own position. in society and the world at large?

Of course how adults directed children's time and energies varied enormously between different groups. In terms of children's participation in the war, be it for like knitting domestic tasks through soldiers at the Front, or through the depended Corps Officers' Training the much on the sort militaristic activities of looking Davin the that point makes when at childhood these of child concerned. differences must always be remembered,

What is seenas appropriate,at what age,for which children, varies betweensocietiesand also within them and over time. Conventions basedon genderdifference intersectwith assumptionsabout age, and both operatewithin social and economicstructures,so that much also 12 dependson the specific situation of child and adult.

11Anna Davin, Growing up Poor - Home, School and Street in London 1870-1914 (London: 1996) p 2.

12Ibid.

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One of the most important factors in my analysis of the representations and is lives those in that War First World representations the children's realities of between did just adults. between they hugely differed as children, and realities What was expected of a young upper class boy in wartime and how he reacted to the effect of war could be very different to the expectations and reactions of a backgrounds the between But children of similar young working class girl. even it the did all war not always provoke the same reactions and outcomes making is it to While individuals. important possible to remember these children as more during the war this study was never make some generalisations about childhood intended to represent one homogenous experience but rather consider as many experiences as possible to build up a picture of the whole range of childhood experiences lived during the First World War.

Davin's comments have also helped me to determine which children, or rather defining in Rather than I which groups of children am considering my study. I five to between by came or eighteen, sixteen. and childhood age range, say it had Davin. that was experience rather than.age that realise, as suggested, identified someone more strongly with childhood. A young person of fourteen. by both their be treated parents and teachers, or child as a at school, might still but dependent longer full-time, be a a major contributor to no out at work could the household economy. Because one of my main areas of interest is in the ways in which adults directed children's attention to the war I have chosen to by treated the as children adults around still are on children who only concentrate full-time in lied include do I those them. therefore paid work or children who not do however include in I the to children up to the age army. about their age enlist in full-time In the they education. context of my chapter on are while of eighteen becomes definition Many this more complicated. groups of the uniformed youth fact in in füll time young people groups were youth paid work, such of members included. been have I is in that they this this realise an artificial context and so definition and that young people at work or in the army deserve as much for but the I this thesis those not, purposes who were children of as am attention 13 be, those to treated to considered on and as, children. concentrate choosing

13The one other group largely excluded from the thesis are infants due to the lack of appropriate their to experience. through reconstruct which evidence

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Carolyn Steedman has discussed the idea of childhood in history, reflecting on both real children, and often, literary depictions of children. She has explored social responses to questions concerning children as well as cultural their for to trying recapture adults understandings of what childhood represents idea in in of which the modem own pasts. Steedman is interested the way history, `an account of the past told through the accumulation of documentary idea into being the of time modem as evidence', came around the same ` 19 later years of the childhood, both, she explains, around the middle and 14 century.

In Dust (2001), Steedmandevelopsthe theme further, describingthe searchfor the past, both the public historical past and the individual's personalpast. Autobiography is one medium for the individual's narrative of growth and developmentand theseoften begin with.descriptionsof childhood. The become has the in Steedman explains, rememberedchildhood autobiography dominant way of telling the story of how one cameto be the way one is, and she `history': the this of narrative narrative of self-discoverywith compares In the practices of history and modern autobiographical narration, there is the assumption that nothing goes away; that the past has deposited all of its traces, somewhere, somehow (though they may be, in particular cases, 15 difficult to retrieve). Despite this similarity between the idea of history and the idea of childhood Steedman also believes that there is a contradiction inherent in the search for (1992), Tenses Past In a collection of essayson writing, autobiography each. history fantasy is Steedman history, the the that of offers study argues what and being searched for may be found, that by reconstructing all the evidence left behind the past may reappear. The search for childhood, on the other hand, Steedman believes is hopeless. For Steedman the very idea of childhood is that that gone and symbolises something

14Carolyn Steedman,Past Tenses- Essays on Writing, Autobiography and History (London: 1992) p 11. 15Carolyn Steedman,Dust (Manchester: 2001) p 76.

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the very searchfor the past in eachof us changesthe past as we go along, 16 before. it is lost thing not the samenow, as was so that the In terms of my thesis this idea of the changing meaning of the past is especially fascinating when considering the autobiographies of those who were children during the Great War. It is interesting to speculate about whether the emotions the true the are these autobiographers are recapturing on paper, years after war, for that felt the they they search the time ones are a product of at or whether to it in fact Could be emotions the that childhood. autobiographers are ascribing Has for feel based how their childhood self, that childhood self now? they on looking back on their past caused them to interpret their memories of childhood We been had this interpreted have they them see they adults? events as would being in process of revision some of the memories of children witnessing planes horror feeling down during in 2. Arthur Jacobs of ascribes a shot air-raids chapter to his memory of watching a man being killed while at the same time admitting that at the time he was merely frightened for himself. His childhood memory of his own fear is altered slightly by his adult sympathy over the death of the pilot.

Much of the way we understand the modem self to be is as a product of our Steedman For that this means us. self always within our child childhood, with the search for childhood, or the idea of childhood, becomes in some ways our Childhood Idea Strange for Dislocations In the and of ourselves. search Human Interiority, 1780-1930 (1995), Steedman stressesthe part Freudian in developing 1900 1920, between 19th and about many played, psychoanalysis individual's idea identity debates the the that at core of an psychic about century lost Steedman Freud's his her cites or childhood. account of past, own or was infantile sexuality and the process of repression during this period to explain how 17 idea `the born. became the theorised of and unconscious' was childhood

In Strange Dislocations Steedmanexploresthe searchfor the adult past, in the discusses in through the social of childhood representations and period question, is lost in. form the what of embodying and gone of a and psychic consequences

16Steedman,Past Tenses Essays on Writing, Autobiography and History p 12. 17Carolyn Steedman,Strange Dislocations - Childhood and the Idea ofHurnan Interiority, 17801930 (Cambridge, Massachusettes:1995) p 4.

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18 in her the Steedman done in 19th study ends the child, as was often century. 1920sbecauseby then someof what this child figure representedhad been theorised and that theory had been quite widely disseminated. She says: By this time a certain understandingof selfhoodhad been formalised, its in `discovery' of the unconscious,and connection as most typically the 19 a formulation to the idea of the lost child within all of us. The children in my study were growing up as Freud's ideasabout childhood and ideas This being disseminated. then. the unconsciouswere when new was a time in being terms importance of only not about the recognised of childhood were but healthy future the the through also as new children securing raising race of psycho-dynamictheories of humannature were placing childhood at the centre it is therefore, In time this of meaning. consideringadult responsesto children at important to note that an.understandingof the importanceof childhood beginning future), (the in to the the was adults of experiences shaping adult self be recognisedby psychoanalysts,psychologists,doctors and teachersall working for children's interests. In his book Soldier Heroes - British Adventure, Empire and the Imagining of Masculinities (1994), Graham Dawson has looked at the image of the soldier hero as an idealised form of masculinity within. Western culture. Dawson in flesh, lived in the they that out are created although masculinities are explains the imagination. Military virtues such as strength, aggression, courage and endurance are often seen as the natural. characteristics of manhood and the is battle. Dawson display through these qualities only possible of ultimate believes that, through his depiction as an adventure hero in literature and on 20 figure become `quintessential has The the the of masculinity' soldier screen, . it is Dawson's have that I through childhood argument used confirm sources boys learn hero that the the to some young of characteristics that soldier exposure First World War children and particularly During the typify the male persona. boys, were surrounded by militaristic images and messages.Chapter 5 'War as

18Ibid. p ix. 19Ibid. p 4. 20Graham Dawson, Soldier Heroes - British Adventure, Empire and the Imagining of Masculinities (London: 1994) p 1.

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Entertainment'looks specifically at children's fiction, toys and leisure pursuits, itself Battles and military the war many of which concernedthe recreationof leaderswere fictionalised in literature, miniature copies of military uniforms by described the in. autobiographers, of the some were available shops,and as in the imaginative adult world. the on going children's play also echoed war Dawson.also arguesconsumerproductsaimed at children have always been representativeof broadercultural trends. In the latter half of the nineteenth both in increase between Dawson. link the availability of century, points out the adventureliterature and war toys aimed at children and the popularity of Britain's colonial endeavouramongstthe broaderpopulation. He says: Boys' play, in the era of popular imperialism, was one of the wide range imageries. into the that colonial of cultural practices provided an entry As such,commercially producedchildren's culture participated in that in boys inculcate the to wider cultural project which overtly set out desirablesubjectivities of imperialist patriotism and moral manhood21 Similarly we will see in chapter 5 the ways in which wartime fiction and toys Britain's boys both the typified allies adult notions about war, and girls aimed at identity to around the construct a gendered and enemies and encouraged children boys) (for (for girls) toys they were given. or nursing military

In the final section of his book Dawson traces the part played by these images of the soldier hero in his own developing masculinity. To do this Dawson reboth in discusses helps in his the and way which memory childhood examines in but itself is by individual, the the also way which memory shaped shaping his Dawson detailed In own childhood produced remembering social context. descriptions of both past events, kinds of play, the forms of toys and games, and in he investments investments These from imaginative them. the made once of in in different however, the present and quite context the past reappear a Dawson's thoughts about the remembered past are in some ways close to Steedman's:

21Ibid. p 235.

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Memory is never simply a `record' of the past made `at the time', but is a Any by driven the the needsof present. constantprocessof reworking, is based on memory necessarily accountof our own childhood experience an adult evaluation of that experienceand a reflection on our own cultural formation.22 Dawson is interestedprimarily in imagesof masculinity and their influence on the individual explaining that by this he meansthe processesthat shapeeachof kind into into ' later `boy' `girl. of man.or us subjectively a particular a or a and is intrinsic to investment in her his The a the women. childhood own of adult or World First identity. looking When the sense of adult at childhood memories of War therefore it is important to remember that although the writer may have tried extremely hard to conjure up and record what they feel were their thoughts and feelings at the time they are as Dawson says `an adult evaluation of that formation, As the experience'. a reflection of author's own cultural looking fascinating. be discussed As at the work autobiographies are when will of John Burnett and David Vincent the reasons why a person records their intend have the type to them they childhood memories and of audience read a bearing is on significant what recorded, with authors attempting to steer our formation. their reading of own cultural

Dawson believes that while the remembering adult is, in a way, putting her or himself back inside their childhood seif, this discrepancy between past investment and the current social context renders the memory open to fresh interpretation. Dawson says: examination and

This active working at memory can establish a peculiar kind of double both `inside' and `outside' childhood. What the consciousness, investment once felt like and.meant is recovered in order to be held at a

distance, interpretive the questioned evaluated and within critical 23 framework of the adult present. This point is interesting when you considerthe number of autobiographerswho First World War the their of memories childhood on the eve of, and recorded during, the SecondWorld War. If they were promptedto revisit their childhood by 1939-45 has influenced the the that circumstances of of war war, experiences 22Ibid. p 241. 23Ibid.

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their memoriesof the earlier conflict, or has their experienceof 1914-18 war effected their responseto the new conflict? David Vincent and John.Burnett, pioneeringhistorians of working class have historical autobiographyand the use of autobiographyas a source, discussedthe relative merits and pitfalls the historian must bear in mind when using an individual's account of their own.lives. For John Burnett the it is fact in lies that the a overwhelming strengthof autobiographyas a source personalrecord written by an individual - unhamperedby the voice of a third 24 party who may alter the situation or misreadthe experience. An. individual's account of their past life is therefore much more than the sum of its parts. While an observermight be able to describethe sameeventsand may even attempt a discussion.of their significance, it i.s only a participant who will be able to truly comment on the meaningof those eventsin their life. While we know already much about the eventsof the war itself and its after effects on the social and political culture of the combatantnations, the useof autobiography allows us to learn more about what those eventscameto mean for different individuals in differing and changing circumstances. The personal validity of those memories comes from the very fact that each is different. With say, memories of the August Bank Holiday weekend when war was declared, the feeling idyllic the the that memory of nation, an summer was suddenly collective is by individual by the of reinforced news war, memories of that shattered its dramatic impact but its also particular personal weekend, each recalling significance.

Burnett believes that becausethe autobiographeris recording their private important the the and significant in experiences, occurrencesconsidered most has historian lives, the chanceto explore areasof experiencenot the their These be in to them. experiences the may not always open recorded normally depth of detail the historian wishes, sometimes,Burnett explains,becausethe details, because he deliberately has and omitted sometimes or shemay not author

24J. Burnett, ed., Destiny Obscure Autobiographies of Childhood, Education and Family from the 1820s to the 1920s (London: 1982) p 11_

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possessthe skills to do so, but always autobiographygives the historian a rare chanceto investigatethe emotional life of actorsin the past. In the introduction to his book Bread, Knowledge and Freedom: a Study of Nineteenth Century Working Class Autobiography (1981), David Vincent discusses whether, when looking at autobiographical material, the historian can trust the author to tell the truth about themselves. What he concludes is that in actual fact the `truth' is not necessarily what the historian is looking for; it is the author's interpretation of what is being described and the significance placed upon it that is of more interest. For the historian it is the autobiographer's subjectivity that is of the greatest value. For Vincent:

it is not a matter of honesty or deceit,but rather of a capacity to grasp imaginatively the complexity of the life-long interaction betweenthe self 5 and the outside world. For Vincent autobiographies are like other forms of documentary material and, as such, are moulded by the specific conventions and preconceptions of their authors. All autobiographies are selective and can only ever present part of the picture. Elements may be left out becausethe author is sensitive to the feelings of participants who may still be alive, or because they are trying to preserve a for future image is important For Vincent themselves this of readers. particular because,

the interaction betweenthe writer and intendedaudiencemeansthat a historian is always concernedwith not one but two distinct events- the historical event which he is studying and the event of communication 26 his has evidence. produced which In terms of my thesis this point is interesting particularly when consideringthose First World during War their the the memories recorded of who autobiographers it draw Is World War. Second to the possible conclusionsabout the period of having for during from the experienced of childhood author wartime significance is `event fact the that of communication' taking place as anotherwar is being the

25D. Vincent, Bread, Knowledge and Freedom: A Study of Nineteenth Century Working Class Autobiography (London: 1981) p 6. 26 bid_ p 5.

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fought? Many autobiographersmention the part this new war has had in influencing them to write, often.making them fearful for their future or keen to in is destroyed. be being It the tempting to see recall past placesthat may context The to they they which are writing as significant to what are choosing recall. living looms feel. large in because they earlier war they their minds are almost through it all again. Indeed even for thosewho wrote after the SecondWorld War, it is possible that their earlier memorieswere alteredby the experience.The particularly vivid memoriesof air-raids recordedby many in chapter2 may owe much to the far more widespreadthreat from the air that thosewho lived through the SecondWorld War experienced. While we cannot know this for certain it is interestingto speculateon the process of reworking at memory by autobiographers.It is significant for the study of history as it suggestsa constantinteraction by individuals with their own pasts idea the and of history. Theseautobiographershave lived through the First World War, which has been written about and rememberedas a collective national have felt But they the need to separateand record their own experience. still for desire identify the time, to memories of perhapssuggestinga a place personal history and a needfor the recognition.of individual memory within the accepted collective record.

Youth, Literature

and War

Peter Parker has explicitly tackled the subject of youth during the First World War in his book The Old Lie - The Great War and the Public School Ethos (1987). Using a mixture of literature and the records of individual public development Parker from the the of public school examines education schools, how in influence 19th the in the schools grew explaining power century and mid discusses War. World Parker First the the public schools' years preceding in both fiction to explain commentators and social popular amongst reputation how the image of the English Public School and the sort of boy who would be book The in the then explains what national consciousness. educated one entered had the the ethos on public's reaction to the war. schools' public effect

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Parker'stitle for the book is probably taken from Wilfred Owen's `Dulce et decorum est' which includes the lines `My friend, you would not tell with such high zest/ to children ardent for somedesperateglory, / the old lie: Dulce el decorum est/ Pro patria mori'. 27The idea that it was sweetand proper to die for your country was, according to Parker, a central.tenet of the public school ethos. That messagecoupled with. school traditions like loyalty to one's house and school, the glorification. of gamesand the classicaleducation.received meant that, almost universally, public school boys were `ardentfor somedesperate glory' and flocked to the recruiting stationsthroughout the war. Parker divides his book into three sections.The first looks at the traditions of the public schools,their history and the reforms that led to their increasing popularity in the years before the war. Schools that expounded the importance of service to empire and the superiority of the British gentleman readily produced boys keen to further their nation's cause while school traditions of loyalty to House, School and Country could be neatly transferred to battalion, regiment and army. Here Parker also describes the `cult of athleticism' that existed in some schools and the general stressthe schools laid on the importance of games in shaping the character of their young men_ He explains that the idea of `doing bit' in fairly, `playing British the the game' war and as every your gentleman boys to easily educated within a system that valued sportsmanship should, came

fitness above almost everything else. and physical This section also examinesthe classicalcurriculum taught in the public schools influence how, Victorian the of coupled with a revival of medieval explains and it late 19th death romanticism created century a cult of and youth and chivalry duty dedicated desperate to to prove and self-sacrifice men were where young themselveson the battlefields. As Parker says: Whilst few people can have been.preparedfor the nature of the war, there is no doubt that one sectionof the community was ready to meet the Schools Public English Educatedin a gentlemanly the challenge: ....... tradition of loyalty, honour, chivalry, Christianity, patriotism, 27Poems o.f the Great War 1914-1918, (London: 1998) p 31.

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sportsmanshipand leadership,public school boys could be regardedas 28 in suitable officer material any war. Indeed it is in the context of such an educationthat we can begin to understand how one young officer, Julian Grenfell, who was later to die of wounds in France was able to write to his mother during the First Battle of Ypres: I adore war. It is like a big picnic without the objectlessnessof a picnic. I've never been so happy or so well. 29 The secondchapterof this thesis includes the memoriesof someyoung boys who longed to have the chanceto go out to Franceand fight. Like Julian Grenfell they believed that they would be doing their duty and fulfilling the dream of adventureand self-sacrificethey had absorbed.at school. Parker traces the schools' message onto the battlefields themselves through, for example, the campaign to set up the Universities and Public Schools Brigade, designed to be battalions made up solely of men from a similar background, where a man could uphold the traditions of his old school amongst friends. Here Parker also considers the relationships amongst officers, and between officers and men, highlighting the similarity of life in. the army with life at a public from family, the hierarchical, all male environment of the Separated school. armed forces was similar to the one they had lived in at school in the years immediately preceding the war.

The final section of the book returns to school and examineswhat life was like in the public schoolsduring the war itself. Parker exploresthe reactionsof teachers how the schoolsmaintainedtheir contact with the war and pupils and explains through correspondencewith, and frequent visits from, old boys. Becausethe high because for figures for the their the schools so and were support casualty became been huge had the commemoration of so war unfailing, a war discusses how Parker this, pointing out quick and generousold undertaking and boys were to contribute to the schools' efforts.

28Peter Parker, The Old Lie the Great War and the Public School Ethos (London: 1987) 17. p 29Nicholas Mosley, Julian Grenfell - His Life and the Hines of His Death 1888-1915 (London: 1999) p 358.

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Parker usesliterature and poetry throughout to explore how attitudes to the war were shapedboth before and after. Central to his argumentis the difference betweenthe ideals of war asthey existedbefore 1914 and the actual4 of the unprecedentedconditions of the WesternFront and the first truly mechanised war. He discussesthe literature of the war explaining that: Vera Brittain. wrote that `The work of Sassoonand his contemporaries was one long cry of protest precisely because they were the products of an extraordinarily fortunate social era.' It is a cry of disillusion, and it is the process of disillusion which gives much of the literature of the Great War its impetus, its power, its poignance and its dominant mode of irony. Irony is a way of assimilating the unpalatable and the unthinkable; it is not merely an adequate response, but at times the only response possible. To be disillusioned it is necessary to have illusions in the first place. A 30 illusions major source of those was the English Public School System. The Old Lie explores those illusions in. detail giving a strong senseof why the boys young educated under that system were so keen to enlist. The schools' attitudes are made plain by Parker, and their influence can be clearly seen in his discussion of their former pupils' wartime conduct. But Parker treats the young men in this book very much as the public schools themselves did - as young little gentlemen - and you get very senseof what growing up in such institutions for boys like The was who were essentially still children. chapter of this thesis that looks at childhood memories of the war years shows that in fact children's it differed their this to ethos and reactions enormously. While understanding of longed be boys the to schools' message and embraced old enough to take a some by in hypocrisy they the the others sickened saw army, were what as commission fight. to to the older generation's entreaties younger men of

This thesis will also considerhow the ethosof the public schoolsand other including Imperialism imparted traditions to children and patriotism were strong the the through media, school,curriculum and through the classes social. of all The in these appeal groups. of messages youth support of activities of various be the war will also contrastedwith the more practical concernsof young people

30Parker, The Old Lie the Great War and the Public School Ethos p 27. -

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who saw in the war an opportunity to move outsideof the social and economic situation they were inJames Walvin. in his book A Child's World- A Social History of English Childhood 1800-1914 (1982), also lays stress on the importance of the public school ethos and its dissemination throughout society in shaping national attitudes towards the First World War. Walvin argues that some of the elements of Edwardian jingoism, which characterised popular support for the war particularly in its early stages,can be traced back to childhood experiences. Central to Walvin's argument is what he notes as the strong senseof racial superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race that existed in Britain at the time and he discussesthe reasons for this and the effect it had on young people's reaction to the war.

Walvin explains that it is understandablethat this senseof superiority should exist amongstboys of the propertiedclasses,asthey were the recipients of an educationaland literary tradition that promotedthis feeling. The ideal of `muscular Christianity' that followed the public school reforms of the late nineteenth century and echoed the messageof Thomas Hughes' hugely popular Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857), represented a fundamental belief in the superiority of the British and particularly of the upper classes.

The popularity amongstupper classboys of the early books aboutpublic school life by authorslike Hughesand CharlesKingsley is partly explained,claims Walvin, by the fact that someof theseboys becamepublic school teachersand housemastersin their turn..They passedon the image of the robust and.healthy English public schoolboy,as one who loved dangerand alwaysplayed fair. But children educatedwithin the public school systemwere not the only recipients of this messageas Walvin notes: The proliferation of public schoolsand the disseminationof their ideals into the grammarschoolsensuredthe remarkablediffusion of a public by ideology the throughout the turn of private and endowed sector school

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the century, and these ideals were spread even further a field by boys' 31 led by the Boy's Own Paper. comics and magazines, Boys' adventure stories, in which the heroes displayed the very best of British character, began to take on an overtly imperialist tone by the end of the nineteenth century explains Walvin.

Stories with an imperialist theme or the

description of a national military contest between Britain and her European rivals may, Walvin believes, have unconsciously paved the way for the European conflict of 1914 or at least explain some sections of the population's euphoric responses to the war. He quotes from a very popular children's school story from 1905. H. A. Vachell, the author of The Hill, describes one of his character's attitude to death in battle:

To die young, clean,ardent;to die swiftly, in perfect health; to die saving others from death,or worse- disgrace- to die scalingheights; to die and to carry with you into the fuller, ampler life beyond,untaintedhopesand aspirations,unembitteredmemories,all.the freshnessand gladnessof May - is not that the causefor joy rather than sorrow?32 This attitude, cultivated by adventure stories and fostered within a public school ethos of patriotism and self-sacrifice, lead to the massive support for the war amongst the young upper classes,Walyin believes. Not only were British schoolboys depicted as positively wanting to die a heroic death in battle but also the reasons for those battles were expounded and justified in children's fiction. Walvin explains that for years before the outbreak of the First World War British had been told of their nation's superiority over the children of all social classes rest of mankind:

Indeedthis superiority was thought to be, in itself, an adequate in for British the global pre-eminence economicsand empire. explanation Each new acquisition and foreign venture appearednot merely to mirror the fictional. tales of Henty, Rider Haggard and others,but to provide still further proof of British superiority. Fact seemedto confirm fiction and, 33 it. to times, supersede at

31James Walvin, A Child's World Social English History Childhood 1800-1914 of -a (Harmondsworth: 1982) p 172. 32Ibid. p 173. 33Ibid p 174.

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Walvin seessuch children's fiction asbeing extremely influential, both commercially and in shapingthe historical and social perceptionsof a generation the diplomatic believes He of conflicts that asthe political and of schoolboys. Edwardian agewere incorporatedinto children's fiction a new generationof fantasies. fictional live their to protagonistswere emerging,eager out The message of the boys' adventure books, written and bought for upper class children, was disseminated throughout society through the numerous comic books and magazines available at much lower prices to boys of all social classes. Parker noted this in The Old Lie explaining that while The Captain was aimed at for Press Amalgamated were written public-schoolboys the magazines of the best is however boys. is Own It Boys' Paper that remembered the perhaps office its heritage, has become England's name synonymous with and cultural a part of boys BOP The its life heroes the cheery outlook on was aimed at possessed. all it because was of all social.classesand was particularly popular with parents the than Society, tone by Religious Tract the moral more a suggesting published dreadfuls Parker explains that the magazine's prices penny of earlier years. Sunday in Elementary it low and and that was also often awarded as a prize were Schools ensuring a wide audience for its messageof adventure and patriotism-34

Despite the wide readership of this literature with its powerful messageof British it is believes the to Walvin that enthusiastic explain alone enough not superiority, in 1914. For in War Boer flag the poorer as that as well to the occurred rallying boys and men the promise of work, food and clothing, more than patriotic The led supplied who volunteers to enthusiastic them more volunteer. motives World War First War in both Boer the jingoism the came ideology and the of he It Walvin says: argues. came from the middle classesand upwards,

had literature the to from the young men whom. of national superiority been specifically directed. The yarns were about their schools,their from boys Where the the heroesand their values. storiesof poor were 35 local board schools?

School Ethos 127. Public War Great the p 34Parker, The Old Lie - the and 35Walvin, A Child's World -a Social History of English Childhood 1800-1914 p 181.

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Virtually ignored by Walvin children's fiction aimed at girls, will be considered As boys' fiction. in Entertainment'. 5 the perceptions alongside chapter -'War as about women's role in society were being alteredby the economicconditions of the First World War we seefemale authorsbegin to embracemore active roles for their lead charactersin the war effort. Heroinesare given.the opportunity to it land in factories the work on and and someeven make to Franceas military drivers. They work hard, catch spies and rescue men whilst at the same time dignity their'womanly' retaining all of earning them the admiration and

love occasional of their male support cast. Militarist and imperialist themes were not only to be found in children's fictional literature and John MacKenzie's book Propaganda and Empire - The Manipulation of British Public Opinion, 1880-1960 (1984) contains a chapter on imperialism in the school textbook. He explores some of the attempts made by inculcate to the teachers to young school curriculum use educationalists and in ideas Britain's the towards world. place attitudes and people with specific MacKenzie is primarily interested in the imperial messagecontained within literature took discussion that his the shifts texts and of educational and school has books in late in 19th these the some explicit attitudes of century place the for this study. relevance MacKenzie discussesthe teaching of history and geography in the latter part of the 19thcentury explaining that on the whole geography was a more popular In teaching both teachers geography practice pupils. and subject amongst historical with problems world and economic political, on concentrated fiction like Kipling literature the of writers geographical. and contemporary travel interest. As likely to children's stimulate the most material source considered believing history, 75% taught 25% with late as 1899 only of elementary schools history had however MacKenzie that be explains to agreeable. more geography by it had become 1900 that in in the and schools secondary popularity grown in for time New a new produced each were texts schools use compulsory. believes it MacKenzie drawn that this Code constant was and up Educational was

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in dramatic in helped 1890s that to produce such a reworking of material the shift the tone of school texts. As much history and geography teaching at this time focused on the examination of the works and achievements of great men it is significant that one of these dramatic shifts was in the attitudes of school texts to specific historical figures. MacKenzie explains that, from the 1890s onwards, warlike figures moved from denigration to respect while the reverse occurred for any politician who was considered to have failed to maintain the imperial momentum. Within the texts certain periods were glossed over - the Civil War, the slave trade and times of sexual licence - while, MacKenzie explains, patriotism, militarism, adulation of 37 the monarchy and imperial expansion became the textbooks' major concerns-

It was also around this time that a change in the method of teaching history to Method began School be by In A New to suggested educationalists. children beginning instead in Cowham 1900, Joseph H. that of suggested published history teaching in the ancient past and working through to modem times, a better way might be to begin with the present and work backwards. MacKenzie for this: the reasons explains It was only through the new technique that history could achieve its inculcation the of patriotism and good proper purpose, which was 38 citizenship as well as the provision of moral training. So important were these objectives, MacKenzie points out, they were included in

decades. the succeeding all the works on teachingmethodsof lives the of great To impart this messageof patriotism and national service held Empire British in figures the the were of expansion significant and soldiers be to the emulated. of qualities to sort of children school. examples up as hero ideal the that combinedpiety, adventureand military MacKenzie explains in developed 1860s Christian the that best in traditions militarism the of prowess

36John MacKenzie, Propaganda and Empire - the Manipulation of British Public Opinion, 18801960 (Manchester: 1984) p 176. 37Ibid. 38Ibid. p 177.

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and '70s. With warfare seenin a positive light, war stories constituted a significant percentageof English and history `readers'at the end of the 19th century. MacKenzie points out that in the 1899 RevisedCode, twelve out of the thirty stories from 1.688to the present for Standard V were devoted to war and heroes. By 1911 The Cambridge University Press readers contained twentywar four military figures out of forty historical personalities selected for study-39

The significance of this emphasis in the school curriculum on warfare and military heroism cannot be underestimated when considering children's responses to the Great War. Some of the excitement and pleasure at the war remembered by the autobiographers in chapter 2 is explained by the atmosphere in of martial. enthusiasm which these children were being educated. With war being taught at worst as a necessary evil, and at best as a chance for Britain to her her it is assert physical and moral superiority over enemies, unsurprising that into Britain's the war as other children were often as enthusiastic about entry if did background Even the the they sections of population. not possess knowledge to know why Britain had gone to war they would have been well flag, honour importance in British the the and serving of upholding versed have future the that a ready and willing would military recruiters of ensuring supply of volunteers.

The Boy Scout movement, founded by the former soldier and war hero Robert Baden-Powell, also made a substantial contribution to the preparation of a has investigated Springhall John for the boys service. military of generation Scouts and other British youth organisations in his book Youth, Empire and Society - British Youth Movements, 1883-1940 (1977) and believes that the First World War introduced the inevitable trial of patriotism, character and national Scout The Boy had Powell for Baden the organisation. prepared which survival dependable itself to Scout the a prove opportunity the movement gave war had been In this in one of time effect emergency. national a of service auxiliary be Scout formation to to initial the behind prepared movement; of the the aims Empire. As British defence the such of the maintenance and towards contribute to sustaining and Scout contribution Boy a significant the organisation made

39nnd_ p 181.

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building on the patriotic and militaristic training of young people in Britain that begun in the classroomand carried on through.fiction. was Springhall explains that during the First World War Boy Scouts were co-opted into sounding air-raid warnings, acting as messengers,running mobile canteens, guarding reservoirs and helping with the harvest. In addition. Scouts were often sent to railway stations to meet men on their way to enlist in case their resolve falter should on the way to the recruiting station. In addition to the activities of ordinary Scouts, Springhall points to the formation by Baden-Powell of the

ScoutsDefence Corps whoseobjective was to: form a trained force of young men who would be immediately available for the defence of the country should their services be required during the 40 war. As well as the Boy Scouts there were other youth groups popular in Britain during the First World War that also involved young boys in martial activities, has been Brigade. It Boys' Church Lads' Brigade the the argued, and notably Springhall points out, that the Boys' Brigade in particular succeededin instilling boys, Nonconformist hundreds into thousands who might of and military values for the have the therefore the successof way paved and war opposed otherwise 41 for 4, Research War. during First World drives the chapter the recruiting 'Children in Uniform. ', shows that children in. youth groups were keen to The in time their children school. after and spare undertake unpaid war work in be involved leaders to their than pseudothemselves were often more eager be it believing to of their took seriously, extremely work and military activities to female the in Girls importance. opportunity relished also groups youth national home from break the it to the them away chance the gave as effort war serve take domestic roles the public more and years pre-war of activities centred, for instance. in hospitals buildings in and working public messengers as serving

War World First to how both the represented was This thesis then considers it for how to they experience by the came of realities and adults, children 40John Sprirghall, Youth, Empire and Society - British YouthMovements, 1883-1940 (London: 1977) p 63. 41Ibid. p 125.

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themselves. The chapters Memories of War, War as Entertainment and Dear Father, look at how the war affected children at home, how it altered their family relationships, changed the food they could eat, the toys that they played with and books that they read. They explore how children came to interpret the war in their own world, how they made senseof the uncertainty and changes of the time. They consider what the children came to make of these experiences when as adults they sat down to record their memories of growing up and found that so much of what they remember of childhood was shaped by the war. In Dear Father this thesis looks specifically at children`s contemporary writing. It uses letters sent between children and soldiers, sometimes relatives and sometimes complete strangers, to understand how and why children worked so hard to build how from for long. It them relationships with men separated also addresses so despite family the to to parents and children managed continue operate as units years of separation and asks how both came to interpret and accept the war as an integral part of their relationship with each other.

In War in the Classroom, Children in Uniform and War as Entertainment this thesis looks more explicitly at how adults focused and directed children's leaders how They teachers the and youth group consider war. attention towards harnessed children`s genuine interest in the war to encourage learning and help into how look They channelled children's energies were at also with motivation. from in involved became how for they everything the war effort, working knitting clothes, collecting money, making bandages and splints to working in These bridges departments chapters and reservoirs. and guarding government how lessons interpret the the to focus on the way adults wanted children of war, for been had them that the to made sacrifices they wanted children understand future. the their importance of citizens responsible role as the accepting of and When war broke out social reformers, doctors, psychologists and teachers were development, in interest psychological and physical children's showing already fears Now the threat that training. over pre-war their moral their education, and for in the been there calls from abroad had actually was greater urgency realised for But the opportunities opened up trained also war better-educated youth. and a to It the them contribute visibly chance allowed girls. children, and particularly that their in that sacrifices would not go guaranteed a way to the war effort

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unrecognised.It proved what they were capableof and meantthat never agam would they be confined to home centredactivities to quite the samee3dent. By using a combination of official documents,school texts, youth group material and literature theseadult constructionsof the war, produced for children, will be explored to identify ideas about the child in Edwardian society. By considering how adults tackled the subjectof the war we can begin to grasphow they wanted the future generationto understandthe adult world- Through their depiction of the conflict and the way they interpretedBritain's role in it we can reflect on how adult society understooditself and hopedto be understoodby the coming generation.In contrastto this, by looking at autobiographyand children's letters lives. individuals' how became to this we can attempt understand war a part of We can.considerhow children felt about eventsover which they had no control, but which changedtheir lives completely. Thesesourcesallow us to try to discover how young people reconstructedthe messagesthey received from adults to develop their own understandingof the war. They show us how conflicting in for be them the children's emotions could and what a challenge war was future. for feelings the the their to terms presentand own with coming As part of my researchI read many autobiographies,school log books, histories in included been have letters books that local not and youth groups, children's of between include basis for The to final thesis. varied the my selectionof what below. is briefly outlined chaptersand Chapter2, War in the Classroom,examinesthe responseof three state,one girls' I (one the independent progressive). other pacifist, schools private and two how it individual the towards find war, attitudes schools' to about out wanted how to (if the be and respond expected were children taught all), at should London's Records that of expectation. reflected the reaction children's whether in Archive Metropolitan held London the at state elementaryschoolsare held. Council County former London are Farringdon where the records of the districts by and the card catalogue Here the schoolsare organised administrative From for held government school. type each the of material to search allows you knew the the I of on effect war LCC of something already records guidelines and 32

in individual but hoping the administration of schools general was recordsof schoolswould reveal.more of the daily effects of war upon school life. School records include log books, registers,timetables,punishmentbooks and sometimesschool magazinesalthough theseare rare. Timetables,punishment books and registersinclude basic information about school.life; lessonstaught books log but the the the were more and school. namesand offences of children, useful. Fifteen school log books from around London were examinedand the examples included in the thesis are amongstthose which, in noting the visit of an old pupil from Front, the returned also made mention of the children'sreception of the former from hearing feelings Head's the students news about soldier, or recorded involved in.the war. The few school magazinesin the archive gave details of fighting former in the the pupils news of school.concerts aid of war effort and Girls' School Cobourg in Road the Sometimes they told the of of as case abroad. What between built the school and a particular regiment. up special relationship life daily in is the the the of the theserecords show war entered ways which its their how teachers the within presence accommodated and pupils school and usual routine. for deliberately details a Chapter3 also contains of three private schoolschosen differing perspectiveon the war. Becausechapter2, ChildhoodMemories of boys' deal information includes on War, basedon autobiography, of a good School, High Hampstead South I girls' a the of archive visited public schools how I in London. the North to see wanted private academicsecondaryschool being to the boys and war about educated at public school.were sistersof the by This life daily managed its impact archive, school. a girls' at on understand from timetables, records, class the everything school, contains staff and pupils of the competitions and of prizes records to and magazines school and photographs the the school's of revealing most The proved by magazines the school girls. won honouring by the the to the war support to girls encourage was which attitude former the the brothers pupils of of fathers work as well as their and of sacrifices school.

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Leighton Park School.,a private boys' boarding school run in accordancewith the beliefs of the Society of Friends, was chosenbecauseof the pacifist principles of the Head Teacherand many of the parents.The school archive, maintained by a former member of staff, included registersand prospectusesas debating I the the well. as records of society and school magazines. wantedto understandhow a school.whose founders,and the parentswho senttheir sons there, were committed pacifists would respondto war and whetherthe response boys Results by be themselves. the that the of school of school would of matched debatesand the candourof the Head in his letters to the schoolmagazine highlighted the conflict felt by both staff and studentsfaced with the challenges the war posedto their pacifist principles. Lastly I visited King Alfred's School, a progressive, independent school in North London whose founders hoped to move away from the examinations led system King The by both the the at archivist state sector. public schools and operated Alfred's allowed me accessto the school's collection of writing by its wartime Head as well as the school magazine, consisting mainly of children's artwork. Interest in new educational theories was keen at King Alfred's and its staff and the body the of conventions of educational many rejecting were governing how to interested in I England. to committed so a school see was existing system the progressive movement would respond to the war and whether the children by in the attitude of be the their war themselves would understanding of shaped by dominated heavily The wartime the school.. children's artwork which was it by the a made highlights and the war the preoccupied were children way scenes life the of the school.. part of to, for response of, and The starting point my thesis was children's experience War World First historiography the in the identified of this Marwick gap war.

2 fifteen years ago. My researchfocusedupon attemptsto reconstructpersonal long after both recorded memories and writing through contemporary experience had describe occurred. the eventsthey

43. War World First p 42Marwick, The Deluge - British Society and the

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I read over sixty autobiographies and memoirs, both published and unpublished manuscripts of which thirty-six have been quoted in the thesis. Published work was identified from library catalogues and bibliographic collections while the Working Class Autobiographical Archive at Brunel University holds the unpublished life histories used. Much of the material in the Working Class Autobiographical Archive was collected as a result of a public appeal by historian John Burnett though the media for autobiographical accounts of brief life. held includes The Brunel. the working class a catalogue of material at description of each memoir, and gives, wherever possible, the date of birth of the first born in. Using the this those author and main subjects recorded. catalogue all decade of the twentieth century were identified and each memoir searched for mention of the war.

From these life histories I was hoping to learn about children's emotional its feel. how how it to they them to pressures. reacted and made response war; Many autobiographies recounted similar events or situations, such as air-raids or food shortages, suggesting that lots of children experienced many of the same found learning After the things. sorts of situations children something of in difference interesting became in the to themselves what me was most by Some had terrified these to were situations. emotional response the children keen to stay up and Zeppelins the the night visits of while others were excited, in I those to thesis the to In choose the wanted give examples selecting watch. frightened, this described best child that emotional response; why was which the to Why of events same responses thrilled? emotional were while another was it the to select these In necessary to was questions order answer war so various? brought to feelings, those detailed best me closest those which quotes which in interest My feeling. how was qualitative experience, imagining that child was by writers. professional the are written that autobiographies of many this meant to communicate in effectively the most included which thesis ones the Those are describing. The felt they the are scene how about that author particular me documentary little is There harder is to very access. the poor very experience of leave to those a unable were who the of to experience assess evidence available join likely less to also lives, the were poorest very their and written record of is But to that books them. not say at aimed toys the and youth groups or afford

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that the examplesin the thesis representone homogenousexperience,those included are drawn from a wide rangeof social classes. For chapter 6, Dear Father, I read all the letters I could identify as being either Imperial by, from the the to, the written collection at catalogue of or sent children War Museum- Some were just individual letters while others were sets of itself letter in have I the the types correspondence. chapter of outlined many of letters Many to their and give examples of some. men.wrote short, simple been have little feelings. This the their children revealing may of war or deliberate reticence because they felt their children too young to understand. On the other hand it is also possible that these short, infrequent letters reflect the family relationship, not all fathers were close to their children or may not have known how to address them. Letters home from the front to family and friends format in 6, discussed Indeed, the postcard chapter as were often equally reticent. inhibited to to soldiers encouraged men use stock phrases and available individual expression.

Most of the letters included form part of a collection of letters becausethese feeling over revealed more about a relationship and gave clues about changes of feeling through It to of time. strength gauge easier was also sometimes familiarity with a writer's style of expression- I was interested to learn about family relationships, of how the dynamics changed as the children grew older how for longer. I fathers to from been had their wanted understand separated and families used letters to strengthen and structure their relationships with each developing in letters included those were relationships which other and so describe for fathers, their by to language children's The example, used revealed. to the both themselves to trying they reconcile that to were growth suggested me to in had their attempting still while fact that their children absence, changed their children. with up the growing of excitement celebrate

did letters the or all, at war mention not and A small minority of autobiographies between letters from Its children in it sent omission passing. simply referred to in but 6, the the in autobiographies of discussed is case fathers chapter and their lives hardly their why. touched and explain the that war admitted writers some 36

They are usually the memoirs of those living in rural areaswho experienced fewer problems with food supply and saw no bombing. Becauseof constraintsof spaceI have concentratedon those whosechildhoods were affected by the war, which has produced an over-emphasison urban areasmore susceptibleto the direct effects of war. The silence of others who recall their childhoods during the period of the war but it little feel it in is interesting. Is the that they their afford space memoirs more feel little Did they to their war was not significant experience of growing up? interest in its developments because they had no relative involved in the fighting? Do they not remember whether it caused them fear or excitement? Or do they deliberately omit references to it because of the bad memories it brings back for them? We cannot know for sure but I am not convinced that their silence alters in in lives Britain. interpretation the the the of children significance of war my of Because we cannot know why they are silent we cannot conclude that the war have in impression to their them, many silence we contrast on while made no looms large the the page. on war where of more examples autobiographies

There is more emphasis in the thesis on boys' education, and to a certain extent link is because This the made at closer of their toys and youth group activities. future behaviour their between as their youthful attitudes and and the time

by Boys Empire. defenders were more often associated of possible soldiers and teachers,youth group leaders,toy makersand authorswith the war than girls and Autobiographical in frequently evidence sources. some they more appear so imagined, identify did boys or themselves real either soldiers, with that suggests however, Girls took in themselves. also the desperate take to war part many Minnie in brothers fathers in uniform, and their with association pleasure her her be Dad class when Cowley, for instance,rememberspretendingto school. the at playground around marched than far fact, in to more similarities points Autobiographical evidence, do than to boys' other emotional response war differences in both girls' and for different in in were play and groups Experiences youth at school, sources. but desires children's adults, by of expectations the boys, and shaped girls and 37

emotional memories were often the same. Both girls and boys could be excited and terrified (and sometimes both at the same time) by the events of the war around them, and autobiographical evidence suggeststhat it was more often children's surroundings and family relationships, rather than their gender or age, influenced their response to war. Similarly evidence from the letters sent which between fathers and their children suggeststhat families' response to war was not divided by gender. Boys and girls wrote very similar letters to their fathers, enquiring after the progress of the war and detailing their own experiences. Fathers in turn did not distinguish between their sons and daughters when telling them of their experiences. Indeed some of the most vivid descriptions of war, including a gas attack and the Allied retreat from the Marne, were sent to girls, individuals fathers that their suggesting children as were communicating with boys than rather as or girls.

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Chapter 2- Childhood Memories of the First World War Introduction

Infancy, I suppose, stopped with the war at least, home, London, became something different with the war' Beatrice Curtis Brown believes that the outbreak of the First World War marked a turning point in her life, a moment when she ceasedto be a child and recognised for the first time the significance of the outside world. This chapter seeks to explore how children understood the war around them by using childhood memories recorded later in autobiography. It considers the common themes of wartime memory as well as the way issues such as gender and social class affected the way war was experienced and how it was remembered. The study of autobiography allows us to reconstruct the way in which children made sense of their own lives in the midst of war. For many children their development individuals as coincided with a time of great uncertainty and upheaval. During the war the emotional challenges they faced while growing up were intensified by a new set of stressesthat provoked conflicting feelings that ensured that the hold in a central place their memory of their childhood years war years would become. Through to the they autobiography writers were adults and would shape have based for life they to the themselves consider experiences on compose a been.significant. The memories they record are chosen from the vast store of life in have their that and made up remembered scenes,people and places is helping the to the events and the reader understand them author selecting individual. have them as an shaped experiences that they think for has the the there reader; But in this selection of memories are also problems How truthfully? the Have they memories recorded correctly? remembered author intervening described the years? altered over has the significance of the moment is be this selection of memories a conscious The reader must always aware that deliberate in a is paper way, themselves on and others The presenting writer act. themselves to distortion protect or emotions involve events of some which might if be This true future particularly may audience. from the a of censure or others 28. 1947) (London: Cottage Swiss p from 1B. C. Brown, southwards

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the memoir was intended only for a family audience, where the writer may be attempting to record a family history for future generations to be proud of. Equally autobiographies written deliberately for publication may be influenced by the pressures of commercial demand - what sort of memories sell?

There is very little direct evidencefor how children felt and behavedduring the First World War, which makesautobiographyan invaluable sourcefor the historian researchingindividual lives. The fact that the memoriesrecordedmay not be precisely factually accurate,or may have beendistorted over time, is part of the reasonthey are so interesting.As John Burnett, historian of working class autobiographyin the period, points out, The very partiality of the accountis... part of its value, for the author has his chosen own ground, patternedhis own experiences,and haspainted a Z is self-portrait which more revealingthan any photograph. Those who have recorded their memories of childhood during the war reveal a complicated mixture of emotions. They present themselves as being at times frightened, bewildered by excited, and confused what they experienced of the it features in For their autobiographies them. many centrally war going on around feature dominant the those that of their childhood suggesting authors see war as a they their and around which of growing experience up shaped one years, which construct the narrative of their childhood.

The autobiographies used in this chapter are a mixture of published and from both lives the a men and women of unpublished memoirs representing diverse mixture of backgrounds from the working classesthrough to the his For or each writer the war represented a significant experience of aristocracy. her childhood, but in different ways. The memories are not representative of all how the children's they some affected war show rather experiences; children's lives and give an idea of how the war has been remembered.

2J Burnett, ed., Destiny Obscure - Autobiographies of Childhood, Education and Family from 11. (London: 1982) 1920s p 1820s the to the

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Many of the published autobiographies are the memoirs of including writers, some of the most influential novelists and poets of the last century. 3 This is significant when considering the influence some of these figures (which include the novelist Evelyn Waugh and the poet W. H. Auden) had on British culture and society in the twentieth century. From these autobiographies we have the opportunity to understand the part the First World War played in shaping the childhood experiences, and sometimes the later attitudes, of writers and thinkers have who shaped the way in. which the twentieth century has been understood.

Professional writers are highly skilled at exploring emotions and attitudes through language, which allows them to steer their readers towards what they see as the dramatic scenesin their lives. In contrast to this some of the unpublished autobiographies, perhaps never intended for an audience outside of the family circle, touch on experiences clearly of significance to the author but which historian look brief the to require past a mention to speculate about the true impact is Here the emotional of scene. again the problem of using autobiography; has the writer deliberately not recorded their emotions to protect themselves, or historian into If they to them? the to simply not able articulate chooses read were the text, how does she know if she is reading correctly? By looking at these lives in I am choosing to see as significant autobiography reconstructed authors' details have decided Perhaps there to they missing, whether are recall. what is is but there a valid expression of what consciously or unconsciously omitted, that person's childhood experience. The language may not be so revealing as say that of Waugh or Auden but the writing represents an attempt made to record the feelings to the author. significance of and moments

Several of these autobiographies were written either on the eve of or during the Second World War. Many authors themselves make mention of this second in Although their introductions in to their only the autobiographies. major war forties they say that this new threat has reminded them of the war they down feel it to time them a record of set was made and children as experienced

3 In Appendix AI have included a brief introduction to each of the autobiographersin order to the in to reader with a this provide also and chapter, identify the range of experiencesrepresented in later text. the for they encountered are each author when reference point

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their lives. The historian A. L. Rowse, whose autobiography A Cornish Childhood was published in 1942, explains his motives for writing:

This book has been written now, not without thought of the uncertainty of the time, of dangersfrom anotherside, beyondone's control; there is the natural desireto leave somememorial of oneselfwhatevermay come to us4

Similarly Beatrice Curtis Brown began her autobiography, Southwardsfrom Swiss Cottage, while living in New York in the winter of 1940 when the Blitz was at its height. She wrote it as a record of London as she had known it as a girl and as a young woman, but contemporary events affected her style. She writes:

The past tense is used throughout, even when I write of what still exists and will always exist, simply becauseit was possible to write with more detachment and with more freedom from contemporary emotion, if the 5 subject were seen as a picture remembered, not as a living scene.

Both of thesewriters have reflected on their memoriesof the First World War for the that the them, represented a new stage of of and concluded start war, Curtis Beatrice Brown wrote: growing up.

Though I was thirteen when it broke out, my memory of places, what we did and how we felt, is up to that time, tuned to the same key. Then some discordancy creeps in: one's world was no longer apart and enclosed by its own walls. The day before war broke out is the first day I remember is, it from That Hampstead, London, streets. was as apart walking about the first time that I was conscious of being there in the middle of the city. I remember the tension, the groups of people standing about, waiting. I My feeling them the uncle, walking with me, said, waiting. of remember 'I expect you will never forget this day.' I have not, though I have seen 6 days since then. other, worse

he the believes the that the start of point at which A. L. Rowse also war was his own: realised there was a world outside book I line, this dividing to think as of That day was a great and used had it It de depart, from a strange was. that which point starting It is for a symbolic was explicable. not wholly me, which significance 4 A. L. Rowse, A Cornish Childhood -Autobiography of a Cornishman (London: 1942) p 4. 5 Brown, Southwardsfrom Swiss Cottage p 9. 6 Ibid. pp 28-29.

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day. For the first time I becameawareof the outer world, a world beyond the village and the town. I was ten years old.' For both these writers then the First World War was a dividing line in their lives. It marked the moment when a part of their childhood and innocence left was behind. For the first time the outside world entered their lives and they came to associate that moment of realisation with the outbreak of war. For these children and others on.the cusp of adolescencethe war sometimes coincided with a change of school.,the separation from. parents (if that school.was boarding), and all the confusion and anxiety of puberty. The war then.came to be associated with new experiences, for some the move to boarding school-was their first encounter with. austerity; loneliness, hunger and cold becoming associated as much with the war as with the schools themselves. That separation from parents and the new authority of strangers could lead to confusion and fear that linked the tales of war to the mysteries of sex and desire. The war may feature as so central an experience in their childhood just becauseit coincided with these became backdrop lived It the they changes. against which out their adolescence and the war's particular strangeness,the upheaval and uncertainty of the time, in lives. drama turbulent to time their what was already a gave added

But why have particular scenesbeen remembered more clearly than others? As development in the war times trying children's personal well as coinciding with have its Many the of authors own. also created new and stressful situations of like W. H. the poet especially vivid memories of particularly painful events Auden has of being chastised at school for eating too much, or as Arthur Jacobs has of parting from his father. Memories like these, of strong emotions including than others, which remembered clearly more shame, guilt and pain are often in emotions children's which the situations that unusual provoked war suggests increased limitAs moral under came the children to see shall tested we were They home behaviour also at school. their and at regarding censure pressure and brother, father for fearing the or of a safety uncertainty, of years experienced departure then the of that return and interrupted by bursts of pleasure and pain at by experiencing They adults leave. surrounding up also growing were relative on difficult attempted as women family and strained were relationships acute stress; 97. Cornishman ' Rowse, A Cornish Childhood p of a -Autobiography

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to be both mother and father to their children- It is hardly surprisingthen that we find many striking memoriesof painful and conflicting emotions the as children attemptedto navigate their way through a world turned upsidedown by war. A. L. Rowse saysthat the most important consequenceof the war for him was that it took his father away from home, something he regarded as a great blessing, but not all autobiographers are so explicit about feel they the what importance of the war was for them. 8 The novelist Henry Green's autobiography,

Pack My Bag, containslong descriptionsabout how the war affectedhis school days, as well as his memoriesof the woundedofficers that stayedat the family houseafter it was turned into a convalescenthome. Green'sson, Sebastian Yorke, in the introduction to the 1992publication of the book, mentionsnot only that his father was inspired to write on the eve of the SecondWorld War because of his vivid memoriesof the Great War, but also suggeststhat his father's humour may have stemmedfrom the deepimpressionthose soldiersmadeon. him as a child. He writes, It is tempting to think that all the black humour that came out much later in my father's talk though never in his books - the wild stories about dentists, amputees and collisions at sea and so on - must in some way be 9 linked to these wounded soldiers.

Green'sfather was a wealthy industrialist and his mother's family had aristocratic Discussing Edwardian he the the therefore age. of privileges enjoyed all roots, boy, he he home family's in his that as a young says the officers convalescing 10 learnt to recognisethe `half-tones' of class. As the war went on and high being from the figures that ranks were men amongstofficers meant casualty `officer Green that not all officers were necessarily noticed given commissions, develop how indication to things Green For this was an were going of class'. He the writes: war. after life idea in, them country as let of As we with an those officers not one of be it together life the in let to it, over was knew war after was as so we we have been it idea heads into must their its what of an put and slang with a Ibid. p 188. Portrait (London: 1979) p xiii. 9 H. Green, Pack My Bag Self -a 10Ibid. p 64.

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like before the war camein this way of living, of its ownersnot directly ' 1 full income life incurred. the their earning mode of From the other end of the social scalethe novelist V. S. Pritchett in his autobiography, A Cab at the Door, wryly observed that, In many ways for us, this most shocking of wars, a cattle slaughter, was a liberation. A hungry generation pressed forwards over the graves of the dead; Treat states and great families decayed and their certainties with 1 them. Pritchett's father was a failed stationer and salesman and the family moved house repeatedly as money ran short and his father sought new business opportunities. For Pritchett the war introduced new opportunities for the working classes,and he saw the fresh ideas of a new generation as a liberation from the older established traditions of England before the war.

The social class of the family into which these children were born affected their experience of childhood in Edwardian England. It determined the structure and nature of their family arrangements, where they lived, their surroundings and diet, and where they went to school. Many of these writers were from upper or lives. led backgrounds Edwardian extremely privileged and upper middle-class In the case of boys particularly the formula was almost always the same. As very by to they nannies, who remained with were attended constantly young children the family when the child progressed to preparatory school. If the preparatory boy to the thirteen, their a public school. progress would at aim, schools achieved Attending a public school was an essential prerequisite for anyone hoping to be Gentlemen English And Gentleman. English turning was out recognised as an

have do. As the to curriculum was seen the we public schoolsaimed what heavily focused on the classics,many schoolsoften having an only thinly disguisedcontempt for more modern subjectslike mathematicsand science,and 13 by hoped it In devoted this to was large way time sports. was of proportion a institutions in these the schoolsand parentsalike, that the young men educated learn Colonies, that for considered Whitehall was all the destined would or and

" Ibid. p 67. 136. (London: 1968) Years Early p Autobiography: 12V. S. Prichett, A Cab at the Door - an 13Peter Parker, The Old Lie the Great War and the Public School Ethos (London: 1987). -

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necessary,and that through sportsthey would learn about the great British traditions of fair play and sportsmanship. For girls there were either genteel,non-academic,fashionableboarding schools, or they were taught at home by governesses.In either casethere was little intention on the part of either the school or the parentsthat the girls would ever put this educationto any occupationaluse,asidefrom entertainingtheir husbands' friends and associates. Unlike children from middle or working class households, who lived at home locally, for much of the year children from the landed or and were schooled wealthy classes really lived at school. The school and its ethos therefore mattered family than more and home in shaping these children's impressions of and response to war.

This chapter is divided. into six parts each looking at memories relating to different aspects of the war as it affected children's lives. The first part, 1914: The Shock of War, looks at the years leading up to 1914 and the initial months of the war. It addressespre-war attitudes to the possibility of war, children's initial hearing the the excitement and expectation about memories of war, and became days. in It felt by that the the a natural argue war will early children often it extension of children's existing understanding of excitement and adventure as literature their themes the and games. pre-war education, of mirrored so exactly The second part of the chapter looks at memories of school days during the war, Here backgrounds the memories of autobiographers. of reflecting the various local elementary schools are contrasted with the memories of preparatory and We by those who experienced an upper class childhood. public schools attended from the boarding how moral more suffered schools children attending see live the to to of example they up their expected were where schools, censure of These for fight more often had them. also were to children those who volunteered in fears their by the grew unchecked they and war of understood what confused the close confines of the society of other children.

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Section three looks at memoriesof food, or the lack of it, and discussesthe differencesbetweenthe experiencesof children who remembera lack food of causedby real shortagesand lack of money, comparedto thosewho remembera lack of food causedby the self imposedrationing of their boarding school. For somethe lack of food has becometheir overriding memory of the war years.It will be suggestedthat this is in part becauseas children.their desirefor food often.conflicted so strongly with the moral prohibition.being exertedon them to deny themselvesits pleasures.The next sectionoutlines memoriesof antiGerman.feeling displayedby society during the war years. It discusseschildren's involvement in anti-Germanactions,as well as their responseto the attitudes displayed by others. Here adults are recalling acts of violence and bad behaviour that they as children directed towards individuals. It appearsthat they appropriatedthe themesof the adult war and actedout their understandingof the anti-Germansentimentssurroundingthem in personalattackson peoplethey had known often and liked before the war. The fifth sections deals with memories of air raids, the only way most children homes into direct in Attacked the their of own came contact with violence war. for the first time this section highlights the conflicting emotions of fear and felt final have during The the to that war. children often seemed excitement loss the children experienced separation and section concerns memories of during the war. We see how children's responsescould vary enormously; some fathers, from being distraught their the thought while others of parted at were their that they mourn should expectation were resentful and angry at society's dead parent and live up to his example. It will be argued here that a child's issues dealt in influenced heavily they the way which of with environment family home living Children loss. relationships close with at separation and freely, those feel their been have while to more parting mourn and able appear to fully felt their to living or even emotions, express unable at school away children themselves. to them admit

than influence discussion memories the childhood on is of class There more of is because This the following and in experiences is the chapter. there of gender lines. divide do themselves gender along easily not the themesof memories 47

Unsurprisingly not all boys wanted to be soldiers,and not all girls were afraid during air-raids. It seemsthat a child's environmentplayed a greaterrole in determining their responsesthan did their gender,and thereforeclassmore often becomessignificant. Clearly classaffected wherethe children experiencedthe war, but it also affected other things like the provision of food, and the dynamics of family relationships. But, for me, more important than dividing the children's experiencesfrom each other along classor genderlines, was the commonality they had with eachother as children divided from the adult world. So often in the autobiographiesI got a senseof a young person seeingthe world aroundthem in a way they knew to be different from the adults they shareda home or schoolwith. Whetherthrough their actions to concealtheir emotionsfrom a grieving mother as a way of comforting her, or through their hidden fears of the war storiesthey are being told, theseautobiographersrememberconsciouslyseparatingthemselvesfrom the adults aroundthem through their thoughts.It is through theseprivate fears, I to that their position as children, seethese particular strengthsand memories as representingthe child's experienceof war. This thesis is concerned with the experience of childhood during the First World War, and it is by using these autobiographies that we will come the closest to hearing, first hand, what this experience was like. I have therefore quoted often in this chapter, believing these writers' own words to give a far clearer picture of by I during for like than life the representing them any could give war was what them.

1914: The Shock of War I I in August that broke When war year, although was only nine, of out 14 dark shadow. enshrouding and a of conscious was acutely the to been news of war have connotation While he may consciousof a negative he by become thrilled Bates E. H. to boy, what was he heard as a young 71. (London: 1969) Vol. 1 Autobiography, p World 14RE. Bates, The Vanished vol. an -

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experiencedof military life just a few months later when the army arrived in his Northamptonshire village. This dichotomy of emotional responses,where children were at times frightened and at othersexcited by the war was not uncommon- While the fear may be understandable,it is to the pre-war years and the build up to war that we must look to understandwhy so many children greetedthe war with pleasureand were so keen to incorporateit into their lives. In the decade or so before 1914 there was a feeling among many in Britain that another war was on its way. The Boer War for some had highlighted the need for increased military preparedness and strength, and had prompted a wave of jingoistic hysteria among large sections of British society. Germany in the first years of the new century was frequently cited in the Press and on the platform as the most likely adversary. Marwick divides those who wanted and expected war into those that felt Germany was threatening British commercial and naval forcing thus supremacy and some inevitable confrontation, and those who simply 15 for supported calls patriotism and service to King and country.

Children were not immune from this spirit of antagonism and many have their remarked on the childhood years autobiographers recording heightened atmosphere of belligerence in the years preceding the war. C.H. Rolph, former director of The New Statesman, grew up in. London as a child and by influenced the toys mood of that and games were children's even remembers the country:

Warlike weaponshad begunappearingin the toy-shop windows and, in due course,in the streets.The Sidney Streetsiegeof 1911had aroused interest in that deadly and haphazardlittle firework, the Mauser automatic `spring tiny Mausers Imitation spring a guns' with as appeared pistol... ball-bearings for and or pebbles, marbles, small ejecting plunger operated 16 they appearedtoo aspocket torchesand water pistols. drew As indefinitely. last the did clouds of war But, he notes, this craze not bangforbid began the to and more violent in 1914 parents nervous nearer

producing pastimes. (London: War, 2nd World First Society ed. the 15Arthur Marwick, The Deluge - British and 1991) p 27. 16C.H. Rolph, London Particulars (Oxford 1980) p 123.

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Just as children's toys were influenced by events in the real world, so too was children's publishing. Like the adult press in the years leading up to 1914, children's magazines such as Chum and the Boys' Friend were full of the likelihood of war. Their perennial need for tales of adventure, foreign travel and battle were perfectly met by the possibility largest In the the of war. case of producer of children's magazines, the Amalgamated Press and its owner, the powerful Lord Northcliffe, Germany had always been the favourite enemy. For one group of children this depiction of a German threat led to the creation of a loved much. game.

The writer Evelyn Waugh, who was born in 1903 and lived in Hampstead as a child, describes a game he played with some local children whose father later

worked at the War Office: The Rolands became my constant companions. We lived in expectation heads. invasion. do idea into know German I this our of a not what put The alarm was not shared by our parents. In 1909 P.G. Wodehouse by boyinvasion foiled describes Swoop, The a such an published which have The None theme that must work. of us certainly ever saw scout. 17 been much in the air of the youth of that time. The children called their group The Pistol Troop, made a camp in Hampstead Garden Suburb, and stocked up with provisions. Waugh remembers that they drew up a code of laws and ordained savagecorporal punishments, never to be inflicted for their breach: bands to had enter our attempted We who roaming with some scuffles fort, whom we repelled with fists, clay-balls and sticks, but we were not '8 for Guard. Prussian the We were reserving our strength provocative. Along August 1914. Holiday Bank with weekend of People often remember the have tension those the of recalled that people summer, the glorious sunshine of descending into before brink the the of war on days few when the country stood few Children first the months. were hysteria and excitement that characterised it their time that heightened memories of and of emotions ignorant the of not (London: Autobiography 1964) 59. Volume First p of an the 17Evelyn Waugh, A Little Learning -

18Ibid.

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share many similarities with adult accounts. But they also have a special quality of their own; they retain the sense of the outbreak of war as it affected them as individuals. As children they were instinctively concerned with how the war would affect them, and their fears and anxieties are personal, unlike many adult accounts that often reflect the broader fears and anxieties of a nation-

Eileen Hunter, who was born in 1908 and whose father owned a successful printing business,was staying in.Norfolk with her mother and sisterin the summer of 1914. Sheremembersexactly where shewas and how shefelt on hearing the news of war: It was on one such day, a day that had dawnedlike any other, when my sister and I were playing at running a dairy in the gardenwith a pudding basin of flour and water andjugs set on a seat,that my mother, in her long dark skirt and high-neckedblouse,ran towards us over the sunny lawn, waving a telegram from London and calling with a tremor in her declared Germany! ' Even to 'Children! Children! England's war on voice, had to tidings, these a words our young ears,unaccustomed ominous indelibly frightening imprinting the on my mind, scene ring, sinister, a breaking hurried details London, the to the up and return of our although in lived, holiday had the remain which.we seemed eternal of what 19 obscure. The idyllic summer and `eternal holiday' that this writer had been.enjoying have become as strong a memory as the news of war because of the complete contrast between the two. Hunter remembers feeling that the news her mother brought her sounded sinister and frightening although she did not understand its full implications. Contrasted with her contented game with her sister, seeing her her in hearing to the conveyed voice, them, anxiety towards and mother running had in. the world of adults Hunter as a young child that something significant her happy into large and peaceful the This at world of encroachment occurred-

be forgotten. the that never would scene ensured childhood life lived a comfortable and sheltered as In 1914 Loeia Ponsonby,agedtwelve, lived St family The King. the to at Ponsonby, Frederick daughter secretary the of brother her Loelia, declared mother and James' Palace.However when war was in Holland: holiday were on 19E. Hunter, The Profound Attachment (London: 1969) p 41.

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In the middle of the night we motored to the Hook and boardedthe steamer. It was still the age of privilege and we had no difficulty in getting cabinsthough all around us were refugees,the pitiful avant-garde of war. They lined the decks,the passages,the companionways,and in utter exhaustion,they slept. To us children it was too strangefor comprehensionand we were more interestedin the warshipswhich the next morning we saw outside Harwich and which madeus nearly burst zo with national pride. Even though as children neither shenor her brother understoodthe significance of what was going on, Loelia Ponsonbydoesrememberthe strangenessof what she saw on the ship becauseit was so unlike any circumstanceshehad ever before. But their interest in the warshipsdoessuggestsome experienced understandingand alignment with the feeling of patriotic endeavourtaking hold in much of the rest of the country. What is not easyto tell however is whether this feeling was a subliminal one felt at the time, brought on by the sight of the feelings have been the addedretrospectivelyas the warships, or whether of pride felt how to tries remember she as a child. writer For other children leading lesspeaceful,securelives, the outbreakof war home from diversion the troubles and school. of someof representeda welcome As a young Jewishboy Gibson Cowan,the son of a chauffeur living in the English countryside, was often.under attack from the anti-Semiticbullying of the boys and staff at his local high school. At the outbreakof war the Headmaster delivered an addressto the whole school entreatingthe older boys to maintain the traditions of the school by enlisting at the earliestopportunity: in Jewish to the impassioned plot war a It was a very speech,attributing keep it hope that hardly to would the Balkans. I noticed the war, except 21 leave to me alone. them sufficiently engaged had in 1900 born S. Pritchett a very unsettled and The writer V. who was family led to the his move in London marriage unstable parents' where childhood from divert attention lodgings repeatedly,had a similar wish that the war might his turbulent home life: 20Loelia, Duchess of Westminster, Grace and Favour - the Memoirs of Loelia Duchess of Westminster (London: 1961) pp 66-67. 21G. Cowen, Loud Report (London: 1938) p 27.

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European war! Another case of `prepare to receive cavalry'. This was good news, for us I thought, because it looked as though the worry of our household had spread beyond our garden fence and that our neighbours been. infected in had by our example. Wasn't the and world general mother always saying Life was a fight? Until then we had seemedto be 22 the only fighters. We were now the norm. For Pritchett the outbreak of war was a welcome diversion from the fighting at home, but, as we have seen, the writer HE Bates, whose father was a successful shoemaker, remembered it quite differently. He was at first concerned by what he learnt of the outbreak of war but soon got caught up in the excitement of the military preparations:

War suddenly became glorified - or perhaps it would be truer to say that it merely became glamorized. 23 Soon after the outbreak of war an advance party of billeting officers arrived in the Northamptonshire town of Higham Ferrers where the family lived. Bates Welch full Royal the the that the town proud soldiers of was soon of remembers Fusiliers, complete with goat mascot.

But none of its soldiers could have been.prouder than the small boy who devout follower became their of route a parades, positively worshipped at for his heart have into the far the given and would country out marches he had drum. Mercifully beating bugle blowing never a or a privilege of heard of the words cannon-fodder. All was glamour and glory, from the drum jugglings the head the to magnificent the of silvery goat of nodding 24 major. his lieutenant billeting duty family and The Bates an.upper-class of was given the young wife:

into I their both to room and creep And sometimes,when out, used were lift the lid of the long black tin box and gazedown at the glittering kit finery from to the the mess of grandeurof an officer's wardrobe, flashing gleam of scabbardand sword.

22Prichett, A Cab at the Door an Autobiography: Early Years p 136. 23Bates, The Vanished World an Autobiography p 73. 24Ibid. p 74. 25Ibid.

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Commenting on how he has since rememberedthe time Bates goeson to say: Often I wonder now what the thoughts of the cannon-fodderwere, though I knew of no such wondering then. All was still glory: blow, bugles, blow, swing, rifles, swing. As I listened to the music of marching feet I longed, always, to be a soldier.26 Crowds gatheredin London and aroundthe country to hear the news of war declared and for the most part it was met with enthusiasm For the middle classesparticularly it representedthe chancefor.Britain to reassertherself on the world stage, while for the working classesit provided the opportunity for many individuals to escapedull jobs and poor living conditions to take part in what was believed would be a quick and glorious victory. Children were caught up in the highly charged atmosphere and shared this excitement, although for very different reasons. While the adults were concerned with the economic and political implications of the war, for children the war entered their imagination as in their play, a grown up version of what was already present an extension of their reading and games. Evelyn Waugh remembers that: The war was at first a keen excitement to me. Travelling to Midsomer Norton immediately after its outbreak I delightedly counted the military from Mons followed bridges. I the to the the retreat mainline guards at Marne and drew countless pictures of German cavalry plunging among 27 English infantry with much blood and gunpowder about.

By this point The Pistol Troop had beendissolved,and insteadof armed by teachers Roland Waugh or the perhaps encouraged children, and resistance first in the the that months of war, the sprang up charities patriotic many of one devoted themselvesto raising funds for the Red Crossby collecting and selling linoleum the to soldiers. jars, jam of wounded slippers sole up cutting and empty Greene, Graham the son of by the Similarly excited the outbreakof war novelist the headmaster, remembers ten of war, outbreak at old Berkhampsted years and a for German the hoped that brothers his he so success its in that early years and war might continue.

26Ibid. p 75. 27Waugh, A Little Learning the First Volume of an Autobiography pp 87-88. -

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Herbert [a brother] bicycled in from Cambridgeone day with the evening paper announcingthe fall of Namur. My brothers and I were delighted at the speedwith which it had fallen becausethe prolonged defenceof Liege had threateneda speedytermination of the war. As long as the war continued, we might one day be involved, and the world of Henty seemed 28 little to come a nearer. For children like Greene, who had been bought up on a diet of children's fiction dominated by adventure and the promotion and defence of Britain's Empire, the became war quickly associated with the opportunity for adventure. The war fulfilled all the requirements of a Henty book or Boys' Own story. Britain was honouring her Treaty commitments and coming to the aid of a smaller, weaker, nation against an unpopular aggressor. The war promised the opportunity of foreign travel and battles in exotic locations. Throughout, it would provide the for individual heroism. opportunity countless acts of and bravery. What more could a small boy want?

Recalling William Le Queux`s famous 1906 documentary novel., The Invasion, Greene wondered whether there might be an invasion of England, and like Evelyn Waugh's Pistol. Troop believed he might help repel it, this time on Berkhamsted Common_

Older boys like Evelyn Waugh`sbrother Alec, who was a month over 16 when July felt 'boyhood in 1914, July that broke that grey endedon sometimes out war keen Sherborne, border As top sportsman, and a public school, at a eveningr29. a being too young to enlist had a particularly bitter edge. field football junior been had boy the infuriated It on my who me that a I I be not was still a schoolboy; was while officer commissioned a should his physical superior even if he was 17 to my 16? Through those hot Marne, from fell back Mons to the British days troops August when the that the for was question same question, there was me one absorbing I 'How Europe get could soon over all my contemporaries exasperating to France?'30

28G. Greene,A Sort of Life (London: 1971) p 64. 29Alec Waugh, The Early Years ofAlec Waugh (London: 1962) p 56. 30Ibid. pp 56-57.

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Hoping that the war would go on long enough that they would get a chance to participate is a common theme in the writing of those who were too young to fight at the start of the war. Many young men, especially those brought up within the public school system, expected and wanted to serve the Empire and fully were committed to the moral case for war which echoed the idea that an Englishman must always do his duty for his country. Young men under 18 often attempted to enlist by claiming they were older than they were, and many were successful Indeed Alec Waugh writing in the early 1960s believes that in 1914:

Most young people hoped for war. There was none of the reluctant but resolved acceptanceof an unwelcomefate with which twenty-five years later the country listened to Chamberlain'sfinal broadcast. There was on the contrary the spirit of crusadethat was to find expressiona few months later in Rupert Brooke's 'Now God be thankedwho has matchedus with his hour.31 Boys, educatedat public school did indeed feel that the war was a crusade.It heroism. high ideals honour, and sacrifice offered young men with of chivalry, the chanceto be part of somethingtruly great and they flocked to the recruiting stations in their thousands. Longing to be a soldier however was not a desire confined to boys educated at born in 1903 Muggeridge, The Malcolm was at who was writer public school. Borough Secondary School in London during the war and remembers that he and his friends:

hoped that the war would stretchon until we, too, could participatein its far I to as present so occasion, went on one even, glories and adventures. in insisting I that tremulously was my myself at a recruiting office, He but in NCO The sceptical chargewas sympathetic, nineteenthyear. 32 told me to return with a birth certificate. Pritchett fighting VS join keen the however, to recalls, boys and Not all were so because depressed I the to war and was Romantically I saw myself going daydream, It I too. of course, terrified all a was too was young, yet was I less been had animal had sickly-minded for if I had a more spirit and 31Ibid. pp 55-56. 32B. Inglis, ed., John Bull's Schooldays (London: 1961) p 110.

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have by lying through might got about my age. Many tough boys did_ I was a small, thin, ýenteel and timid sentimentalist,dreamingthe idea, 3 fact. afraid of the This conflict betweenwanting to go to war and knowing that he was actually too frightened to attempt it obviously upset Pritchett. Even though.he was too young to volunteer he wanted to imagine himself as a soldier and was ashamedthat he felt he lacked the couragelive out his dreamBut it was not always the boys themselves that wanted to be soldiers. Sometimes it was their parents who wanted more than.anything to see them in uniformBeverley Nichols who was born in 1899 and had an unhappy childhood at the hands of his over bearing and alcoholic father recalls an.incident (while he was still a school boy) when his father, despairing that his two eldest sons had not yet joined up exclaimed: Never mind! ' His voice would become quite cheerful. 'There's still Master Beverley. 'He'll be in it all right! ' My mother's face would cloud with distress. 'He's too young. ' 'That doesn't matter. The war's going on look You'll he long ' And time at me with a gloating smile. a would yet! be in it, won't you, m'young feller m'lad? You'll show them you're made back into father. he ' Then the sink would same stuff as your poor old of his arm-chair, and close his eyes. Maybe life was going to be kind to him, him long it Maybe to give a war, and the satisfaction was going after all. 34 blood sacrifice. of a

The desire amongstmany adults, both parentsand teachers,to seeyoung people do what was expectedof them andjoin the army was intense,and must have helped the British government'srecruiting drive enormously. Other, unofficial in the drives the the of war, months early nation were also sweeping recruiting by being felt he targeted one. C. H. Rolph the mistakenly at pride remembers and had in Fulham) (then Rolph 1914, graduatedto After the summerof at school his friends his fashion but school never wore long trousers school with as was the He had he to. remembers: cap unless in. feathers began I the to that One consequenceof this was receivewhite for large I age from my was women. young patriotic vicariously street but I looked practice of a made eighteen, or seventeen and probably 33Pnchett, A Cab at the Door - an Autobiography: Early Years p 199. 34B. Nichols, Father Figure (London: 1972) p 143.

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before `I'm fourteen', feather I the saying accepting only white and think I must have beenrather proud of being thought soldier like.35 When he returned to his public school, in September 1914, Alec Waugh at 16 found the place transformed. There was scarcely a boy over 18 left and not many over 17 and a half. Most of those who were there were waiting for their commissions to come through. Younger boys were promoted to positions of authority within the school overnight. Waugh suddenly became a House prefect and Captain of the House Rugby team. He remembers the speechthe Headmaster gave to all the newly promoted boys:

In the same way that Kitchener has called up his reserves, I have called upon you. I do not suppose that in the ordinary course of events any of you would have been prefects, but in the same way that, in the army, captains have become colonels overnight, so have you been raised to a 36 know that you will prove worthy of it. position of authority. I

In spite of his newfound authority Waugh saysthat there was a senseof unreality in the autumn of 1914, before anyoneknew how long the war would last, or what kind of a war it would be.

It was extremely difficult for a schoolboyto continuehis studiesin the he he had 6 He tell that whether could not months earlier. samespirit he its Would his to ever go to university? end. education would continue Would he indeed be alive after the war? There seemeda basic doing. felt I that we were that we were pointlessnessabout everything 37 marking time. How the educational establishment and individual schools dealt with the subject look it In basis thesis. is this at we will of the second chapter of of the war the how the war entered the curriculum and at how teachers used the war as a way of instilling lessons in citizenship and responsibility in their pupils. The war was both by for alike. schools training state and public moral example used as an Regardless of whether they were catering for boys or girls the war was used as a hard discipline the importance children and work, the and of stressing of means had to live those the volunteered to men who to sacrifice of up were extolled

35Rolph, London Particulars p 135. 36Waugh, The Early Years ofAlec Waugh p 58. 37 roll.

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fight for them. But before moving on to the responsesof the schools,the next section.of this chapterdealswith memoriesof school life during the war as experiencedby the children themselves. The early stages of the First World War were characterized by enthusiasm and widespread public support, illustrated by the successof Kitchener's recruiting campaigns. From these extracts it appearsthat many children were equally excited by the war. For younger children it echoed the themes and spirit of their adventure stories and private games. Children already familiar with the themes expressed constantly in their magazines and books quickly imagined battles, a foreign enemy, and the possibility of invasion For older children the war held the possibility of becoming a real adventure in which they could one day become Those boys by a part. educated the public schools to believe that it was not only but duty Englishman's an also an honour to protect and promote the British Empire, desperately wanted the opportunity to be part of the action- They were boys, in. however not alone as other caught up the excitement of the public fervour, imagined themselves as soldiers also. But there outpouring of patriotic is also fear and confusion expressed in the memories and a strong sensethat the forever for had had known. it, these children. they changed world, as

Memories of School

When war was declaredin 1914our hysteriabecamea fair copy of what it in displayed larger, found be purer we outside the groundsonly could 38 form. boarding in 1905 born. Green Henry school For the novelist and at a preparatory like the during Coast South world the place, a strange was school the war, on Separated but concentrated. more the emotions and sentiments all with outside Green by family his and others attending from and surrounded other children, learned by the been they have troubled of what boarding schoolsappearto more locally. Half home lived and were schooled at war than those children who 38Green, Pack My Bag 39. Self Portrait p -a

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understoodfacts and myths, picked up from teachersand eachother were internalised by the children and shapedtheir understandingof war and the outside world. School is the one environment that is the particular preserveof children. Even the adults who sharethe physical spaceof a school and are responsiblefor its function.do not have the samerelationship to the place asthe children who are pupils there. Memories of school.days can be joyous and carefreeif they represent a halcyon time in the writer's life, or painful and troubled, recalling days of loneliness and fear, and everything in between But they are definitely unique. At school, children are separatedfrom their families and forced to integrate with peers and teachers as an individual, and it is this standing alone which sometimes gives memories of school days their particular poignancy.

But what if your school days coincide with a period of intense national and here have included Many turmoil? the sometimes personal of autobiographers days. disturbing This may their school very vivid and sometimes memories of been if had have been the the not war going on, since childhood still case even. fully loaded fragmentary not always and with meanings memories are often but it is later, the time or also clear that the war was responsible comprehended at for some of the added emotional pressure under which these children were The noticeable strain on the adults around them, the privations of growing up. food, and for many the enforced separation from fathers and brothers meant that difficult they grew up under unique and conditions.

Thesewriters attendeda variety of school including elementaryschools,private from it is famous Grammars clear and schools, public and schools, preparatory Perhaps their school experience. all of them that war was very much a part of from children as who writers the come memories striking most of some (sometimesas young as seven)were separatedfrom their families and sentto from. These boarding privileged children, schools. public preparatory and backgroundsand usedto the comforts of home, went away to schoolswhere the it In harsh public at such often was addition austere. and regime was often felt. English schools impact public the the strongly most that war was of schools 60

maintained a tradition of training their pupils for service in the Empire and took the responsibility of providing officers for the British Army very seriously. Becauseof this, we shall seein the rest of this chapterthat it was often at such schoolsthat someof the strongestmoral assertionsand physical privations of the war were felt. In the early decades of the twentieth century the image of boarding school life was that suggested by Tom Brown's School Days (1857) and Talbot Baines Reed's stories in the Boys' Own Paper. The constantly reproduced `school displayed story' public school life as an endless round of sporting triumphs, midnight feasts and school master `ragging'. The reality was often very dif ferent.

The image was strong however, and children.from.all sorts of backgroundssaw themselvesas Greyfriars charactersand imagined all the fun they were going to have at their school. After C.H. Rolph's father waspromotedto police family from districts London the the moved wherethey superintendentof one of had been living to a housein.the City of London, entailing a changeof schoolfor Rolph:

My father had alreadyenquiredabout Christ's Hospital at Horsham, blue knee frock boarders boys the coats, and wore were all where breeches,and yellow stockings. I secretlyrather fancied myself in these, like be Hospital Christ's in that something might and supposed addition 39 Greyfriars, all kippers and toast,ragging and cricket. family for he the for Rolph could not Unfortunately a grant and was not eligible

found. fees so an alternative school was afford the Surbiton. family to Hunter's to Eileen moved When she was nine years old boarding be decided to it that sent London she would the was and raids air escape describe the Later to she was period short in Buckinghamshire. came she school there as

39Rolph, London Particulars p 147.

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only six weeks,but six weeksthat stretch in memory into an age of dark 40 discomfort that borderedon real suffering. wintry But before going Hunter had also imagined her prospectivenew school in the light of the stories shehad read. Until my mother was ushered out of the cold grim parlour by my new headmistress and I was left alone, straining my ears after the sound of her departing cab as though as long as I heard it I remained in contact with her, I had been.greatly sustained by the colourful tales I had read by Angela Brazil - The Madcap of the Lower Fourth, The Jolliest Term on Record - and had pictured myself pretty, winsome and athletic, tossing flying my curls throughout a series of splendid adventures; but now in deepening twilight, in the ugly room, as I watched my tears drop onto the matted coat of a dog like a dirty doormat that had snuggled up to my hard rush-seated chair, Miss Brazil's picture of the headmistress'scosy study leaping log fire began framed to cheery with chintzes, silver photos, and fade, as did the chiselled profile of her silver haired headmistresswith a twinkle behind her spectacles, which entirely vanished at the re-entry of drab Miss Cross with her nut-wrinkled features, baggy serge djibah and 41 hands. claw cold Changing school at eleven was also a disappointment for the novelist H. E. Bates. Having done well at elementary school, Bates secured a place at Kettering Grammar School but found that the teaching was not to his liking. Most of the by jobs being had taken. their teachers women: enlisted, male

But whereas this was something that in no sensebothered me at the irritation f it I to of extreme nd a source elementary school was presently has likelihood in disposed that this I think to Kettering. all am now at it do twelve the to or so would seem age of with puberty; up something to likely that a boy welcomes and indeed relishes a certain maternal touch in is himself fourteen he But about to at the attentions of a schoolmistress. become a man and it is to men that he then begins to look, in my opinion, 42 for greater guidance

in be discussed the third teaching will The effect of the war on the quality of it is included here from but obvious the evidence anecdotal thesis, this chapter of hindered felt the that least, themselves war somepupils that, retrospectively at

40Hunter, The Profound Attachment p 56. 41Ibid. 42Bates, The Vanished World an Autobiography p 78. -

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their education. Dame Barbara Cardand,who was born in 1901,saysof her boarding school years: We knew nothing! Our educationhad beenscantyand inadequateduring the years of the struggle. All the young mastershad goneto fight, all the young and most intelligent mistresseswere doing war work. We were taught by the old, the infirm, the men and women who weren't capableof 43 better lucrative jobs in industry. getting and more There were someteachershowever, who commandedthe respectof their pupils. Gibson Cowan speakingof his time at secondaryschoolin London remembers: In the last year, many of the masters who had left to go to France came back with wounds and took over their old positions. They were acclaimed with. a great deal of fuss by the headmaster, and the boys regarded them with awe. Masters who, before they went to the front, could command no discipline, now found that the boys listened attentively to every word they said. None of the returned masters spoke of their war experiences. The whole of the school with the exception of 44 an old botany master of nearly sixty, was still war mad. Schools that appear, almost without exception (see chapter 3) to have been largely in favour of the war would have been keen to employ men back from the front. Not only because of the obvious staff shortagesbut also, as Cowan illustrated, because those men had fought, as the schools believed young men for the young people they were the thus they perfect role model were should, and but from the They their represent also teach. pupils, to respect would command during Schools ideal best the war, as we shall see, of service. possible very it be those be the masters to often and was to effort, war supporting seen wanted (and sometimes mistresses) who could not fight themselves that were most important how impart taught they in to the young people zealous their efforts to by Britain was. the the prosecution of war

St Edmund's in bom 1904 Isherwood Christopher and attended The poet was PreparatorySchool in Surrey during the war where he was a contemporaryof had been that He the W.H. Auden_ school was a common remembersthat near to The for Canadian huge into common was soldiers. army camp transformed a 43B. Cartland, The Isthmus Years (London: 1943) p 8. 44Cowen, Loud Report p 53.

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partially dug up to createa seriesof trenchesand while on their weekly walks with their mastersthe boys were encouragedto jump thesetrenches. Isherwood wonders whether perhapsthe mastersdid this to bring home to the boys he the something of physical reality of war, something saysthey certainly succeededin doing in his case: Many of the trencheswere sevenor eight feet deep; it mademe dizzy to look down into them. And though there were plenty of placeswhere I could jump across,they seemedalarmingly wide to me, with my short legs. We also played hide and seekin them. This was fun. But one day, I got temporarily lost and experiencedsomeof the terror of the trench 45 labyrinth which Robert Gravesand other war writers have described . It is possible that the mastersbelieved that this exercisewould help to shapethe boys' character,(somethingparticularly important to the public schoolsand the day be for they them. them), one war should and prepare parentswho chose be brave The to their to take and pupils schools wanted part. called upon jumping Learning have to trenches. the to confront at go a adventurous, willing fears was part of the character training the schools provided, and so the trenches is be bold. It to their to pupils encourage granted teachers the perfect opportunity Isherwood frighten they just the to says that they children as meant also possible keenness is illustration it the do. Whatever with which the of an case managed to the fighting that in themselves, young public the sure made taking part adults, not Empire, the being the take to of running over groomed schoolboys, who were in involvement the Britain's war. of part understood and were in lost being trenches the Isherwood and It is also interesting that remembers

is he if is It has he as sinceread. likens it to the experiencesof war writers that has he light in war. real his others' of the read of what own war remembering (1899) that Memories in Screen suggests and Freud talks about this phenomenon different layers one be with fact memories, in of of up made a memory can in the this an of memory case, or, as another memory sometimessuppressing 46 fact In later that events. by or similar, same, of being retelling a expanded event have the screen of in qualities of this some chapter many of the memories 45C. Isherwood, Exhumation (London: 1966) p 169. Sigmund Works Complete Edition the of of 46S. Freud, "Screen Memories, " in The Standard Freud (London: 1962).

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memories. These authors recalling their childhood have often attached meaning later. The earlier images have been reshaped by later events or by the mere act of recalling them. This is inevitable because of the fragmentary nature of memories; a scene or part of a scene may be conjured but its meaning at the time may escape the author, prompting them.to invest the memory with. a meaning drawn from later experience. This does not diminishes the importance of what is being remembered, but helps us to understand how that memory fits in with others that have shaped the development of individual character. We are seeking here to understand how these writers' memories of the war years have become part of the layers of memory that have made up a life how their experience of war contributed to their developing senseof self.

For the poet W.H. Auden who was born in 1907 and was at the sameschool as Isherwood during this period, the war had no reality of any kind'. Even though. his father was serving abroadat the time and took part in the Gallipoli head he be in Auden 'the that thought might my entered campaigns, says never he danger'. Christopher Isherwood Although coming to school any remembers his father dead, 'the black knew this that that meant was armbandon and with a 47 image '. in brought killed to mind my no action' words In terms of his own participation in activities associated with the war Auden who faintly being began, them the ridiculous: as remembers war was only seven when

Our only 'war work' consisted of collecting sphagnum moss, when there [his in knitting the mother] read while she evening mufflers was any, and days' had'field drilled At with wooden rifles and school we aloud to us. bushes to behind twirled represent noisemakers took and cover when we 48 fire. machine gun

in London, School Secondary the Borough Muggeridge the Malcolm. For state at life daily the become the had school: of of part a war boys There hysteria full who were old The very air was of war. of the had We in a school cadet their ourselves uniforms. resplendent appeared in headmaster join. The to of charge was compelled corps which we were 47W.H. Auden, "As It Seemedto Us," in Forewordsand Afterwords(London: 1973),p 504. 48Ibid., p 505.

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it, with the rank of a major, and shambledalong at the headof us when we had occasionto march through the streets,his uniform, as even my ignorant eye could detect,in strangedisarray.49 At Minnie Cowley's infant school in Whitton the teachersalso wantedto get the children involved and interestedin the war. Lots of soldiersmarchedpast our school almost every day, and the crunching soundof their heavy boots on the stony ground was so noisy that we could not hear the teacher.Taking us out to the playground to see them asthey went by in a long line, shetold us that they were all brave 50 Germans men who were going to stop the making us slaves. Cowley's father was a masterplastererwho enlistedas soonas war was declared: I was only a little girl. of seven, but I almost burst with pride: my Dad looked just like a king ready to lead his armies into battle. sl Even at the age of seven, Cowley says that the ideals of patriotism, King and Empire were `crammed' into them at school. The teachers would line the lead like in. the them to march soldiers, playground and, calling on children up them in. singing:

My Daddy's dressed in khaki, He's gone away to fight

For King and Home and Country For Honour and for Right. We do not want the Germans To get all over here So Dad must go and fight them, We'll never, never fear. Now give three cheersfor Daddy, We would not keep him back, For we are little Britons 52 And love the Union Jack.

49Inglis, ed., John Bull's Schooldays p 109. 5° Ni Cowley, My Daddy Is a Soldier: A Working Class Family in the Lloyd George Era, Local Studies Collection - Richmond upon Thames p 10. 51Ibid. p11. 52Ibid. p 21.

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Cowley says: How I loved that part of the day! I would march along, all stiff and straight, singing louder than any of the others and imagining I was my Dad. Of course,there were somechildren whose fatherswere not soldiers, and I would tell them they should not sing with.us, becausetheir dadswere not fighting the Germans,but were cowardy custards.53 For this reason the song was no doubt popular with recruiters and echoes many of the recruiting posters aimed at persuading women to encourage their men to fight. As with the `Daddy, what did you do during the war?' poster it plays on the idea that children would want their fathers to go to the war. But perhaps importantly it tells children that it is right for their fathers to leave them and more that as good patriots who `love the Union Jack' they should not be afraid or discourage their fathers from going. This is at a time when patriotism was in Empire Day. This through taught actively schools, celebrations such as was felt big Cowley the the excitement children occasion, and remembers always a during dressing Union Jacks Britannia the singing their and waving when up as of the National Anthem. At Henry Green's school the children. were also encouraged to follow the war. Using a map the boys marked out all the new army positions with pins and instead of the usual pipe rack each boy made his own. dummy rifle in. carpentry. They did drill instead of gym and bayonet practice instead of boxing. The school batteries. Green by hill remembers anti-aircraft and was surrounded stood on a being woken in the night by the sound of gunfire:

We stole to the windows, taking care in all that abyssof noise to make no frightened but until as often came not sound ourselvesand watched,awed happened When fall this began the we to roof spenton about shrapnel 5 did.feel miserableand ran back to hide beneaththe clothes. Green it fighting by too remembers and close The boys were excited the until got how imagine is fire. It being to easy under that they were actually proud of heroism take pleasure could instilled boys excitement and of stories with young After the airdanger safe. relatively being remaining in the still to while so close 53Ibid. pp 21-22. 54Ibid. p 44.

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raids the boys went out in the morning to collect the shrapnelthat had fallen during the night. They hid it in the trunks by their beds until it beganto be stolen by the maids who cleanedtheir rooms. As the raids becamea part of their everydaylives Gibson.Cowan,at day school in London, has a similar memory of boyhood excitementand of the importance accordedto the souvenirsof a night's raid: On fine moonlit nights, many of the boys would go to bed as soon as they from home in arrived school, order to keep awakeduring the raids and not miss anything. Every morning we met in the groundsand swapped piecesof shrapneland told storiesof how they had fallen near us. North [a friend] becamea hero for nearly a week. The completenose-capof an 55 had fallen his through the roof of anti aircraft shell outhouse. Henry Green tells us how another aspect of the war became central to the imagination, the story of the Angel of Mons. Paul Fussell explains that children's the tale, that originated as a fictional story published in the Evening Standard, fact. British. The the that of soldiers story went ghosts was soon credited as killed in the Battle of Agincourt had come to the aid of their countrymen during the British retreat from. Mons in August 1914, killing the Germans without 56 leaving any visible wounds:

Our old tyrant, [headmaster] an.Old Testament man, had been for it it by to this proof was extravagance, story and carried overwhelmed him, as it was for many others, that God was on our side. And as we 57 followed him in everything he said we also utterly believed in this story.

Green.remembersthat every time they sawthe flashesof headlightssweepover from Mons. it those sameangels the grounds or of gunfire they were sure was This boys by feeling the was But instead of were afraid. protected them. have the Headmaster to formidable seen their claimed especially true after Green it frighten says and he the If worked, to certainly children meant angels. fear belief kept their in Church and after that and that they behavedimpeccably He the writes: angelsa secret. of

ss Cowen, Loud Report p 38. 56p Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford: 1975) p 116. 57Green, Pack My Bag 44-45. Self Portrait pp -a

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I think it is interesting that because they had been through air-raids without one bomb being dropped within seventy miles boys should see what they took to be malignant ghosts of those who had died for them drifting across their playing fields. 58 As the boys at Green's school were repeatedly told that men were fighting and dying for them, feelings of guilt were common regardless of whether they had done anything wrong or not. In the children's imaginations those soldiers, who had died for them, were returning to see if their sacrifice was deserved. The children. appropriated a popular myth, loved by their feared headmaster and subverted its meaning amongst themselves. A fantastical story of ghosts and heroes fired their imagination but took on.a life of its own as the children's lack into fear turned the of understanding and. of authority angels malignant creatures intent on punishing them. for failing to live up to their example.

Greenremembersthat such confusionsand fearswere common in the closedand it is boarding boys' But Edwardian another school. repressive atmosphere of an highly highlights Green's the the that emotive and way really memory of became in being Press the the tales entwined with retold about war colourful boys. imaginations The in highly the the subject of of charged subject another in Boys' Green's mystery. was one shrouded sex, particularly at a school such as boarding schools, desperate to avoid scandals that might ruin their appeal to in the threats very vaguest couched admonishments and prospective parents, used terms to make it clear that any form of sexual expression or encounter was In lead the disapproved to absenceof reliable expulsion. could of and strictly dread. into boys the turned one of information the pre-pubescent subject

kind in living boys this of atmosphereof the Green explainsthe effect on Germans British the that short of so were the public, rumour, circulating amongst food. bodies German dead to British down make and fats that they were boiling feelings I for those awed truth gaveme exactly This lie which we took be No dread Sex story could mystery. was a had when we talked of sex. felt We there than even full might sex. dreadful, awe agitated of more so 58Ibid. p 46.

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be some connection between what the Germans were said to have done and this mysterious urgency we did not feel and which was worse than human fats; or so it seemsnow, looking back on what many call eating 59 happiest their time.

Again, myth and rumour from the outsideworld enteredthe realm of the boys' fantasies private and becameentwined in their minds with other tales and snippetsof fact picked up from home and school. The boys, encouragedby each other, were able to form an understandingof the war, quite different from that their teachersand parentsmight have beentrying to encourage. Their war took individual imaginations. its by their on a meaning of own shaped and collective The memories of the writer William Plower, (born in 1.903),on the other hand him from. distance he felt the that the as a surrounded concentrate on war-fever hypocrisy he He the of the remembers as child. writes with some anger of what feelings he being His taught were perhaps at school. message of war was

heightenedbecausehe spenthis holidays helping out and trying to amusethe in hospital: soldiers army At one moment we might be listening to the Sermon on.the Mount; at bayonet be practice on the common, where watching another we might by being in khaki boys to taught stab sergeant a were overgrown errand I likeness Kaiser. filled the of with straw and painted with a rough sacks do not say that we boys were unaffected by war-fever, nor do I say that at the time I was able to explain my feelings to myself as I have explained in feelings is do there I What that my were them since. powerful say heart, of resentment against those who taught me and their teachings, and if love, I for on as were and the of sympathy soldiers, wounded of pity had forces huge that the their side, somehow taking their part against filled this man's lungs with gas, driven this one mad, and torn away that 60 in Soldiers' Christian 'Onward chapel. sang we one's genitals.

developed has feelings his his here over is that Plower accepting memory of he at school he receiving the While was troubled messages mixed at time. was he later to it that he able really was identified with the soldiers met, was only and developed he It himself. feelings understanding to as only these was explain fully Plomer to that able was through exposureto a greaterrange of experiences feelings his child. a the as of strength recognise 59Ibid. p 47. 60G Greene, ed, The Old School (London: 1934) pp 133-34.

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From these accountsit seemsas though the war provoked a greaterdegreeof confusion and fear for the children who spentthe war years at boarding school. We cannot know how thesewriters would have rememberedthe war if they had been not away at school, but it is likely that someof the fear and mystery might have beenalleviated had they not been surroundedby other children. In a situation with little adult - child communicationoutsideof schoolmatters,fears, is Green's becauseit is Angel Mons, It the such as of of could grow unchecked. feelings like fear, shameand guilt that are rememberedmost clearly that often their school dayshave provided thesewriters with sucha rich store of memories. Between.the efforts of the schools,with the drills and mock battles,and the children's own gamesand fantasies,the war was a central part of their school forcefully Because the to the war, and worked experience. schoolsrespondedso to ensurethat Britain's position was understoodby those in.their carethese hysteria the to of war. children were exposed all propagandaand

Memories of Food It was in. 1917 that the submarineblockadebecameeffective. Adolescentswere not as tenderly treatedby the rationing authoritiesof life introduction in first to public school the war as the second;my 61 hunger. first experienceof coincided with my linked intrinsically hunger Waugh with For Evelyn are and others memories of have been Authors able to conjure up very vivid their memories of war. food for desire hunger, instances their was or when particular of memories desire their because is their and It strong, so was perhaps unrequited. have become the of strongest some these disappointment so great, that memories differences is significant Here some see can we where area another of childhood. boarding those to compared school in the experiences of children who were at home lived backgrounds, with at from who class working poorer children, often in level the differences The of necessarily during not are the war. their parents for in but that the and privation food reasons lack they hunger or experienced, of it. Britain, to that accompany seem often feelings shame and of guilt associated 99-100. Autobiography pp Volume 61Waugh, A Little Learning - the First of an

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during the First World War, experienceda severeshortageof food, and it was not until 1917 that rationing was introduced for important commoditieslike meat and butter. Prices however, beganto rise almost as soon as war was declared,which meant that in poorer householdsbudgetswere stretchedeven further and malnutrition became a very real concern

But whereasthe lack of food in suchhouseholdswas unavoidable,it is not from. the memoirs of children from thesebackgroundsthat the strongestmemoriesof hunger come. Insteadit is from the autobiographiesof someof the most privileged children, attending exclusive, fee-payingboarding schools,that we get the clearestimpressionthat the war brought real deprivation and some traumatising experiencesto the lives of children. From the earliestdaysof the war the public schools,almost all of whom supportedthe war whole-heartedly, food for do To the they to many of wanted war effort. conserve could anything them instituted a systemof self-imposedrationing on their pupils and in some during from home, the term, were all once a regular occurrence schoolsparcels but forbidden.

W. H. Auden remembers the seriousnesswith which the masters at his prep

food the took of shortagesand the moral censurewith which question school they chastisedthe boys for any small lapsein self-discipline, I also remember that when I once took a second slice of bread and "Auden, I see, wants margarine, which was permitted, a master remarked, 62 the Huns to win" .

had the his the a be threatened clearly To war whole outcomeof told that actions He the Auden. impact master's only not remembers the vividly young on strong bread the therefore he that the fact to but and that eat was allowed also the words feelings humiliating Memories of guilt and experiences of accusationwas unfair. but this in largely feature example of childhood memories and shameoften in leave injustice a child's mark strong equally an can that of memories shows us mind.

62Auden, "As It Seemedto Us," p 505.

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The authorities at the school of the poet StephenSpendertook the issueof food shortagesso seriouslythat they felt their own usual punishmentswere not enough to maintain the standardof self-sacrificedesired: One day, I and a few other boys, being hungry during the "break", ate four quarters of a slice of bread, instead of only a quarter, as we were allowed to do. This was discovered. The housemaster assembled all the boys, and standing on the platform, said words to the effect: "These boys are worse than Huns, they're FOOD HOGS. I'm not going to try and discover the culprits. I leave it to the remainder of you to do what you like with them. I outlaw them. " We were soon discovered. Some boys tied pieces of rope round my arms and legs and pulled in different directions 63 The school clearly believed that the way to ensure that children lived up to the discipline required standards of self was to make that discipline a part of the children's own moral code. By encouraging the children. to police themselves and each other the adults made sure that the children had absorbed the school's it food the to attitude crisis and made their own.

For one child the school's messagehad the desiredeffect. When Eileen Hunter boarding to temporarily schoolrecommended sent a was nine years old shewas to her parentsby somefriends. The vegetarianfood was appalling and the for be it but for Eileen the freezing to the made war: a sacrifice was young school Despite these torments I wrote cheerful letters home. I felt, vaguely, I was helping to win the war by not complaining, and I could also look forward to I having the think, that they, vegetarian realised, seeing my parents often as friends of my mother's who had recommended the school had not known it in its war-time aspect, cheered my exile with as many visits and parcels TM food as possible. containing nourishing

feeling from that her the Eileen! presumably Eventually school, s parentsremoved harsh the to from to the danger air-raids shewas there escapewaspreferable daughter their was experiencingat school. conditions has in 1899 born troubled Bowen Elizabeth Anglo-Irish was The who novelist the School House Downe years her war remembers she time and at memories of 63Greene, ed, The Old School p 185. 64Hunter, The Profound Attachment p 57.

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as onesof unhappinessand stress. Sheemphasizesthe power the war exerted over the girls' behaviour and attitudes. The moral stresswas appalling. We grew up under the intolerable obligation of being fought for, and could not fall short in character without recollecting that men were dying for us. During my secondyear, the Daily Mail came out with a headline about food-hogs, and it became impossible to eat as much as one wished, which was to over eat, without self-consciousness. If the acutest food shortageshad already set in, which it had not, meals would really have been easier. As it was we could overeat, but it became unfeeling to do so. The war dwarfed us and made us morally uncomfortable, and we could seeno reason why it should ever 65 stop.

These feelings of guilt and obligation may have been worse for Bowen as a woman, never expected to play a serious role in the prosecution of the war. Too have for in factories kind Bowen. the may also young war work or any of nursing, been aware of the fairly low opinion many men had of women's possible contribution- As workers women often aroused suspicion, and to the men at the Front women sometimes represented the worst kind of non-combatant, lacking like. the really war was any real understanding of what

Graham Greene, who attended Berkhampsted School where his father was the

Headmaster,considersthat: T suppose we were always a little hungry in the war years. There were no rice deadly little tired and substitutes of grew and we sugar and potatoes 66 honey-sugar.

felt father's his that: deeply and Greenewas school unhappy at I had left civilisation behind and entered a savage country of strange foreigner in I inexplicable a was which country a cruelties: customs and dubious have known to hunted literally creature, a quite suspect, a and 67 Headmaster? father the Was not my associates.

65Greene, ed., The Old School p 50. 66Greene, Sort of Life p 34. l4 67Ibid. p 72.

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Illustrating the hierarchy and symbolism running through children's society Greeneremembersthe efforts younger children.would make to get extra food at school: Magic and incantation play a great part in.childhood. There was a tuckshop by the fives-court which was only open, becauseof warshortages,to boys of the senior school. As a junior I would standoutside formula, "Treat I", to any older boy ashe cameout, reciting an accepted 68 detatch and occasionally one would a morsel of bun and hand it over. For the novelist Henry Green at prep school, it was a simple case of hunger:

Food, always on our minds, began to haunt our dreams. Not that we were unhappy or obsessedonly that there was not enough and what there was 69 bad of quality.

However Greenwas a large child, a fact cynically utilized by the Headmaster when showing prospectiveparentsround the school; I became an advertisement for their cooking and would be beckoned up to be examined by inspecting parents, to be thumped and fingered like fat headmaster] [the He was too clever to say my size was stock at a show. due to his table what he said was, "well, this little nipper seemsto get on

'a all right it.

In 1917 however Green's family house in the country was turned into an Officers

he 20 in home time, taking and about woundedofficers at a convalescent family during for had benefits the rationing. such a situation remembersthe There was as well the delicious food we had becauseof them, clotted days in butter, that those things were so of amount cream and any impossibly remote asto seembarbaric delicaciesof which one had read 71 have tasting. of chance no and yet would hunger had and whose Loelia Ponsonbywas a child who no experienceof boarding by Not to little she school lifestyle sent luxurious war. affected was

6sIbid. p 69. 69Green, Pack My Bag 41. Self Portrait p -a 70Ibid. pp 18-19. 71Ibid. p 72.

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was schooledby a governessalong with the daughterof a Mrs Hunter at Hill Hall. Sherecalls that the war `touchedus children very little' : We had ponies to ride, carsto carry us to London.and massesof good food. For a short while as a concessionto the times in which we were living, Elizabeth and I had cooking lessonsfrom the French chef The brandy him I two teaching things only snapsand can remember us were mashedpotato: the latter, accordingto him, required a pint of creamand 72 half a pound of butter. Not a very basic curriculum. For other children such a luxurious diet could only be dreamed of Molly Keen, the daughter of a master sign writer, was eleven years old when.the war broke describes lived in She Hounslow London. the the out and on outskirts of situation, after strict rationing came in and shortages were extremely severe, knowing join outside a shop not what they were a queue where people would by have it dreading for, the that run out whatever was would queuing and always time they got to the counter. She says that: As schoolgirls we would go into town just in case there was something look by We to tried putting our grown up make ourselves going. even hair up etc. We stood a better chance of buying something then.

For the service men home on leavethe food shortageswere sometimesa shock. Dora Hannan remembersher father's angerwhen home on leavehe discovered that his family couldn't get any potatoes,he shouted: "What on earth am I fighting for, when my wife and children can't get found he " He the town a shop until walked all over enough to eat? he had he that to an say a paper signed and potatoes, seed selling he in justified felt he telling I bought what some. suppose allotment, and 74 had he lie, no allotment. thought was a white as of course,

Although thesechildren come from a variety of backgroundsand experienced have food they degrees various different recorded all privation, of quite Children's in food are very appetites their to memoirs. memories relating the from those know experienced the who writings of powerful and, as we 72Loelia, Grace and Favour the Memoirs of Loelia Duchess of Westminsterp 74. 73M Keen, Childhood Memories 1903 - 1921, Working Class Autobiographical Archive - Brunel University (London) p 27. 74D. R. Hannan, ThoseHappy Highways: An Autobiography, Working Class Autobiographical Archive - Brunel University (London) p 25.

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starvation of the Russiangulags or the Germanconcentrationcamps,hunger and lack of food can becomethe overwhelming memory of any experience. Someof these children experiencedvoluntary restrictions on food imposedby the public schoolsas a responseto growing food shortages,while othersexperiencedreal shortagesas food prices rose and the Germanblockadesbecamemore effective. Becausethesechildren were sometimespartially deprived of somethingas important as food, and particularly of just the types of food children like the most, thesememoriesare someof the strongestand most vivid in the autobiographies. The feelings of hunger and the guilty and shamefulemotions arousedwhen they did indulge in eating more than they were supposedto, were so intenseand cameat such an important time in the developmentof their charactersthat thesememoriesstandout clearly when thesewriters remember their years at school. Around the issueof food children'sdesirescameface to face with real and artificial prohibition- What they wantedmost wasjust what they could not have. And when that prohibition camein the form of moral forced the to wrestle with themselvesover their conflicting children were censure desiresto indulge and live up to expectationsat the sametime. During the First World War it wasthe issue of food perhapsmore than any other that defined the Home Front experience. Britain experiencedreal shortages,underminingmorale it is light home. In health to this the those the threatening easy of of at and become the food has how the of memories most overriding of one understand for these writers. war

Memories of Anti German Attitudes

him found I down boys German the find street. I went out to one of the bought just had he and, iron-mongers a wash-leather the where outside 75 him, hit I German' `Dirty warning. more without shouting direct this attack his as V. S.Pritchett remembers responseto the outbreakof war brought fourteen, boy of reading friend. As and playing former up of a on a

75Prichett, A Cab at the Door an Autobiography: Early Years p 137. -

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battles, his German peer fell immediately into the position- of enemy. Just as they may well have fought against each other in mock battles, Pritchett now cast him in the role of opposing army and transferred their private games into the public world of real war. For children then perhaps there was no line between the enemy presented in the press and anybody who appeared to share characteristics or nationality that they came across in. every day life. They responded unilaterally, striking out against the enemy where they found him, thinking little about whether that individual really fitted the role or not. Although their motivation may have been more direct, less metaphorical, children. were not in alone attacking their German neighbours, and we must presume that some of their behaviour was prompted by the actions of the adults around them who turned so vehemently against German nationals living in Britain.

Although. sections of the press and many politicians had been openly hostile to Germany before the war, Germans in England had rarely been the target of in declaration August 1914 But the position of the of war aggression. with Germans in England became increasingly uncomfortable as the campaign to by in the'enemy relentlessly unofficial our midst was pursued expose be for Germans in There to the all were calls press. organisations and interned, German businesseswere attacked and individuals were subjected to fierce suspicion. Enemy aliens were all removed from'proh bited' areas like had the to they register with towns operations; military of and areas coastal local police and later Orders of Council prohibited the ownership of carrier Many letters dispatch the abroad. of pigeons and wireless sets as well as families, with German sounding names, including the Royal Family, quickly

Germans belonging to anglicised them, streetnameswere changed,shops longer German played-76 no was music even and attacked were Cate Haste explains that 'in wartime the intricate patternsof politics are refined into simple and crude imagesof right and wrong. Germanywas the aggressor, " freedom'. democracy for and Britain the crusaderfor the rights of small nations, be had image to this If the public were to continue in their support of the war, 76Cate Haste, Keep the Home Fires Burning Propaganda in the First World War (London: 1977)p110. 77Ibid. p 79.

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maintained. Anti-German propaganda served to emphasise and illustrate this, giving the public a picture of the Germans they could truly hate. Not wishing to let the war effort down, most newspapers and magazines were willing to print reports of German atrocities with very little, if any, basis in truth. With hardly any actual detail. about the fighting coming through to the British public, people were understandably desperate for information. and many believed most if not all of what they were told. Even a soldier like Robert Graves, was taken in. by the propaganda. Writing in his autobiography, Good-bye To All That (1929) Graves says:

it never occurredto me that newspapersand statesmencould lie. I forgot my pacifism -I was ready to believe the worst of the Germans. I was outragedby the cynical violation of Belgian neutrality, I wrote a poem promising vengeancefor Louvain- I discountedperhaps20% detail That the of atrocity as wartime exaggeration. was not, of 78 course,enough. The propaganda of the day succeededin stirring up and exaggerating the fears and suspicions of the population- It resulted in an almost fanatical hatred of all things German and heightened the already fervent patriotism demonstrate to their to the pains great nation, as people went sweeping loyalty. The result for Germans in England was, Haste explains, that it:

legitimised the expression of vindictiveness and hatred against a.minority The in fact, had, war never warranted such abuse. whose actual activities hate for front home triumph the was a against the enemy on 79 propaganda

Eileen Hunter describesthe situation, as sheunderstoodit as a child of six at the outbreak of war: by be felt the allto I, To my sister and shieldedas we still ourselves first the figures the life of larger the months than grown-ups, of powerful, it little bring though, to alteration; the appeared war of progress grinding figure 'fine hate Kaiser the a recently so is true, we obediently learnedto I family's and relative respected of a man', and our reveredroyal illustrated in his paper, an portrait on spitting rememberceremoniously Dachshunds Willie'. 'Little his jeering weak chinned offspring, at and 78Robert Graves, Good-Bye to All That (London: 1960) p 99. 79Haste, Keep the Home Fires Burning - Propaganda in the First World War p 139.

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renamedGerman sausagedogs' - Beethoven,Vienna bread,and Wagner 8° were referred to with contempt and spurnedwith equal contumely. Clearly Eileen and her sister were encouraged to turn against all things German by their parents. She says that they 'obediently learnt to hate the Kaiser' suggesting that there was a concerted attempt made in the family home to turn the children against a figure they had previously been taught to admire. Here, unlike V. S.Pritchett's response, the children's attitude to the Germans is being directly mediated by their parents. It does not appear that Eileen harboured any ill feeling of her own, just that taking a negative stand against the Germans became a learned response as the adults around her rejected all German connections.

For Beverley Nichols too it was a parent who championedhatredof the Germans.Here he describeshis father's reaction to the war as typical: The word 'German' was forbidden in the house; a German was a Hun' intelligent be described. This conversation about made and as such must the war even more difficult than in most British households, particularly for my mother. The least vindictive of women, the word 'Hun' came him. When her lips, from she offending she constantly and was uneasily did, he would stick in his eyeglass and stare at her, asking her who these 'German friends of hers' might be? He knew no 'Germans'. He only 8' knew 'Huns".

Nichols' father was an alcoholic and terrorisedhis family with his behaviour and his for keen he have to his life. As sons seen was throughout already we moods in his Office War letters to the services join the army and wrote regular offering Germans then This the he think against stance of violent every capacity could from this extract that not does not seemout of characteralthough we can see language. everyone was so comfortable with such lengths feeling the both and the extent of anti-German Gibson Cowan describes being thought antito of as to German avoid go would connections those with for father Cowan's an was working as a chauffer British. At the outbreak of war

80Hunter, The Profound Attachment p 41. 81Nichols, Father Figure p 138.

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elderly Austrian man named Schmidt. Cowan describeshim as `a typical Teuton, with a fine close-croppedbullet head and a thick Germanaccent,' He [Schmidt] kept a dachshundcalled Johann..One day Johanncame home tarred and featheredby the villagers. This was the first incident 82 that madethe war real to me. Cowan describesSchmidt's attemptsto avoid aggravatinghis English neighbours: At the end of 1915 Schmidt askedmy father to enlist under the Derby scheme. Being an Austrian he wished to avoid the gossipthat would arise if he employed a man within military age. My father refusedand 83 dismissed. left We the country and moved to London. was If the Cowanshad left the country for London in the hopethat they would find its inhabitants more tolerant they were likely to be disappointed. C.H. Rolph describesthe attitude that prevailed amongstthe children he played with in West London after war had broken out: The percussion cap pistols came out again, old walking sticks were Prussophobia dummy the to of the past ten years rifles, and converted became so universal among my street urchin comrades that no one along the whole road wanted to be a German and it was difficult to arrange 84 battles. Rolph had a friend, David Blomberg who had never made any secret of his father's German.nationality but was bullied mercilessly at school and in the by later, Zeppelin' `von the `Hupberg' other Blomberg and was renamed street.

his fish school, at chair on smeared was glue one occasion on children and Rolph he legs his to tried his remembers get up. to when peel off skin causing the situation: for time in be the lot a the right place at right It was David's to boys to tolerate, the the willing was of mildest persecutionwhich even degrading of had felt so productive I or I so anything never seen and high thrown His a helpless over was satchel school anger. vicarious and 82Cowen, Loud Report p 29. 83Ibid. p 30. 84Rolph, London Particulars

p 126.

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wall into a factory yard, his school cap was filled with horse dung, he was shoutedand sneeredat, his parentsand his country were abused. And I wish that I could rememberthat I stood up for him at the time, or ranged myself at his side to sharethe torment. To my shame,I recall nothing of 85 the sort. Before the war Blomberg is mentioned as a close friend and it is a mark of the strength of the other children's persecution of David that Rolph failed to stand up for him. The sudden.cruelty of the other children to their long-term classmate is but shocking not unsurprising. In the press and in. the streets Germany and Germans were being vilified, here in. the classroom and playground the children had a real German of their own on whom they could act out their understanding of the prevailing mood. The adult Rolph is ashamed of the fact that he did not his friend he support as remembers the viciousness of his classmatesto the innocent boy able now as an adult to understand how truly miserable that must have been.for him.. He is perhaps also ashamedbecausehe knows that not all brother by His Harold children were so cowardly. own was attacked an angry lighted into he throwing the tried to matches mob as stop a group of children hairdresser's basement German shop. open window of a

It is clear that some children were quick to copy the anti German behaviour and like Few them, the them. the adults around children, of adults around attitudes it is fear but for from defend Germans keen to of reprisals, attacks probably were did have they that interesting not them that some of remembered with shame also for be friends. Children for no obvious their especially cruel, often can stand up for legitimate target aggression a seemingly with presented and so when reason in l fu lacking the bullying, any case, situation of a understanding children, and have taken up the causepassionately. to appear

Memories of Air Raids German in Scared the case I was scaredand excited at the sametime. killed lots in down and out got soldiers of and our road aeroplanescame 86 house. in because our there people many so were excited us all, 85Ibid. p 127. ß6Cowley, My Daddy Is a Soldier: A Working Class Family in the Lloyd George Era p 73.

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Just seven years old when war broke out Minnie Cowley experienced a real conflict of emotions whenever an air raid warning sounded near to her home in Whitton. Although she loved the party atmosphere with family and neighbours gathered together in. the middle of the night, she also knew why they were there. The fact that the Germans were coming, flying literally over her home, terrified her, but she misunderstood their intention. Perhaps aware of pre-war talk of invasion Minnie believed that the Germans were going to land and that the for her soldiers would come and her family. But this is understandable, for the first time the First World War saw British civilians attacked in their own homes.

The Germans had begun air raids over the UK in December 1914, using both 1918 Zeppelins. By 108 raids had been flown over Great June aeroplanes and Britain, with the South East the most heavily targeted area. By the end of the being killed by 1,413 5,611 people air with war civilian casualties reached 87 fear More they than the themselves the attacks significant perhaps attacks. was The the relatively new and exciting world general population. provoked among into For terrifying transformed and violent menace. adults and a of aviation was holds this a was a new experience and coming under attack often children alike in their memory of the war. place very significant

Minnie Cowley was not alone in finding the war exciting. Other children also for lives it brought disruption in to their many the and everyday revelled Zeppelin raids were the apotheosis of that excitement. Taking place usually at by artillery to accompanied sometimes safer place, a a move meaning and night fire to light up the night sky, Zeppelin raids were a spectacle that held all the promise of an exciting night. Underground London liftman father the and Betterton Kathleen on a was whose in lived Fulham for declared as a child. been had active service, medically unfit how during infant being the excited she despite war remembers Betterton only an family the a raid: of daughter prospect they at were with sheltered the of a and

87Marwick, The Deluge British Society and the First World War p 198. -

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Those nights held for the two of us all the fun of midnight picnics, and my hopeful question, as I was tucked up in bed, was always - "do you think there'll be an air-raid?" In the morning on our way to schoolwe hunted for bits of shrapnelto passfrom hand to hand round the class,and " doings like we would swap our storiesof the night's any grown-up. The writer V. S.Pritchett remembersbeing similarly excited when a stray Zeppelin began to drop bombs on the nearby Bromley Recreation ground. Although his mother was terrified he wanted to watch:

Someone seemedto be driving nails into the sky with a hammer and knocking sparks off it; and now and then a lorry with a gun on it started rapid fire, just over the fence by our silver birch trees. Mother screamed. So we all came downstairs and she grabbed us in her fierce arms while dragging she moaned, us round and round in a circle with her, while we twisted our necks and struggled to get away in order to see the gun flashes and to hear the shrapnel coming down (we hoped) on our garden path. What we were really waiting and longing for was to hear the great naval gun go off at Pickhurst Green, acrossthe fields, for the flash of this for lit the superb gun up country miles and the majestic detonation shook the whole town. Now, it fired and fired again, as we rocked together in like five that some moaning animal with my mother's grip, so we were 89 itself legs heads and ten struggling with Arthur Jacobs was born in 1907 and lived in Hampstead as a child. He first his in in. by being to the the parents order watch night remembers woken Zeppelin being brought down. As the Zeppelin fell to the earth he heard a cheer landlady but his their that shouted: remembers neighbours go up amongst

"For God's sakedon't cheer,there are poor devils dying up there!"90 feelings his being Jacobs dramatic on It was a confusedabout recalls event and the night: be feeling it, to the in no more real I couldn't take the tragedy of situation it feeling had I If had been at all was one of any than if I at the cinema. bang horrible be the for shook which there a wouldn't now selfish relief -

'Working Class Autobiographical Archive 88K Betterton, 'White Pinnies, BlackAprons ..... Brunel University (London) p 24. 89Prichett, A Cab at the Door an Autobiography: Early Years p 152. 90A P. Jacobs,Just Take a Look at These,Working Class Autobiographical Archive - Brunel University (London) unpaginated.

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the kitchen dresserand mademe jump nearly out of my crockery on 91 skin.

Having been woken to witness the Zeppelin brought down and hearing the cheers of his neighbours Jacobs was aware as a child that he was supposedto feel something about what he was seeing. However he remembers that it did not seem real to him and was only pleased that no bombs would be dropped. It is only in retrospect that he considers his feelings of relief to have been selfish. At the time, as a small boy, he could not comprehend the enormity of what he saw and was preoccupied with his own fears about the noise. But as an adult it is the memory of his landlady admonishing her neighbours for their callousness that sticks in his mind. Knowing now the horrors those men in the plane must have gone through Jacobs recalls his own. feelings as selfish, although they can't have seemed so at the time.

Molly Keen who was eleven at the outbreakof war and lived in Hounslow on the frightened by London, outskirts of what sheunderstoodof the war was also her: going on around Newspapers showed pictures of refugees fleeing from the horrors of war. I dreamed of seeing the advancing German hoards marching up the road done had filling Bath helmets the the their road as cavalry spiked with 2 bad dream, it God I thank was only a when was small,

Similarly, Dora Hannanwhose father was in the Royal Navy, remembersthat she in. looking Germans fierce having spiked the of terrified pictures seen of war was helmets and carrying bayonets. I went to bed thinking that when I woke in the morning the Germans best her My to tried landed have calm mother and captured us all. would her for difficult been have it knows heaven with fears, must though my her man, brothers and brothers-in-law in the thick of the fighting on sea dirty be frightened those don't "Now but old land, of you said, she and Germans, Daddy in his battleship with the big guns will take good care 93 they don't reach us".

91Ibid. 92Keen, Childhood Memories 1903 - 1921 p 27. 93Hannan, ThoseHappy Highways: An Autobiography p 25.

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In the casesof Keen and Hannanboth girls were particularly frightened of the Germansthey had seen.in photographsand pictures, presumablyin the Press. They were frightened of the possibility of invasion, and fearedthat they would be captured. For other children, thesefearswhich could be expectedas a normal reaction to the eventsaroundthem.were compoundedby particular incidents which made the frightening Zeppelin raids even more alarming and causedthem to stick in the writers memory as being of particular significance. C.H. Rolph rememberswhy one suchraid stuck particularly in his mind: One evening in October as I was getting in to bed we heard distant antiaircraft guns firing at something - or it may have been at nothing, we never learnt what had happened. I remember only that they sounded like distant drums, and that I was ashamed to discover that I was thoroughly frightened, the fear being greatly increased by the fact that I was standing in my extremely short under-vest and struggling in the dark to find the 94 into flannelette nightshirt. my way Syd Metcalfe, whose father was a painter and decorator but was serving in the fell directly in firebomb full terror the of an air raid when a army, experienced front of the building his family were living in, setting it on fire. This was

fire it interestingly but the that traumatic not was event, a understandably Metcalfe remembersparticularly: As we emergedfrom the passagedoor onto the pavementwe were from became I jostling in my separated crowd and suddenlycaught up a it that then This the and was crying me started others. mother and What led hand by the my the me across road. and someonetook me happened but forgotten have I next time what thoughts were at that clean heap feet into bare day. last I trod live a with my with me to my very will horse-dung. of still wet and warm This nauseatedme. I can senseit yet. I was defiled. From that moment lost had fire, I house trace The of my I on think else. nothing of on could but I house, burning in the all mother and the others,my clothes were heap feet into bare had that I fact of that the my sunk think of was could mire. I don't know whether I would have rememberedthat occasionat all were 95 it not for that one fact. So strangelyworks the mind of a child.

94Rolph, London Particulars p 139. 95S. Metcalfe, One Speck of Humanity, Working Class Autobiographical Archive - Brunel University (London) p 9.

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The fact that this is what Metcalfe rememberspuzzleshim and he goeson to say: There is no pattern to the memories that one retains. They are not made up of the same elements - some are happy occasions, some are sad, some when worried, others when just naughty. There must have been many happenings of far greater importance in. between that I have completely forgotten. The fact is we just never know what is important to a child and 96 isn't. what

Metcalfe was born in. 1910 and was still very young when.this incident happened, perhapssuggestingwhy he felt he might not have rememberedit at all had it not been for the accidentwith the horse dung. But later in.the war Metcalfe being brought down Zeppelin witnesseda and recalls clearly: As a spectacle it was simply brilliant. Oohs and ahs came from everyone there. We were wining the war. The might of the British Empire was on display. What a moment for a young boy. 97 Through Metcalfe we can see the diverse ways the war affected young children. On one occasion he is possibly so traumatized by what is going on around him. that he suppresseshis memory of the night his house was bombed with one of by feeling inspired he dung but in horse remembers on another occasion stepping the sight of a British successand felt proud to be a British child during the war. Other children were sometimes both excited and frightened at the same time by the presence of Zeppelins so close to their homes and although the Zeppelin. raids the dangerous the to the of raids as air population civilian were nowhere near as Second World War they were the first time Britain had come under attack from Many brought of these the the enemy amidst general population. the air and While time. have as children most acquired added meaning over memories in frightening the found instinctively evident exciting, they or to what responded in intensity have gathered direct and simple scenesthey recall, these memories dangerous the more numerous and the intervening years. Perhaps as a result of invested have their War earlier World Second these the authors air raids of

fully time. the have at they comprehended couldn't memories with a significance feeling is which What this produces a recall of eventscoupled with a revision of

96Ibid_ p 10. 97Ibid. p 16.

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allows authors like Metcalfe and Jacobsto challengewhat they felt as children in the light of what they have since learnt.

Memories of Separation and Loss

The joy and excitementwhen they arrived quite unexpectedlywas overwhelming. Those sevendayswent oh so quickly, then camethe dreadedtime for departure... How we hatedthat awful moment for 98 knowing if goodbye not we would seethem again. Jack and Percy were Molly Keen's elder brothers, both of whom enlisted in the army as soon as they were old enough. Coming from a close family, this from her beloved brothers brought joy and pain to Molly as they two separation left and returned several times during the course of the war. It is in the detail of look family it that to such relationships we must understand why was that differently loss by to the separation and caused war. For children reacted so fathers by deeply hurt like Molly, the their absenceof were while some children, felt brothers their confused emotions openly, other children and and expressed from being their close permanently, parted, sometimes about and ambivalent first deployment First World War The troops, the of vast required relatives. through voluntary enlistment and then, after 1916 through conscription. After fit be 41, 18 between to the ages of and medically considered that any man and have This deemed to meant enlisted. not exempt on occupational grounds, was fathers from their huge and sometimes that numbers of children were separated their brothers for several years during the war.

in involved father having the have As we war effort was a cause a already seen, in father Hall's the Edith for was somechildren. of great pleasureand pride her he during Corps mother Medical the war and while Royal Army was away Hall (canary factories remembers from lodged girls girls). the nearby munitions father her how her had she associated childhood and on. the impact thesegirls Front: the they were seeingaway at with the young men

98Keen, Childhood Memories 1903 - 1921 p 27.

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The Canariesmust have beenwith us for about three or four yearsand formative it doubt influence were no on my years and pleasedme a great that I received pretty Frenchpostcardsfrom my Daddy as they also did from their soldier boys.99 For Hall having a father involved with the war then held a certain senseof relief and allowed her to identify with the older girls she so admired that were living family the with at the time. Hall's father was captured during the war and spent some years in a prisoner of war camp, but rather than being upset by this she remembers that:

I was secretly glad that he had beentaken prisoner becausemy friend had beentold by her father that RAMC men weren't really in the war and didn't face the dangersof the fighting men.100 It was important for Hall that her father faced danger like the fathers of her friends and like the boyfriends of the munitions workers who lodged with them.. But for other children there could be nothing worse than being parted from a father. Arthur Jacobs was deeply affected every time his father, a Post Office leave: had to to the army after a period of return worker,

It was hard to tell which of us was the more wretchedly unhappy because he it In was out of reach, a way was a relief when mother or me. through the Sunday three the those of walked us evenings when of some he Green, Fortune Frognal down to through where mocking sunshine known. have I bus for Woolwich, the ever unhappiest were would catch a We were all brightly cheerful, of course, and probably no outsider could have sensedthe underlying misery; for father rarely showed sins of any '0 kind of emotion and insisted that mother and I followed suit.

An only child, and only sevenyears old when war broke out, Jacobswas father his from that: by deeply and remembers the separation affected obviously The worst part of all was walking back up from Frognal with mother lives, for known had both Hampstead and all our the we and springtime footsteps, I lagging back father. Walking with shared,of course,with funny, be in trying inane to and effort an remarks making useless, 99E. Hall, Canary Girls and Stockpots (Luton: 1977) p 10100Ibid. p 6. 101Jacobs,Just Take a Look at Theseunpaginated.

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desperatelyhard not to think about the put-off homework awaiting me back in that strangelyempty flat, with father's books and pipes and other personal belongings still aroundthe place to rub their own peculiar salt into fresh wounds.102 For many children the war meant a permanent separation from family members. Joseph Armitage's brother had joined the Army in January 1915 and in the June of that year his family received notification that he had been killed in action at Gallipoli.

I shall always rememberthe morning that the long buff coloured envelopecameby the early post. Mother sat down and openedit then her face seemedto freeze like a mask. I rememberaskingher what the letter in. was about, after a while shesaid a strangequiet voice - "George is dead,he's beenkilled". She said nothing else for what seemed like hours, shejust sat there at the 103 long deal front table staring straight in end of the white of her. The death of George meant that for some time, until his war pension came through, the family was in financial difficulties. Armitage remembers how his her borrow had to to to money and relatives mother go one after another of believes that that experience, coupled with the loss of her son, changed his began hold felt He to treat to that a grudge and she seemed mother completely. her her distrust, almost all neighbours and shunning everyone with suspicion.and relatives.

As for myself, I was not allowed out of her sight, for the next two years I it home, to to school and mix go a relief was was almost a prisoner at 104 boys. other with he his that hearing tell as was young, mother Armitage remembers other people (in fact only sevenyears old when his brother was killed), he would soon get it felt he that but death, that easy. not was the over habit developed had because of a mother More especiallywas this so I (or that I thought was she talking to herself when shewas alone and was been had If there or child, another earshot. of asleep)or otherwise out 102Ibid. 103J FL Armitage, The Twenty Three Years. Or the Late Way of Life and of Living., Working 59. (London) University Brunel p Archive Class Autobiographical 104Ibid. p 60.

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someoneelse that I could have talked to, it would have beena great 105 but comfort to me, all that I could do was listen and saynothing. The death of her son had a profound effect on Armitage's mother and he remembersher grief rather than his own after the deathof his brother. C.H. Rolph was deeply troubled when his older brother attestedunderthe Derby Schemeand becamea member of the HonourableArtillery Company: By September 1917 he was in France, and my heart and my alter ego him. The occasion of his departure to France remains in my went with 106 indelibly, distressing day. memory me to this Rolph was close to his elder brother making his identification with him all the more powerful. He felt that he too should be in France, sharing the experiences fate and of his sibling. In a close family, where what happens to one has a been have this particularly traumatic. At profound effect on all, separation must this time in the war the British were heavily involved in the third battle of Ypres back in figures England The Passchendale. those appalling and casualty were for full When beginning time the the tragedy the to came event. of realise were his brother to leave Rolph remembers that the reaction of his father greatly him at the time: surprised

My father knew only too well that anyone`going up the line' at that time I Harold said goodbye was stood a poor chanceof surviving, and when him in Just father though tears. to as embrace my severelyshaken see '07 they were both foreigners. in his junior how described has the teachers school Arthur Jacobs at someof difficult through someextremely London dealt with children who were going tunes:

for I (to Children in Mr Hill's class which was soonpromoteden route be burdens domestic to to brought their school the scholarshipclass) brothers fathers "missing" brothers were and Fathers were and shared. dead Someof the children seemedstunnedand uncomprehending; heads their their to arms told on put were afraid and others- sensitive 105Ibid. p 62. 106Ibid. p 176. 10'Ibid.

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and "rest". Sometimestheir sobbingsbecameunbearableand a prelude to the despairingyoungstersbeing senthome - to what additional lo misery? So far all memories of separation and loss have been those of children from lower middle class and working class backgrounds who lived at home with their families during the war. All were deeply upset and affected by the separation from close family members reflecting the close family groups of which they were a part. Such a change to the domestic environment, where a once constant presence was suddenly gone must have had a profound effect on these children. Knowing that that much loved father or brother might be leaving for the last time put acute strain on relationships and meant that the time they did have together was always touched by sadness.The following set of memories on the other hand all come from those who as children. were sent to boarding school and lived most of the year separated from family members. These memories are very different from the ones just discussed. Instead of real sadnessat the loss or parting of a relative these children often appear confused about what they were supposedto feel when the war separatedthem from fathers and brothers.

As the intention of the British public schools at this time was to educate future British gentlemen (and women), it was important that the children educated at befell handle feelings whatever misfortune them were able to control their and display that to As might the emotions them. not encouraged were children such be construed as a sign of weakness, instead they were expected to put on a brave face and cope with their grief alone. The war, in most of these schools' eyes was The be schools that wholeheartedly. supported should one and evil a necessary be to in boys equally expected were children their and uniform old of were proud for defending brothers the fathers empire. their and proud of

he had his boys how what the prep school at In Exhumation Isherwoodtalks of dead: the refers to as a cult of lost had fathers; lost had their many of us Severalboys, including myselff, I think is It that we to callous; we were say untrue a near relative. Grief, But the barely as of in concept way. conscious own mourned our posJacobs,Just Take a Look at Theseunpaginated.

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practiced by adults, was almost meaninglessto us. We could only understandit in terms of drama,over which we gloated,and of social 09 prestige, which commandedour sincererespect. Isherwood also remembers that when boys were called out in the middle of a lesson to be told that a father or brother had been killed, the standard response of his friends, when he finally returned, would be to ask `did you blub much?' Following the death of a relative, boys wore black crepe armbands 'with grave

brought it this pride' and with the privilege of not being 'ragged'by the other boys.110

On one occasionduring a friendly, laughing scuffle, a boy's armbandgot torn. Immediately he burst into tearsof indignation, crying, look what you've done, you swine!' and we let go of him at once, equally shockedat l ll this violation of taboo. Perhapsmost upsettingly Isherwood recountsthe story of a boy who pretendedto the others that his father was dead. He was unpopular and lonely, and I supposehe was desperatefor some 12 recognition. The boys discovered his lie and subjected him to what was in their system of justice the equivalent of capital punishment - they threw him in to a gorse bush. This suggests that the prestige associated with losing a father was sufficiently level boy that to would a to very unhappy clearly and great elevate an unpopular demand if not the friendship, then at least the respect of his schoolfellows. it boys by the abusing and anyone Equally, this status was revered and respected brutally. dealt with was

The reverencefor death amongstboth schoolboysand British society alike On brother. his for Isherwood difficulties and emotional particular created he had found father Isherwood his that death of returning to school after the

1°9Isherwood, Exhumation p 170. 110Ibid. 1ý1Ibid. 112Ibid. p 171.

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acquired a new social status,and one that commandedthe respectof everybody he met he was now an `Orphan of a Dead Hero".113 Isherwood found that his new status as a `Sacred Orphan' had grave disadvantages; he always felt under obligation to be worthy of his Hero-Father. Isherwood explains that he eventually came to feel that those feelings of guilt that the people close to him and society as a whole created in him, caused him to reject his father and ultimately the authority of all the symbolic institutions of the 114 Flag, School, Unknown. Soldier, Country. time, and

Isherwood's younger brother had similar feelings of guilt and remembers:

I did so hate being everlastingly reminded of him, when I was young. Everybody kept saying how perfect he was, such a hero and so good at hope held He to could never everything. up as someone you was always be worthy of, and whenever I did anything wrong I was told I was a disgrace to him. You know I had a recurring nightmare that he wasn't dead at all and that he was coming back to live with us! And then I was horrified, and I wanted to run away from home and hide somewhere 115 him. before he arrived. I used to simply loath

A constanttheme in Henry Green'sreminiscencesis the strangeclosedworld of the boys' mutual society, with its own hierarchy, laws, morals and codesof in displayed by These the themselves the and war unchanged were conduct. boys' how Green mothers came recounts when most unlikely of circumstances. down to the schoolto take them out to tea in the town they often had news of between had boys lives. At lost had time the this their made a rile relatives who friend them: take they these that a with themselves would occasions on father friend's it happened that This nile was unbreakableand so when a lost his life and his mother camedown to read out his last letters home I described have in I the and tea them park sat we after and with went out backs tree. the letters his both against our sat with as we they cried over but be time have You would thought this rule could relaxed at sucha for boiled had it. We eggswhen out always there was no question of 116 tea. 113C. Isherwood, Kathleen and Frank (London: 1971) p 356. 114mid. 115Ibid. p 357. 116Green, Pack My Bag 43. Self Portrait p -a

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When his own brother died, not in the war but while still at school, Green he that remembersworrying was not feeling ashe should and was preoccupied with worrying about whether he was looking sad enoughFor death,in our school at least,put a plate glasswindow betweenthose family had been whose visited and the other boys; we shunnedanyone thus afflicted, and when it happenedto us were shunnedin our turn. The reasonwas, I rememberperfectly, that any boy was made strangeto us, he was set apart by the occurrenceasthough he had turned overnight into an albino. This in individual casesdid not last for long but during the war the groundsusually had one forlorn minute figure walking alone not ' feeling anything most likely but left to himself becausehe ought to be. 17 Green, and others he suggests, were often unsure of their feelings or lacked the faced death brother, his Even to them. the with of as a child, confidence show Green was confused by his feelings and doubted his own ability to respond to the death as he felt those around him expected him to. With personal bereavement forced discussed to they their the carers, were children or with rarely amongst behaviour, learned themselves to get of patterns and etiquette, rely on symbolic through emotionally very difficult times. With so many expectations placed on did have like Green in behave not them to and respond particular ways children the opportunity to practice grieving. Fear of failing, or getting it wrong, meant by their schools, them to that children trying to conform what was expected of held back from expressing any emotions at all. This conformity which existed before the war, and was indeed a hallmark of what public school education was feelings to lost had their to the mediate that ability children all about, meant themselves. Instead of responding naturally, expressing their emotions and these for their were through children themselves grief, a path navigating it felt, by or not. appropriate they was whether not sure what confused

Elizabeth Bowen's memory of deathamongsther classmates'relatives appear fact due is the This to Green. Isherwood perhaps and those than troubled of more during therefore her in the possibly teens and war that, unlike the others, shewas Bowen the than schoolboys. young the to others of emotions more sensitive death embarrassment. great that of cause a was a remembers 117Ibid. p 82.

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If a girl's brother were killed or wounded we were all too much death became familiar it it. Though to embarrassed speak of never became less awkward: if heroic feeling ran low in us I think this was because the whole world's behaviour seemed to be travestying our own: everywhere, everyone was behaving as we were all, at our ages, most anxious not to behave. Things were being written and said constantly that in have be bound the to would claimed any one of us: world seemed up a tragic attack of adolescence and there seemedno reason why we should ' 18 in behaviour became impossible. ever grow up, since moderation For older boys, schools became places surrounded by and associated with death. The public schools had responded overwhelmingly to the need for officers, and throughout the war strong ties were maintained between old boys at the front and their school.. Officers, only recently out of school, often returned to visit while boys boys leave, to at the old on were encouraged correspond with and younger front. In this way the schools were continuing to encourage their young people to support and identify themselves with the war and those fighting in it and by As honoured bravery the that school. were every sacrifice and act of ensured from have lists the the war went on the casualty class rolls resembled must often earlier years.

Evelyn Waugh was sentto Lancing in 1917, unable to follow his older brother to Sherbomefollowing the publication of Alec's highly controversial,semiYouth. in days Loom The his there of own school autobiographical,accountof He remembershow a shadowof deathhung over the school: in killed boys Sunday action On evenings the names were read of old during the week. There was seldom, if ever, a Sunday without its in by their The which a passage approached chapel was necrology. known had lines. I them, in hung not ever-extending photographs were for It but we were all conscious of their presence. was not uncommon benefit. for being our made preachers to refer to the sacrifices which were kind this is humbug. It now This did not seem said that an exhortation of in 1917.119 derision. It so was not raises

the of began celebration and the processof commemoration Public schools Honour A Roll began. of the war as their soon as almost pupils of sacrifices "s Greene, ed., The Old School p 52. 119Waugh, A Little Learning - the First Volume of an Autobiography p 133.

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be would started, listing both the names of the dead but also of all those who served. After the war was over most schools produced books of remembrance, including the war work of all their former pupils. Funds were set up to support the dependents of soldiers killed in action, and money was raised to erect permanent memorials to the fallen- As with memorials across the country these designed be both to were a public statement of recognition for the cause for which the young men died and a lasting celebration of their sacrifice. For the schools that lost such a high number of their former pupils (Harrow for example lost 516 old boys, an average of one every three days of the war) the need to 120 remember was particularly strong. The ideals of the schools had encouraged these boys to join up and throughout, the schools had supported the war, so that horrible had lost the they over now when all was and reality of what was really in, they commemorated the war with vigour. settling Death is so present in the memories of these writers' school days becauseof the be but it because First World War, these are the the may also carnage of different is in For death that ways. remembered such memories of childhood, it for little it held others caused great confusion of meaning at all, while some feeling and self doubt. Those children who were emotionally close to their fathers and brothers seem understandably more distressed by the war's effect on from the family But time the upper classesaway at children their at same group. boarding school seem to have suffered more from the moral pressure exerted on death The in feel of a close them to and react to the war a particular way. World during First in Britain the relative was an almost universal experience from in loss all sorts of ways War. The whole country's grief and were visible by delivering telegrams Office terrible their from Post boys the the sight of the buildings in Honour Rolls and hastily bicycle, to the schools, public of erected just displays they were as grief these Children of public of were aware churches. fully it the time feelings or they at understood and whether their own private of in of mourning. the experience they nation's shared not

Thesememories

during lived the direct, childhood of personalrecollections are

Great War. They possessa validity quite different to that of adult accountsas History Oral Front Home of Quiet All an 120Richard Van Emden and Steve Humphries, on the 101. 2003) (London: War World First p During Britain the Life in

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they allow us to understandsomethingof how the war touchedchildren developing as individuals. Thesesimple scenesare the fragmentaryimagesof childhood experiencethat have gatheredmeaningover the interveningyears as the authorshave mediatedthesememorieswith knowledge and symbolism acquired in later life. We seehow the war creatednew circumstancesin which family children's relationships,their environment and their every day lives where by food challenged separation, and money shortagesand by the loss of siblings and fathers. Children copedwith thesechangesand othersby pairing what they it in the the their understoodof war and outside world with own constructionsof be fantasy The play, and ritual. results could confusing and contradictory later fear it But the time. and excitementat same sometimesprovoking was only began that the these to placethe authors memorieswere re-examined when developing in the their these context of senseof self. experiences meaning of

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Chapter 3- War in the Classroom Introduction

I conceive that it is part of the duty of our generation to provide some for loss the tragic means compensating which our nation is enduring, and that one means by which some compensation may be provided is by the creation of a system of education throughout the country which will increase the value of every human unit in the whole of society. ' H. A. L Fisher, President of the Board of Education promoting the 1918 Education Act

As the First World War drew to a close and the country began to reflect on the future its losses, by turned to the the of attention extent and means which the had been disastrous itself. South Just they the as after nation could rebuild African Wars, children were seen as the natural resource that promised hope to the injured Empire. It was through education that the Reconstruction Committee had be felt hope best The Coalition Government that the could realised. war of lagging Britain limitations dangerous to the school curriculum with revealed behind her German rivals in the fields of science and technology, and there was industry into been driven had to that of school and out so many children concern During these demands the the concerns the war economy. wartime of meet informed the education debate, and reformers sought to use these new issuesto build on pre-war interest in educational psychology and teaching methods to inspire an Education Act that would cater for both the needs of the child and the needs of the economy.

impact the the This in happening of consider But what was will chapter schools? in the daily lives teachers nation's their work at the and children of war on both in important their had pupils Schools protecting role an classrooms. dangers this from will chapter the and of war, physically and psychologically threats to the to tried in teachers minimise explore the ways which schoolsand to the how the curriculum It war entered their pupils' safety. will also consider how The war proved inform lessonson.history, geography,and citizenship. for fight to be and work important it was that the population willing and prepared 110. 1943) (London: 1902-1942 p Education John Graves, Policy and Progress in Secondary

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the Empire's survival, and it was increasingly felt that much of that preparation should be done in schools.Children.were encouragedto work for the war effort as a way of teachingthem the value of participating in a national endeavour. They could learn important lessonson citizenship by being citizens, collecting, saving and making things for the war effort. The chapterconcentrateson State education,both.at the elementarylevel and secondarylevel, but also considersa small number of private schoolswhen it looks at how individual schoolsmet the challengesof war. The nature and structure of public education in. Edwardian Britain was in undergoing some significant changes the pre-war years, and the types of schools and age to which children attended varied widely throughout the country. In. general elementary schools catered for children from. the age of 5 up to, but not necessarily until, 14. The schools were arranged in. Standards, I-VI, through which the children progressed as they reached the required level of leaving in There children school age, some attainment. with was no uniform leave 12 13. For being 11 to or other not as early as while until areas allowed those seeking post-elementary education.there were fewer opportunities within the State sector and again the provision. varied widely. For those who could fee it there paying grammar schools that offered a general afford were level but from these the subjects studied at elementary curriculum carrying on Alternatively there beyond the were class parents. means of most working were in some areas, predominantly the industrial centres of London and Manchester, Schools Commercial Technical higher the emerging and grade schools and intending for to to children curriculum which sought provide a more vocational 16. industry at or commerce enter

Elementary education in.Britain had beentransformedsincethe end of the had factors by that promoted a new nineteenth century a number of The both the teacher the of educationthe role of purpose and understandingof funding by `payment and in 1895, school the results', whereby of system of end, in their had depended children a narrow teachers'salaries on the performanceof from its broadening for the curriculum, of a allowed subjects, examined of range humanities include Rs', as `three the as well focus sciences to and the on narrow 100

drawing and handiwork. 2 In addition the progressive influence of educational psychology gained ground amongst ordinary teachers and the theories of pioneers like Froebel and Pestalozzi lead to the gradual rise of the child-centred 3 approach to education.

Heavily influenced by Rousseau both Friedrich Froebel and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi had developed their theories of child development and education.in the late eighteenth century. Pestalozzi accepted Rousseau's assertion of the `innate goodness' of the child and developed his idea of the child's world being significantly different from. the adult's world. His writings stressedthat teachers should pay attention to the particular qualities of the individual child and organise education so as to fit in with the child's innate intellectual, moral and 4 development Froebel also advocated harmony between education and physical individual development, and his main. contribution to the education debate in. the his twentieth early century was emphasis on the processesof learning. Froebel believed that children. learnt best by doing things for themselves. Through. learnt they activity and play about the world and the people around them so that the work of the school should be geared around their needs rather than the knowledge of their teachers. As such.no curriculum could be planned, only 5 down. Although state elementary schools were not run general principles laid influencing discussed lines, the these theories were and methods entirely along teachers and policy makers, particularly in. London. as we shall see, who were increasingly stressing the importance of concentrating on the needs of the child.

New guidancewas given to schoolsand teachersafter the introduction of Local Education Authorities (LEAs) which replacedthe School.Boardsafter the Balfour Education Act of 1902. In the light of fearsover national efficiency the locally failings the Education electedschool Board of existing of examinedthe boards, and concludedthat what was neededwas a central authority to oversee boards hoc 3,000 The and schoolattendance school the entire nationor so ad 2 Peter Gordon, Richard Aldrich, and Dennis Dean, Education and Policy in England in the Twentieth Century (London: 1991) p 278. 3 Keith Evans, The Development and Structure of the English School System(London: 1985) p 84. 4 Peter Gordon and Denis Lawton, Curriculum Change in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (London: 1978) pp 59-60. 5 Ibid. p 65.

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committees were replaced by 318 LEAs with. responsibility for all forms of State education within their area. In 1904 the Board of Education. issued a new set of Regulations for Elementary Schools which conveyed the senseof the new liberal and purposeful thinking on education:

The purposeof the Public Elementary Schoolis to form and strengthen the characterand to develop the intelligence of the children entrustedto it, and to make the best use of the schoolyearsavailable,in assistingboth girls and boys, according to their different needs,to fit themselves, 6 intellectually, for the work of life. practically as well as This marked a clear departure from the emphasis on mechanical rote learning of the previous century, as well as an acknowledgement of the role of the school in developing individual children, not merely keeping them off the streets until they Even to were old enough enter employment. more constructive was the advice handbook for in Suggestions Consideration the the given of of Teachers and Schools, in 1905 Public Elementary the work of published others concerned with by the Board of Education. The Suggestions are considered a landmark in both the official acknowledgement of a more child-centred approach to education and 7 in the State's recognition of a more independent role for the elementary teacher. They advised that: The teacher must know the children and must sympathise with them, for it is of the essenceof teaching that the mind of the teachers should touch influence though the teachers the mind of the pupil only a can and ... human it is lives the the the period where of scholars, yet short period of 8 fruitful. is influence is most nature most plastic, when good

Despite this advice and the efforts of individual reformershowever, changein decades Teachers, of teaching the classroomwas slow to come. someafter to by `payment adopt or all able willing not were the system', results old under in however impetus New came this new child-centred approachto education. Be. What Might Is What Holmes' Edmond 1911 with the publication of and Holmes, a retired HM Chief Inspector,rebukedthe majority of elementary teachersand local inspectorsfor maintaining their teacher-centredapproach. 6 Gordon, Aldrich, and Dean, Education and Policy in England in the Twentieth Century p 280. 7 Peter Cunningham, "Primary Education, " in A Century of Education, ed. Richard Aldrich (London: 2002), p 14. 8 Board of Education, Handbook of Suggestionsfor the Consideration of Teachersand Others 14-15. 1905) (London: Schools Elementary Public Work pp Concerned with the of the

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Holmes advocatedprogressiveattitudesto the educationof children particularly at the elementarystageand influenced by Froebel and Herbart (who emphasised the need for a broad curriculum to both respondto and encouragechildren's natural desireto learn) stressedthe needfor physical as well as mental development.9

Holmes was also a keen supporter of the Italian doctor and educator, Maria Montessori, and was influential in. the growing interest in and acceptanceof her theories in Britain in the years leading up to the First World War. The 1911 publication of the English edition of The Montessori Method aroused both public and professional interest in. a system.of education for young children that stressedthe importance of self-learning and rejected the traditional reliance on instruction. Increasing calls were made for education authorities to set up classes within the state school system.to try the method on English school children.

The authorities in London were particularly interested in this new method of in Council County for 1912, London. the schooling very young children and, (LCC) sent one if its infant school teachers, Lily Hutchinson, to Rome to train. discussion The Montessori the Montessori. topic the of at main method was with 1913 annual conference of teachers held by the LCC, where the chairman

in by their that position of authority education,council suggested virtue of '° know Montessori is know `ought the to there to method'. about all members Although scepticalto begin with, Hutchinson, when shereturned,reported in learned Rome had believed could that much of what she enthusiasticallyand be applied beneficially to the English system. Persuaded,the Council set up its first experimentalclassin Hutchinson's own school on the Hornsey Road. held in Britain Society Montessori 1914 a conferenceto In the summerof the `to its that `child discuss purposewas unite emancipation', announcing from freeing for the in useless country of children movement a educationalists During the the devitalising of course pressure'. and cramping restrictions and 9 Edmond Holmes, What Is and What Might Be: A Study of Education in General and Elementary Education in Particular (London: 1911). (Oxford: 1976) p 239. 10Rita Kramer, Maria Montessori Biography -a

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conference it was estimated that over two hundred and fifty visitors from around the country visited the demonstration class, and the method was discussed at length in both the educational and national press. Later publication of The Advanced Montessori Method SpontaneousActivity in Education and The Montessori Elementary Material, which appeared in English in 1917, extended the method beyond nursery age, applying it to the elementary school and including the teaching of grammar, reading, arithmetic, geometry, drawing and leading included Other H. Caldwell Cook the this time music. progressives at director Commonwealth The Play Way Homer Lane, Little the author of and of l l Community in Dorset.

Secondary education was slower to benefit from the progressive attitude towards fostered by Act. Act 1902 Balfour Initially the the put an elementary education boards, begun by Grade Higher to the some school end elementary schools, for further the education of elementary school children past which allowed Standard VI. The intention of the classically educated administrators, like Robert Morant, Permanent Secretary at the Board of Education (1903-1911), was to maintain the emphasis on classical education in the secondary schools, in for the children of the middle and essencereserving post elementary education for from little Board There the technical the encouragement was classes. upper industry designed the to at needs of pupils entering meet and vocational subjects 16, offered by the new junior technical schools and central schools springing up 12 in the urban centres of London and Manchester.

However somemoves were madeto increaseaccessto secondaryeducationand in 1907 the Liberal government,in responseto demandsfrom labour groupsand trade unions, introduced a major free-placeschemeto the grant-aidedsecondary intake to the Under come was to the pupil of one-quarter up scheme schools. 1911, By from elementaryschool pupils who passedthe qualifying examination. 60 former about elementaryschool pupils were at secondaryschool, over 82,000

11William van der Eyken, ed., Education, the Child and Society: A Documentary History Method Educational Essay An in Way The Play Cook, Caldwell : (London: 1973) p 175. and H. (1917).

12Gordon,Aldrich, andDean,Educationand Policy in England in the TwentiethCenturyp 282. 104

13 intake per cent of the total and roughly a third of those received free education. For the mass of the population however there were still few opportunities for secondary education.. By the beginning of the First World War, of every 1,000 pupils aged between. 10 and 1I attending elementary schools, only 56 went on to a secondary education- This situation has led the historian, Brian Simon, to conclude that the odds against such.children receiving a secondary education stood at 40 to 1.14

Newspaper coverage of the new educational theories and a growing awareness amongst labour groups of the significance of educational provision lead to increased calls for further reforms to education immediately before the war, including an extension of the school leaving age, a broader curriculum and an increase in the scholarship funds available for children to progress on to increase in beyond. for Educationalists' the secondary education and calls an in from inconsistencies leaving 14 the to school age without exception came part different leave law, in to the areas school as allowing children under existing but in 13. This 12 11, confusion was or early as other areas not until half-time by the the system, where children continuing practice of compounded half for day for half to the then the of the other and went work attended school day. This system was mainly found in Yorkshire and Lancashire, where children labourers. By 1914industries, in. the textile and as agricultural were employed 15, the Board of Education estimated that there were 69,555 half-timers in England and Wales, although there were difficulties in establishing the accuracy 15 14, LEAs leaving to figures. In the to age these school extending addition of left for introduction the of continuation schools, where children who were calling 18. hours for they 14 were per year until a set number of would attend school at

Continuation schoolswere designedto combatthe growing problem of `blind they left where occupations alley' school and entered adolescentswho fired being before for high wages a couple of years, were employed on relatively felt leaver. It these by that people, young was school another replaced and

13Cary McCulloch, "Secondary Education, " in A Century of Education, ed. Richard Aldrich (London: 2002), p 36. 14Brian Simon, Education and the Labour Movement, 1870-1920 (London: 1974) p 104. 15Board of Education, "Report of the Board of Education 1917-18, " (London, 1918), p 13.

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predominantly boys, were escaping the reforming influence of both school and serious employment and after losing their jobs were likely to become delinquent. This attention. on the plight of the adolescent was in keeping with the social reforms of the Liberal Government, and the concerns of the Imperialist lobby. Both sought to remedy the perceived deficiencies in the health and moral wellbeing of the population following the evidence provided by the 1904 Committee on Physical. Deterioration which was set up after the Boer War. The next 10 years saw the issue of Britain's strength and `national efficiency' constantly connected to the condition. of her future citizens. Children were seen as both the hope and the downfall of the British Empire and, as will be discussed in the

following chapter, all sorts of movementsdevelopedwith an interestin shaping the future leadersand soldiers of the Empire. Successive legislation including the 1902 Midwives Act, the 1906 Education (Provision of Meals) Act and the 1907 Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, had been enacted to secure and improve the health and well-being of infants being paid to the content of their and now attention was and young children in August 1914 Declaration that their of older siblings. war of education and forced aside plans for a new Education Bill in 1914. Soon however the progress in debate. After itself influence the to the a crisis the education came of war down brought in 1915, Front Western to the which almost supply of munitions Asquith's government and threatened the successful prosecution of the war, industrialists fell Leading the and scientists curriculumon attention again. Science' `Neglect the the title group and pursued of mounted a campaign.under in teachers the most schools and the government over poor status of science behind the They the curriculum, then principles general challenged colleges.

The by industry. for the officials required subjects on emphasis greater arguing by to this Education. Board responded and criticism the sensitive were of at launching a seriesof investigationson a whole rangeof subjectsin the secondary 16 curriculum. Asquith Committee that and seven Reconstruction consistedof Reporting to the four the groups, subject cabinet colleagues,thesesub committeesconsidered 16Gordon,Aldrich, andDean,Educationand Policy in Englandin the TwentiethCenturyp 35. 106

Natural Sciences, Modem Languages, Classics and English- Although they took a long time to appear, some not until the early 1920s, the reports were enlightened documents, opinion having been canvassedfrom. industry and commerce as well as academia. The Science Committee recommended the inclusion of the subject in all general courses up to the age of 16. The Classic Committee unsurprisingly felt that classics teaching should become a part of the elementary curriculum. The English Committee meanwhile advanced the centrality of the subject within the curriculum, with its chairman Sir Henry Newbolt declaring that `every teacher is a teacher of English' 17 . Placing English at the centre of the curriculum emphasised the desire for a strong identity of sense national character and amongst the nation's school children in a time of war. In schools the characteristics of the English, their senseof right and fair their observance of wrong, play, their strength under adversity were spelled for the children again and again. Just as the newspapers stressedBritain's out imperative for favourably her to contrasted methods with moral going war, and those of the enemy, this was an attempt to fortify and unite a population had known. by they terrible than any ever a war more confronted

Shock at the deficienciesin the curriculum which had left British industry weak in comparisonwith Germanyand fears over the wastageof young peoplewho had left school early to supportthe wartime economy,had forced educationonto the political agendadespitethe ongoing war. Educationalists,socialistsand now industrialists too arguedfor greaterattention to be paid to the schoolingof force better in to to work educated a supply order children working class Increased both internationally trade spending rivals. and military with compete hoped but a necessityand campaigners on educationwas now not only a priority for a bill that would seegovernmentinvolve itself in every stageof education fit the to to introduce rebuild a workforce ensure truly measures progressive and country after the ravagesof war.

17Peter Gordon, "Curriculum, " in A Century of Education, ed. Richard Aldrich (London: 2002), n 192.

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And they were not ignored. Education continued to be debated throughout the war and a new Act finally became law in 1918. The Act gave the Board of Education powers to compel local authorities to develop their educational provision, while in turn it committed the state to providing aid in proportion to local expenditure. This provided for the establishment of nursery schools, continuation schools and more post elementary provision, through both secondary schools and the 'trade' schools. The half-time system was completely abolished and 14 became the uniform compulsory school.leaving age.

Passed on a wave of optimism many of the provisions of the Act were to be short lived- The economic depression of 1921 forced the government to form. a Sir Eric Geddes, to consider cuts in public spending. The committee, under 'Geddes Axe' reduced funds for education by a third. 18The major sacrifices were the abandonment of the idea of continuation schools and a curtailment of the increased spending on nursery provision, reflecting the need to concentrate Despite the this much core elementary and secondary aged pupils. resources on debate inform behind 1918 Act to the the the thinking on education up of went until the Second World War.

The rest of this chapter will assesthe more day-to-day details of school life as they were affected by the war but first it is important to discuss some of the broader issues as they affected schooling and education nationally. As might be for schools throughout the period of the expected, staffing was a major concern half 20,000 1916 teachers, By approximately male elementary over mid war. in joined had the number of male students the the pre-war numbers up, and teacher training colleges had also declined dramatically. This shortfall was departments. boys' in by teachers the employment of women partially overcome by 1916.19 had 17,500 Approximately replaced men on military service women in in leave to to serve Many women teachers sought obtain of absence order Board the in of prompting the services, auxiliary women's nursing units or in their to teachers country serve Education to issue statements calling on women

18Christopher Martin, A Short History of English Schools 1750-1965 (Hove: 1979) p 87. 19Geoffrey Sherington, English Educatior4 Social Change and War 1911-1920 (Manchester: 1981)p49.

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Z° the schoolsrather than on the battlefields. If the schoolswere able to make up for the shortageof numberscausedby male teachersenlisting in the first two years of the war, they found their situation unworkable after conscription was introduced. At this point the Army allowed teachersof a low medical category on Home Serviceto resumetheir teaching duties and also agreedthat certain teachersand educationofficials might be reservedfrom service. Another serious effect of the war on children's education came from the by-laws, from 1914, August the relaxation of school attendance as early as labour leave in industries to to to allowing children school go work suffering in because This the shortages of problem was particularly acute agricultural war. increase farmers, to to adult wages, areas where employ women or unwilling found children a cheap source of labour at harvest and sowing time. By 1916 15,753 children, mostly boys, had been exempted from school to become between labourers. 546 those eleven and children were aged of agricultural 21 twelve. As the war went on the problem increased. More and more children in industry. Overall land from those the to and on school work were exempted leaving elementary school between the ages of 12 and 14 increased from 196,943 in 1915 to 240,556 by 1917.22

Added to this problem was the significant shift in patternsof employmentamong industries in there high leavers. The the meant wartime offer on wages school from greater a offered which occupations peacetime away move a rapid was boys 205,000 1916 October By lasting and approximately career. possibility of a Arsenal Woolwich At in the manufacture of munitions_23 girls were employed 16, between 14 3,000 boys, 10,000 and were aged of whom alone there were 24 issue long. This the hours 1.2 pre-war echoed to situation of up shifts working

for first had the the proposed that need `blind-ally' prompted employment of increasingly During the were educationalists war schools. continuation being felt to the needs they sacrificed were these whom. children concernedabout

20S.j. Curtis, History of Education in Great Britain (London: 1967) p 339. 21Sherington, English Education, Social Change and mar 1911-1920 p 49. 22 Ministry (London, " After, Reconstruction, War During the "Juvenile Employment and of 1918), p49. 23Sherington,English Education, Social Change and War 1911-1920 p 50. 24The Schoolmaster, 18th March 1916, p 370.

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of the war. Theseconcernslead to the settingup of the DepartmentalCommittee on Juvenile Education in Relation to Employment after the War. The committee recommendedthat teachersshould encouragechildren and their parentsthat staying in full-time educationwas a better option thanjoining the labour market just at the time when demobilised soldierswere returning. The rest of this chapter explores how the war entered the curriculum of schools; what was taught and why. We see how teachers called for advice from the Board of Education on how to explain the war to their pupils following demands from the children themselves to learn more. It seemschildren, most of whom had a keen fathers brothers fighting link to to the personal and abroad, were war with know as much as they could about the ongoing conflict and that their increased interest was reflected in the standard of their work as assessedby school inspectors. The chapter will then look in more detail at schooling in the nation's Department how County Council's Education London the to capital understand disruptions despite London's the the tackled children practicalities of schooling in in interest London by There the theories of child new strong was war. caused development and education leading some educationalists to pay special attention to how the war was affecting children psychologically. Nationally there seemsto have been a strong intention on the part of the Board of Education and individual in Their be the take to that part war effort. encouraged children should schools involvement was to be closely linked to lessons on citizenship, where children they that to were collecting materials or producing when understand were future the to the of security they contributing were actually articles of clothing if lessons the These coming generation were essential were on citizenship nation. have to to to importance they the undertake going were to realise the of work to Children see encouraged the continually the were war. nation after rebuild have for to Empire family they would which an themselves as part of a wider it if hard was to survive. work

is This in discussed this chapterare stateschools. The majority of schools directions to LEA dealing given becausewe are often with governmentor looking by is It at their safety. to or schoolswith regard children's war work to discern best regard to with policy national able such schoolsthat we are 110

education during the war and bestunderstandhow schoolsfitted in with the war effort. However a small number of public and private schoolsare discussedwith referenceto how individual schoolsapproachedthe issueof the war, and attention is drawn to the similarity of many of their attitudeswith those of in schools the state sector.

War in the Curriculum

No body can escape from the war feeling, which is in the very air.... It be would absurd to endeavour to escape from this, and to try to immerse in for it oneself a calm philosophy, could not be done. The boys at do it, school, above all, could not nor even the girls, and the effect of the feeling inevitable; is it must, therefore, be reckoned with, them war upon for it will affect them not only now but, maybe, for the whole of their 25 lives. The Schoolmaster - October 1914

As soon as war broke out both teachers and schools were asking for guidance as to what should be taught about the war, recognising both the undeniable interest for the the their represented unique opportunity war pupils as well as of breathing new life into the existing curriculum. Over the following four years the from history English informed to teaching and and geography on everything war lessons on citizenship. The desire was to invoke the spirit of patriotism and give heart Empire identity the their of a great place at and children a senseof national heroes do To this tales threat. were told alongside of past and present under

lessonson the geographyof Europe and the economicand social history of the inspection from is for As there the reports evidence children, combatantnations. improved. Teachers in interest were able to that their attention and schoolwork the lessons to the many of to the so which their outside world of events connect in brothers fathers the had serving and with a personalconnection children forces.

25The Schoolmaster, 3rd October 1914, p 485.

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The aim was for children to be taught to understand that Britain's participation in the war was not only right but that it was part of the history of a great nation of which the children were an integral part. An article in The Schoolmaster, the weekly newspaper of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), urged teachers to recognise this:

The claims and the beauty of patriotism must be kept in mind, the glory of our country sharing gallantly and effectively in a just and needful war must be dwelt on, and nothing must be done or said which might weaken a child's sensethat he is one of a great companyof people, a memberof a race which, in the presentasin the past, has shown its fitness to gain, occupy, and hold a great international(positionfor the benefit of the 2 for ourselves. whole world as well as Concerns over national efficiency had lead to a wave of legislation to protect and in health being the of children order to safeguard the Empire promote and well it for lessons, far Unlike the to time on children past now was understand why. little in had involving the common with, this war people children away places how teachers the the children ordinary opportunity of showing provided with Britons, their fathers and brothers, were displaying all the qualities of patriotism had British Empire the that great. made self and sacrifice

But the article went on to urge teachersto impressupon their pupils that war in itself is `no gain, no permanentand biological necessity.' Should they fail to into German be falling the trap their the teachers this clear would make had in recent yearsand educatingthe nation's children to glorify counterparts `try for It to teachers the responsibility of national expansion. was war and strive is done. '27 future by this teaching to make war on war as soonas our war So this was no rampantjingoism; at the core theselessonswere intendedto be harness for looking the to Teachers children's ways were genuinely educational. their in interest them country's to teach of something affairs world new-found history and national character. The enthusiasmwith which individual teachers lessons for demands the Education Board the to children of the responded of and

26Ibid. 27Ibid.

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on the war can be seenas a result of the new thinking on child centredteaching methods that had beengrowing in the yearsbefore the war. Children at state elementary schools in Britain just before and during the war studied a curriculum broadly outlined by the Board of Education. The 1905 Suggestionsfor the Consideration of Teachers and Others Concerned in the Work of the Public Elementary Schools had chapters devoted to: English, Arithmetic, Observation Lessons and Nature Study, Geography, History, Drawing, Singing, Physical Training, Needlework and Housecraft (for girls) and Handicraft and Gardening (for boys). However these were, as the title of the publication explains, suggestions, and there was no prescribed syllabus or core texts to be studied in all schools. Indeed the Suggestions were keen to point out that:

The only uniformity of practice that the Board of Education.desireto see in the teaching of Public ElementarySchoolsis that eachteachershall think for himself and work out for himself suchmethodsof teachingas best be best his to the suitedto the powers advantageand may use 28 particular needsand conditions of the school. The curriculum of statepost-elementaryschoolsvaried dependingon the type of institution. As we have seenjunior technical and industrial schoolswere developing in the early years of the century focusing on a rangeof subjects,from leaving designed to to prepareadolescents manual and scientific clerical subjects Grammar 16. and grant-aidedsecondaryschoolsconcentratedon a school at from in the subjectsstudiedat more academiccurriculum, essencecarried on level. elementaryschool In light of the demandsfrom teachersand schoolsfor specific guidanceon how Education Board into the incorporate the of the war to existing school curriculum issueda circular suggestinga coursein history for the higher forms in schoolsto background to the war. give a

28Board of Education, Handbook of Suggestionsfor the Consideration of Teachersand Others Concerned with the Work of the Public Elementary Schools p 6.

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Modem European history was to include German history, concentrating on the country's unification, the liberation of Italy including the achievements of Garibaldi, the gradual disintegration of the Ottoman. Empire and the establishment of independent Christian States in Eastern-Europe as well. as Russian and Austrian. history. The basic principles of the course were to give a general outline of the political history as well as to present the outstanding events, episodes and personalities of the period. The Board also stressedthat use be should made of the children's foreign language skills, encouraging teachers to use French and German texts on the Napoleonic Wars as well as English ones. Just as we saw in the Schoolmaster article the Board of Education.made it clear

to teachersthat the courseshould be as intellectually balancedas possibleso as 'encourage to not national animosities. i29

The Board recognised that children's new-found interest in foreign affairs could be utilised to structure and strengthen the history curriculum. Charting the history of Europe up until the end of the nineteenth century without encouraging `national animosities' the Board presumably hoped that children would be in Britain's the to conflict present which guided an understanding of just intellectually If in the the the and outcome. natural participation war was it history the the to of period as neutrally as possible, was still aim was present identity be learnt in lessons important terms that of national could recognised with relevance to the present war.

On this point the circular urges teachers to bring out, 'more clearly than is including history, English the done' the of growth of aspects certain. generally British Navy and its importance in terms of the defence of England at such times be interest Special France. Armada Spanish should and the wars with as the Finally in. had Army British. in played past continental wars. shown the part the history importance the of the Board conclude with an appeal to teachers on teaching in the present circumstance:

There is no surer courseof couragethan the study of past achievements 30 the better mistakes. than past of recognition wisdom school of no and 29Board of Education, "Circular 869," (1914), p 3. 30Ibid., p 4.

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The teaching of history was to become not only a lesson in the past strength of a great Empire but also as an example for the future. British military heroes from Nelson to General Gordon were held up for emulation by teachers keen to give their children, and boys in particular, examples of the characteristics considered great and essential in a time of war - courage, fortitude, sacrifice and honour among them- Ideal British characteristics were also extolled when attempts were made to explain the causesof war to children. The Board of Education would occasionally recommended particular commercially produced war-themed texts for use in schools including Why Britain went to War To the boys and girls of the British Empire. Written by Sir James Yoxall, MP and secretary of the NUT, the text uses the playground analogy to explain Britain's position to children,

In all this war there is nothing for us to be ashamed of we fight for honour. You know what honour is among schoolboys -I do not mean in letters prize-winning, or getting one's name written gold upon an honours board, but straight dealing, truth-speaking, and "playing the for honour Well among nations while game". we are standing up Germany is playing the sneak and the bully in the big European school. Germany must be taught to "play cricket", to play fair, to honour a "scrap brag. boy be false A to threaten to cruel, and not and or of paper", not by be has done "sent Coventry" behaved Germany to all would as who the schoo1.31 Albert A Cock's A Syllabus in War Geography and History published in 1916 takes a more sophisticated view on the causesof war in the final chapter of his book entitled `Ethical Questions'. The chapter contains suggestions for teachers how to explain the necessity of the war to children, explaining: about Economic and ethical problems are always closely intertwined, and the intelligent pupil will probably be stirred to raise the question of the Belgium, the the morality of and perhaps upon attack morality of 32 "crushing Germany'

31SirJamesYoxa11,Why Britain Went to War to the Boys and Girls of the British Empire (London: 1914) p 15. 32Albert A Cock, A Syllabus in War Geography and History -for Use in Senior Classesin Elementary and Secondary Schools (London: 1916) p 31.

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To explain thesequestionsto children Cock believed it important to approachthe matter in other ways than solely insisting on the sacrednessof treaty obligations. He says: Let us think of the problem in terms of personality. We may legitimately having, in its corporate life, a personality of its conceive of a nation as own. As such, it is entitled to the respect and to the independence which attach to the status of being a person. This is a right inalienable by any treaty. It can never ceaseto be a right. At all times and in all places, personhood is sacred and inviolable: to respect it is one formulation of 33 Kantian imperative. the categorical Perhaps this difference in tone can be explained by the fact that Cock is writing two years later, when much of the initial enthusiasm for the war has begun to be by likelihood the replaced a grim acceptance of of a protracted struggle. Instead Cock to of of a simplistic appeal children's sense right and wrong recognises that likely in be belief the to their the some pupils are questioning earlier validity of justification for war. What he does is to urge the children to think about the issues from to the that problem a philosophical perspective and understand transcend the bounds of the existing crisis.

Despite this more sophisticatedapproachthere were still many in 1916 who saw in lessons for inculcating the the opportunity more particular war provided in his The First Year Richard Wilson, to of patriotism and self-sacrifice children. in in Britain's 1916, Great War the position terms of also explained published lessons discuss fair' but `play Germany the to then to teaching personal went on from learn the war: children might I hope to show you someof the bright-eyed heroism of the noble sonsof Britain, among whom someof your own friends, brothers, cousinswere doubtlessnumbered.If you who read this book can lay claim to one who before have life in his you the war, then you a splendidpattern gave up for the rest of your life; and you now know somethingof the true love hath that this, than `Greater a man no those noble words. of meaning 34 friends. his for life his down lay man

33

Ibid. p 32. 34Richard Wilson, The First Year of the Great War - Being the Story of the First Phase of the British Girls for Boys Told the Truth. for of Justice Honour, and Great World Struggle and Empire (London: 1916) pp 8-9.

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This lesson of personalsacrifice for common good was so important that many felt the learning of it should not be left to chance. A debateon the teaching of patriotism in schoolswas held in the House of Lords in November 1915where speakersstressedthe importanceof impressingupon children a true senseof patriotism and the duties of citizenship. During the debateLord Sydenhamcalled on teachersto use the eventsof the war to teach children moral lessons connected with the history and ideals of the nation, which would serve as a monument to those who had sacrificed their lives for their country. Many must have felt that the current debate raging over the need for conscription proved that being done in not enough was schools to teach young people the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. What was the point of teaching children that they had if left they part of a great people who created a great were empire, school defend fight to to that empire? unwilling

Admiral the Lord Beresford,in a Foreword to H. W. Household'shistory of the Navy for children echoedthis sentimentexplaining that teachershad an important role to play in `making the characterof our future citizens' and that: There can be no finer training for a child than the inculcation of a lofty in and no way can the patriotism of the and ennobling spirit of patriotism, British child be so successfully aroused as by the stirring story of our 35 fighting seamen. splendid

The benefit of using the storiesof great soldiersand sailorsof the pastwas that Unlike be to to much of the they could adapted appeal children of all ages. history and geographyteaching which was aimed at older children, perhaps10 be battle to told younger children, tales could and adventure of and over, exciting Indeed inspiring many children would to them. thus greatnessat an early age. literature, fictional from language their familiar tales be the such of with already it that in later be patriots no wonder was so chapter, a considered which will into leaders lives exciting the of military the adapting of opportunity recognised tales for younger children.

35HW Household, Our Sea Power Its Story and Meaning (London: 1918) foreword. -

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Several books for children devoted to the responsibilities of citizenship also appeared during the war suggesting that some publishers at least agreed with Lord Sydenham that more needed to be done to train children to understand their position in the British Empire. One, entitled Children of the Empire, explained the position to children. like this: You are a member of a family, and that family is part of a nation. All the people who live in our land are united by their history, language, religion, customs and institutions. For this reason, they come to love their country, loving it, for it, they to to defend its liberties and to and wish work

its honour. protect This love and serviceof your country is patriotism. Patriotism is a sense for of our responsibility our country; eachcitizen of a country hasto take his sharein the work. Every child shouldbe a patriot.36 The book goes on to explain the development and structure of the English Parliamentary and legal systems as well as the forms of governance throughout the Empire before ending with a chapter outlining the citizens' `Duty to Empire'. Here children are advised to think what they might do for the Empire in their future lives and urged to think of their future careers not only in terms of what it help benefit but how Empire. It the they them, to explains: will also will give

At no time in the recent history of Britain will there have been such a be left be It for boys both the there will after war. will and girls as chance to those now growing up to remake Britain... None must supposethat by The in is time greatness soldiers. of war, and needed only patriotism kind depends the of every on greatnessof spirit with which of a country duty is undertaken by its citizens. The home-maker is as essential as the 3 homes. defender of Conscription had proved to many imperialists and conservatives that the duties had Not by British fully the all men people. appreciated of citizenship were not fight defend their it to to country and their that responsibility was understood

future, in be do it. the If to be had this and to avoided to was they had compelled industrial leading her power, if Britain was to sustain military and position as a be had the to taught leaders to future natureof her understand then and workers if few; Britain then to it leave the rebuild to It was to citizenship. was not enough 36C. Gasquoine Hartley and Arthur D Lewis, Children of the Empire -a Young Citizens Reader (London: 1916) p 10. 37Ibid. p 94.

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children must understandthat there was seriouswork to be done. This book and others emphasisedthe need for everyoneto take their place as citizens of the Empire.

Although we cannot know exactly which books and what methodsof teaching being were used in which schoolswe can gather from Board of Education and School Inspectors'reports that the war was a regular subjectfor study, particularly in the higher grades in elementary schools and in secondary schools. Despite the undoubted interest of both pupils and teachers in the war, School Inspectors occasionally questioned the quality of war-themed classes.One, inspecting a school in a northern district in 1914, remarked in his report to the Board of Education that he felt the teaching about the war was being overdone:

In the Upper Departments,perhapshistory teaching sufferedmost. The teachersrushedinto schemesfollowing the courseof the war; and their lessonswere mere reproductionsof newspaperheadingswhich the 3 knew before they cameto school. children Another, inspecting schoolsin the South East, wrote that he consideredtoo much time had been sacrificedto "a nebulousWar History" and over-ambitious broader instead He take that teachers teaching. a recommended schemesof history the of the combatant nations through the eighteenth and charting outline, 39 nineteenth centuries, making regular reference to the present war.

Perhaps the surprise development came in English lessons where Inspectors in English improvement they the saw children's great commented on. Composition which they attributed to the interest the children had in their knowledge in improvement They as children wrote general saw an subject. but War Taxes Loan they War including the the topics and compositions on war is `Letter thing: letter by real a now writing writing. children's were struck most to by improved is write the of experience wealth greater of virtue composition felt Another in North. that: Inspector the of schools about' wrote one

38Board of Education, "Board of Education Annual Report 1914-1915," (London, 1915), pp 1112. 39Ibid.

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Real letters to real personsare being written. In a town school the letters to the men at the front were so interesting that I enquiredand found that 95 per cent of the children had relatives in the service.40 In the final chapter of this thesis we shall examineletters written by children to their fathers, and those sentin return..Readingthem it becomesclear that while their classteachermay have envisagedtheseletters as composition exercises, they were much more than that to the children. Perhapsfor the first time in their lives thesechildren were using their lessonsin composition to constructgenuine letters to people they loved. Into them they could pour all their news about home and school and in return.expect a personalletter that might tell them something father their of or brother's experiencein the war they were so interestedto learn about. Perhapsit was not that the children had a `greaterwealth of experienceto for first had but that time they the about' simply someonethey wantedto write have in Unlike to. seemed previous exercises composition which may write letters these contrived and mechanical, were an expressionof the children's need to communicatewith.their absentrelatives. As suchthesewere hardly lessonsat had between bridge but them, the the to created gulf war all personalattempts their fathers, brothers,and even unknown soldiers. It seemedto theseInspectorsthat becauseof the war the children were `more letters before'. As this the than they perhaps of composition with ever were alert learning For in had the because they the aboutwere stake what a children was first time it matteredto them personallyhow the map of Europehad changed The had other. each particular allianceswith over the years and why nations fascinating Italy to Turkey the suddenly of were mountains and coastline of before day heard to have the that that the which region was children who might Navy British history the The had been father the exploits of and of their sent. Lord Nelson took on a whole new significance now that their brother was to No attention more paying wonder children were serving aboard a warship. for in interest what their teacherswere saying, their work and showing a keener home touching their first were street and the the time the world outside eventsof them. the around lives to world them of ask questions their and prompting

aoIbid., p 13.

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Increasingly as the war continued, the duties of citizenship and the role of children in rebuilding the country after the war entered the curriculum with the teaching of geography and history. The Board of Education and individual teachers aimed to maintain a rigorous standard of intellectual accuracy and to avoid the tendency to subvert lessons in history and geography to serve the British position. Some children had responded by throwing themselves into their work as they found their lessons more relevant than ever before and this produced improvements in the standard and diversity of their work. The underlying message to children was that the British position was not only the in fact but the only one a nation with such a history of greatness could right one, take. Children learnt their place within a noble Empire and in the context of a history filled with great deeds and great sacrifices. It was fervently hoped that these children. would learn their lessons and be fit to maintain these traditions full British the their the they took of over places as citizens and when war was Empire.

London: A brighter future?

There is no doubt that the resumption.of the normal work of the schools by influence the this exercised the teachersthrough silent crisis, and at homes in London, of materially every part children and parentsupon balance the to of the capital of mental and moral contributed preserving the Empire at this juncture, and the Council hasplaced on record its sense 41 of the value of the teachers'services. London County Council - Annual Report for Education 1915-1919

in broke holidays for Summer the London's schoolswere closed out when war have but fears the 1914, August war might about the uncertainty of what effect (LCC) Council their County to London all the ask the capital prompted on idea The that school London the schools. teachersto return to and reopen balance influence' 'silent have the of moral and mental on teacherswould a for Council's families the an vision the of part was capital across children and facts just to teaching the than young of that more encompassed service education in for force LCC, in and, society Education, the good the a was of eyes children. " (1920),p 4. 41London County Council, "Annual Reportof the Council - Education,1915-1919, 121

if run effectively, held the promise of positive change.The LCC had a history of embracingnew educationaltheories and methodsand trained its teachersto the highest standards.Thus the children educatedunder this enlightenedsystem be would raised up from their humble beginningsby the acquisition of knowledge, and the ennobling efforts of their teachers.Before the war the Council's philosophy was to best educateLondon's children to be useful citizens of the capital of the British Empire. That philosophy acquireda new senseof urgency during the war as the Council recognisedthe essentialrole of education in moulding a new generation,capableand keen to rebuild a better Britain. London was also the first local authority in the Country to appoint an educational psychologist. In 1913 Dr Cyril Burt was appointed to a part-time post and design. his his As to encouraged part of own remit. work Burt carried out from investigating in LCC schools, psychological surveys of children everything individual children's intellectual capacity to patterns of delinquency. But Burt in developmentin being interested children's psychological was not alone During the war other educators in. London combined their child-centred approach to education with a pre-war interest in child psychology and attempted to There ill their the the pupils. was of on effects war understand and minimise frequent how help both the to air-raids that children cope with concern over happened during the school day as well as a more general interest in children's feelings for level This the suggests children's of consideration war. attitudes to impact the London's both LCC the teachers the enormous that recognised and More they lives London's this though having than the children. of on war was later lives have impact and this on children's might understood the significance attempted, whenever possible, to counter the negative with something positive. Local just had ten in LCC 1914 broke as a the When war years completed out 1903, 1902 the old Acts Education Under Authority. and the Education of London's had been Boards of School control complete and abolished elected Council's few first The the Council. work been had the of to years given schools both branches maintained had been spent consolidating the various of education, Council The also the were one authority. under schools and non-provided Council both to increasing the number of secondary school places available

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scholarsand the generalpopulation, and the scholarshipschemeitself was being extendedto allow more of the capital's more able children to progressup the scholarshipladder to university. In.the elementaryschoolsefforts were being made by the Council to reduceclasssizes. In a schemeagreedby the Council and the Board of Education, known as the 40/48 scheme,progresswas being in made reducing senior classesto no more than forty children and infant classes to no more than forty-eight. As the capital's educationauthority the membersof the LCC's Education Departmentwere keenly awareof their role in setting an exampleto other authorities around the country. London was not just the capital city of the nation it was also the capital city of the British Empire. In successive volumes of The London Education Service, the authority's official. manual, it emphasisedthe importance and implications of this position:

London is the home of the world's markets; the centre of international finance; the capital city of a world-wide Empire; the meeting place of nearly every race of people. It is not only, therefore, the needs of the `locality' which are insistent on their claim on the London Education Authority. The policy of London, including the organisation of its influenced by be largely Imperial circumstances must service, education it is humanity. For the on these that their own and general advance of 2 depends. largely existence

If the children of London could not be educatedto a standardbefitting their place for hope Empire there future then this the was what great capital of citizens of as forefront long been had in London Officials the Country? of the the at the rest of had Boards London School it that debate the old and was under education higher its trade through grade schoolsand pioneeredpost-elementaryeducation Sidney Webb like Fabian the Social the organised reformers elementaryschools. have the seen capital and aswe expansionof technical educationwithin for found their like Montessori audience a ready progressiveeducationalists ideas amongstLondon's administratorsand teachers. for the capital teachers increase trained the supply of The LCC's priority was to teacher the the pupil old of The expansionof secondaryeducationand abolition 42Stuart Maclure, A History of Education in London, 1870-1990 (London: 1990) p 83.

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system, (whereby older pupils were essentially apprenticed in teaching), meant that demand was now far outstripping supply. When it took over, the LCC had inherited one major teacher training centre, the London. Day Training College, opened in 1902 and attached to the University of London Entry to the college required matriculation and was intended for degree students. To supplement this the higher education committee quickly began.using its new powers to set up others colleges to train elementary school teachers. The number of training places in London rose from just 330 in 1902 to 950 in 1915. With an additional 550 places for London teachers at Church colleges outside the capital London 43 level was now able to operate at a subsistence of trained teachers.

But the LCC wanted more than just qualified teachers. They wanted teachers that were up to date on the latest theories of child development and education and so began a regular service of lectures and courses aimed at raising the standard of elementary teaching across the city. Classical scholar Gilbert Murray, the author and poet Sir Henry Newbolt, and Sir Arthur Keith anatomist and anthropologist, it invited these to those speak at events and was estimated that were amongst between in 1908-09. A 7,000 the teachers took year evening courses part over later in 1910 the authority also set up an education lending library for London's teachers, so that all its teachers could be kept'in touch with the latest developments of educational theory' and enabled to pursue their knowledge of `' other subjects.

At the outbreak of war then there was optimism in London about the future of Officer, by its lead Education Department Education Members of the education. for leaving the for the Blair, the Robert and age, of school raising supported calls increase of secondary provision through both technical schools and the being the teaching Interest to and methods paid was also scholarship scheme. influence the through of educational psychologists and reformers curriculum in the capital. speaking regularly

43Ibid. p 93. "Ibid. p 86.

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Once war broke out London's schools faced a major shortage of teaching staff as men enlisted in the Forces. The problem was most acute in boys' departments and women teachers from. girls' and infant departments were asked to volunteer to take their places. At the same time married women teachers and others who had retired from service were called upon to resume teaching for the period of the war. Shortages were a continual problem however, and eventually the fixed staffing number of larger boys and girls departments had to be reduced. The Council also sought to remedy the problem of finding enough teachers for the fives by intensive training under a small number of unqualified women on for had back This Council to teach temporarily. the they courses was a step as first few the spent years in power successfully attempting to certify all teachers in the city, particularly those in the voluntary sector, many of whom had never 45 attended a training college.

As the shortagesgot worse the Council recognisedthat even Head Teacherswere being forced to teach classescontinuously. It was therefore decidedto suspend the usual school examinationsand to reduceclerical work to a minimum to try to depleted the the staff. pressureon alleviate someof The LCC's Education Officer, Robert Blair, considered however that London's

disruption despite lessons learnt important teacher the and children still shortages: The deepestlessonsthat were learnt in the schoolsduring the war cannot be gaugedby external evidence. The appealof heroism,the touch of heart influence but have the transient to of on a sympathy,may seem deeper have but than would appearand may they probably sunk youth, 46 bear abundantfruit in after life. As we shall seelater in this chapter,teachersoften appealedto children's sense learning. honour in lessons they were self-sacrificeand of duty and extolled the break to felt it teachers from the that an opportunity Apart this was war gave lessons to reeverybody challenged and through the normal routine of school books Shortages and materials staff, of thoughts assumptions. and examine old 45Ibid.

46London County Council, "Annual Report of the Council - Education, 1915-1919," p 5.

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were overcome as imaginatively as possible,insteadof visiting museumsand galleries - most of which.had closed- teacherstook children to performancesof Shakespeareat the Old Vic. It was acceptedthat losing teachersmust be detrimental but it was believed that other things partly counter-balancedthe loss, by the stimulus of stirring scenes,by the story of thrilling deeds,by the ... desire for personalservice,and by the ready responsemadeby the children to the call to "do their bit" for their country both at school and at 47 home. Because of this, Blair believed, educational standards in London's schools did not suffer. Here Blair was not alone; the LCC's Chief Examiner for Junior County Scholarships examined the work of some 10,000 children who competed for scholarships in the last year of the war, and actually felt standards were improving. The examiner had expected the number of students getting high have fallen in fact but to the numbers rose. They rose so much that he marks dismissed any possibility of it being the result of a change of standard in questions or marking and concluded that children and teachers were working

harder despitethe obvious difficulties they had to overcome.48 Children in London were also encouraged to contribute to the war effort through the War Savings campaign. In London arrangements were made between the War Savings Committee and the Council for teachers to organise the distribution in Savings Certificates War their schools. to the children of

Almost all the

in 100 took elementary schools children collected over part and over schools £2000. Although the LCC were unsure of exact figures they estimated that the £500,000.49 London raised over elementary and secondary schools of

As well as issuesof staffing and curriculum the war also affectedthe 13 In London's total of the capitals schools children.. practicalities of schooling had Office, by War their that children meaning were completely taken over the instances In by be overcrowding to accommodated neighbouring schools. some basis. The half-time most serious that children only attendedschool on a meant 47Ibid., p6. 48Ibid., p 5. 49Ibid., p 9.

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threat to the day-to-day management of the schools however came from air raids. Relatively little disruption or damage was done to school buildings by the night time visits of German Zeppelins. It was the daytime aeroplane raids that caused problems. This problem was one that schools and the Council were forced to deal with throughout the war but the most terrible incident occurred on the morning of the 13th June 1917 when a bomb fell on a school in Poplar, killing 18 children. and injuring many others. Blair wrote:

From that time forward it was realisedthat London had come within the fighting zone, and that those who were responsiblefor the children's educationwere also responsiblefor doing their utmost to safeguardthe 50 children'slives. The Education Department issued sets of guidelines to safeguard children's during safety air-raids that were regularly updated as council inspectors toured the schools inspecting damage. The most difficult decision facing the Council was whether to advise schools to send their children home at the first sound of an keep decision The to them air raid or whether at school. was taken that children in buildings danger had the the should remain school until after passedalthough the deaths of so many children in Poplar prompted fresh calls for guidance and a Council's decision. the re-examination of

In July of 1917, the Department wrote to the Head Teachers of London schools in response to their anxieties about the school's responsibilities, explaining that the only choice lay between keeping the children on the premises or sending free into Blair that the streets. them out neither choice was completely accepted from risk, but that the schools were generally a safer place for the children to be. There were roughly 1,000 school buildings in the capital and the Council felt that be had low. hit fairly Any the being to against weighed the risk of one risk was into they 650,000 the London's where streets out children alternative of sending for Calls from bombs if just be and shrapnel. as much at risk, not more, at would however do the and schools continued with the children within advice on what to It Teachers. Head issued to 1917, LCC 25th August the a new set of rules on the floor two, top the decided of that given was as soon as an air-raid warning was

soIbid., p 7.

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three and four storeybuildings should be evacuatedand that the displaced classesshould be spreadaround the school so that not too many children were concentratedin any one spot. It was warned that children shouldn't shelter on staircases,but that they might use cloakrooms and teachers' rooms provided that they sit with their backs to the windows. Children in one-storey buildings were, if possible, to be moved to adjacent two storey buildings if time permitted. The Council was aware how frightening air raids could be for children and wrote,

While it is recognisedthat it may not be possibleto carry on work of a normal characterduring an actual raid, it is most desirablethat the attention of the children, particularly young children, should as far as possiblebe drawn from the raid itself. This has beenaccomplished successfullyin many casesby letting the children sing or by telling them sl stories. The needto keep the children calm was important both in terms of safety and for morale. Here was anotherway that teacherscould exercisetheir `silent influence' over the children to show them both how to behaveand to allay their fears. Air raid drills and fire drills were to be practisedregularly and teachers dangers the to of picking up parts of shellsand children of advised warn were how be found have We these that seen might after an air raid. cartridge cases highly by the prized children who night's excitementwere mementoesof despite danger Perhaps the them to most warnings. continued collect importantly however, the Council urged schoolsto be a force for morale in the done had that the much to already schools community saying leave induce to them to the and particularly of parents anxiety allay .... their children in the school buildings entirely under the control of the teachersuntil all dangerhas passed. It is felt that the confidenceof the due danger is to in that teachers the of panic any great so parents 52 be by the to smallestproportions. reduced appeals may such excitement Parents' confidence in.the teachersand their faith in the safety of leaving their instructed keepers however in were and school children school was not complete 51London County Council, "Air Raids," (1917), p 2. 52Ibid., p 3.

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to lock all outside gatesand refuse admissionto all unauthorisedpersonsas soon as a raid was sounded. Schoolswere also told that they would have the support of the police should parentscrowding at the school gatesbecomea problem. The catastrophein Poplar had shakenparentsand the schoolsalike and shortly afterwardsthe Council suggestedthe school sendout the following letter to the parentsof children in their care: My Dear Mothers, The County Council has again decidedthat, in spite of the sadtrouble in in the the MUST that children are, on whole, safest school, and we ----, keep them until the dangeris past, whateverthe time may be. May I beg of you, for your sakes,your children's sakes,and for our sakes NOT to come up for them? 1. Even if the schoolshad warning and we all let them out, three quarters of a million children all over London would be toddling home in the streets,many a long way, lots of them with no motherswith them and someof them with no mothers at home when they got there. Ten.times more children would be killed and hurt, and many would see haunt them for life. awful sights which might 2. If the mothers were also crowding round the schools and in the streets, they would also be injured, and mothers' lives are very, very precious to their children, to their homes and to our country.

3. If somemothers cameup and not others,we shouldnever havetime to pick out the right children, all the otherswould cry, and therewould still be the double dangerto mothers and children in the streets. 4. Even if you do come up, we CANNOT let them out, so keep indoors for the children's sakes.

5. Our school has a concreteroof. A bomb could scarcelycomethrough to us, but a bomb on the roof would hurt lots of you outside,so please don't come near us. 6. Your children are nearly asprecious to us asto you We have ......... to care for and we will take every care of them and keepthem happy. They won't even know what is going on if we can help it. Isn't that much better? 53 I am, etc.

This letter addressingitself solely to mothersarticulatesmany of the during It families had the to war. with regard preoccupationsthe authorities had increasing taken up that of women married number an recognises to take their to or simply allowance, separation employment supplement in factories, in high the a resulting the on offer wages relatively of advantage 53London County Council, "Air Raids in School Time, " (1917).

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perceived breakdown of authority in the home. Officials were worried that with men away fighting and women. out at work children were more likely to become delinquent. The letter also reflects the increasing importance placed on the status of motherhood during wartime, when huge losses on the battlefield produced an emphasis on the importance of bearing and raising the future generation- Just as it had during the `national efficiency' debates of the pre-war years, motherhood became a national concern, prompting calls for increased efforts to reduce maternal mortality and promote better services for mothers and infants. -54

Some improvements in family health were seen during the war. Because of the increased wages earned by parents, and the separation allowance received by mothers, children in the less prosperous districts of London were better fed and clothed than they had been before the war. The number of children deemed to be `necessitous' by the Council had fallen from 75,000 in the early days of the war, to just over 8,000 at its close. School medical inspections showed that the found be during less half 1918 to than number of children poorly nourished was that of the number in 1913.55 But the medical inspections also drew attention to for London's children: some new medical problems

During 1916 and 1917 some increase in nervous manifestations among but to this condition was children was observed as a sequel air-raids, 56 ill has been observed. purely temporary and no permanent effect Since this was only writing in 1919 it seemsearly to be contending that `no in had ill As occurred. we saw the previous chapter children permanent effect' by in the to the air-raids; some children. were excited reacted a variety of ways drama and novelty of the experience while others were terrified of the sound and knowing brought down, Zeppelins horrified the were planes or when even more for Schools Chief Inspector C. been killed. Dr W. Kimmins, the had that men of LCC was particularly interested in the children's response to the air-raids. In 1915 he set 945 children between the ages of eight and thirteen, spread across five different schools, to write essayson their impressions of the London air-

54Anna Davin, "Imperialism and Motherhood, " History WorkshopJournal 5 (1978). ss London County Council, "Annual Report of the Council Education, 1915-1919," p 11. 56Ibid.

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raids. In a lecture to the Cbild Study Society at the Royal Sanitary Institute, Dr Kimmins analysedthe resultsexplaining that: At eight years of age, the noise of the firing bulked very largely in the essays.No personal feelings were expressed and there was no evidence fear. Even at that age the girls looked after the younger children. At of nine the boys thoroughly enjoyed the raid, spending as much time as possible in the streets; occasionally among the girls great fear was expressed. At ten the boy was very talkative, and for the first time there distinct was evidence of fear, though not nearly so marked as in the case 57 of the girls. Kimmins noted that throughout there was evidence of the mothering attitude of girls towards the more helpless and that boys appeared to get more confident, becoming obsessedwith finding souvenirs of the raids at around twelve. One striking point noted by Kimmins was the evidence of the very small part played by the father in the family. He noted that in 95 per cent of the essaysno references at all were made to fathers (in some case no doubt becausethe fathers fighting), but that even when.they were mentioned the references away were far from described flattering, as terrified and abandoning their were with men families to seek solace in the pub.

Kimmins believed that the essaysillustrated the dangers of suppressedemotions felt the they twelve the most at risk as clearly amongst children, with girls of frightened but would not show it. What is interesting is that although he is aware Kimmins dangers the appears to take the children's of suppressedemotion, of he does face Nowhere suggest the possibility that some of the value. essays at boys, fears Almost have been the their all on paper. concealing children may during felt fear that Kimmins, the to something air-raids, at all no according doesn't quite tally with. the memories of those looked at in Chapter 2. While Kimmins' interpretation of these essays(which unfortunately have not survived) is a fascinating insight into a contemporary attempt to understand children's by their forget these peers and that surrounded children, attitudes, we mustn't have they for really what admitted always not might stranger, complete a writing felt.

57The Schoolmaster, 25th December 1915, p 906.

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On anotheroccasion,at the West Ham.and District EducationalConference,Dr Kimmins delivered an addresson "The Attitude of London Children Towards the War". Basedon further essays,and his conversationswith children across London, Kimmins noted that the girls were `more mature and thoughtful than the boys: but the generaltone throughout was intenselyloyal, calm and courageous.' He went on to outline the practical things the children had beendoing for the war effort then explained: As regards thrift, the girls frequently mentioned instances of their own in this direction; the boys were fond of giving good advice, activity including such items as "save a penny a week and win the war! " but, so far as the essays showed, they were content with. merely advising. Both sexes were strong on cutting down expenditure on sweets and cinemas; the boys also mentioned going without comics and similar literature; the girls never. Minor economies included fireworks (boys), light (girls), 58 boy", and on the part of one "typical soap! Kimmins was also interested in the children's domestic life and how they coped home the noting: with war at

The girls obviously took much more kindly to practical helpfulnessin the home than the boys, particularly in the matter of "minding baby". Many from duty home, boys to their the at refraining of main seemed regard as it, keeping bright"59 "merry and worrying, and, as one put Dr Kimmins concludedthat in terms of children's generalattitude to the war, little girls of ten and boys of elevenwere the most bellicose and bloodthirsty. Elder girls of thirteen or so were by far the most thoughtful, `and got down to '60 basis they the the made. statements of principles as What is interesting here is how the children's writing appearsto match the intentions of the schoolswith regard to the war. The children's attitudes are describedas being `intenselyloyal, calm and courageous'very much in keeping how We the intentions teachers. schools their shortly the shall see of with home helpful being and at encouragedchildren to saveand chargedthem with from Dr Kimmins' findings it appearsthat this messagegot through. 58The Schoolmaster, 30thDecember 1916, p 800 59Ibid.

60Ibid.

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In taking responsibility for the children during air-raids the Education Department was hoping to set an.example to parents of `business as usual'. They wanted to prevent panic and disruption and as far as possible carry on the normal practice of schooling. The war upset much of the department's work, from the building and repair of its school buildings to the training of its future staff But it focused also public interest on the subject of education, and on the health and welfare of children, as people looked to create a better future aller the war. Blair pointed to the 1.918Education Act as the culmination of this increased interest and recognition of the importance of education during the war. He observed that the vital relation of education to national destiny was indicated by the fact that the Bill was being discussed by Parliament at the very moment of the great German offensive of 1918, and that it received its Royal Assent just as Haig was . beginning his triumphant attack on the 8th of August 191.8. Blair concluded his report on the war years saying: It may be taken as a good omen.that the new campaign against ignorance been launched day have the that inaugurated the crowning should upon freedom For tyranny. attack upon complete cannot be established until ignorance has been dethroned, and the foundations of peace will not be finally secure until they are based upon widespread knowledge. The training of enlightened citizens is the greatest problem for the next few decades, and national education is the master key to national 61 reconstruction. It didn't take a World War to convince the LCC that education was the means by future. better The the Britain with which enthusiasm a could secure which its improved facilities its department the quality of and expanded education teacher training in the pre-war years indicates that they already understood the importance of educating future generations. The war made the Council more for them offered the reform, and than educational pressing need ever of aware the promise of an education act that went a long way towards meeting some of its Council teachers The the a and their most urgent concerns. gave war also Because their of the their of war. strain to enormous pupils under chance observe individual in teachers interest and educational psychology, established investigators gained a new respect for the children, as they noted how brave and " pp 11-12. 61 London County Council, "Annual Report of the Council - Education,1915-1919, 133

self-controlled they could be. London's children not only performed better academically at school, but they also appearedto take the war in their stride, respondingpositively to encouragementfrom their teachers.

Schools go to War

With the whole country encouraged to support the war effort through drives to raise money, conserve food and serve in auxiliary services, the government and the Board of Education recognised the unique opportunity they had to transmit their message into British homes though school children- If organised appropriately by the schools, children could be made to work for the war effort involvement influence their parents. Not only would the through their and children's own activities contribute towards the war effort, but the example of best practice demonstrated by the school, would find its way into the nation's homes. The schools became an agency for the dissemination of all sorts of from during how to the the to cook economically, to pieces of advice public war, how to convert back gardens into allotments.

In 1916 the Board of Education were asked by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to issue a circular to public elementary schools about the food supply, food increase help in national suggesting ways which children and schools could difficult They the circumstances under which schools recognised production. but felt confident that, were operating

be do is in School to to Elementary ready so will a position which every directly in time or the any work which can contribute present assist at 62 indirectly to the national welfare. in helping terms in listed The circular then the ways which schools were already for keeping the food girls and, of animals gardening, mentioning production, of In fruits jam the mentioning and vegetables. the making of preserving of and gardening the circular says: 62Board of Education, "Circular 944," (1916), p 1.

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In October 1915 there were 3,129 school gardens in England in which 56,037 children of Elementary School age were receiving instruction in practical gardening. Efforts will no doubt be made, by intensive cultivation and a well arranged system of secondary cropping, to use every yard of land in these gardens to the best advantage throughout the 6 year.

The Board suggestedthat to do this schoolsshould attemptto acquiremore land, derelict making use of or unusedplots and also proposedthat gardeningclasses could take over the cultivation of the gardensbelonging to men in the Forcesor those otherwise engagedin war work. Going even further it proposedthat schools become centres for seed testing and use their influence to facilitate the co-operation of local farmers in the lending of expensive equipment. This suggested a new role for the school as not only a purveyor of advice, but also as for a central organising authority war work at a local level. Whether any school in is succeeded running such a scheme unclear, although there is no reason why keen just teachers, to than their teaching abilities, enterprising contribute more have been would not able to organise something of this sort.

The Board had already issueda pamphletto teachersof domesticscience, food, for increased in the the economy preparationof and need explaining into homes Now their through this them pupils. message charging with spreading they supplementedthis with a call for more attention to be paid to the cooking of vegetablesrather than meat and addedthat, More time might also be given to thosebranchesof domesticwork which in large householdscome within the province of the still-room maid but M house-wife. the cottage clever which are equally within reach of Here they suggestthe girls should be trained in jam-making, the bottling and drying of fruit, and pickle and chutney making. The teachingof domestic during the the number of women to as war more urgency gained girls subjects factories in jobs favour declined in domestic with munitions of service entering better pay and conditions. But the thought expressedhere that girls might also

63Ibid., p 2. 64Ibid., p 3.

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make use of these skills in their own homes, rather than whilst in service, does suggest that the Board recognised as essential the future role of these girls as wives and mothers. The huge loss of life on the battlefield and the enormous social dislocation on the home front often lead to strong reactionary attitudes that urged women back into the home to take care of their husbands and children. Despite the new opportunities for women. to work outside the home opening up during the war, the Board of Education remained content with steering girls towards work in traditional fields.

Where teacherswere experiencedanimal keepersthe Board urgedthem to pass on their knowledge to the pupils and to keep animalsat school. Chickenscould be kept for both eggsand meat, and it was also suggestedthat children might learn how to managean incubator and to foster-motherchicks. Rabbitswere for keep, to also proposedas suitable animals schools providing they had the space,

Most country boys know a good deal about the feeding and management be difficulty in there pets, a rule no of rabbits as and would as found for 'school be the room can establishing a rabbitry', where in find be It to most a accommodation. necessary villages will probably local for in towns, the neighbouring since prejudice rabbits market for food in tame the rabbits places where wild of use usually prevents 65 rabbits are plentiful. Even very young children could help, the circular suggested,entreating teachers from. fruit harvesting importance the to remind children about wild plants and of fields and hedgerows.

Despite all this good work that children.could do, the Board of Educationwas at it discipline importance to the the came teachers when to of of pains remind

Board two At the the the warnings printed circular of end children's work. saying that: importance impress the the children strongly on a) Teacherswill need to If in time. the school reasonable of getting through the outdoor work of in job last to " loiter escape order to out" a make and are allowed children 65Ibid., p 4.

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indoor lessons,they will quickly acquirebad habits of indolenceand more harm than good will result. b) All practical work should be marked by scrupulousorder, neatnessand cleanliness.Tools and utensils of all kinds should be cleanedevery time they are usedbefore putting them away in their proper places.66 Instilling a senseof order and discipline in their pupils was seen asjust as important a task for the teacher as imparting knowledge. Education and the work of the schools was seen as a reforming influence on working class children, brought up, it was believed, with poor discipline and few morals. By coming into contact with the superior manners and behaviour of their teachers in the it felt these children could be reformed, and that they in turn could schools, was influence their parents at home. Discipline was key if the children were to develop into good, diligent workers. Learning their place in. society while at discipline few for independent action, the through school, strict and opportunities intended become hardworking, to schools obedient working class children employees.

Food production was not the only way the Board of Education felt children could help with the war effort. In August 1917 they passed on an appeal from the Ministry of Munitions and the Food Controller, asking for the help of schools in the collection. of horse chestnuts that had been found to be a good substitute for in They processes. wrote to the schools: some grain

The experimentsprove that for every ton of horsechestnutswhich are harvested,half a ton of grain can be savedfor human consumption. The horse chestnuttherefore,though itself totally unfit for food, can be is food It increase indirectly therefore the to supply. national utilised be horse this that chestnutsshould year'scrop of urgently necessary harvested. In presentcircumstancesit is felt that school children could doing by in the chestnuts,and so give most valuable assistance collecting 67 definite contribution to national efficiency. make a Children provided a ready supply of free labour to undertaketasksthat required how have We but time. children were very seen a reasonableamount of no skill jumped likely is it in that keen to take part the war effort and at the chance many for Munitions. Ministry the of to undertakework

66Ibid.,p6. 67Board of Education, "Circular

1009," (1917).

137

Individual schools, both those under council control and independent schools, were as keen as the Board of Education to involve children in the war effort and the children themselves seem to have responded enthusiastically. Girls' departments made clothing, blankets and bandages both in and out of school time, the money for supplies often being met by the teachers themselves. South Hampstead High School was a private girls' secondary school run by the Girls' Public Day School Company in North London. Here the girls collected food, tobacco, clothing, books and magazines to be dispatched every fortnight to prisoners of war. The school was also a member of the Girls' Secondary School Patriotic Union, founded in September 1914 under the patronage of HRH Princess Mary. As part of the Patriotic Union South Hampstead members pledged themselves to produce one article of clothing a term for the duration of the war.

As well as this the children raised money and sacrificed their prize

field for a hospital in Antwerp being run by the school's former medical examiner Dr Florence Stoney.

As a girls' school South Hampstead did not have old boys to honour, but as well doctors their serving as and relief old girls, many of whom were as supporting honour. 1914 The November the a roll of school still wanted workers abroad, issue of the school magazine describes how the school placed a Roll of Honour for King and Country in the school hall `on which are inscribed from time to time the names of near relatives of members of the school who are on.active 68 ' Cross Society. Red the those who are nursing abroad under service, and of

South Hampstead was an academic school with many of its old girls going on to University and professional careers. They were proud of their former pupils included fact but home they that the male and abroad serving the war effort at Roll how than the Honour Roll represented more the much shows of relatives on just school pride. The middle class families that patronised South Hampstead declared that so have their was as war soon as sons enlist seen many of would To from in the had have the start. war a personal stake the girls at school would the to the without war support girls teaching and encouraging continue 68South Hampstead High School, "School Magazine," November 1914.

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recognising the personallink many must have had to it, would have beena wasted opportunity. By honouring the bravery of the girls' brothers and fathers, the Roll of Honour actedasboth a comfort and an encouragementto the girls at school to continue with their war work, despitetheir personalanxieties. At Cobourg Road Girls' School, run by the LCC, the children's support of the 68th Battery RPA was so great, with parcels and letters being sent to its soldiers monthly, that the men of the Battery decided to recognised the girls' support with a commemorative shield. The school's handmade War Record, produced to coincide with the presentation ceremony outlines the girl's efforts and describes the relationship they built up with the men of the Battery. The children regularly wrote to the soldiers and were `rapturous over the arrival of the soldier's letters. ' In addition several of the soldiers visited the school whilst on leave and were 69 by the children. This link between school always given an excited welcome classes and particular soldiers was not uncommon and in the final chapter of this thesis some of the letters of these unusual correspondents will be discussed to try and understand what the bond meant to each party.

Boys' departments were equally active making splints and crutches with local by depots. instruction The the children's efforts supplied materials and keen by to take advantage of the the schools who were were always praised free time and pocket money, to press their to sacrifice children's willingness home to them a message of self denial and hard work. In a letter to the December 1915 issue of the school magazine the Head master of Wood Close LCC School wrote:

You, boys, have done, and are doing, your share, and you ought to rejoice in the feeling that you have done your duty. "Duty" and "sacrifice" are two of the best words in the English language, and the more we can carry be the true their really satisfied with more shall we meaning, out feeling be the Keep really surprised at on trying and you will ourselves. difficulties in the happiness spite of gradually springing up within you of thereof.

69Cobourg Road School, "Our School War Record." 70Wood Close School, "School Magazine," December 1915.

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We have seenhow public school boys were being encouragedto do their duty and sacrifice themselvesto the national cause.Here we seestateschools extolling the samevirtues to their working classpupils. The war was a perfect opportunity for schoolsto use as an exampleto their pupils of the higher ideals discipline of and sacrifice. Children could be encouragedto think of themselves future as useful citizens, to work hard and behaveso that they might one day prove good workers. This was not a new messageand before the war children were told of the threatsto the stability of the British Empire as an attemptto encouragethem to seethemselvesas its future defenders.Now the real threat of defeat could be held up as an exampleof what happensif a country and its failed do to their duty. people State-run schools were hugely proud of their old boys and, just as they were to the public school boys in. chapter 2, the exploits and memory of these former invoked boys. At Brecknock School, to the pupils were as an example younger by for half day honour LCC the to the also run school occasionally closed a old boys who had been awarded with military honours, and the headmaster recorded 71 letters from in in log book. he boys the school's all the received old uniform Schools were also often visited by old boys home on leave. Robert Blair, the LCC's Education Officer, makes a special mention of this tie between schools during He boys in his London's the their even schools war. old report on and for fund to the education of that provide started a cites one example of a school 72 killed in had been France. he boy's one old children after

So far, all the schoolsmentioned,be they independentschoolsor schoolsrun by Local Authorities, have supportedBritain's participation in the war. This reflects fact in but in for the the the widespreadpopular support country as a whole, war There by for was strong the war effort was no meansuniversal. support from this both and a minority grounds religious and philosophical opposition on Here two in schools the consider we will schools. of some attitudes reflected was in independent Both had the schoolsrun are that war. reasonto oppose beliefs. The really and religious philosophies particular with accordance

71Brecknock School, "Log Book. " 72London County Council, "Annual Report of the Council - Education, 1915-1919," p 8.

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interesting thing about them is that although in generalthey opposedthe war, it still becamea part of the life of the schooL The first is King Alfred School, a progressive school, founded in North London in 1898 by a group of parents seeking a different kind of education for their children. Its philosophy should perhaps more specifically be described as 'rational' and the aims of the King Alfred School Society (KASS) which founded the school, were 'the furtherance, in every possible way, of true educational methods'. The local residents and parents who made up KASS were inspired by the Garden City Movement and, like it, they sought to combat the ill s of Victorian urban industrialism through the application of proven scientific methods. KASS included academics, lawyers, artists and journalists all interested in the educational theories of the day including those of Froebel, Pestalozzi and Herbart. The school curriculum was to be totally based on the latest scientific development studies of child and was to be different from. earlier progressive like boarding Abbotsholme (both Bedales schools and schools). The society intended to set up a series of coeducational day schools in urban areas where the local both the school would communicate community and the educational with 73 lectures about their reformist ideas. community through public

King Alfred's stressedthe importance of learning for learning's sake, and there fact little In what most or no emphasis on examinations and prizes. was founders Victorian the the preoccupation with examinations and concerned was by `payment few Only the the results' abandonment of a years after results. for less in London the well off were still examined regularly and system children The indeed the through to the this was education system. progress only way founders of King Alfred School believed that examinations fostered a teacher the and of co-operation natural against worked competitive spirit which from home. The an narrow curriculum, which resulted pupil, and school and development hindered the the of all-round over emphasis on examinations, child's powers of reasoning and observation.

73Ron Brookes, King Alfred School and the Progressive Movement, 1898-1998 (Cardiff 1998) p 3.

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Between 1901 and 1914 the school had grown from 31 pupils to 85 but Headmaster John Russell had been forced to abandon the rigid rejection of all examinations in order to attract more parents to the school. He initiated some preparation for Standard exams with older children to enable them to progress on to university. This was a disappointment to him and he later blamed the outbreak of war in 1914 on the intense competitive spirit between nations, fostered within their education systems. He condemned the way this competition was disguised

by `an increasedflood of cheapemotion, of patriotic insincerities,of organised 74 passion,and of recklessinjustice.' Russell said that although he himself, if he were younger, would have fight to volunteered straight away, he believed that if schools were tolerant, loving places, then children would learn to have goodwill for each other, as 75 nations must if they are to avoid war. Despite this philosophy, copies of the King Alfred School magazine produced during the war show that the school and its children were quick to get involved in the war effort. In the autumn 1914 issue an editorial explains that the children's desire to do something to help was harnessed by a Mrs Cox who suggestedthat the children might make sweets in the science labs to send to the Front - the children deciding to send them to old in in Forces. The the the children also engaged were pupils of school serving for holding knitting tea parties wounded and splint making as well as sewing, from in Most the school magazines the the of content area. soldiers recuperating it is here is that we can see the this children's artwork and of period made up of how quickly children were picking up on the imagery of war. The first issue after battles filled for broke and military with pictures of example, was out war 76 boys by both drawn and girls. equipment,

like King is interesting the What work of children at a school about considering Alfred is that, unlike at most stateschools,the philosophy of the schoolwas interests. develop their to the to own completely geared encouraging children have the Headmaster on whole Here, where the position of the seen, as we was, into the it the curriculum. the war the children who propelled war, was against 74Ibid. p 64. 75John Russell, "School Antidotes" (1915). 76King Alfred School, "School Magazine, " Autumn 1914.

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Their interest prompted the school's involvement with war work and in their magazinethey expressedtheir preoccupationwith current eventsthrough their artwork. Perhapsthe children had fathersand brothers serving in the Forcesand so were unable to forget the war when they cameto school.Or perhaps,having listened to the conversationof their parents,they had becomefamiliar with the concernsand languageof the home front. Either way, when they got to school found that the war was getting little attention.they askedquestions,drew and pictures and no doubt discussedit themselvesuntil their teacherswere compelled to respond. The fact that their teachers did respond is also important. Here, at a school that was trying to promote rationalism and informed debate many teachers, as well as Russell, probably felt uncomfortable about the war. But knowing the importance of listening to the children and gearing the curriculum to suit their needs, they responded to the children's interests with understanding. The children were not discouraged from following the war, or told that it was wrong, instead they were helped to make the contribution they were so keen to make and encouraged to draw and exhibit their work on the war. The teachers at King Alfred recognised that they could not control what the children were interested in, and indeed an important part of the school's philosophy was to encourage the children's despite fact it independent for Thus, the that thought. went against the capacity moral philosophy of the Head, and perhaps many of the teachers as well, the war became a part of the daily life of the school.

Another school that had reasonto opposethe war was Leighton Park Schoolin Reading. Foundedin 1890 by membersof the Society of Friends,Leighton Park for lines the designed to public school along education secondary provide was In 1914 the Society the the school, under others. and sonsof membersof Headship of CharlesEvanshad 62 pupils, most of whom boardedat the school. The 1914-15 guide to the school published for prospectiveparents,and written by Evans, declaredthat,

in Quakerism; for is best that and to those the school should stand all been has Friends Society, an outstandingcharacteristicof outside the Quakers Generation firm of testimony againstwar. after generation their 143

has maintained this in the past; it is my hope and full belief that this trust of our forefatherswill be handedon by us to future generations,until war be discredited shall as as the slave trade and slavekeeping have now become.77 However Evans and others at the school recognised that this war represented a far greater challenge to those beliefs than any that had gone before. In a letter to the December 1914 issue of the school magazine, The Leightonian, Evans expressed his admiration for the boys of the school who had made opportunities to help with the war effort in the school holidays or who had begun ambulance training during the term. But, he wrote:

at this time sympathy is called out more especially to O.L. s [Old Leightonians] who have arrived at an age to make their own decisions. The call to military service has come overpoweringly to many who little dreamed of such a thing. There are, I believe, O.L. s wearing khaki today to whom war is abhorrent. There are others whose chief regret is that disability puts field service out of the question. Many another fords himself unable, for conscience sake to join in war at all, and has to turn to humanity. helping his I rejoice that outlets other ways of country and have been found for the zeal of some of these in work in Belgium and 8 France. Opinion was divided amongst the boys in the school itself, and in the Autumn term of 1914 the Debating Society carried a motion in favour of interning all German nationals, but in the same term it strongly defeated a motion proposing in debates 1916 be The to and a regular subject of war continued conscription. the Society reversed its earlier position against conscription. Nevertheless Evans instead boys Park; form Leighton the training to at of military refused allow any by There in first was also a visit made aid and ambulance work. were trained German to the prisoner of war camp a school some staff members and prefects of for food, books Racecourse, took Newbury an and stayed and where they on That this trip was organised and conducted the prisoners. afternoon chatting with keen tolerance how to the promote time was school shows very within school in As the their previous chapter, saw we pupils. amongst and understanding innocent Germans who had been living in Britain for years were experiencing

77Leighton Park School, The School Year 1914-15 (1914) p 23. 78Leighton Park School, "The Leightonian, " December 1914.

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seriouspersecutionand harassmentat this time, and children were often amongst their attackers. Because many of the families who sent their sons to Leighton Park were committed pacifists, there were occasions where families became divided over the issue of the war. The issue of conscription forced many to confront their pacifist principles, and some young men felt unable to claim exemption from the self-sacrifice being demanded of their peers. Throughout the war the school recognised the efforts of former pupils, both those who had enlisted and those who served as non-combatants. But perhaps differently from elsewhere the in its old boys who were imprisoned as conscientious took school also pride objectors. The letters of boys serving in the Forces regularly appeared alongside those of boys in prison in The Leightonian, and the school's attitude was that those obeying the call to duty - whatever they felt that duty might be - were doing work of national importance.

Both King Alfred School and Leighton Park differ from our earlier schools as they were opposed to the idea of war on moral and religious grounds. What is however is despite daily life the that this the position, of notable war still entered the school. Perhaps because of the pressure of mainstream society or through the demands of the children themselves, both schools took part in war work on the home front and supported their former pupils who became caught up in the fighting.

In all the schools considered teachers attempted to subvert the negative impact of the war to give their pupils positive examples of particular skills or moral the to the By to the effort, war contribute children encouraging characteristics. Board of Education and individual schools felt they were teaching their pupils In duty their in lessons endeavours all citizenship. and self-sacrifice, valuable families hard to their and set an example the children were encouraged to work be hanging defeat them, home. With children could the threat over of at to the importance need and the to self-discipline of encouraged understand For raising the enthusiasm, their with responded the children part war. support food and raw materials and thousands of pounds, collecting and conserving

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correspondingwith troops abroad.When the schoolswere slow to act, the children themselvesforced the war into the classroom,demandinglessonson the war and the chanceto make a contribution. On both sidesthere was an understanding that the war required the special attention of everyone on the

home front and that children had an important role to play both now and in the future.

Conclusion

Throughout the war teachers and children responded enthusiastically to the challenges of war. Both sought to incorporate it into the curriculum, perhaps a in the teachers that this new age of child-centred learning recognition on part of they would be failing their pupils if they ignored a subject so closely linked to so families. inspired The many new lessons in history and geography but it was war lessons for perhaps as a vehicle on citizenship that the war proved to be most heroes, By the useful. extolling virtues of past and present military as well as the ordinary soldiers who served under them, schools attempted to instil in their importance duty Children learnt the pupils of and sacrifice. about the extent of the British Empire, its role and its responsibilities and by highlighting the threat to its security children were encouraged to want to work and fight for its survival in the future.

Across the country individual schools worked hard to overcome the difficulties high to standard of education maintain a of teacher shortages and absent pupils in for found the take They to their active role an throughout the war. pupils ways home front war effort, both as a means of materially contributing to the home further bringing but to the of way as a also of war, successful prosecution the children the duties of citizenship. Children collected, made and saved bonds for and striking the war effort, while maintaining anything and everything friendships with soldiers serving abroad. up new

It have teachers, In many ways the war seemsto children and schools. energised by imposed difficulties they hard in the war, to overcome appearsthat working 146

not only overcamethem, but in many instancessupersededthem. Teachersand educationalistsat all level from the Board of Education down to individual classroomsnever lost their pre-war enthusiasmfor educationalreform. Instead they continued to pressfor changethroughout the war, highlighting the importance of their work, educatingthe citizens of the future to take up the work of reconstruction and reform after the war was over.

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Chapter 4- Children in Uniform Introduction

Perhaps the most visible way in which British children contributed towards the during 1914-18 was through their involvement in organised uniformed war effort youth groups. Boys and girls usually between the ages of about 12 and 18, were routinely employed by hospitals, local authorities and central government, while by others contributed collecting, making and preparing everything from clothing to splints and bandages for the British troops. Their efforts were directed by the organisers of Britain's youth groups who saw the war as a great opportunity to bring home to their members the need for the self-discipline, obedience and selfbehind be The that their teaching. to sacrifice so much of was children were of service to their country in its 'hour of need', they had been trained for it and more importantly they had been instilled with the desire to want to do it. And they did Guides it. do Scouts Girl Boys' Brigade, Boy Members to the all of and want threw themselves into the war effort enthusiastically - they relished the bit'. is involved, feel become What they their to to were'doing opportunity interesting is that the children did not always interpret their role in quite the same in leadership intended, their a manner that suggeststhe children wanted way as female being For than they given. youth groups were even more responsibility leading had to greater their they transforming the war worth proved effect, a if the that allowed girls and women, an acknowledgement and public acceptance defence to the training of the nation. could contribute right

To understandhow and why Britain's youth groupsrespondedso enthusiastically While in they were created. to the war we must understandthe climate which during field to in the being years, the pre-war education of made reforms were improve teaching methodsand increaseaccessto secondaryschooling,concerns It being not training was being neglected. that was moral children's raised were be trained to knowledge they impart to needed people; young enough to simply increased from Britain threat was under to be useful citizens of a global empire. War Boer Germany, from the and industrial and military competition particularly its In Empire. defend to had raised seriousquestionsabout the country's capacity 148

the late nineteenth century social investigators like Booth and Rowntree had identified levels of poverty that prompted fears of permanent racial degeneration. Many imperialists felt that the country was going soft through neglect. Britain becoming just it important So for the nation to take steps was complacent. as was to remedy its physical failings, so too was it important for it to addressthe moral direction in which it was headed. If Britain were to remain a strong imperial power then the rising generation must be prepared to take up their role as imperial leaders.

It is within this context of anxiety about the nation's health, wealth and imperial being that we see the emergence of a number of uniformed youth groups well during the late Victorian and early Edwardian periods. Initially these groups were targeted at working class boys- Boys it was felt, lacked discipline. They lacked moral fortitude and their attempts to behave as 'men' were often leading loutish behaviour them towards misguided, and crime. They needed to be taught to respect society, to recognise the need to sacrifice their own selfinterests for the common interests of the British Empire. They needed to be taught 'manliness' as defined within the public school ethos of self-discipline, be hand, fair Girls trained as mothers. to the needed on other play. obedience and The rapidly declining birth rate, and the challenges posed by the expanding fear imperialists to that women were endangering women's movement, prompted the empire by refusing to carry out their essential role as mothers to a new by like Scouts, join the the So to attracted groups as girls attempted generation. into diverted literature, in its freedoms they sister were suggested exciting to in them instead their a path on and set that enthusiasm, reined organisations becoming good mothers and companions to men.

leaders by Darwinism Influenced social saw the condition of many youth group human existenceas a ceaselessbattle for survival and consideredyoung people War World the First future. For the them represented be the ammunition of the to directed how By they for young considering that survival. struggle epitome of begin to in involvement therefore, understand can the we effort war people's learn to them important to it felt equip they children attitudes and values what female discussion future. Here in youth male and of the that struggle carry on 149

groups has been separated, partly because their leaders kept them so separate. The intention was to teach boys to be men and girls to be women, each with their own particular role. However it will be noted that many of the concerns of their leaders are the same. It was feared that both boys and girls danger in of were moral degeneracy and both were taught, before the war and during it, the importance of self-sacrifice, discipline and obedience amongst other things. The fundamental point for both was that they should be trained to be useful citizens, keen to give service to their country and their empire.

The Problem with Boys

The identification of youth, and particularly male urban youth, as a significant be to tackled by experts of Boy Nature' emerges at the end of the social problem nineteenth century, at the same time as the recognition of the existence of late life. Until the nineteenth century any adolescence as a separate stage of discontinuity between childhood and adulthood was largely reserved for the upper and middle classes,whose children enjoyed an extended period of youth at finally This at period of what and university. public schools, preparatory and in boys' boyhood' have 'self-conscious historians termed was celebrated some by being frequently like Own Paper Boys' the eulogised as well as magazines ' it. For working class youths on those (men) lucky enough to have experienced from hand the transition the school to the other end of childhood came with for fourteen the This thirteen sons of skilled or at around occurred work. but ended at eleven workers, who often spent some years at a secondary school, formal for the education after the sons of unskilled who received no or twelve elementary school.

in boy labour' the inherent all The expansion,and with problems, associated the began plight of saw trouble who to philanthropists middle-class cities major large numbers of boys employed in dead-endjobs, with no training or prospects juvenile in factor the to perceivedrise for future employment, as a contributing

Boys' History Steadfast the Sure Hoare, Michael ian of iand John -a i aser, and Bt Brigade 1883 to 1983 (London: 1983) p 26. Springha

1,

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delinquency. In fact Charles Booth's pioneering turn of the century study of life and work in London identified `boy labour' as a special characteristic of the city's economy. These boys, outside the controlling influence of school, responsible employer or, increasingly, religious influence were deemed to represent a serious threat to the moral and social future of the nation. They were falling through the gaps of decent society. For a few years after they left school they had work. After contributing to the household economy they might still have money in their pockets and were experiencing the greater degree of freedom that that bought them. When they were fired from their jobs (to be replaced by another school leaver who could be employed at a lower rate of pay) they were liable to spend an extended period of time without employment. During this time, with no structure to their day, and no direction in their it felt be into bad behaviour they tempted activities, was could and crime. And hang boys if Empire? None, these to the to they what good were were allowed becoming in involved What theft. petty around on street corners, smoking and they needed was direction and structure in their lives.

If the future of the Empire lay in the handsof theseyouths it became increasingly clear to imperialists that more caremust be taken to ensurethat Lord Meath this and the responsibility. young people realised and accepted National Service League(NSL) launchedcampaignsto promote national service juvenile in Empire Day Empire the the was portrayed movement, while and literature as a sourceof inspiration and adventureto young people in Britain. Young men and women of the middle classeswere encouragedto become in leaders, the colonies,while working class teachers missionariesand military But, domestic this soldiers. to and servants as youths were encouraged emigrate future Empire's they the If could the represented nation's youth was not enough. future leave that imperialists to demise, its were not prepared and also represent to chance? It would appearthen that youth movementsdevelopedout of efforts to reinforce felt, it lads feared was who, these class working amongst social conformity Guides Scouts formation future the and I'm fears the of empire and of For further discussion on " Transactions Britain, in Interwar Scouts Guides "On Honour My Proctor, M. and see Tammy (2002). 2 Society 92, Philosophical American no. of the

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lacked the necessarysocial and moral training to fit them as useful citizens of the British Empire. What theseworking classboys lacked, accordingto the founders of such youth groups,was the training they themselveshad receivedin the country's public and private schools. Central to this training was the concept of `muscular Christianity'.

First brought to prominence by the famous early

Victorian Headmaster of Rugby School, Dr Thomas Arnold, the concept had, by the turn of the century, become synonymous with the public school ethos epitomised by Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857). Muscular Christianity or `Christian manliness' placed great emphasis on athleticism and sportsmanship and upheld the physical and moral value of `masculine' team games over `effeminate' scholarship. This was combined with a fundamental belief in the inherent superiority of the British race that saw Britain's pre3 in eminence the world as the natural outcome of progress. Late Victorian health public-school attitudes equated manliness with good physical and moral in be in interest health diet the and can personal seen growing education, and from best in Manliness abstinence reflected vigorous alcohol and cigarettes. was intellectualism and any expression of emotion was physical pursuits while 4 For the organisers of the various youth movements and their soft. considered discipline the public school ethos represented character, patriotism, supporters boys in de they the class working missing all of which were and esprit corps, sought to reach.

The Boys Brigade

The Boys' Brigade was founded in Glasgow in1883 by Sunday School teacher first Smith, the businessman, William local uniformed period's and was and believed it boys needed the most was sort of at attracting aimed movement youth into Scotland in Thurso in born 1854 the a Smith north of near was reforming. Smith died in 1868 father his When family with strong military connections. business. In his for textile Glasgow to work to uncle's wholesale was sent

(Cambridge: 1982). Schools Public Edwardian Victorian J. A. Mangan, Aihleticism in the and 4 Allen Warren, "Popular Manliness: Baden-Powell, Scouting and the Development of Manly 1800America Britain Masculinity in Middle-Class Morality and in Character," Manliness and 199-200. (Manchester: 1987), James Walvin A Mangan p J. 1940, ed. and

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Glasgow Smith was influenced by Moody and Sankey'sEvangelical movement and, in 1874, abandonedthe Church of Scotland,in which he had beenbrought up, to join the College Free Church in prosperousHillhead. In the sameyear, at the age of twenty, Smith joined the 1st LanarkshireRifles Volunteer Regiment s he where quickly rose through the ranks. Little is known of Smith's characteras he left almost no autobiographical material and even his biographershave struggledto define his character. According to Springhall Smith was 'naturally modest,unselfish and selfeffacing, he was at the sametime hard-working, masterful, somewhataustere and rather a martinet. '6 An active Christian, Smith was involved with the North Woodside Mission in Glasgow, and was secretary of the Sunday School Teachers' Society. In 1880 he had set up a Young Men's Club (modelled on the YMCA) to promote social activities at the Mission where he worked alongside like Christian Revd George Reith. His other committed philanthropists firmly fostering Christianity to the then amongst commitment young was already behaviour his lacked he the of established; what was a way of controlling Sunday School pupils. In 1883 Smith decided to try using his training in the Volunteers to set up a Brigade programme for his class. It was a successwith fifty-nine boys signing up immediately. Smith quickly saw the advantage of a between bridged for boys Christian the the that training age of gap scheme of began from drift Sunday boys they 13 to tended school as away about when during join YMCA. It this 17 to the they was old enough were when work, and becoming began boys felt to it that many working class run wild, period that was `hooligans or street loafers'.

The Brigade, Boys' then The statedobject of the advancementof and now, was Christ's Kingdom among Boys, and the promotion of habits of reverence, ' It Christian towards discipline, self-respect,and all that tends manliness. was a Christian based teaching military and around movement non-denominational branches Jewish Catholic Anglican, drill, which quickly spawned and even

5 Springball, Fraser, and Hoare, Sure and Steadfast -a History of the Boys' Brigade 1883 to 1983.

6 John Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society - British YouthMovements, 1883-1940 (London: 1977) p 23.

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acrossthe country. By 1900there were 906 companiesnationally catering for 7 41,000 boys. That Christian teachingand military drill could be fused so over successfullyand come to sit quite comfortably in the minds of many late Victorian parentsowes much to the increasingly favourablepublic image of the military at this time, and the reputationsof leading Christian soldierslike Sir Henry Havelock, the evangelicalChristian generalwho had died during the Indian mutiny, and GeneralGordon, the hero of Khartoum.8 Springhall, Fraser and Hoare note the growing connection between religion and the military in late Victorian Britain in their study of the Boys' Brigade. They believe that the growth of what they term `Christian militarism' was evident in Britain since the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny of the mid-Victorian era, and point to the religious literature that used stories of evangelical generals to create the image of Christian soldiers as heroes. In addition they cite the years of peace factors image to the the and relative stability as contributing softening of military to one of colour and pageantry. This, combined with the adventure stories featuring both imagined heroes, for real and created military children and written leadership drill, in titles and added an air of an atmosphere which military in do Glaswegian Smith to the trying to minds of many respectability what was parents.9 This greater acceptance by the public of military values could also be seen as a has dominance. Tosh John that threats to suggested to male response perceived during this late Victorian era, the partial militarization of what he terms `hegemonic masculinity' in Britain, served to reinforce the indispensability of for demands time greater political, when women's manly attributes, at a `pose to traditional involvement, to a challenge appeared educational and social 1° The increased visibility of women and women's ' patriarchal assumptions. birth falling imperialists the in linked issues was explicitly the minds of with backs their deliberately be their turning role on Some to seen were women rate. ' Springhall, Fraser, and Hoare, Sure and Steadfast -a History of the Boys' Brigade 1883 to 1983 258. Ibid. p 25. 9 Ibid. p 26. lo John Tosh, "Hegemonic Masculinity and the History of Gender," in Masculinities in Politics Tosh John Hagemann, Karen Stefan Dudink, History, and Modern Gendering ed. and War (Manchester: 2004), p 55.

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as mothers, and demandingnew roles within male society. For thosewanting to stem the tide of female emancipation,the strongidentification of the soldier as an ideal form of masculinity was one way to emphasisesocial difference along genderlines. Indeed one argumentoften employedby anti-suffragistsin the early Edwardian period was that women, who could take no part in the defenceof their country, should have no right to determinepolicy that instructedmen to fight. Men earnedtheir right to vote through the basic fact that they could be called upon to sacrifice themselvesfor their country if needbe. But for Smith at least, military training was simply a means to an end. It was the religious teaching that was of primary concern and, to this end, the concept of Christian manliness was of real use to him. Speaking at a public meeting in Liverpool in 1891 Smith declared:

There is undoubtedly among boys an impression that to be a Christian means to be a "molly-coddle" and in order to disabuse their minds of this idea we sought to constnact oni organisation on a model which would 1 appeal to all their sentiments of manliness and honour' Like the leaders of other uniformed youth movements Smith was able to see that by giving youths activities and a structure that appealed to them he would be likely be The deliver his in to that to received. well aims a way was more able desire that boys be taught to be `manly' was not necessarily at odds at all with just be, it's Victorian boys that to themselves the social reformers wanted what had very specific ideas about what the right kind of `manliness' entailed. Smith understood this, All a boys' aspirations are towards manliness, however mistaken his ideas full boys Our be that are of to manliness means. as what may sometimes brave earnest desire to be brave tue men; and if we want to make them brave, true Christian men, we must direct this desire into the right 12 Christianity. the We them manliness of must show channels...

11Quoted in John Springhall, "Building Character in the British Boy: The Attempt to Extend Morality in " Manliness 1880-1914., Adolescents, and Working-Class Manliness Christian to James A. Mangan J. 1800-1940, America and Britain ed. Middle-Class Masculinity in and Walvin (Manchester: 1987), p 55. 12The Boys' Brigade, "The Boys' Brigade Gazette," February (1891): p 168-9.

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Using military training to instil Christian values did not sit comfortably with everyone however, and the Boys' Brigade attracted some fierce criticism from some Nonconformist Churchmen. One such man was the Revd John Brown Paton, retired Principal of the Nottingham Congregational Institute, who brought the idea of a non-militarist Boys' Life Brigade before the National Sunday School Union in 1899, persuading them to adopt it as a national organisation himself with as the first President. The Boys' Life Brigade operated for 27 years after which it merged with the Boys' Brigade. Throughout it sought to give the boys the same training in obedience and discipline that the Boys' Brigade achieved through military training using life saving drill, gym and first aid training. By 1914 there were over 15,000 boys and 400 companies in the Life Brigade, mostly connected with the English Free Churches.13

The Boy Scouts

In General Sir Robert Baden-Powell, hero of the siege of Mafeking during the South African War, it would appear that Edwardian society had the perfect leader for However, Badenthe group. when of another military youth candidate Powell formed the Boy Scouts in 1908 he, at least publicly, had very different intentions for the direction of his new movement. Baden-Powell was born in 1857 into a well-connected, professional, middle-class family. He had an intensely devoted relationship with his mother who encouraged competitiveness have for Biographers her their careers. children and was ambitious amongst later life in influence foremost Baden-Powell's attitudes on suggested that of in Charterhouse, his both his and as an officer public school, experiences at were but joined he At Army. the British was not an academic achiever school life. In love the developed the outdoor of a numerous societies and clubs and Army Baden-Powell was suspicious of formal, orthodox, military training 14 believing that it did little to help train really good soldiers.

13Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society British YouthMovements, 1883-1940 p 45. 141bid.and Michael Rosenthal, The Character Factory - Baden Powell and the Origins of the Boy Scout Movement (London: 1986).

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Baden-Powell was an imperial patriot and believed, as did many others, that the physical deterioration of the British race, as highlighted by the 1904 Report of the Physical Deterioration Committee and exacerbated by the falling birth rate, and the waning interest in the fortunes of the Empire, were a sign of national decadence, and posed a real threat to the future interests of the nation. According to Springhall, Baden-Powell was further spurred into action by his fears that the Liberal Government's welfare policies were weakening the public's motivation for self-help claiming

Free feeding and old age pensions, strike pay, cheap beer and indiscriminate charity do not make for the hardening of the nation or the building up of a self-reliant, energetic manhood. 15 Impatient with partisan politics, Baden-Powell was attracted to the then

fashionableconceptof national efficiency. National efficiency won the attention of people of widely differing political allegiances, and was seen as a way to reverse the trend of moral and social degeneracy that was threatening the security of the empire. The concept beliefs felt British Darwinian that to those a strong social who appealed with for Fabian to the social of empire, as as maintenance well race was necessary imperialists like Beatrice and Sidney Webb, who sought to secure their social interests by Imperialists Liberal that the of a great empire reforms persuading 16 by imperial best race. secured raising a strong were

In drawing up his system for Scout training Baden-Powell was heavily influenced by the American youth leader Ernest Thompson Seton whose Seton's in began 1902. Indians Woodcraft scheme centred around movement of building up boys' character through learning techniques of woodcraft and the in fitted Baden-Powell's own emphasis on well with observation of nature and for dislike Baden-Powell's in training. importance the army of tracking skills his influence have formal to training over a strong was methods of military more he his drawing training, Scout In for Boy of system the up organisation. vision

15Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society - British YouthMovements, 1883-1940 p 57. 16Ibid. p 59.

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eschewedthe idea that military drill, or in fact drill of any kind, could produce the kind of boy the Empire needed. InsteadBaden-Powellbelieved it was charactertraining that was required for boys who had not had the benefit of a public school education,and therefore knew nothing of the spirit of citizenship that would produce a future generationready to take on the responsibilitiesof imperial leadership. Baden-Powellwas very specific about what he saw asthe connection betweenhis schemeof Boy Scouttraining and the ideals of the public school system. He wrote: This then is one of the main reasons for the Boy Scout training, namely to take the place of the public school life which is only open to the comparatively few whose pa.i ents can afford it, and to give the mass of our rising generation responsibility, helpfulness to others, loyalty and in have kind "character" to they no patriotism which go make and which in have in their they the way of of education schools whatever may 17 instruction. As we have already seen the hidden curriculum of the public schools aimed to ideals it loyal boys the to their espoused. It school and produced above all else for die their country, and to to produced men willing and eager serve and even Victorian it to the the of structure and workings status quo when came preserve for is Baden-Powell This Edwardian then working wanted what society. and in Michael Rosenthal boys Springhall John too. see this attempt at and class face Scouting the and other organised youth of sinister social control dressed indoctrination the to of children was movements, where what amounts ideals in deeply his `Wrapping an conservative social up as entertainment. Rosenthal explains, appealing and exciting movement', he [Baden-Powell] achieved the formidable goal of creating an institution that could be embraced not only by those whom the social system was designed to support, but also by those largely excluded from its 1 advantages. boys, who Organised Boy Scout activities appealed to some urban working class had little opportunity for the excitement of camping trips and outdoor adventure in their normal lives. They were encouraged to embrace a movement that 17Quoted in Rosenthal, the Character Factory - Baden Powell and the Origins of the Boy Scout Movement p 91. 18 Ibid. p 104.

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recognisedindividual achievementas well aspromoting team spirit, and accept the importance of'character training by proving themselvesresponsible,useful, young men. By training theseworking classyouths to be obedient,hardworking and self-sacrificing, Baden-Powellwas seekingsocial cohesion,where everybody understood and accepted his place in the social order, and worked hard in the interests of the nation.

Others have disagreed with this social control theory of youth movements, pointing to their popularity and ability to attract young people from diverse regional, religious, and class backgrounds, as evidence that their aims could not 19 have been so narrow. Although I am more convinced by Springhall and Rosenthal's arguments, what the debate really highlights is the way historians have concentrated almost solely on the youth groups' prescriptive strategies, rather than the practical realities of the organisations' efforts or the experiences of the young people themselves.

Source material relating to children's experiences or the individual and local history Reconstructing purely a practices of youth organisations are scarce. based on participants' experience therefore would be difficult becauseof the large number and variety of schemes operated for Britain's youth, and the devolved nature of leadership at local level. Existing histories have identified intentions focus in the their through of youth on aims and part youth culture has headquarters. from This founders, the often advice given out and group into history translated that that assumes adult concerns automatically produced a does imply that not always reflect an agenda children's experiences, and can be This involvement to their themselves about. the perceived children what direction Britain's both by youth movements of adult contrast, explores chapter, in the years before and during the First World War, and also, as far as possible, It the themselves. the to uses children that wartime experience meant what in branches the to individual which ways understand group youth of accounts

19See Allen Warren, "Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the Scout Movement and Citizen Training in "BadenDeadman, Martin (1986)., 101 Review Historical " English Great Britain, 1900-1920, " Scheme, 1904-1920, Scout Boy Contributors' to the Powell, Militarism, and the'Invisible Guides Honour My "On (1993). Proctor, 3 History Vol 4, British and Twentieth Century no. " Britain. in Interwar Scouts and

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interpreted instructions the they were given, sometimesfollowing them children and sometimesrejecting them, in their attemptsto supportthe war effort.

Little Soldiers?

The question of militarism, which is central to the discussion of the involvement in British of youth movements the war effort, has dogged these movements since their creation and continues to preoccupy historians today. Were groups like the Boy Scouts and the Boys' Brigade paramilitary organisations masquerading as peace loving troops, teaching nothing but moral fortitude and Christian in fact Or, lead by Imperialists and they covert attempts, manliness? were National Service League supporters, to produce young men ready to serve as is in but Army Reserves? The Regular the soldiers or evidence conflicting when local histories individual look the of groups, at what the children actually at you did, it becomes clear that whatever the official position of the leadership was, the different. be individual First World During the troops quite experience of could War particularly, we see children involved in a huge range of activities designed to back up the war effort, some of them closely allied to the military. This allows for local difficult it in how to grass roots groups to was practice us understand distinguish between what activities were helping win the war in a non-military for leadership. be their too militaristic considered capacity, and what would

The fact that the Scouts, Boys' Brigade and Church Lads' Brigade were led by drilled in discipline learnt and obedience, and some cases soldiers, wore uniform, defined have themselves as staunchly non-militaristic, always with weapons, yet is what has always confused attitudes in this debate about the role of militarism in youth groups. The problem is made more difficult because of the loose interpretation of the word militarism. How do we define it as a concept? Do to to have their serve to want to members encourage actively seek youth groups in the armed forces to be considered militaristic? Or is it enough to positively Can drill a skills? and outdoor survival model soldiering through the teaching of being hold a military rank without child wear a uniform, carry a weapon and Victorian leaders The the and major of encouraged to absorb military values?

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Edwardian uniformed youth movementscertainly thought they could, but many commentatorsat the time and sincehave disagreed.By looking at the writings of leaders youth group and comparing them to the experienceof children at grass roots level, this chapterwill attempt to untanglethis debate. Although the Boys' Brigade carried all the trappings of a military group, uniform, military ranks and drill with rifles, their emphasis on the religious for their existence was always their main defence against charges of motivation militarism.

It was claimed by the Brigade that the drill and ranks were merely a

interest boys to the and to teach them self-discipline. To militarists however way the Boys' Brigade's methods fitted in well with their ideas to encourage service to Empire and military training. From 1900 onwards there were an increasing number of organisations and individuals campaigning to strengthen the Imperial ideal in Britain. Among them was Lord Meath, later the Boy Scout Commissioner for Ireland, who founded the Empire Day Movement and the Boys' Empire League, which sought to propagate the Imperial messagethrough schools. Others like Lord Milner and Lord Roberts of the National Service League (NSL) toured the country warning of Britain's fate if the nation failed to from itself for the threat posed abroad, and advocated military prepare conscription as the only answer.

These fears for the security of the Empire were partially recognised by the Liberal government, and in 1907 the Secretary of State for War, R.B. Haldane's Territorial Forces Bill was passed. The Bill reorganised Britain's Volunteer forces and brought all Officers Training Corps and Cadet Corps work under the Bill Office. A War that proposed compulsory the the of portion control of following boys for strong training at elementary school was rejected, military MPs. Liberal Labour from MacDonald Ramsay the and radical and opposition Haldane did however, seek to bring all uniformed youth movements under War 20 Office control, to act as feeder organisations for the new Territorial force. This Office the to War groups as an youth put was control of coming under possibility the become failure the penalty of to carried scheme of part a attractive choice, as from War the financial and military assistance a withdrawal of all previous 20Alan Penn, Targeting Schools Drill, Militarism and Imperialism (London: 1999). -

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Office. The Boys' Brigade however, consistentlyrefusedthe offer between 1909 and 1911, although, as we shall see,they were later to relent. The Boy Scouts, still only in their infancy at this time, also rejected the government's proposal. In all public statements and documents Baden-Powell and the Scout organisation always maintained their non-militarist standpoint. Distinguishing between war scouts and peace scouts, Baden-Powell always stressedthat his Scouts were peace scouts, partly becausehe was aware of the negative connotations any military style organisation would have in the minds of the prospective parents of just those sorts of boys he hoped to attract to Scouting. From the beginning Scouting's biggest critics were trade union leaders, working class parents and Labour Party leaders, who distrusted attempts to organise youths into uniformed movements or introduce military drill into schools. At the Seventeenth Annual Conference of the Independent Labour Party in Edinburgh in 1909 Keir Hardie moved a resolution calling for an end to the building tensions between Britain and Germany, the eventual abolition of war, and declared the Conference's `unabated opposition to all attempts to foster military impose in to compulsory military service upon the customs our schools or in Scouts Badenleaders '21 Labour the the press, so regularly attacked people. Powell was well aware that he needed to do what he could to minimise the further to alienate working class parents. appearance of militarism so as not

Despite this, from its earliest writings, the Scout movement saw preparednessfor its in training. Scouts' the to the point of central very as role any war war and Along with training the boys in the importance of following orders and in discipline, Scouts their told case of responsibilities of were also maintaining Scouting inception its by From invasion the as an organisation enemy. war or The Empire. to importance to of service, service country and service stressedthe fears be be the trained to context of pre-war useful, and, within children were to be to from Germany, they that imperial were meant rivalry and the threat over he training that Baden-Powell's then peace in was time claim of conflict. a useful for he fact them hard that war. the preparing to was with reconcile seems scouts

21Ibid. p 147.

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Michael Rosenthal,a biographer of Baden-Powelland historian of the Scout movement, also seesthis problem: the notion of the Scout as a serviceablecitizen trained to follow ordersin wartime is at the heart of Scouting. Whether this makeshim a war Scout or a peaceScout, or whether a willingness to defendone'scountry is the best way to expressdetestationof war is besidethe point; what mattersis holds before Scouting human in that simply out us a model of excellence which absoluteloyalty, an unbudgeabledevotion to duty, and the readinessto fight, and if necessarydie for one'scountry, are the highest 22 values. The distinction between peace scouts and war scouts also seemsto have caused some confusion for the Scouts themselves as Michael Blanch has noted. In 1909, the Birmingham Scout Association declined the Territorial Force's invitation to take part in a large military parade that was to be held before the Secretary of State for War, RB. Haldane, explaining to the Birmingham Daily Mail that as they were 'peace scouts' they could not participate. This letter produced a flurry believed from Scouts Scoutmasters they and who all of angry correspondence had a role to play in the military machine with one Scoutmaster protesting that 23 like how could they 'be loyal to God and the King' this? A letter from a Boy Scout suggeststhat some at least of the Scouts themselves considered the be to militarist: movement in being boys Council Scouts trained Birmingham that the the a are says it is If this so, was peace scouting movement, and not as war scouts. have I least by boys those themselves, the whom or at never understood be being to trained We that of use we were always understood spoken to. to our country in the time of need24 Other local scout troops were also confused about what counted as militaristic had in Chiswick their Scouts in 1908 days From organised their earliest activity. boys father from lessons the the and some of one of own rifle training taking However in members even went on to compete national shooting competitions. felt from there former Scout they that troop the was nothing recalls one M Rosenthal, The Character Factory Baden Powell and the Origins of the Boy ScoutMovement p 162. Culture Class in Working " Youth, Organised Nationalism "Imperialism, Blanch, Michael and (London: Johnson Richard Clarke, Chas Critcher, Theory, John Studies in History and and ed. 1979), p 112. 24Ibid.

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inherently militaristic about what they were doing; perfecting their shooting skills was simply a way to instil discipline and build character. What is interesting is that the writer recalls that the practice was discontinued after the end of the First World War. Presumably this was because shooting was too closely associated with the military war and perhaps parents and even the boys 25 had lost for it form themselves their enthusiasm as a of character training-

Even more strikingly Scouts in Derby before the First World War were awarded badges for infantry had been known training troops to give proficiency and some demonstrations of rifle and bayonet drill. So skilled were these boys in military drill that once the war itself broke out some of the troops were to be found district leading in first trainee the their soldiers experience of marching round 26What is clear from these examples is that troops at a local level route marching. interpreted their training instructions in different ways. While Baden-Powell in drill have to take troops or train with weapons, part military not advised might boys and their Scoutmasters at a local level did not always follow these directions. If the boys themselves were particularly interested and had accessto it because had, in Chiswick local took they those training, advantage of as some if Scout Likewise between training. the their that they saw no conflict rest of and it his leader, troop local that to Scout was on with military experience, passed a because he believed he was carrying out the aims of Scouting by preparing his boys to be useful citizens of the Empire.

Despite continually denying any connection with militarism, the Boy Scout Association was repeatedly challenged by some of its own members over the issue, and on several occasions in the early years breakaway groups formed first The these failed their of to take seriously. the concerns executive when disputes arose in 1909 when the Scout Commissioner for London the liberal had leaders Service League National Vane, that Sir Francis complained aristocrat

felt the Vane Council. Scout that youth of control executive the populated movement

in had been given to soldiers and conscriptionists,whose aims were

After tense Seton's a Thompson Ernest philosophy. woodcraft stark contrastto

25Alwyn Dawson, The Story of the Ist Chiswick - Early Years 1908-1939 (1978) p 15. 26John R Hughes, Thirty Years and More (Derby: 1996) p 15.

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couple of months in the winter of 1909, when it looked possible that the entire London membership might withdraw from the movement, Vane was forced to later taking charge of the more peacefully inclined, but short-lived, resign, British Boy Scouts.27 Interestingly, John Springhall points out that when the NSL eventually disbanded in 1921 it handed its assetsof £12,000 to the Boy Scout Association as being the body which most 'successfully teaches the ideals 288 Lord Roberts' of citizenship of which scheme was a part'-

A second split occurred when, in 1915 several leading members of Scouting in the Cambridge area broke away to establish an organisation to oppose the in Scouts the taking the war. The naturalist Ernest Westlake military stance were joined them as leader, and in 1916 they set up the first group of the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry. Westlake and his son Aubrey closely modelled their by but heavily influenced Seton's Woodcraft Indians the were also movement on American social Darwinist G. Stanley Hall's theory of `recapitulation'. This theory sought to apply Darwinian biological ideas to the educational psychology developing `recapitulated' believing the that adolescent every of adolescence, in human history the race the stagesof their own physical and mental of cultural development. Incorporating this into their movement a system of training was developed to allow children to live through the earlier stagesof mankind in order 29 that they might appreciate and understand the present stage of evolution.

Another London Scout leader John Hargrave, Commssioner for Camping and Woodcraft at Scout Headquarters, started the Kibbo Kift Kindred in 1920. Hargrave was unhappy with the strong association the Scout movement had had his form to own movement on more socialist with the war effort, and sought long for did Kift lines. The Kibbo as a youth movement not survive pacifist however, as its leader became immersed in the Social Credit movement and then 30 1925 The Unemployed. League the of the Greenshirts, a militant section of the

by Begun today. been Woodcraft Folk have more successfuland still survive 27John Springhall, "The Boy Scouts, Class and Militarism in Relation to British Youth (1971): 138. 2 16, Social History Review p no. Movements 1883-1935," International of 28Lord Milner quoted in The Irish Scout Association, "The Irish Scout Gazette," February (1921).

29 Springhall, Youth, Empire and Society British Youth Movements, 1883-1940 p 111. 30 Ibid. p 114.

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members of the Co-operativemovementthis organisationhas beenthe closest thing to a socialist Boy Scout/Girl Guide group and was certainly popular in the decadesafter the war when anything associatedwith militarism cameto be distrustedby parents. However it never had anything approachingthe membershipof the Boy Scouts,who also soughtto distancethemselvesfrom their more imperialist, militarist, standpointof the pre-war years,by emphasising 31 importance internationalism harmony. the of and class Clearly the question of militarism confused attitudes amongst those interested in just then as they do now. Despite repeated assertions from the youth movement leaders of the Boy Scouts and the Boys' Brigade, and the continual refusal to from breakaway both Office War groups suffered movements accept support, be in But to the that schemes. we cannot concerned militarism was creeping from the military that this perceived strain of militarism came solely convinced leaders of such groups, in fact it appearsthat often it was at local level that some by boys led Local the of most overtly military activities were originating. individual Scoutmasters were taking it upon themselves to practise shooting, bayonet drill and marching, despite instructions from headquarters that they were leadership despite do This the that of to strong and charismatic suggests so. not both Baden-Powell and Smith the huge scale of the movements they spawned be By level local the that achieved. could never at meant uniformity of practice in boys Brigade Boys' just 60,000 in the 1914 there over were outbreak of war 32 deliberately to Scouts. Both 153,000 mould attempting groups were and over boys, to prepared to take the character of their members produce useful, patriotic in is that the It therefore the unsurprising of citizenship. responsibilities on immediate pre-war years, when so much press and political attention was being learn boys to the to for skills that want should to young war, preparedness paid make themselves useful soldier-citizens.

31Ibid. pp 117-8. 32Springhall, Fraser, and Hoare, Sure and Steadfast -a History of the Boys'Brigade 1883 to 1883-1940 Movements, Youth British Society p Youth, Empire Springhall, 1983 p 258. and and 134.

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The War

Whether militaristic or not, at the outbreak of war British youth groups threw themselves into the war effort. The Boys' Brigade immediately offered its help to the government, but felt the need to defend itself against accusations of joining in military activities in the October 1914 edition of the Boys' Brigade Gazette. Describing their offer of service as not only a duty but also a privilege the Gazette goes on to say:

Our offer was unconditional; to have excluded from our offer purely limit duties have been because the of our age would military unnecessary, Boys makes it impossible for them to be employed directly either as Territorials or in the Regular Army... To have excluded everything that have in duties", be "military made our offer called a sense would could 33 valueless. The Gazette also stressedthat the Brigade was determined to maintain its independently full liberty to the to of work principles of non-militancy and retain during in As the the times. of war course see shall we normal government, as by in Llenged:. the independence tuafty; this relinquishedpart, evea a. nd.. was cha4. Boys' Brigade. At the start of the war the boys of the.Boys' Brigade were urged by their Leaders do homo, help Gazette Briggade their Boys' to extra tasks mothers at through the foodAs the being to of shortages any about complain asked and not without increasingly the however their outside needed were services war progressed home as messengers and orderlies, in ambulance troops, and to signal the `all from Brigade Boys' the Throughout, the message clear' after air raid warnings. About `A Word the 1914 In `be headquarters was to entitled pamphlet a steady'. home brought Executive the gravity of Brigade' Boys' the War to the Boys of the the situation to its young members saying: business. Men it isn't but fun be flags little Shouting and waving may business, big, is terrible flag. This all and we dying the a war under are 34 have to see it through. Boys, be steady. 33The Boys' Brigade, "The Boys` Brigade Gazette," October (1914): p 20. 34Quoted in Springhall, Fraser, and Hoare, Sure and Steadfast -a History of the Boys' Brigade 1883 to 1983 p 107.

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The Boy Scout Association also used its monthly magazines (The Headquarters Gazette for Scoutmasters and The Scout for boys) to pass on instructions as to the sort of work that Scouts might become involved with now that war had been declared. Scout duties, which they were already largely trained for, would be designed so as to release men for the more arduous tasks of war. Their scope, it be in line claimed, non-military, was would and would come more with police be directed by that the Chief Constable of each County. Specifically could work Baden-Powell, in the very first month of the war suggestedthat the work of the Boy Scouts would include:

lines, bridges, Guarding telegraph etc., culverts, a) and patrolling by damage spies. against b) Collecting information as to supplies,transport etc., available.

duties inhabitants, Handing to connected with and other c) out notices billeting, commandeering, warning etc.

d) Carrying out organisedrelief measuresamongstinhabitants.

despatch by Carrying of riders, signallers, means out communications e) wireless.

fj

Helping families of men employedin defenceduties, or sick or wounded etc.

dressing first-aid, Establishing or nursing stations, refuges, g) dispensaries, soup kitchens etc., in their clubrooms.

35 h) Acting as guides,orderlies, etc.

The speed with which local Scout organisers were able to put into practice Baden-Powell's suggestions can be gauged by this letter sent in to The Scout. The boy, a Scout from Hampstead, North London, was on holiday in Sandgate, Kent when war broke out but responded to the notices posted around town Society. Cross Red headquarters local the Scouts Boy the to report to of asking Having taken his uniform with him on holiday the boy was included in the local troops: the activities of

First of all I delivered someofficial documents,and then went and bought somecloth and flannelette for pyjamas,shirts etc. I then assisted in shifting about a hundred chairs from the Memorial Hall to the Bevan buildings in beds two these After Home. Convalescent this we rigged up hospitals. have So three Home. Nursing now got we and the Devonshire

3sThe Boy Scout Association, "Headquarters Gazette," August (1914): p 233,

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A spy was collared by two boys of the 3rdHythe (Shorncliffe) Troop yesterday,and anotherwas caught in Sandgatetoday -a patrol leader and I gave the report to the Post Office.36 Baden-Powell also suggestedthat Scouts and Sea Scouts could assist the Coastguards in watching the nation's estuaries and ports. Their organisation by counties under their Commissioners, and even their distribution in small units under Scoutmasters all over the country was seen to be a great strength, making in Scouts the mobilisation easy, and putting a strong position with their existing knowledge of the local area and conditions. Even when Scouts had no knowledge of an area they could be put to good use. Some troops were away from home at their annual camp when war was declared but many were asked to help immediately in the place they were staying. The 4th Streatham Sea Scout troop were at camp in Leatherhead over the August Bank Holiday and one has member recalled: Immediately high adventure came to the lads for they were each given a line local by told to the the at guard railway police sergeant and whistle the end of the field... However all was well and the Territorial Army . bey boys "4th 3 the officer the were commended arrived after nights and 3 for their courageous act in helping to defend their country. To Baden-Powell it was inconceivable that the government would not jump at the chance of using such a well-trained and reliable force. Because of the implications of their war work Baden-Powell felt confident that: by Education from the be they will attendance school excused 38 Committees and from work by their employers. in Scouts the Boy their work They were not, and throughout the war undertook Scouts in York this The to where was only exception evenings and at weekends. local Education bodies the that by local demand in officials and public such were School Day Temporary Scout's where Committee agreed to the setting up of a Scouts would be available for duties for one week at a time attending school at

all other times. 36The Boy Scout Association, The Scout," August (1914). Group. Scout Sea Streatham 4th Golden Jubilee Association, Scout the '' Streatham Sea of 1913-1963. (London: 1963) p 1. 38The Boy Scout Association, "Headquarters Gazette," August (1914) p 233.

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Baden-Powell wanted his Scoutsto understandwhat he saw as the positive lessonsthat could be learnt from war. He believed that: The Damoclesiansword of war ever hanging over a country has its value in keeping up the manlinessof a people,in developing self-sacrificing heroism in its soldiers,in uniting classes,creeds,and parties,and in 39 in its true proportion. showing the pettinessof party politics For Baden-Powell then, a nation could be incited to work together for the individual, if their common weal, sacrifice or class concerns, sufficiently afraid for the future of the nation. More importantly, in terms of Scouting's ideology, it proved the worth of their motto to Be Prepared'. The present conflict proved to the pre-war doubters of Germany's threat that the country must guard itself 'not for be but '40 As for be may even possible. well probable, what merely what may for ideal be being the the to opportunity of practical use war was as prepared Scouts to practise self-sacrifice, just as the soldiers abroad were being asked to do. An editorial in the Headquarters Gazette ran I like to tell my boys that in some small way they can in spirit, if not They lay down in can and protect a wounded soldier. person, actually by like hardship some simple acts of selfgood soldiers voluntarily suffer denial. They can give up their beds and sleep on the floor when beds are in dispense least for hospitals. They and sleep with sheets can at required The certain result of happiness for the boys themselves is not blankets. ... 41 in due follow but be held inducement to them, to course will out an And so 'character training was to be achieved by teaching the boys to find happiness through self-sacrifice and self-denial. The example of soldiers, held the in lives their the as up was their country, to of service prepared give up live boys to to up training, urged were and young epitome of successful character for them. the sacrifice the older generation were making

had Scoutmasters Commissioners Scout 1914 Already, by September and free to boys, various their charge, of their services, offering mobilised them bodies. Baden-Powell departments congratulated and regional government 39Ibid. September: p 262. 40Ibid. 41Ibid. December: p 80.

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on this effort claiming that their hard work meantthat the Scoutshad, in fact, mobilised more rapidly than the DefenceForces,assumingthe preliminary guarding of the coasts,telegraphs,and railways until the otherswere ready to take over the duties. For Baden-Powellthis was a great achievement.Despite the fact that the DefenceForcespresumablyhad far greaternumbersto organise as well as a broaderrange of concerns,Baden-Powelltook pleasurein comparing his own force favourably to the nation's adult force. He wrote: This is a great feather in our cap and has oncemore drawn the grateful

appreciation of the authorities; it has given us another definite step in pivgicss in the form of the official recognition of the Scouts as a National non-combatant force. `" Fears that the enemy were planning to contaminate the water supply appear to have been rife with many histories of local Scout troops reporting that their members were posted to guard reservoirs and waterworks. For one patrol the first broken in In the the the month evening of war. one monotony of work was Glasgow, Scouts Alex Beckett and Arthur Blair were guarding the Milngavie waterworks when Alex spotted a man climbing over the perimeter wall,

The man had not gone far when Scout Beckett stopped him and asked him to show his permit. This he was not able to do nor would he give information about himself. The Scout asked the man to write down his letter Scout Blair B. German the the arrived script of name and noticed 43

on the sceneand water-works staff were alerted.

The local paper later reported that the man was a German schoolmaster on holiday in Scotland and that he had been transferred to the custody of the Army he follows After that Barracks. Maryhill that was an unsubstantiated report at in from Edinburgh. later to trying military custody escape shot

In recognition of the prompt and significant initial contribution by Boy Scouts by formally the Scout the the recognised was uniform across country Government asthe uniform of a public service,non-military body on the 10th August 1914. With the announcementof this in the Scoutpresscamethe very 42Ibid. September: p 262. Scout (Bearsden) 43Alec J. Spalding, The 24th, 1908-1988 Glasgow 24th History the of -a Group (1988) p 11.

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stern admonition from Scout Headquarters that no Scout or Scout officer in uniform must on any account carry arms. However again local groups interpreted these instructions differently. The 1stChiswick Scout troop had been at camp in Westgate near Margate when war was declared. As the camp was very close to St Mildred's Seaplane Station, the troop had immediately offered their services there and had been accepted. Unlike other groups whose work away from home ended when the summer camp broke up, boys from Chiswick, who were no longer at school, were asked to stay on at the Seaplane Station (for which they were paid a shilling a day). Part of the boys' work involved patrolling the camp in the evenings and at weekends; what is unusual is that they did this initially full infantry fighting bayonet wearing equipment - rifle, and 150 rounds of found Because they ammunition. carrying everything too heavy, all non-essential later boys the equipment was omitted although continued to patrol with 10 involved, One later Scouts Jack Hewson, the rounds of ammunition. of reported that he knew of the attitude of the Boy Scout Association towards its members his be but he that to considered role an exceptional case 'and under carrying arms do the same again'-44 similar circumstances would

What is unclear is whether these Scouts patrolled with arms at the request of the decision The it took themselves. they seaplane garrison or whether was a 25 Air Service Naval Royal 50 and personnel garrison was staffed with about from it likely it from Regiment West Kent that Royal the was and seems men however is It that they forces their they these that clear arms. received one of knew that what they were doing went against the principles of their movement but they were willing to carry arms anyway. Bearing arms, to these Scouts, in the do. like job to thing doing the the same right seemed same way as the soldiers They believed that they were performing a military duty for their country in a do by do, to the been had then to trained asked and time of war, something they military authorities where they were stationed.

like Baden-Powell, the Kitchener for War Lord State Secretary The saw, of ideal both it feeling the for Scouting, that provided opportunity benefit of the war for Scoutmastersto show boys the real meaning and value of all their training; 44Dawson, The Story of the Ist Chiswick Early Years 1908-1939 p 18. -

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and for giving boys the chance to see it for themselves. Kitchener's thoughts were relayed to the Scouts in the September 1914 edition of the Gazette. They were told of his belief that there was a need for the manhood of the nation to come forward at this critical time, and of what he believed could be the value of the assistance of boys who were wholehearted in their work and could be trusted to carry it out to the very best of their ability. The Scouts, Kitchener declared, `were a great assetto the nation. 45Such high praise, from so magnificent a war hero as Lord Kitchener himself, must have been very eagerly received by the boys engaged in Scout work, and the ready use made of them by government departments, hospitals and the like, encouraged them to behave as was expected of them and help the nation in its time of need. Frank Hinton, a Sea Scout from Portishead remembers that he and his fellow Scouts were put to work collecting from iron to old rubber as well as gathering herbs for medicinal everything scrap Scout He Association rewarded war work with a War that the purposes. recalls Service Badge and that hard little discs to these get one of coveted showing that we all worked 46 in hours 80 or 100 the wearer had put war service. The sadnessfor Baden-Powell was that Scouting had not begun twenty years have been he believed for if it had there that an even greater would earlier, have for defenders. There to the there than would country's call was response been a body of men already trained in discipline, initiative, self-reliance, jump importantly to at the chance self sacrifice, ready resourcefulness and most 47 In the light of this sentiment I find it hard to believe that the to fight. To its heart, that behind Scouting claim one. a military was not, at philosophy be but future that to you would produce training sure still soldiers you are not his in Baden-Powell But could separate them seems an odd certainty. perhaps desire to instilling the serve your country, the and sentiment patriotic of mind from the likely outcome of such teaching - enlistment in the Territorials or did they Scouts have Army. Indeed until even wait Regular not seen some as we in in involved became before left had they serving a military the movement boys is the level least that local At considered there evidence at capacity. 45The Boy Scout Association, "Headquarters Gazette," September(1914) p 263. 46 John F Rickard, Scouting around Portishead (2000) p 30. 47The Boy Scout Association, "Headquarters Gazette," September (1914) p 263.

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themselvesa military force and would gladly have carried arms on a permanent basis had they been allowed. So keen was Baden-Powell to have the Scouts prove useful during the war that he even offered to send a battalion of cyclists for service abroad as messengers, but the offer was declined by the Commander of the British Forces in France, Sir John French, on the grounds that the bad weather was likely to make conditions impossible for bicycles. Baden-Powell was prophesying as early as October 1914 that his Scouts would probably be called upon in the future to play a more vital role. While at present the army only wanted larger men of nineteen and over, Baden-Powell explained writing to his Scouts, it was likely that the time be lowered the to include younger men of would come when standard would he in Already, Germany fellows smaller size. said, young of sixteen were being into follow, least for Britain Home the that ranks, and pressed soon might at Service. To that end he said:

I want all Scouts to Be Prepared for this, and to have our "Bantam Battalion" ready, so that the moment the door is opened we can step in 48 for service. with a corps already trained Baden-Powell invited every Scout, between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, to boys if his his in Scoutmaster those to to serve called upon; as willing send name distance, judging in into be trained then rifle shooting, patrols, should grouped infantry in drilling accordance with signalling, pioneering, entrenching, and training methods. This scheme became known as the Scout Defence Corps in 1915 which Baden-Powell claimed represented neither a shift in the movement's into beginning turn the that the whole movement would of a process methods nor had, he lines. He the taken advice of a said, along military corps run a cadet like himself, training to as military averse number of gentlemen who were, for boys, and they all agreed saying that: education

in the present national emergency, when the country is staking its very is Europe, there imposition no of militarism over existence against the

48Ibid. October: p 290.

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harm in helping the older boys to preparethemselvesfor the defenceof 49 homes, if be their need Baden-Powell's aim in setting up the Scout Defence Corps was to protect Britain from the threat of a German invasion, something he continued to urge both the his Boy Scouts to 'Be Prepared' for. It was believed that in the event country and invasion, the Scouts, if properly prepared at once, could be of great of an by both to national value, acting allay the panic of civilians and to aid the boys, The the therefore: machinery of relief effort.

be be taught to should prepared for the worst; to think out every situation that is likely, or possible, to occur, and be impressed with the fact that their duty is to observe discipline and keep a smile on, even in the worst 50 in frightened. of circumstances, order to reassure the more Scouts should be detailed to all the leading authorities and, in case of invasion, headquarters in Scouts their to so as rally all case cyclist patrols should sleep at invasion distribute inhabitants Scouts Before to could an warnings of emergency. from their certain areas, along with their wagons and and organise evacuation livestock. After an invasion they could be organised into search and rescue fire in brigades to aid the relief work. parties as well as

It is hard to read these suggestions for the preparation and training of children to take such a substantial role in the organisation of the nation in the event of an invasion without feeling that those who advocated such preparations were Baden-Powell, in those their and the risks. unnecessary charge under putting Scout the the administration of many other retired soldiers who made up Association, appear to have longed for some action in which their troops could take part. They urged their Scouts on and on in their training, suggesting more Front Home for the them war effort, ultimately within and more central positions had in Margate if Seaplane lives. What the their station positions which risked been attacked by German warships, or the German schoolmaster the boys in Glasgow apprehended had been violent? The whole point in involving these boys in the work that they did was because both the Scouting authorities and the

49Ibid. November: p 321. soIbid. October p 290.

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military authorities believed that the threat from the enemywas real. BadenPowell wanted to train young boys to be of serviceto their country in the future, but what he actually provided was children to servetheir country in the present. The fact that Britain wasn't invaded should not obscurethe fact that the Boy Scoutswere expectedby their leader to play a critical role if it was and no doubt they would have beenkeen to do so themselves,regardlessof the danger. Perhapsmindful of fears on the part of parentsthat their children were being for dangerous proposed such roles Baden-Powellevenwent so far asto issuea statement on 'What Scouts Could Be Shot For' claiming that their duties:

if essentially non-combatant and designed to help their fellowcountrymen rather than to fight the enemy, do not render Scouts liable to hands heir i the the capture or summary punishment at of enem'. 1 be like that of police. a protection to them u iiform would By December 1914 1,400 Scouts had been retained by the Admiralty for duty as following Some 100,000 Navy Reservists. their more call up as coastguards, in departments be to and officially employed government were estimated 52 hospitals. In addition, returns from February 1915 announced that already 3,300 Scouts had joined the Scout Defence Corps, prepared to defend their 53 from do 1916 if From the there to calls renewed were so. country called upon War Office for the country's uniformed youth movements to become affiliated Cadet Association County Territorial the the organisation. nation's part of as with The unanticipated length of the war meant that there was increasing support for Others leadership. in the this as the patriotic option amongst some youth groups' took a more pragmatic approach believing that recognition was one way to boys who might secure existing membership and encourage recruitment amongst local just join their cadet corps. otherwise

51Ibid. p 291. 52Ibid. December: p 347. 53By the end of the war 25,000 Scouts had served on coast guard duty and 80,000 had earned became Scoutmasters former Scouts Scouts, badges. 100,000 More than and their War Service "11th Association, Scout in The Boy died 10,000 combat. of whom soldiers in the conflict, Annual Report, " (London, 1919), pp 15-17..

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The cadet scheme, with its rigid reliance on mechanical drill did not give enough prominence to Baden-Powell's idea of character and he claimed boys trained by it ended up as worse recruits into the army than those with no training at all:

In my own mind the boys of the country have a very definite place in the in war - the war that comes after this war - namely, in the struggle for industrial and commercial successwhich is going to raise our country out havoc brought about by the existing crisis, and which will the of consolidate for us tomorrow the results of victories won by our men in 54 field the today, and will compensate for our losses. That war would probably continue for the next ten or twenty years and would be won, Baden-Powell felt sure, by the country whose citizens were equipped for the work ahead. To that end he felt that the nation should be concentrating on training the rising generation in individual character, technical efficiency and health. foundation he felt With this they would make the most efficient physical dress if be, But the to most effective soldiers. young citizens and equally, need men up,

in khaki and to teach them to play at soldiers under the allurement of the is, fever, to my mind, to trifle with a very serious situation existing war 55 big national opportunity. and with a very The Boys' Brigade on the other hand were tempted by the idea of recognition as for in 1917 Executive March their the all companies polled and cadet corps it did (29 Of Companies that that the noted cent not), was per replied opinions. for being Company in favour to 74 apply permitted of any per cent were over by being Force Territorial the to given recognition, subject a guarantee Association concerned that there would be no interference with the religious and by Brigade the Brigade, those that would the nominated only and social work of be accepted as Officers. Of those who were not in favour most were entirely definite delay in the but taking after step until any some advocated against,

56 did decided Executive these Consequently that , not the numbers while war. become Brigade the cadets, as a whole should warrant a recommendationthat individual be to that permissionshould given support was so widespread 54The Boy Scout Association, "Headquarters Gazette," May (1916): p 115. ss Ibid. 56The Boys' Brigade, "Boys' Brigade Gazette," June (1917): p 114.

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Companies to apply for recognition without damaging their position in the Brigade.

Springhall, Fraser and Hoare, in their history of the Boys' Brigade argue that the Boys' Brigade was worried about losing potential recruits to the secular cadet corps. The total number of boys in the Boys' Brigade fell from about 60,000 in 1914 to 43,000 in 1919, which suggeststhat this decision had little impact in boys to the movement. By allowing the individual companies to attracting accept recognition the Boys' Brigade created an association with the State's military muscle that was to prove unpopular in the post war years as many 57 parents' reaction to the war turned to revulsion.

Martin Deadman has described the Scouts' role in wartime as 'peripheral' and likened their work to that of women, designed to free men for the fighting. 58 While that may have been the position of the Boy Scout and Boys' Brigade leadership, in reality the children's work became much more than that. Children by hospitals Office, Post the government offices, and as well as were relied upon local military authorities and the police, who all recognised the potential for large When number of usually unpaid volunteers. you consider utilising such a the thousands of children who were organised by their troop leaders to guard bridges, deliver messages,sound the 'all clear' etc and who read the words of their leaders, extolling them to 'Be Prepared' or 'Be Steady', it seemsunlikely that they themselves would have seen their role as peripheral. Indeed as we have believing for the an active military role, chance seen some children embraced fact In it in the their the that movement. of principles against no way went lengths that the to to themselves make sure great also went organisations be it through recognition as a nonchildren's work was recognised, whether 59 Service Badge. War force, the through a of award a cadet corps, or combatant

57Springhall, Fraser, and Hoare, Sure and Steadfast History of the Boys' Brigade 1883 to -a 1983 p 116. 58Deadman, "Baden-Powell, Militarism, and the'Invisible Contributors' to the Boy Scout Scheme, 1904-1920," p 218. 59By April 1918 the Boys' Brigade had issued 2,650 badgesfor boys who gave over 100 hours hours. unpaid and voluntary service, outside of school or work

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Throughout the war young boys were trusted with important work by government departments,hospitals and the police and this was purely because they had beentrained for suchwork. Groupslike the Scouts,the Boys' Brigade, the Church Lads' Brigade and othersinstilled in their membersthe importanceof discipline, obedience,patriotism and self-sacrifice and so successfulwere they that their memberscould be employed in suchwork. They were too young to in serve an overtly military capacity,though no doubt someof them, as well as their leaders,would have beenmore than willing to do so, but they none the less played an important part in the organisedwork of the Home Front.

The Girl Guides

When a band of self styled 'Girl Scouts' gatecrashedthe 1909 Boy Scout Rally at Crystal Palace, Baden-Powell initially showed little interest in their enthusiasm. When it emerged however, that several thousand girls had in fact registered themselves with Headquarters as 'Boy Scouts' it became clear that some it for Baden-Powell have be For them. to was not made provision would desirable that the movement become a mixed one. He foresaw both the disgust of his boy members at having their movement hijacked by their sisters as well as the disapproval of polite society at having girls take part in such manly activities in the company of hordes of boys.

The answer then, was a separate organization to be run alongside the Scouts by his sister Agnes, with the same ideals of character training for the new Baden-Powell 1909 In differing but therefore, methods. with generation for Character Suggestion A Guides: 'Girl published a pamphlet entitled Training for Girls' and in 1912, with his sister Agnes another one entitled `The Handbook for Girl Guides or How Girls Can Help Build the Empire'. In these the they Baden-Powells problems and as the saw what outlined pamphlets As the female for problems the youth male with the country. of youth solutions lay in a decline in moral standards, and an increase in juvenile crime. The become be for to trained to the girls need problem of getting good servants and be felt it issues both hard become could but was were and unwomanly, not useful

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addressedby the systemof training proposedfor the Girl Guides. Most of all, future girls, as mothers of the sonsof the Empire, neededstrongmoral and patriotic training in order for them to be a positive influence on men. As with the Boy Scouts it was not certain at first whether the training would become a movement in itself and in the 1909 pamphlets it is suggestedthat Guide training could be taken up by other female youth organisations, or perhaps branch feeder to the Territorial Organisation of Voluntary Aid. The as a cadet or suggestion was that every girl of whatever social class might be given practical instruction in Hospital Nursing, Cooking, Home Nursing and Ambulance Works instruction in Religion, Chivalry, Courage. It Patriotism as well as moral and girls, best to that this through that appeal achieved means really was stressed was but that care should be taken not to encourage her to become a 'rough tomboy'. The threat of invasion and the need to populate the Colonies with good British 1909 Girl Guide The in training. the the of specific aims stock are prioritised

be Guides trained: that would pamphlet states 1. To make themselves of practical use in case of invasion by being able to find the wounded after a battle; to render first aid; to transport them to hospital; to improvise ambulances, hospitals etc; to make hospital

clothes; to cook; to nurse,etc.

2. To prepare themselves for Colonial life in case their destiny should lead them to such; including camp life, farming, gardening, housekeeping, cooking, and so on. 3. To make themselves generally more useful to others and to themselves by ;afmng useful occupations and handiwork, and yet retaining their °0 womaniiness. but 16, 12 between their for the The system proposed to cater and ages girls boys. from different be that have of to significantly organisation was going to Whereas boys were urged to get up their own troops and then find a suitable freedom level felt it Scoutmaster this that and of to was as serve adult willing local for for Instead to they were wait initiative was not appropriate a girls. it initiate thus ladies' committee to the groups, making clear that the girls' first. from If the be to supervised and structured appropriately activities were 60Robert Baden-Powell, Girl Guides: A Suggestionfor Character Training for Girls (London: 1909) p 7.180

girls were to becomeguides and comradesto the nation's men it was imperative they retain their womanly refinements and reserve. Having bandsof unsupervisedgirls climbing treesand camping out was hardly likely to persuade the nation's adults that Baden-Powell'sschemewas designedto train women to be practical and womanly. Another reasonthat the charactertraining for girls neededmore leadershipfrom the top down, as it were, had to do with class. For Baden-Powellthere was what he termed 'a bit of a gulf betweenthe delicate lady of the castleand the fighting 61 he had intention slattern of the slums' and clearly no of bridging it . While men, of whatever class were equalised and unified through sports and work and war they never, according to Baden-Powell 'attain the angelic height nor the degraded depth that women do'62Thus while the training laid down for Boy Scouts could be almost universally applied, training for girls must be altered feminine to their nature which varied according to status. appropriately suit According to the 1909 pamphlet the training had to be administered with a for, discrimination, degree of greater

do to tomboys to attract girls, yet you want of refined make not want you is from Its to give the the thus to object gutter. main slum girl raise and them all the ability to be better mothers and guides to the next 63 generation. Thus in the years before the war the initial enthusiasm of girls for Scouting was in Guides from in, Headquarters to not parade public advised reined as guidance in interested had (which boys them the the the try to what was activities of ape or indoors to first It that they in camp the suggested also was place). movement begin with as it was felt the outdoor life might be harmful to their delicate health. There is evidence to suggest that these new directions were a great form inspired been had to their disappointment to the groups of girls who already in Scouting For instructions had based the their activities around own troops and history has the Guiding of Kerr, a to Boys. Rose written also who an early recruit for felt 'many the has that proposed now that scheme suggested movement,

61Ibid. p 9. 62Ibid. 63Ibid.

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them, with its substitution of nursing and domestic duties for the more boyish 64 Scouting. activities, was rather a watered-downedition of Indeed the memoriesof other early Guides suggestthat it wasjust those boyish' activities that they most enjoyed. In those pre-war days when the adult pressand juvenile literature were filled with storiesabout the threat of invasion and the likelihood of war Girl Scouttroops appearedto be ignoring Baden-Powell's for battle. Miss Raschenwho was captain of the themselves advice and preparing 1StBirkenheadtroop remembersthe early days of the movement: We wore Lincoln green dresseswith red ties and red tam-o-shanters in hats bands for them and winter, white straw with green round summer. Lieutenants, leaders, and corporals wore white chevrons on the arm, like the N. C. O. s in the army. We always wore a white haversack filled to first-aid overflowing with requisites, and carried a cloth-covered water bottle slung on the shoulder. And last but not least, we never moved ) had band (perish Then the thought! of course we our without our poles! bugles drums knew the town the and oh yes complete with when 65 Guides went out in those days! Groups at grass roots level it seemstook little notice of the entreaties to'ladylike' behaviour, they adopted uniforms and even had military ranks, something the boy scouts themselves did not have. Another early Girl Guide from Devon by idea feeling the of action: similarly excited remembers

We had nobody to help us, but we felt immensely patriotic and - whisper it low - distinctly martial in spirit. This may have been due partly to the thrill of evolving a uniform, and the courage it took to walk along the 66 it! had in it evolved when we street Courage was definitely needed to march down the street in uniform as public low. Baden-Powell initially for Guides was right, the extremely was sympathy in didn't impolite to parading see women want society, even and society, polite themselves train to attempting the streets, carrying rucksacks and wooden poles, in troop Stockdale Miss in of girls time of crisis. who commanded a to be useful Liverpool recalls having all sorts of things thrown at them when they marched

64Rose Kerr and Alex Liddell, The Story of the Girl Guides 1908-1938 (London: 1976) p30. 65Ibid. p 34. 66Ibid. p 38.

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down the streetin 1909. Then again, it is hardly likely that that would have upset her girls as they were a tough lot: When the girls got at loggerheadswith eachother we madethem put on boxing gloves and settle their differencesin cold blood. This really was 67 bearing. very effective and stoppedtale Similarly unladylike activities were sometimes actively concealed from Scouting headquarters. Guiding The girls at Lingholt boarding school in Hindhead for and formed two rival troops, the Night-Hawks and the Wild Cats, and example

determining to stealas much of the waged a constantwar againsteachother, other troops equipmentas possible: This thrilling life lasted for over a year, dining which we gained many badges. But alas, Boy Scout headquarters finally discovered that we were badges! (We had by demanded them the obtained girls, and return of our the device of giving our initials only, not our Christian names, when applying) Then came the day of change. The Games Mistress was appointed had become beloved Night-Hawks the Heather patrol, and to the captain; 68 being Bracken. the Wild Cats descendedto This change of troops' names from animals to flowers seems to have upset many Girl Scout troops who had initially named themselves, as the boys did, after Ist Birmingham G. Commander Miss N. the company remembers: of animals. We very reluctantly changed from being Scouts to Guides It seemed ... ideal instead flowers down be the to of of animals, and rather a come 69 for had us at that age. no appeal womanliness The constant emphasis throughout early Guide literature on the idea of has Proctor Tammy that of motherhood, womanliness closely associated with Guide The for women's suffrage. suggested, was a response to the struggle domestic forces between line had the Association of to walk a thin conservative for forces feminist girls seeking new opportunities or maternal respectability and feared Anti-suffragists in that emancipated women would to participate society. if Guides important, to it the family home gain were their and so was and neglect 67Ibid. p 36. 68Ibid. p 112. 69Ibid. p 38.

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public support,that their movementbe associatedwith the nurturing, home loving modern woman. Proctor goesfurther: Girl Guides had to be womanly in order to answeradult anxietiesabout for freedoms females. Guides new were taught to be sympatheticand trained in home skills, and also they were taught to desirethe companyof men. Leadersthought that girls should becomewives, not independent women. Somewanted to train girls to become"companions"for men, but not equals;they wanted to savegirls from depravity and moral disintegration, so that as women they, in turn, could savemen.70 What the accounts of local Guide groups suggest however is that the girls themselves had little interest in being trained as 'companions' for men. That is not why they set themselves up as Girl Scouts and they initially resisted the new training suggested for them. They had become interested, as the boys who became Scouts had, in the outdoor life. They saw opportunities for adventure in learning signalling, tracking and camping skills. They wanted uniforms, a band, the chance for action, and when left to themselves, that is what they did. Clearly little leaders, their troop more than girls themselves, also probably early some of bands for They the their these things marches and and girls. organised wanted it likely disputes. boxing for It that to seems settle girls as a way even promoted it Association's Guide that the was central organising authority grew was only as following leaders, by lead having insist the to approved on groups able in for Girl Guides. Even in laid The Handbook the early then out guidelines interests local their to their the membership and rules suit groups adapted years in boyish' the to the allowed elements more enjoy and many girls continued training.

Guiding in wartime itself to Guide however, quickly the With the outbreak of war adapted movement the new demands on the civilian population, and the old concerns with for by the concerns new training superseded were motherhood and respectability for Partially in responsible better-trained women to serve auxiliary capacities.

70Proctor, "On My Honour Guides and Scouts in Interwar Britain, " p 25. -

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this new direction was the input the Guides began to receive from BadenPowell's young wife in 1914. Olave Soames was just twenty-three when she married the fifty-five year old Chief Scout in 1912 and in 1914 she began to take interest in the Guide movement. Olave was made Chief Commissioner an active in October 1914 and in that year began a series of letters to the Girl Guide Gazette -a magazine for both girls and their leaders. The Association was keen to explain to its girls how the Guide teachings on self-sacrifice and serving others could be practised in the face of war. Olave's letter to the Guides that opened the August 1914 edition of the Girl Guide Gazette explained that while being men were asked to sacrifice their lives, so women must try hard to make help sacrifices and others. She advised that girls should concentrate on cheering those who were obliged to part, visiting their homes and offering to care for their help look after the housework. Most importantly one of their chief children or duties was to maintain discipline as no work could be achieved without order, discipline and obedience. She writes:

Prompt obedience to orders is what every soldier has to learn, and it is instant, cheerful obedience which helps to make everything go 71 smoothly. While rejoicing that older Guides trained in first aid would have the opportunity to become VADs (Voluntary Aid Detatchment nurses), Olave Baden-Powell first Guides their that aid and ambulance should continue stressed younger training as well as offering their services to local army camps to help cook and knit books distribute and make clothes. and magazines and clean,

As the war progressed the girls' attentions were also drawn to the plight of their brother Scouts. Many, it was pointed out, were doing the country a valuable lines bridges, keeping by telegraph and reservoirs as well as watch over service Coast in the keeping the huge the place of the task of coastline watch over Guards who had been called up into the Navy. The girls, it was advised, could do no greater service than knitting warm clothes for these brave boys who were in be to spending many cold nights out the open. sure

71Girl Guide Association, "Girl Guide Gazette," August (1914).

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Across the country girls were sewing and knitting for soldiers, volunteering in hospitals, making bandages and splints, acting as messengersand helping with deliveries, in fact, offering themselves to any local body that could use postal their help. In Edinburgh a Guide in the 7th company remembers:

We went every Saturday morning in 1917 to run messagesbetween the depot in Lauriston Place and the Red Cross Stall in the Princes Street Arcade where home-made marmalade was sold for the war effort. We junk the visited shops to collect empty jam jars which we wheeled about in an empty pram. Not very glamorous, but we felt we were helping to win the war - nothing else would have persuaded us to wheel an old pram 72 filled with dirty jam jars. Additionally Robert Baden-Powell wrote to the Girl Guide Gazette suggesting that the Guides transform their clubrooms into temporary hostels that could be bombing hospitals in invasion by case of raids or used as shelters or makeshift the enemy. In a letter to the magazine in October 1915 Baden-Powell wrote of the great work being done by women in France and urged the Guides to 'Be Prepared' for their chance to do great deeds for their country. He wrote: 'The Zeppelins - bless them! - will be a great help to you in this way, ' and entreated the girls to be prepared for casualties anywhere women and children are letter r73 His gathered. went on:

You know what I mean. Have you got your hostels ready for taking in those injured or rendered homeless by bombardment? Have you your learnt bind bandages Have to up wounds and you ready? stretchers and in be head keep learnt fires? Have to to a plucky and your you put out determined to Have to think safety and of own nothing your you panic? heroines be in it if these to as other needs order save others, sacrifice 74 done? have Girls who did this were to be considered 'real Guides' and it seemslikely that for desperate Guide left have troops some many such an entreaty would demonstrate beds hospital their to to their to makeshift casualties whisk off bandage tying prowess on - if they endangered their own lives in the course of the rescue, so much the better. 72Joan Warrack and Peggy Greening, Girl Guides the Edinburgh Story (Edinburgh: 1977) p 119. 73Girl Guide Association, "Girl Guide Gazette," October (1915). 74Ibid.

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While Baden-Powell and the Guide Association recognised the new and varied opportunities the war provided for girls to gain some practical experience of what the training was aiming to instil in them, it was still important that they kept their sense of place and decency. Appeals were made to ensure that uniform regulations were strictly adhered to and that no added decoration should creep in, and on one occasion Baden-Powell wrote to the Gazette deploring the conduct of a group of Guides who had dressed in band uniforms and given a public concert. It was always pointed out that the men at the Front did not behaving'in hysterical donning appreciate women a way', uniforms and adopting in demeanour. his letters 1915, In May militaristic a pseudo another of monthly to the Gazette, Baden-Powell wrote of his pleasure on hearing that Girl Guides in had to some centres, when asked parade with public recruiting processions, declined, not feeling it was the right place for them. He extolled their virtues do in how 'behind the they to scenes', offices and glad were useful work saying factories and in the homes of soldiers' wives and children. Emphatically he said:

Men are not going to be persuaded to enlist because a lot of children go flags; but it is the entirely another matter when they about streets waving including even the girls of the nation, seriously at work see everybody, doing their bit towards the defence of the Empire, and for the successful 75 issue to the war. The first Annual Report of the Girl Guides was for the year 1916, a year in had the received something of a revamp, with a new association which from input increasing Robert Badenfor the counties and organisational structure Powell himself. The report is clear about the significance of the war for the it helped believed it in in the way which was society and place of women Guides Girl the as a movement: encourage public acceptance of

The War has brought to women their opportunity. It has shown how they if how has it they in capable the are shown world, are needed the work of trained aright; it has shown how, through misdirection of education, they 76 have been handicappedin the

past.

75Ibid. May. 76Girl Guide Association, "Annual Report," (London, 1916), p 3.

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The education women needed to prepare them for their place in the world is described as being that of gaining efficiency through character, skill and health and particularly, for poorer women, in encouraging improvements in environment, handicrafts, homecrafts and hygiene. Guiding had been established to these ends, and through the war the practical implications of this training had been particularly brought home to both the girls and society at large. Without the war it was felt that it would have taken a long time to persuade suspicious parents, the public and educationalists that the movement was not just factory for"Tom-boys". a

The war had broken down old traditions and

prejudices and shown the value of service given by women if properly trained.

By 1916 some 50,000 girls had enrolled as Guides, and 2,450 Brownies had joined the junior branch (begun in 1915 to cater for girls between 8 and 11). During the course of the war so far, guides had turned their club rooms into hostels, acted as messengersin government departments, made garments and bandages and worked cooking and cleaning in hospitals. In addition they had fund in huts for for France, £2000 through raising soldiers raised recreation both Scout donations, Guide the through and something soliciting activities, not Associations considered begging, and not at all in the spirit of their teachings on by kind 1916,3,753 War initiative. Work that this meant of self-reliance and Service Badges had been awarded to Guides for such duties.

In 1917 Olave Baden-Powell rewrote the Guide handbook, changing its name to Training Girls as Guides. Having never got along with her husband's sister, Olave was keen to remove Agnes from the leadership of the Guides and took differ didn't handbook in herself 1917. The Guide Chief new over the position of learning importance it in the mothering skills and tone, of stressed particularly by damage for the caused war and to return true womanliness to repair the need different What footing. was the emphasis the country to a stable social was for 'citizen The mothers', need now was placed on self-control and patriotism. the be generations.? coming of to nurturers trained womanly, yet efficient, girls

77Proctor, "On My Honour Guides and Scouts in Interwar Britain, " p 109. -

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The appeal was to the adventurous, responsible, girl who saw the importance of her future role and accepted it. 78According to Tammy Proctor:

Looking fearfully to the threat from within - the new woman and the threat from without - bolshevism- Olave Baden-Powellpromotedthe Guides as directing girls' energyin a positive, constructivedirection.79 But it wasn't only the feminist 'new woman' that Olave hoped Guiding would has A. Richard Voeltz curb. suggestedthat she also believed the teachings of Guiding could be used to help rein in that other female threat to the social order, the 'flapper'. Young wartime women, taking advantage of their new found freedoms and increased spending power were perceived to be behaving in more inappropriate and more ways, wearing make-up and expensive clothes, smoking in likely These to girls were particularly cigarettes and eating out alone public. fall victim to that other wartime affliction -'khaki fever' - and find themselves in This to was considered a serious threat unable resist any young man uniform. to the health of the armed forces, through the spread of venereal disease,as well 80 in huge before Girl Guide fibre Shortly the the to rally a nation. moral of as Hyde Park in 1918 Olave Baden-Powell gave an interview to the Daily Mirror day flighty "Is Flapper's in the the they end of an article entitled reported which in sight?" In it she claimed the Guides

Enrol flappers - if I may call the young girls so - of every kind and aim at joins, Every them every type, and they class making women of character. 1 turn out clear-headed, happy women of trained character. Voeltz explains that Lady Baden-Powell felt that the prime aim of the movement divert in for time their and so spare girls was to provide wholesome occupation love had longer Girls the 'undesirable` from things. of same no their minds more home that the older generation considered so important, instead she believed, the What '82 fever had them. be the girls they on war out and about, girls wanted to from direct the their to away energies that was going needed was a movement

78Olave Baden-Powell, Training Girls as Guides (London: 1917) p 22. 79Proctor, "On My Honour Guides and Scouts in Interwar Britain, " p 109. 8° Richard A. Voeltz, "'the Antidote to Khaki Fever'? - the Expansion of the British Girl Guides (1992). 4 27, History Contemporary " Journal World War, no. During the First of 81Ibid.: p 633. 82Ibid.

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back into home. the By encouragingthem to work for the and soldiers and streets the war, but in primarily domestic tasks, girls could be persuadedto join and then have their enthusiasmchannelledback into appropriatewomanly and modestactivities. Guiding's role was to train future citizens and that role took on an even greater during wartime as the country began to recognise the important part significance the next generation was going to play in rebuilding the country after the war was debate, Just the those involved in Guide as saw over. we with education leadership began to stress the fact that the war would not necessarily end when the fighting was over. Britain would have to continue to fight, in trade and its leader to commerce, maintain position as of a great Empire. To that end it was felt that:

The Munitions which we have to get ready for this coming war are the fall brunt the the next generation, upon whom will of men and women of 83 the struggle. This was why Guide training was so important. It was believed that the inefficiencies of the pre-war years, characterised by high infant mortality due to by be disease, efficient, well trained mothers of the could eliminated preventable TM Therefore Guiding: future, proficient in homecraft and hygiene.

offers to women of every standing a glorious and ready opportunity of doing that for their country of which perhaps they had never dreamed before that they were capable -a bigger and more permanent work even than the present war work because it affects the coming generation, and in War, have to help the and to present won shall maintain what we will blood for degree in and our enormous sacrifices of compensate some 85 treasure. While the war had shown Guides, and women in general, new and more exciting it home, that for the presumed still was opportunities work and activities outside Guiding's lives, thus making most women would return to their pre-war

Britain's These to girls were vital motherhoodtraining all the more relevant. 83Girl Guide Association, "Annual Report," p 14. 84Anna Davin, "Imperialism and Motherhood, " History WorkshopJournal 5 (1978). 85Girl Guide Association, "Annual Report," p 15.

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post-war reconstruction - they were needed to help rebuild Britain, but as mothers, not as workers. If they were to be confined to the domestic sphere at least, as Allen Warren has said, their preparation for that role 'had become more diverse and less inevitable'. 86The Guide Association built on the successof the war years, and the interest in their movement that it generated and no doubt girls continued to be interested in the movement because of the element of personal freedom and independence that participation offered to them. From 50,000 members in 1916 the Guides had a membership of 120,000 in England by 1919 and during the 1920s their membership exceeded that of their brother Boy 87 Scouts.

Undoubtedly the war helped the growth and development of Guiding as many have joined because girls must of the opportunities it afforded them for feeling that they were "doing their bit" for their country in its time of need. The Association saw that enthusiasm for the movement might die down after the war, but they felt that the new demands of reconstruction, with the promise of increased opportunities for well trained girls would help the Guides to continue felt had been it Most that the a test, a test of the training war of all was growing. be by by that the the could achieved well trained scheme and of work offered had in had They the that test and some ways war passed girls and women. behind Britain's the the their programme. reasoning principles and validated it in threat the and would take a concerted world was under power and position future. in The hold training the that threat to the off citizens part of all effort on had be boys the both to that to as war end, and central and girls was seen of jump both to willing and able shown, such training could produce young people to their country's call.

86 Allen Warren, "'Mothers for the Empire'? the Girl Guide Association in Britain, 1909-1939, " in Making Imperial Mentalities - Socialisation and British Imperialism, ed J.A. Mangan (Manchester: 1990), p 108.

87Proctor, "On My Honour - Guides and Scouts in Interwar Britain, " p 72.

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Chapter 5- War as Entertainment Introduction

Schools and youth groups tell us something about some of the institutional ways in which children learnt about and participated in the war. Schooling was compulsory, and though Scouts and Guides were not, children entered a world in those organisations already structured for them. Now we will consider some of the private ways in which children discovered and reinterpreted the war for themselves. Through toys, games, fiction and magazines, produced by adults but by consumed children, we can attempt to understand how adult preoccupations desires to influence children's understanding of the war were appropriated by and the children themselves to inform their play and shape their interpretation of events. Toy production and juvenile literature shows us both what images adults have felt to the they children about wanted war and also what children would enjoy. Motivated by commercial concerns toys makers and publishers were both to shape the market and respond to aware of what would sell and attempted it desires. in Editorials the trade press make clear that manufacturers children's knew that children's play and imaginations were being fired by the war and so sought to produce products that would appeal to their market. In turn these details fostered imagination, providing and props to support products children's their existing imaginative narratives.

We know from autobiography that children adopted the war as a recurring theme in their games becausethey were surrounded by it in everyday life. They learnt in it the war effort through youth groups and about at school, many participated forces. in brothers fathers had the armed or most a personal connection with What is harder to discover is how the war entered children's imagination, what in important how in it had their war play was shaping their games and place Did themselves. their the playing at of sense real war, or understanding of Did be to games give nurses? and soldiers soldiers or nurses make children want brothers? fathers Did fears to and about absent confront children an opportunity intended, in that the was way children use the war themed toys they were given know difficult is All for to did this their they subvert very something else? use or

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because of the essentially private way in which children play. Children's games need not have any rules or structure, they can be invented on the spot and can in change purpose or meaning in an instant. Some autobiographers have recorded how they played and what they read, but many have not. From the evidence we do have, it appears the war entered children's games regardless of whether they had any commercially produced products available to prompt them. Children played games and read books as a way of expressing their own understanding of the war, giving them a chance to identify with their absent fathers and brothers. The toy industry in Britain had benefited from the consumer boom of the 1870s and onwards. Technological advances and the reduction of transport costs highly created a competitive manufacturing environment which drove down fall in At the time the cost of food brought on by the opening up of prices. same a in major agricultural resources North America and parts of the Empire meant that, allowing for unemployment, average real wages rose by more than 75% between 1867 and 1900. Although this rate of growth decreasedduring the Edwardian period, wages were still much higher in 1914 than they had been in the late Victorian period. This meant that as families saw their household incomes rise there was more money left over to spend on what might previously have been considered luxuries for their children-' But there were still great variation in the types of toys that might be bought for different children. At the lower end of the social scale poorer parents might pick from itinerant for the their toys workers walking the streets of children up penny Britain. The number of such workers was increasing in Britain from 25,747 in 1851 to more than 69,000 by 1911, and particularly in London they represented a 2 For for tricks more paper novelties. and card major source of supply decline. however, the toys street selling was on complicated manufactured Replacing hawkers were specialised toy shops and department stores and even In begun had to gifts. children's stock all stationers, newsagents and post offices dolls better from toy buy the and quality anything might such shops parents the trains toys, toy to and the mechanical streets, soldiers not available on popular new construction toys. 1 Kenneth D. Brown, The British Toy Business History since 1700 (London: 1996) p 56. -a 2 Ibid. p 62.

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Despite this positive expansionin trade the toy industry was a causefor tension in the immediate pre-war years as it becamepart of the trade war with Germany that so terrified the Edwardians.The Germanshad a far more established industry than Britain's and produced, on the whole, superior products. The value of German toy imports to Britain had risen from just £45,000 in 1855 to £800,000 by 1900. By the last full year of peace they had reached almost £1,200,000.3 There are problems with trying to compare this to British production as the low figures cited in the industry's 1907 Census of Production into were called question at the time and have been rejected since. Kenneth Brown, in his history of the British toy business has estimated that on the eve of war a figure of £1,000,000 would be plausible. This is considerably less than that of the German imports, but certainly healthy enough to survive and capitalise on the absence of the Germans from the market after hostilities were declared.

Children's Play

There is a limited literature on the history of children's toys and games in Britain fit in little interest in how these to the myriad of those there objects and are show history. in in lives There influences that any period shaped children's cultural boys, toys, themed aimed primarily at young was a plethora of military and war during leading First in in British the to the the and up market years available World War. Most histories of children's toys take the view that war toys in any interest in innate boys' aggressive play and all market are simply a reflection of Ages, Throughout in Children's Toys Daiken, the Leslie argues things military. for instance that, `If the doll is the universal plaything for a girl, so is the toy Daiken the boys. for ' War simply are toy claims, the games natural soldier `merely boys in instinct' 'herd a of a certain age and are expression of the is toy hunt. '5 Boys' to soldiers and games the war response animal of variation instinctive, he believes, and they know what to do and how to play because their 3 Ibid. p 64. 4 Ibid. p 78. 5 Leslie Daiken, Children's Toys Throughout the Ages (1963) p 137.

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responsecomesfrom their inherent or natural masculinity. The assumptionis that men have always had to 'fight' and 'hunt' in order to survive, fighting therefore has gradually becometheir natural responseto the world. As children, boys act impulses in play and so toy soldiersare the obvious choice of their out natural toy becausethey suggestthe possibility of battle and conquest. Antonia Fraser in her History of Toys, argues similarly that, `it is inevitable that an age which has known wars should produce soldiers and war toys'6 For Fraser is what natural is the desire to imitate. Children want to copy their parents and so they absorb whatever the predominating theme of speech, dress or action happens to be. Significantly Fraser believes that the popularity of toy soldiers is 'obviously the natural development of an age when a child's admired father is dressed up as G.I. Joe. As long as men go to war and armies exist children will want to play with soldiers. '7 During the First World War, millions of British fathers were dressed up in our equivalent of G. I. Joe. If Fraser is correct this would mean that the huge quantity and variety of children's war themed toys on the market at that time could have been a response to the commercial demand of children to copy the dress and action of their fathers and brothers.

Graham Dawson's Soldier Heroes takes issue with this interpretation however, believing that children's private fantasies are shaped in more subtle ways. He inspired by in be that children can events the world around them to want agrees to act them out for themselves. Thus toys that mimic or depict current popular by children who want them to enhance their repeople or events are coveted in enactments play. In this way the wider social and cultural context can "`inform" private fantasies and determine the imaginative resonance of particular 8 forms of toy. ' But, Dawson believes, children's imaginative investments with influences by dictated the toys of society and toy are not wholly particular `depends Boys' themes of conflict and adventure appropriation of wider makers. by involves production an element of active cultural upon an active choice and boys themselves, in what can still usefully be called their own `private'

6 Antonia Fraser, A History of Toys (London: 1966) p 231 _ 7 Ibid. 8 Graham Dawson, Soldier Heroes British Adventure, Empire and the Imagining of Masculinities (London: 1994) p 239.

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imaginings. ' 9 Toy makers might direct that a toy is used in a certain way and for a certain purpose but it is the children themselves who actually determine the place of that toy in their games. Similarly, as we shall see in this chapter, don't children necessarily need any commercially produced toys to play games either based on real events or invented entirely.

But why does it matter what children play with? To answer this question it is have to useful some understanding of the place of play in the psychic life of the child- Psychoanalysts practising during the war years and into the 1920s and 30s developed the use of play when working with children as it allows children to feelings they are not necessarily able to articulate in words. Melanie express Klein, pioneer of the `play technique' argued that:

Play for the child is not `just play'. It is also work. It is not only a way of exploring and mastering the external world but also, through expressing and working through phantasies, a means of exploring and mastering anxieties. In his [sic] play the child dramatizes his phantasies, and in doing so elaborates and works through his conflicts. '0 Through play, Klein argued children expressedpsychic conflict brought on by in anxieties experienced their relationships with others. In their play these form anxieties were given symbolic which allowed the children to work through their conflict to the resolution which represented the fulfilment of their him/her from This the the gave child pleasure while protecting unconscious wish. in life. fulfilment that that the of anxiety wish real would accompany

For D. W. Winnicott, a contemporary of Klein's who also worked with children from the 1920s, this place of play is neither the child's inner psychic reality, nor is it part of the external world around them. Rather it is a between place where in from these `gather external reality and use objects or phenomenon children can 1' the service of some sample derived from inner or personal reality. ' For Winnicott this potential space between the child's inner reality and the external for is them cultural where a person's capacity reality of the world around

9 Ibid.

lo Quoted in Ibid. p 241. D. W. Winnicott, Playing and Reality (London: 1971) p 51.

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is located. He believes `cultural experiencebeginswith creative experience living first manifestedin play.' 12 In order for the analyst to correctly use the `play technique' Klein insisted that the toys used with the children be `neutral' in order that their form did not suggest a particular theme of play to the child that might interfere with the expression of their unconscious fantasy. She insisted that `the human figures, in varying only colour and size, should not indicate any particular occupation'. Klein was thus attempting to take away the importance of any outside cultural influences on the themes of children's play and consequently on the make up of their psychic life.

Drawing on this technique but abandoning the emphasis on neutral toys, Dawson has attempted to understand the ways in which his own childhood passion for helped his his developing toys to war unconsciously shape understanding of own his development Dawson the masculinity. explores of childhood senseof self, through his imaginative investment in, and boyhood fantasies of, adventure and link between He suggests a complicated manufactured toys, children's war. imaginative use of them and their creative development of their senseof self that takes into account the wider social and cultural context of their lives. This has boys in for British the millions of children, and particular, who grew relevance by during before the and war toys. up war, surrounded

If a child's senseof self is in part developed through play, as British be decades, in inter-war discovering the specifically and can psychoanalysts were informed by particular types of toy, as Dawson's self analysis indicates, then the helped during War World First to the toys themed shape preponderance of war the identities of those children who grew up playing with them. The existence of during in Britain inspired, the the toys market on so many gendered, military boys' have is if Dawson understanding of shaped millions of right, war, may, from Perhaps these games, coupled with their own masculinity. girls' exclusion influence had hospital dolls them, on girls' an the nurse games marketed at and developing senseof their gendered identity. Boys became the men they were

12Ibid. p 100.

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going to be, in part because of the military toys they played with as children. For them playing at soldiers perhaps sparked an identification with forms of masculinity that encompassedthe resolution of conflict through aggression. They learnt to be men by playing at being the type of men who fought. Similarly girls grew up playing with toys that encouraged them to develop a senseof themselves as caring, nurturing women, future mothers, needed at time when seemingly all the men in the world were fighting. The war encouraged the manufacture of toys divided sharply along gendered lines. There were no female toy soldiers, and no male Red Cross nurses. Children may have played with the toys meant for their siblings of the opposite sex, but this was not what was intended by the toy makers, or probably even the parents who bought them.

Toy Soldiers

Kenneth Brown has linked the huge increase in production of model soldiers in Europe from the late nineteenth century to the rise of militarism in Europe before 13 the First World War. During the early years of the nineteenth century the in market toy soldiers expanded significantly as the availability of new materials lowered techniques manufacturing costs. This coincided with an and production increase in awarenessand popular public support for Europe's standing armies for At them. this time that those the toys could afford a popular choice making by half but flat the two-dimensional, second metal cut-outs model soldiers were German the of manufacturers were producing solid metal threecentury dimensional soldiers. By 1889 the value of toy imports to Britain had reached 14 £714,828, most of this trade coming from Germany.

In the 1890s however the massive expansion of toy soldier production in Britain began. A technological breakthrough by the British manufacturer, William Britain, adapted the casting techniques used to make wax doll heads to make hollow metal figures. These figures could be sold at half the price of their European rivals because of the lower cost of materials and becausethey could be 13Kenneth D. Brown, "Modelling for War? Toy Soldiers in Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain, " Journal of Social History 24, no. 2 (1990). 14Ibid.: p 238.

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transported more cheaply due to the fact that railway carriage costs were directly related to the value of the freight. By 1900 Britains was producing over 100 different models and seven years later, when the enterprise was turned into a private company, it had a capital value off 18,000. By 1910 it is estimated that 15 200,000 figures being by Britains roughly a week were produced alone. The few next years saw the emergence of a number of other small companies, copying Britains' technique.

Britains remained the largest company however and the only one for which records survive. Brown estimates that other market players including Reka and Johillco must have been producing thousands rather than hundreds of figures leading him to conclude that by 1914 `a minimum of ten or eleven million toy soldiers were being produced annually in Britain'. These toys were intended mainly for the domestic market and were generally fairly cheap. Britain' standard box of either eight infantry or five cavalry figures sold for one shilling, but it was possible to buy smaller or inferior quality models for sixpence for 16 infantry four firms boxed figures In seven or cavalry. addition while most sold they also produced models which were retailed singly, making them accessible to an even wider range of parents and children.

The craze for model soldiers also took hold amongst some adults. William Britain's son, Alfred, remembers that from as early as 1896 his father's firm was buyers from for `gentlemen' several who every new set receiving regular orders Louis Robert `perfect their colouring'. and correct appreciated modelling Stevenson, Jerome K. Jerome, G.K Chesterton, H. G. Wells, Charles Masterman, C.P.Trevelyan, and Winston Churchill were collectors (the last three all members keen in 1914). Wells Government Liberal the on was so war which entered of the figures. be book he the hobby to the that played with on war-games even wrote a

Little Warswas published in 1913and set out a systemof rules and suggested Wells Wars' `Little for toy wrote soldiers. strategies playing

is Ibid.: p 239. 16Ibid.

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is the game of kings for players in an inferior social position. It can be played by boys of every age from twelve to one hundred and fifty - and even later if the limbs remain sufficiently supple,- by girls of the better 17 by few sort, and a rare and gifted women. The book was popular and salesdo not seemto have beenhit by the advent of the `Big' war the following year. Indeedthe British Library's own copy is inscribed with the dedication 'To John from Auntie May, Xmas 1914'.

But Wells was at pains to make clear that he suggests`Little Wars' as an for than alternative,rather a preparation the real thing. At the end of the book he issuedan entreatyto the posturing nations of Europeto avoid war saying, How much better is this amiable miniature than the Real Thing! Here is a homeopathic remedy for the imaginative strategist. Here is the premeditation, the thrill, the strain of accumulating victory or disaster and no smashed nor sanguinary bodies, no shattered fine buildings nor devastated country sides, no petty cruelties, none of that awful universal boredom and embitterement, that tiresome delay or embarrassment of every gracious, bold, sweet, and charming thing, that we who are old enough to remember a real modern war know to be the reality of belligerence. 18

The problem Wells believed is that, I have never yet met in little battle any military gentleman, any captain, major, colonel, general, or eminent commander, who did not presently get into difficulties and confusions among even the elementary rules of the Battle. You have only to play at Little Wars three or four times to realise just what a blundering thing Great War must be. Great War is at present, I it but is in the the universe, most expensive game am convinced, not only a game out of all proportion. Not only are the massesof men and material but big for inconvenience the too reason, monstrously and suffering and 19 have for it, are too small. available heads we Despite this certainty however the book contains a puzzling contradiction. In be for Wars Little for to the used rules of an adaptation of contains an appendix Kriegspiel, war strategy games played by army officers in training. This was leaders by for demand in military such an adaptation apparently response to a

17H. G. Wells, Little Wars (London: 1913) p 7. 18Ibid. p 97. 19Ibid. p 100.

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had who written to Wells after the publication of much of his book in a magazine.But Wells saw no contradiction in deploring war and then offering help for the training of soldiers. He simply wrote, If Great War is to be played at all, the better it is played the more humanely it will be done. I seeno inconsistencyin deploring the practice 20 while perfecting the method. That many parents should encourage their sons to play war games and master is military strategy not surprising, Brown believes, as toys have always been used instruction instruments as of and socialisation as well as amusement. Nicola Johnson, addressing imperial and nationalist influences on children's toys and during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, agrees. Parents ephemera boys believes, foster toy to soldiers, gave she not encourage a martial spirit or but for to them aggressively patriotic play, rather prepare adulthood as their 21 dolls dolls' houses. Boys from relatively sisters were through the gift of and destined for just families in the a career as their wealthy were often military, so had future household be the they sisters models of would expected to run, so the boys had a miniature version of their future to play with on the nursery floor.

This was perhaps particularly likely for children from military families. Henry Harris was given a selection box of Britains' soldiers by his father, a professional interest in from Henry's his 1916. From France that point on return soldier, on his Aldershot later Army keen to they weekly quarters at moved and when was box Britain'. a of reward was good-conduct

Harris' scrupulous father, `was

I balance between keep the to although services, various arms and a careful 22 his bias towards that there own cavalry regiment. was a realise now

By 1918 he had perhaps 400-500 figures which he would regularly parade on the floor to be inspected by the family's soldier servant. On a trip to Dublin towards lost in boy their Harris subsequentwar games the end of the war and met another by doubt interest Harris' his strengthened was no most precious models. many of

20Ibid. p 101. 21Nicola Johnson, "Penny Plain, Tuppence Coloured, " in Patriotism: TheMaking and Unmaking (London: 254. 1989), Samuel Raphael Fictions, National Vol 3: p Identity, National ed. of British 22Henry Harns, Model Soldiers (London: 1962) p 34.

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his own father's statusas a real soldier. Indeedthe choice of the original gift of the soldiers by his father suggestsa deliberateattempt to form a sharedbond between father and son around the figures. But family connections and a parental desire to see sons go into the military cannot alone explain the popularity of the soldiers. Indeed sales figures suggest they must have been bought by many parents never intending a military career for their sons. Richard Church, whose father was a postman, remembers the excitement of playing with the toys as a child. He owned a fort, with various field regiments of soldiers and a gun which fired rubber shells a quarter of an inch in length. As a child of 11 in 1904 Church played alone with his figures, near to his mother who was becoming seriously ill. He remembers that the game him but that: occupied

Behind this slaughter, however, and the momentary excitement it its own more unique concerns, engendered, my mind was at work on being foreboding them chief among my senseof as I watched my mother, furtively, from time to time. 23 Playing alone and despite the worries over his mother's health, Church was fight both battle, by his He the toy part of a playing army could excited soldiers. become in his fort He play. gun and absorbed and solitary commanders, using has noted how his soldiers had become more drab in appearance,dressed in the khaki of the recent Boer War, and that his one company of Coldstream Guards interest does bright Church in their not mention a particular uniforms. stood out in the military or the Boer War but yet he still owned and played with toy boys, for This that they given perhaps were a common gift suggests soldiers. because of their topical nature, but not necessarily indicative of particular in interest war. parental approval or childhood

Not all parentswere so keen on the soldiersas toys however, and aswell as (albeit hostility had things towards all military a tradition of nonconformists who by a weakening one this time) other parentswere also raising concernsabout Arbitration branch International 1888 the In and the their suitability. of women's

23Richard Church, Over the Bridge an Essay in Autobiography (London: 1955) p 169. -

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PeaceSociety heard a speechby Oscar Wilde's wife that called for toy soldiers to be kept away from children for this very reason.And just months before the outbreak of war the National PeaceCouncil put on a display of `peacetoys' at the Child Welfare Exhibition at Olympia in London. They arguedthat `there are grave objections to presentingour boys with regimentsof fighting men, batteries of guns and squadronsof Dreadnoughts'.Their display contained `not miniature 24 but but soldiers miniature civilians, not guns ploughs and the tools of industry.' This lack of civilian figures was not lost on all model enthusiasts. H. G. Wells bemoaned the lack of alternatives, despite his very public love for war games.

Consequent upon this dearth, our little world suffers from an exaggerated curse of militarism, and even the grocer wears epaulettes. This might please Lord Roberts and Mr Leo Maxse, but it certainly does not please buy boxes blue butcher, indeed, I that tradesmen: of a us. wish, we could a white baker with a loaf of standard bread, a draper or so; boxes of servants, boxes of street traffic, smart sets, and so forth.... We have, of course, boy scouts. With such boxes of civilians we could have much fun than with the running, marching, swashbuckling soldiery that more pervades us. They drive us to reviews; and it is only emperors, kings and interest in boys take can an uniforms and who undying very silly small 25 reviews. But the fact was that in the years leading up to the First World War toy figures. build The in to up of manufacturers were no mood produce civilian tension in the Balkans before the outbreak of war saw Turkish, Greek, Montenegrin, Serbian, and Bulgarian armies produced for children's this, trade War toy a aware of were well manufacturers and sold, gratification. editorial remarking,

Nine out of every ten boys until they are twelve years of age at least want in is if is desire there be a war progress to much greater soldiers, and the in some part of the world. The Balkan War caused an increase in demand for play soldiers and the market was fairly swamped with orders for

these26

24Fraser,A History of Toys p 231.

25H G. Wells, Floor Games (London: 1911) p 22. 26 The Toy and Fancy Goods Trader February (1914).

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Most products were designed as sets of opposing armies and children were being encouraged to play games that pitted one side against the other, where someone lost. invited They to play battles and wars where enemies and someone won were fought each other to the bitter end, and where fighting was the whole point of the game. Whereas before they had had to rely on nineteenth century wars to inspire them, with the outbreak of war in Europe their armies could become miniature versions of the real ones, perhaps representing absent fathers and brothers seeing be For for the toys to the industry to thrive it was action abroad. convincing and important that children continue to make this imaginative link between their foster To thing. the this Britains produced The Great War Game real models and for Young and Old (1908), which contained photographs of their toys alongside life book 1910 Similarly A. J Holladay' War their real counterparts. s ones of Gamesfor Boy Scouts Played with Model Soldiers urged children to `try and felt in Kitchener Lord Roberts Lord when command of all those and realise what 27 in South Africa' men

In the twenty or so years immediately before the First World War then Britain figures dramatically for its toy reaching production soldiers expand market saw by 1914. Much 11 between 10 toys of this annually soldiers million and of innovative by the production techniques that saw new and growth was created British models supersedetheir German rivals in both quality and value for box in By the sets of varying sizes and quality, and soldiers marketing money. by retailing the figures individually, the toys could be enjoyed and afforded by a broader range of parents and children than ever before. This widespread popular interest was shared by adults as well as children and spawned books on how to the and the uniform on correct others as models as well play strategic games with histories of the various regiments. They were given as gifts by parents and bought by the children themselves sometimes because of a strong identification be fun because but they and would were tradition simply also with military enjoyed.

in for 1914 Had war And what was the result? the young men who volunteered battles in by for been unconsciouslyprepared conflict a childhood spent pitched 27A. J. Holladay, War Gamesfor Boy Scouts Played with Model Soldiers. (London: 1910)p2. -

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floor during this golden age of the toy soldier? It is the arrangedacross nursery hard to believe that such toys, coupled with the imperial adventureliterature and youth group movementsall aimed at children, could fail to have someeffect on young minds and their understandingof conflict and duty. And what of the figures during the the war itself? For them at least the children playing with games cannot have lasted long. By the end of the war and throughout the 1920s 30s figures turned the parents and against as their senseof shock and loss turned idea to the gradually revulsion at of all things military. No longer would adults give their children model soldiers and encourage them to stage battles. Instead companies like Britains turned to producing civilian figures, some of the most popular being farm characters and animals along with buildings and vehicles. But this was to come later - for first there was a war to be won and an enemy defeated.

War Games

In fact Britains only made eight new issues of model soldiers during the war and forced be At feared the to they time grew scarce. close as materials at one would by joined however toy a swathe of new products soldiers were outbreak of war issue August 1914 distinctly While the theme. of the trade anti-German with a for Journal Games Toys the of the running advertisements was still paper and German Toy Trade, priced at 6s Od.per year, by September the mood had British Number'. dubbed `British Empire issue toy the the was new changed and German by for long dominated their rivals were quick superior so manufacturers, but dig having for in their competitors at to cash on the opportunity a not only Toys Games 1914 September As for trade. a and their early as also stealing between in toys the of manufacturers' price of editorial was warning of a rise 10% and 50% but was also extolling the opportunities for British business to British imports German banned products. with replace

included Favours Patriotic for Faudels The sameissue carried adverts which Jack. Union in the flags buttons, badges, and rosettes the colours of by Made `British Manufacturerswere also swift to advertisetheir products as 205

British Labour with British Materials indeed, British Throughout'. Anticipating the glut of Christmas trade the October issue carried an even greater number of hastily produced toys of the moment. For 1/- you could buy `The Dash to Berlin' breathless `the for new and game winter evenings' -

All the excitementwith none of the danger that just describesthis very latest British Table gamewhich absolutelygrips its players' interest from start to finish. You have the gallant Allies sometimesadvancing,

sometimes retreating holding their own, losing and winning, but gradually 28 in itself. pressing onwards as the great game of war

Other board games included `Recruiting for Kitchener's Army' which retailed at 6d and consisted of a beautifully illustrated map of the British Isles over which had to travel collecting recruits along the way. The player to reach Dover players declared the the winner. There was also greatest number of recruits was with 'Europe in Arms - an entirely new race game between the allied countries to incredible indoor `Berlin', Berlin, the and sounding an golf game that came reach 29 complete with putter and seven citadels. Other heavily marketed items were toy guns and pistols and an October article imports by German fill the the to the of absence gap created urged manufacturers to produce top quality substitutes, The war spirit is in the air, and wherever one turns will be found the troop biscuit box hats and oddments of uniform, with of youngsters with paper drums and wooden swords, parading the principle streets and drawing know from the too those serious side of well who even many a smile for the These the street regiments of majority gutter urchins, soldiering. better the have the children of a parallel amongst are not much else, they go, and quite a these a sort wherever of arms carry classes, and fire that a cap or number are rigged out with air guns and pistols 3o discharge water. J. Leonard Derbyshire in Tansey, in the air The `war spirit' was certainly where few School Strutt Herbert At during the a miles Smith was growing up the war. by inspired the and Smith war in Belper, game a particular remembers away boys, the popular amongst 28Games and Toys October (1914). 29Ibid. November. 30Ibid. October.

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In the school playground there stood a mountainous heap of rubble which if had been left behind by builders my memory serves me aright after demolishing an old building prior to erecting a new wing when war conditions allowed. We called this 'Hill Sixty, this being the name given in war dispatches to a strategically placed hill on'the Front'. This hill had been fought over, taken and re-taken time and again by the German and Allied Forces, with enormous loss of life on both sides. So, being boys, we too must have our Hill Sixty, and many were the tussles to dislodge the enemy - members of an opposing house - from their supremacy on top 31 heap of that of rubble. Smith's remark about being boys' suggeststhat he might agree with those who be boys' he He to that consider war play natural choice of game. and remembers his friends felt they too 'must have our Hill Sixty' indicating that incorporating into battles his their real adult games was not uncommon amongst schoolfellows. They were excited by what they knew surrounding this bitter conflict for a for felt fight desperately bit their that they too could as of ground and coveted dimension An to the game came with the participation added own pile of rubble. joined had Smith Belgian the school. writes refugee children who of a group of that there was an aura about these children that is difficult to explain to anyone not of those times,

Why they should almost have struck terror into the hearts of their doubt it but do fully I was more without not understand, opponents still than a psychological advantage to have them in one's own ranks when by had been the Sixty! Belgium Hill time that overrun at attacking Germans after a fierce resistance, and from their King downward the Belgian people were rightly regarded as heroes, and those refugee lads 32 had felt have their to they that country's reputation. maintain may well Whether these boys had toy guns, or improvised with sticks they found lying in the But does their real events of the understanding mention. not author around, be believed the to they inspired the what the mimicking children game with war for toy This behaviour of real soldiers. profitable and was significant Teach' They What the `Toys in and manufacturers and an article entitled for being this very reason, toy stressed guns was educational value of

31Rev. J. Leonard Smith, A Tansley Boyhood (Loughborough: 1996) p 45. 32Ibid_

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Toy rifles, air guns and similar model weaponsare proving good selling lines throughout the country, and in conjunction with uniforms and helmets enableboys to make up in a very soldier like style...Theseguns, and other warlike toys all have the power to teach,and the drill of adults will for sure find itself duplicatedby the youngsters.... The hint conveyed by theseyoungstersshould not be lost on retailers, for the smallestof boys will want somepart, if not the whole, of a military outfit, which, of 33 be course,would not satisfactorywithout a weapon. Models included the slight Warspite Pea Repeater as well as the more substantial Scout, Drake, Celt or Revenge, which used explosive caps for extra effect. There double-barrelled like the Zulu or the Ajax, as well as repeating pea guns were firing in twenty capable pistols of shots rapid succession. There was even the Little Dandy, a pea pistol and popgun in one. The guns were so realistic that under the Defence of the Realm Act, a permit was needed to sell them or risk a five-pound fine. 34

If children did not have toy gunsto fire at eachother they could buy any number included These the to enemy. of miniature guns shoot at various representation of forts, fire infantry German trenches, to at model and a game with replica cannon 35 in which points were deducted if you hit the Red Cross tent. There was also the `stirring' war game `At the Front' which,

for deadly fired be taken to at, which out and contains soldiers which are Each for there soldier execution. considerable are pistols enough purpose in falls like he is takes then no more part a man and shot and stands until the game. The uniforms are of the latest and most correct styles, 36 different countries. representing armies of Britains' toy soldier company produced perhaps one of the most horrible toys of its immediately discontinued it fact in after that was almost the war, so gruesome initial production when it must have been realised that the British public did not foot long Trench' it. `Exploding for The was roughly a quite have the stomach flag had It target one shot with when which a and wood. cardboard made of and hurled the toy 4.7 Naval Britains' which triggered mechanism spring a guns, of

33Games and Toys September (1915). Making Toy 34Nicholas Whittaker, Toys Were Us Toys Century Twentieth History and of -a (London: 2001) p 22. 35 Games and Toys March (1915). 36 Fraser, A History of Toys p 184.

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soldiers inside into the air with an enormousbang. G.M. Haley a collector who owns one of thesevery rare items summedup the problem with the toy in a letter to the collectors' magazinethe Old Toy Soldier Newsletter, Thousands of young men from the British Isles and the Empire were going to their deaths at this time.. What self-respecting parents would . allow their younger children to play with an "exploding trench", no matter how innocently, when at the very same time as those nursery brothers literally games, elder perhas were getting blown to pieces in the hell that was the war in France?3 Cheaper toys included card tricks and paper novelties in which the Kaiser would be made to disappear or look ridiculous. The Armstrong Boxing Appliance Company made boxing dummies with a new range to represent the Kaiser, Kitchener and others, while Dean and Sons made dolls including a soldier, sailor, midshipman, John Bull, gunner and a boy scout. Nicholas Whittaker even reports a minor craze for Conscientious Objector dolls, but quotes a scandalised trade paper editor as writing,

One looks like a red-hot socialist, another is a whiskered villain, the third doll-making be Colney Hatch. Let trade the of a cut surely a resident 38 There these are surely much more pleasant subjects. above characters. The doll trade was another manufacturing group to take advantage of the absence from increase Previously imports German their to shipped productivity. of Germany, china doll heads were quickly added to the repertoire of British factories. So important was this change that the children's magazine Little Folks `How British' it `Christine they subtitled and all called even ran an article on The 1917 in September dolls in England their story, which edition. now' make for Peggy, doll the complete with the young purchase of a new centred on Peggy the description ecstatic the process of manufacture, ends with of exacting leaving the shop carrying Christine exclaiming, `I shall never want a German 39 doll again' .

37Peter Johnson, Toy Armies (London: 1981) p 55. 23. Making Toy 38Whittaker, Toys Were Us Century Toys Twentieth History p and of -a 39Little Folks September (1917).

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Molly Keen's younger sister Ivy rejected a favourite toy when it was pointed out by her older brother that the lovely china doll shecradled was `madein Germany'. Ivy, Keen writes,

promptly divested it of all its clothes and hung it upside down in the gooseberrybush! We all tried to persuadeher to take it down but shewas 40 in adamant this and refusedto do so. There were also toy books with cut out soldiers and Messrs Gale and Polden Ltd published a series of toy books including, The British Army Painting Book, Our Foot Soldiers, Our Guns and Men and Regimental Pets of the British Army. The truly patriotic parent might also buy a Deans `Patriotic Pinafore' so their child dress in could a replica military uniform.

The First World War had a positive impact on British toy manufacturing. At first forced, but then eager, British companies exploited the enforced absenceof their German competitors from the British market to develop and sell their own dominated by had long been that the enemy. By promoting versions of products the purchase of their stock as a patriotic act, manufacturers and retailers despite boost to trade the their the customers pro-British sentiments of exploited hostilities in immediate between in 10% 50% the weeks after and rise prices of floor lines in board developed declared. Companies games and new quickly were based around the themes of war and by Christmas 1914 families could choose between a range of products that allowed them to recruit their way across Britain fight France. their way across or Trade editorials encouraged manufacturers to look around them at the children from These in the be the more to children, streets. outside soldiers pretending least, homes needed equipping with uniforms and guns and companies at affluent be did if And lose to they demand ignored not want this that out. were sure to the take then part of an army commander and themselves could children soldiers fire miniature guns at fortifications and soldiers where their bloodless victims keep To imagined for duty doing heroes up their fall like country. their could developed for feed were products novelties, the paper cheaper market and morale aoM. Keen, Childhood Memories 1903 1921, Working Class Autobiographical Archive - Brunel University (London) p 26.

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that promoted a negative image of the Germans that children were invited to despise. At the same time dolls and uniforms allowed children to play mock and key British heroes and heroines of the war forging an identification with the as soldiers, sailors and nurses that may have stayed with the children for the rest of their lives.

Children were presented with a version of the war through their toys just as they in at school were and their youth groups. Adults manufactured and purchased toys and games that featured the war as their primary inspiration to provide children with entertainment as well as lessons about the war. In turn children were able to purchase their own cheaper toys and games, indicating that at least demand for indeed by the the toys of some was shaped the children themselves. We also know that some children played games re-enacting the war that didn't necessarily require any manufactured toys. They could improvise with objects they found lying around or indeed play without any props at all. In these cases the war provided a narrative background around which the children created their help intervention. the adult of any own games without

Children's Books

Late nineteenth and early twentieth century juvenile literature continued to That the patriotism. reflect public school ethos of manliness, courage and tradition was consequently disseminated to grammar school boys and the boys' in its the themes take through the magazines cheaper up of working classes British imperial day. Tales superiority the of a sense promoted adventure of of including Walvin historians, for desire fostered that and some adventure a and Parker, believe helped pave the way for the enthusiastic response to war in Britain in 1914. Indeed George Orwell identified a sinister plot to infect working in 1940. Noting Press by Amalgamated that lads the class with upper class values Lord Northcliffe's operation also owned a large proportion of the country's rightOrwell wrote, wing newspapers

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And boys' fiction aboveall, the blood-and-thunderstuff which nearly every bogydevours at sometime or other, is soddenin the worst illusions of 1910.1 Orwell was writing on the eve of the Second World War, but his argument applies equally well to our period. The problem for Orwell was not only that boys' juvenile magazines had always been full of the Imperial attitudes of the ruling elite, but that their messagewas likely to have a profound effect on young believed He that people were heavily influenced in their attitudes by readers. films they the they saw. More particularly he felt that most adults read and what life 'carrying imaginative background through actually were an which they 42 in For boys childhood'. acquired working class and men who may have read in life from juvenile their nothing else apart magazines and newspapers, Orwell believed that this meant they were absorbing a set of attitudes at odds with their in life best interests. have been While and readers may own experience unaware in left lasting impression, felt Orwell that this, of or no what was read childhood felt sure that the newspaper owners were under no such illusions. Getting full fiction hooked juvenile Adventure, Imperial that of or war was children on deeds heroic and self sacrifice, was an attempt to create stories, or examples of leaders. for its fight their to country, and adults willing and eager Boys' magazines were relatively cheap and enjoyed a wide circulation amongst the newly literate population. Those that had no accessto the more expensive fair fiction the play message of masculine adventure and received volumes of through the numerous boys' magazines like The Boys' Own Paper and The Captain. Northcliffe's magazines had always addressedthe concerns of its filled its War World before First in the with pages were proprietor and the years invaders. Frequent for highlighted to the need a stronger army repel stories that between 1906 invade Britain German and to appeared attempts stories about 1914 in the Boys' Friend, Boys' Herald, Marvel, Magnet and Gem. The attempts Scouts, by Boy school occasions various on scuppered were always unsuccessful, boys and regular fictional heroes like Sexton Blake. This preponderance of lead has likely to Britain's Germany some adversary that most as cast stories conclude that 41George Orwell, Inside the Whale and Other Essays (London: 1962) p 203. 42Ibid. p 200.

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If by 1914 the boys of Britain and the Empire were not raring to go and have a crack at the Kaiser it was certainly not the fault of Lord Northcliffe or his authors.43 Juvenile fiction produced during the war continued and expanded upon the themes of imperial adventure to help inculcate in children an understanding and approval of the war based on the justification of Britain's participation and the superiority of her forces. Transposing the setting from an imperial colony to the Western Front, the stories were packed with adventure and intrigue for the hero from the start. Frederick Sadlier Brereton, a prolific writer of boys' wartime stories, and cousin of G.A. Henty, perhaps Britain's most famous nineteenth century boys' fiction writer, continued to publish himself as Captain despite his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig in Women and Children First maintain that younger readers generally believed the books to be authentic records of the writer's war experiences. In reality they based bore little Boer War on experiences and resemblance to the were often 44Presumably fighting in kept his France. Brereton the actuality of rank as Captain when publishing to give his stories added authenticity. If his readers believe based his to that the stories were on own experiences of the war, were then being promoted out of the fighting line and into the general staff would have left him little opportunity for seeing any of the fighting for himself.

War stories, like their imperial predecessors,were formulaic. Our young hero has first to the numerous close scrapesalong volunteer, was always amongst the way and often manages to transfer regularly between different branches for full him the a range of opportunities of army, navy and airforce allowing heroism. British soldiers are always, gallant, brave, strong and resilient, their German counterparts sneaky, underhand and cowardly. As in real life many in lied have boys lead their age order about who of the characters are young is before France desperate the to to to enlist, war over and they miss get out their chance.

43Mary Cadogan and Patricia Craig, Womenand Children First the Fiction of Two World Wars (London: 1978) p 31. Ibid. p 72.

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British participation in the war is supported in all stories and young readers are often told the moral reasons for the fighting by characters in the books. The tone of many of their explanations is didactic, suggesting the authors recognised the importance of their message to young readers and were keen to leave them in no doubt about the legitimacy of the fighting. In Brereton's With French at the Front (1915) for example, the position is laid out in a conversation between two soldiers,

She [Britain] could have stood aside, have hugged her tight little island and her numerous colonies and dependencieswithin her fleet, down and sat securely to watch this titanic conflict which Germany has commenced..... But it [the treaty] bore Great Britain's signature. It carried the honour of millions of us, millions of simple, plaindealing Britishers, with scrupulous minds and an idea of fairness and far is transcending ideas in the minds of Prussians. We of what proper had nothing to gain. We had all to lose - lives, ships, treasure - above all, that position in the world of protector of the weak which our sea 45 for known has peace-loving policy gained power and our us. If we compare this to the explanation for the war offered to school children in like 'Why Britain War', Sir James Yoxall's to went we see a pamphlet Britain's position being laid out as the honourable outcome of a bad situation.

The Germans have acted in a way that contravenes what Britain

before keeping her is for, here Britain the word, whereas emphasis on stands it was in Britain standing up to a bully. In both casesit is stressedthat there is love duty is for in it Britain, that of and a she only responding out of nothing behaviour that every child These good peace. are simple childlike rules of for foster Britain's helping to role as an apparent support could understand, protector of the weak.

The fighting described in the books predictably bore little or no resemblance for little had Authors opportunity to the real thing. and the public alike learning about trench conditions other than from the newspapers or from did home so Newspapers to and wanted sustain morale at returning soldiers. Returning troops the dwell abroad. on the uncomfortable surroundings of not Battle Down Great War 45Capt. F.S. Brereton, With French at the Front to the Story of the of -a the Aisne (1915) p 40. ' Sir JamesYoxall, Why Britain Went to War - to the Boys and Girls of the British Empire (London: 1914).

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troops were often reluctant to discuss their experiences with their family and friends, in part to spare them the horrors they were experiencing, but also perhaps to protect themselves from having to discuss at length things they would rather forget for their short time on leave. Equally, the reality of the grim stalemate on the Western Front provided little inspiration for exciting adventure fiction. For the books to sell, and for their messageto be successful, it was no good having your hero sitting in a hole in the ground, up to his knees in mud, for weeks at a time.

Set on the battlefields of Vimy, Messines and Ypres, where some of the most horrifying battles of the war actually took place, Brereton's Under Haig in Flanders (1918) illustrates the artistic licence authors employed when hero' has, At 'our one stage as usual, volunteered to undertake a writing. dangerous raid into enemy territory,

A spree indeed! It was a desperate and most adventurous undertaking. Not that Roger or Bill or the Sergeant thought of it in that way. They in for turned to their a while and ate supper with gusto, sat chatting before dawn, hour like Then, a sentry wakened an sleep children. them, and, having drunk a steaming cup of cocoa apiece, for comforts in by the trenches, the three made are not any means non-existent land into for journey the country of the across no-man's ready a 47 enemy. We know from soldiers' testimony that in fact men often found waiting to take part in dangerous action one of the most difficult things to do. The being from fear to the eat able or sleeping, men prevented anticipation and five facing. In dangers the instead forced they them to confront the were and 500,000 Somme fought British 1916 the the that roughly on months of British troops were killed, and little ground was won. According to Brereton however, the battle went well with the men fighting bravely and skilfully. Perhaps feeling unable to claim total successhe explains; destruction the of It was not the capture of ground we sought, nor dug-outs and defences; it was to drive a blow home to the heart of the break Kaiser, the to destroy of the strength the to of soldiers enemy, 47Capt. F.S. Brereton, Under Haig in Flanders -a Story of Vimy, Messinesand Ypres (Acquired by the British Museum 1918) p 57.

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the German invader. That we went far to achieve that object there is 48 no doubt.

The 'comforts' of Brereton'swar at the front included: Frizzling bacon, not to be beatenanywhere,breadthat might have gracedthe table of a Ritz hotel, andjam that would be the envy of any housewife.49 As well as inspiring readers with an exciting and positive image of life in the army children's authors were also keen to present the enemy as one worth fighting. If morale was to be sustained at home, government propagandists journalists and pro-war and writers knew that a sustained negative perception of all things German needed to be maintained amongst the British public.

Children's authors were always ready to exploit the negative attributes of their German characters and German troops were depicted as both underided fighting The Germans sportsmanlike and cowardly. as men, and were their tactics were regarded as underhand. In Brereton's Under Haig in Flanders (1918) sniping, a tactic employed by both armies, is discussed by a in sergeant the trenches who claims:

It's a crazewith them Fritzes. They like killing people in a dirty sort so o'way, they do. Another common tactic was to portray German characters with cruel and in British the to who were always good and contrast nasty characteristics decent. When speaking of Germans held by the British, we are to understand from a character in Percy F. Westerman's The Fritz Stra,fers (1919) who has been captured by the Germans but is remembering German prisoners he saw boat English that: on an did fared their drink food they as In the matter of as well equally and best if the they medical attention were given captors; wounded in possible every almost their considered was comfort and available, 48Ibid. p 163. 49Ibid. p 58. 50Ibid. p 63.

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way. The ungrateful Hun, however, doesnot thank his captorsfor their little attentions. With the arroganceof his race he attributeshis easylot as a prisoner of war to the fear of the British as to what might happento them when Germanyis victorious. And on their part the British have got to learn fully - asthey are beginning to do that the " German fears is force thing the the only of armedmight. In addition to the negative attributes of the Germans as soldiers, the Britain of fiction wartime was overrun with German spies, many of them appearing as ordinary citizens who had been living there for years. The popularity of this theme can perhaps be understood by the fact that it gave authors the opportunity of suggesting to children a way in which they could help win the fact door The that war. your next neighbour could be a German spy, meant that children could take part in some amateur sleuthing of their own. The it hard to spot and they are usually suspectedbecause spies appears were not but of some small obviously un-British trait like a grumpy nature or a cruel by in In Angela Brazil, smile. a story written which a German girl, who later turns out to be perfectly innocent, is relentlessly pursued by two over zealous first because: told that suspected she was classmates, we are

Her pink and white colouring, blue eyes and twin braids of flaxen hair her her dress, distinctly Teutonic; the the of shoes, shape cut of were the tiny satchel slung by a strap round her shoulder and under one arm locket baring in German the type the enamelled so unmistakably Prussian eagle on a blue ground, all showed a slightly appreciable difference from her companions, and stamped her emphatically with 52 the seal of the "Vaterland". Brazil was amongst a small number of authors writing about the war for girls, in for differing is interesting it women to note the representations of roles and boys' and girls' fiction. The girls' who appear occasionally in boys' fiction Even in the delicate take to action. part any of and sensitive and rarely get are display female to enterprising characteristics, as characters are allowed when for instance Gladys is in Brereton's With French at the Front (1915) it is not for long. Gladys Fairleigh is a young English woman, working as a governess leave helped being is the She to breaks in Germany when the war out.

by Acquired (London: War the 51P.F. Westerman, The Fritzs Strafers Great Story the of -a British Museum 1919) p 297. 52Angela Brazil, The School by the Sea (Acquired by the British Museum 1914) p 13.

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country by the book's two male heroeswhen they are all arrested. Overhearingthat the two men areto be shot the following morning Gladys determinesto rescuethem by crawling through a ventilation shaft. Yet after this unusual burst of heroics we are told that Gladys revertsto type: Indeed Gladys had beenwonderfully plucky up to the moment when depended her everything on alone.Now that shewas with the two had gallant men who protectedher from Berlin, when, as it seemed, there was no longer needfor personalexertion or for nervesto be braced, she sat down suddenlyon the floor and buried her face in her hands.They saw her shudderand heard a stifled sob.53 Female authors on the other hand, writing for girls, were quick to take advantage of the changing social climate in which women were taking up the opportunities of more and varied work outside the home and for the war effort. The heroines, albeit fewer in number than their male counterparts, land, in factories drivers. Brenda the the and as army and on ambulance work Girvin's eponymous heroine in Munitions Mary (1918) single-handedly foils female labour German the to newly employed sabotage a spy-ring attempting force in the munitions factory owned by the fierce Sir William. Sir William is home he that the will so prejudiced against women working outside into lift flights than operated get a of stairs rather apparently walk up several by a woman. Mary's colleagues initially blame the sabotageon Sir William himself, but the loyal Mary fights to prove his innocence and ultimately her is let however Girvin Germans. Throughout to the at pains captures despite her `womanliness' lost know Mary taking that up of none readers Sir William It to this takes who eventually win round all of men's work. concedes, This girl had shown intelligence and capability yet yet surely ... Her feminine that be tears than awful on she was. more nobody could have to tears feminine as way given would woman night - only a very had His had. Her made chutney. grandmother chutney making! she She had all the charms of his grandmother. He had been wrong to 54 her lost did womanliness. think that when a girl a man's work she

Aisne Battle 53Brereton, With French at the Front the Story Great War Down the to of the of -a p 48. 54Brenda Girvin, Munition Mary (1918) p 281.

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Other characters are more impatient with the slowness of social change and in A Transport Girl in France (1919) by Bessie Marchant the heroine Gwen delivers a scathing attack on British attitudes. Gwen is working on a farm having volunteered early in the war. She has applied for transfer however a as knows her superior driving skills could be used `to free another man for she the front'. When her request for a transfer is refused she laments to a friend,

My dear Daisy, the war may have changedus in a few things, but in downright bedrock essentialswe arejust where we were just as stodgy and stick-in-the-mud as ever. No wonder the Germansusedto beat us in trade. No wonder we find them so hard to beat at warfare.55 Gwen eventually gets her transfer and by the end of the tale is in France driving for a General. But Gwen's character continues to push the boundaries of traditional fiction and our inevitable happy ending seesher literally lifting the man she loves out of a collapsing building. Girls' fiction was not remarkably ground breaking although it does hint at the for in Girls the possibility of a greater role post war world. women were being exposed to a broader range of experiences open to women through their fiction, as they were through their involvement in the Girl Guides. Women in heroines their competent writers always presented energetic, capable and books, and while the girls may have been keen to retain their 'womanly in least did their they sleeves up and get stuck when given the at roll charms' heroine, focus Interestingly the on a nurse one of the stories none of chance. in high most profile ways which women were contributing to the war, and doll forms Perhaps this toy the girls. was marketed at of most popular one of because the authors felt that nursing was too domestic a role for their heroines. Life in a hospital, with its endless rounds of bed making and wound dressing, whilst undoubtedly noble, hardly provided the opportunity for heroines to foil spy rings or catch Germans. Perhaps this rejection of the role by the to the counter authors attempt of nurse was also an unconscious by There for feminine domestic were no toys men. girls produced and overtly instead land drivers female girls girls, toy or munitions workers or ambulance Women were only offered the nurturing, caring, motherly role of nurse. ssBessieMarchant,A TransportGirl in France (Acquiredby the British Museum1919)p 81. 219

writers wanted a proactive role for their heroines,where they took part in the war as active participants, rather than respondingto its horrors by caring for others wounded in action. Picture books for younger children illustrated the various branches of the armed forces as well as the flags of the various allies. Several books taught the alphabet whilst explaining some of the basic elements of the war. The Child's ABC of the War (1914), begins,

A standsfor Austria, where first was hurled. The bomb that was destinedto startle the world. B is for Belgium, brave little state So valiant for Honour so recklessof fate. C's for our colonies, loyal and true 56 Bringing help to their mother from over the blue.... Our Soldiers - An ABC for Little Britons (1916) was a large picture book, each

letter accompaniedby a vivid colour illustration depicting the scenedescribed,it ended, W for the WOUNDED, tenderly borne Out of the fighting line bleeding and torn.

X for the RED CROSS;noble their task - To help the poor woundedis all that they ask. Y for the YEOMEN, Stalwart and brown, Sonsof the Colonies, True to the Crown. Z for the ZEPPELIN, floating on high, laden with bombs to drop from the 57 it? 1! No, Are not sky. you afraid of The same company also published the similar The Royal Navy - An ABC for Little Britons (1915) that had the following poem on its back cover, Now I am seven I mean to go On the Iron Duke with Jellicoe; I'll do my best to fire the guns, And sink the warships of the Huns. When I'm grown up, perhaps I shall Sail as a gold-laced admiral; I'll wear a sword and cocked hat fine, 58 And never go to bed till nine. 56Geoffrey Whitworth, The Child's Abc of the War (London: 1914). 57Our Soldiers an Abc for Little Britons, (London: 1916). 58The Royal Navy an Abc for Little Britons, (London: 1915). -

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There were other books of poetry aimed at children including the beautifully illustrated What the Elephant Thinks of the Hun (1918), and Nina MacDonald's War-Time Nursery Rhymes. Dedicated to D. O.R. A. the book contains a foreword which states that although British children had been spared the face to face confrontation with war, experienced by many Belgian and French children, they had nonetheless been exposed to the war because of their fathers' and brothers'

experience.There can therefore, be no possible objection to dealing, from the nursery rhyme point of view, with certain conditions brought about by the war. It is good that certain facts of the war should be impressed upon the mind of childhood, is better there and no means of impressing them than by the nursery facts dealt The rhyme. with in nursery rhyme remain with us from our 59 childhood to our old age. What the facts that should be 'impressed upon the mind of childhood' are the does author not say. But when we consider the content of some of the poems it becomes clear that the hope is the children will learn to hate the German enemy and fight for their destruction.

The book contains a total of 58 popular nursery rhymes adapted to the theme of from food dealing shortagesto military training. war, with every aspect of war Perhaps one of the most gruesome is the horrible `The House that Jack Built',

This is the house that Jack built. This is the bomb

That fell on the housethat Jack built. This is the Hun

That droppedthe bomb, That fell on the housethat Jack built. This is the gun, That killed the Hun, That dropped the bomb,

That fell on the housethat Jack built.

59Nina MacDonald, War-Time Nursery Rhymes (London: Acquired by the British Museum 1919) p6

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This is the man in Navy-blue, That fired the gun,

That killed the Hun, That droppedthe bomb, That fell on the housethat Jackbuilt... 60 Storybooks for younger children included the charming At War! written and illustrated by Charlotte Schaller. The story published in 1917 is about Bobby a little French boy whose father has gone off to war. Bobby and his friends set up their toys and fight the war in their playroom and garden, while Bobby's younger sisters Zezette and Jaqueline start up a hospital to care for the wounded. As none boys the of want to play the part of the `bosch' the children stick nails in the top of toy skittles to represent the spiked helmets of the enemy, then shoot them down with toy cannon.

The children also help with the war effort and after Zezette and Jacqueline have knitted gloves and hats for the brave soldiers in the trenches, Bobby slips into the he buys tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, pipes and matches, which parcels packets of his The the children are also shown writing to money-box. pennies out of with their father, which they do every day with great care,

Bobby tells of his fine army, always in fine trim; Zezette and Jacqueline best in hospital. for They their the they that the put are caring of wounded into their letters, for they know what pleasure it gave Papa who was 61 fighting so bravely to protect them. The inside covers of the book are covered with slogans like `Long live England', `Long live the Triple-Entente', `Long live our Cavalry' and `Long live India'.

before just born heart in book has the This of one man who was a particular place Thirsk in James fighting France. father had who the start of the war and who a book during this Hull in particularly the war remembers grew up Beverley near in his autobiography,

[elder Jean text before I the sister] book to knew and I this was able read do book I have this How to not have the came told we story... me would 60Ibid. p 13. 61Charlotte Schaller, At War! (London: 1917) p 30.

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know; Dad may have bought it in a bookshopin London on his way home from France,on leave. It was for us a treasureworth more than gold and it remains for Jeanand me one of the happiestmemoriesof our childhood. It was, after all, the story of three children who, like us, had a father fighting at the Front.62 Thirsk, who saysthat he has not seenthe book since he was a young child, detail it, down to the colour of the illustrations. It has of remembersevery becomea significant part of his memory of the war yearsperhapsbecausehe and his sister identified so strongly with characters in the book. As a very young child, Thirsk perhaps understood little of what the war was really about. All he knew was that his father was gone and that those around him were worried for his safety. Having a book about other children, whose father had also gone to the helped father's They Thirsk to the their children cope absence. with war perhaps facing that that they similar other children were were not alone and would see fears to theirs. The fact that he could not read himself and that his elder sister bond between him the siblings to the tale existed often, suggests a private read fondly it book. Both the suggesting that they remember now remember around their reading together happily, perhaps because they were sharing the same but brought from them their them that closer mother separated experience, one together.

Conclusion

Increasing prosperity, the introduction of compulsory schooling and restrictions in families the that more and more the meant employment of children placed on home had found they Edwardian that late Victorian and and children at periods in Improved techniques a reduction and them. to production on spend money the better toys market all on appearing that were transport costs meant new and War toys Chemed leading and in to the of war. outbreak the years the time up fiction were a major part of this industry as, during the nineteenth century there had been an increase in the production and consumption of toy soldiers and an In imperial this heavily fiction juvenile adventure. in associated with explosion have even and that of, Walvin acceptance an Brown, argued and others way 62James Thirsk, A Beverley Child's Great War (Beverley: 2000) p 25.

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desire for, war was created in the period immediately before the First World War. When war came however children were exposed to even more vehemently aggressive attitudes through their toys and games than had been the case previously. The emphasis of these products also shifted subtly and moved away from their more overtly imperialist themes and onto strongly anti-German attitudes, in line with the fierce position of the popular press.

In the cheaper card and paper games and juvenile magazines as well as the more books, definite the expensive products and children were presented with very in be Britain There War. to to the no confusion; position of relation was Germany was at fault and had to be stopped by the British. Children's fiction it the glorified war while presenting as the natural outcome of a confrontation between the unscrupulous Germans and the moral, fair dealing British. The formulaic stories described the conflict in simplistic language of right and wrong; in juxtaposed German British ones against negative characteristics were positive A for the to to enemy and was. support who understand who order all children lack of public understanding about the reality of trench fighting meant that the by life in descriptions inaccurate the tales went unchallenged of army wildly battles, images lacked knowledge the to the of exciting contradict parents who daring raids and sumptuous food. Girls' fiction pointed towards rather than demonstrated the possibility of new opportunities available to women after the heroines, for domesticated their Authors the role of nursing more rejected war. industrial drivers, in instead the them workers and to action as place choosing hard held their to Despite this, on still characters most spy catchers. 'womanliness', they dutifully supported their brothers in uniform and strove to find love and secure themselves a future as wives and mothers. For younger books books, picture and colouring there alphabet rhymes, nursery were children its little hiding of books which all embraced the themes of war, sometimes for The brutality from their young readers. pleasanter ones encouraged support forces Colonial troops and allied the war by depicting British soldiers alongside defeat her in by friends to joined being quest to show children how Britain was home keep designed to at books morale up Children's toys were the enemy. and forces. for British the by poking fun at the enemy while strengthening support

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Children were encouragedto hero-worship anyonein uniform and not question the reasonfor war or the fate of those who fought in it. But this relationship was not all one way. The children were not simply passive receptorsof thesemessages.There were many influences outside of the toys and books specifically aimed at them that also helped contribute to their understanding of the war and informed their play. As we have seen children did not necessarily need any particular product to play war games, fights and battles inspired by the war could be played by imaginary armies with imaginary guns. If there had been no war toys it is likely that children surrounded by the real war have been inspired it to still act out amongst themselves. For children would fathers brothers, their to absent and recreating the war wanting a connection through play, or reading tales of battles in fiction was perhaps the closest they he in he As James Thirsk, tale could not yet revelled a could come. we saw with fighting daddy like himself, it because the with a read was about other children, war.

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Chapter 6 -'Dear Father' - Family Correspondence in Wartime Introduction

By 1917 the Army on the Western Front alone was sending home 8,150,000 letters a it has been the the and over course of war week estimated that the British Army's depot in handled Britain letters two thousand postal main million and papers as well ' 114 Within letters that the million parcels. as vast volume of mail are of children to their fathers and those their fathers sent in return. The ordinary men that made up the during had British First World War troops the no previous experience of majority of fighting or army life. They left behind children with no benchmark against which to for being from fathers feelings their their so separated and anxieties about measure long. During the war the bonds of men and their children were maintained through letters as each side attempted to keep the other involved in their lives despite the by did both distance Children in this reminding their and experience. separation fathers of the world they had left behind. They told them tales of home and school, back into fathers family, friends their the their to of centre situate attempting and of imagery both domestic hand landscape. domestic Fathers the and other used on own fantasy to create a new reality for themselves on paper that could be both exciting liken had for They their surroundings to ones with which to their children. and safe imagination but to create familiar, their they then their children were employed did They both dual identity in parent and soldier could coexist. as scenes which their this both for their children and for themselves as a way of reconciling their new into insight fascinating the letters As these their a provide such old. reality with history of soldiers at war. emotional

The volume of mail sent in Britain had risen in the seventy-five years since the 3,500 items 76 to from in 1840 introduction of the penny post million roughly introduced been had has the Vincent that by David 1914.2 penny post argued million 1Peter Boyden, Tommy Atkins' Letters the History of the British Army Postal Service from 1795 (London: Service Postal Forces A History Mailshot: the (London: 1990) p 31 and Edward Wells, of 1987) p 64. 2 David Vincent, Literacy and Popular Culture England 1750-1914 (Cambridge: 1989) p 33. -

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to encourage the nation to communicate. Campaigners believed that there was a great untapped market of the increasingly literate working classeswho were from in because their to prevented skills writing each other using new of the prohibitive charges sending a letter incurred- Lowering postal charges from an flat 6d increase to the of average penny rate would working class correspondence in lost from the shortfall revenue and make up stamp charges. Thanks to the introduction of compulsory schooling in 1870 literacy levels in Britain rose sharply in the latter part of the nineteenth century and topped 99% for the first time in 1913.3 So, by the outbreak.of the First World War, almost everyone in Britain was able to longer from but the and and price no prohibited any read write very poorest friends family if felt inclined. Edith Indeed they regularly and communicating with Hall, the daughter of a foundry worker in Hayes remembers that just before the First World War her family corresponded daily, taking advantage of the halfpenny postage on postcards:

My grandmother would send us a card each evening which we received by first delivery the next morning. She would then receive our reply card the lived in If the same town as one's correspondent, an early same evening. one day be delivered the twelve and mid-day same at morning posted card would 4 be if immediately, received the same afternoon. would a reply card, sent So communicating by post was no longer the privilege of the middle and upper by in for the become but had society classes all practice a well established classes had letter how has Vincent David Indeed, writing explored outbreak of war. broadened working class horizons, allowing individuals to look further afield for 5 letter A families. in their writing was culture of work whilst still staying touch with People the before in Britain the used of war. outbreak then already well established but far had also, as those we away moved to who with regularly post communicate have seen with Edith Hall, with those living nearer to hand. The popularity of the impart be lengthy, be to have did letters any to sent or that not postcard proves to short the instead exchange simply post used often people particular news;

3 Ibid. p 4.

4 E. Hall, Canary Girls and Stockpots (Luton: 1977) p 5. 5 Vincent, Literacy and Popular Culture England 1750-1914 p 37. -

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messagesof good will or thanks- With the outbreak of war letters and post cards took on a new significance. The smooth running of the post became central to home in fighting line, both the at and morale as sides needed sustaining with the 6 news that their relatives were safe and well.

All mail sent by troops in the British Army was handled by the Royal Engineers Postal Section (REPS) who established Field and Base Post Offices throughout the theatres of conflict, the majority serving the Western Front. Most mail was initially in however in France, order to cope with the enormous quantity of mail it was sorted decided be in that this sorting could more effectively soon carried out Britain. In 1915 the REPS Home Depot moved from Mount Pleasant to a larger, temporary, building in Regents Park. By the end of the War its staff had grown from 30 in 1914 7 to a huge 2,540 - mostly women and men unfit for military service. So why did letter writing become so popular during the war and who was sending all these letters? The answer is that the writing and receiving of letters came to depending To different the soldiers at the things on circumstances. represent very Front the letters they received provided news from home, with messagesof love and letters for being The by the morale. essential army as support that were recognised they sent were the way in which men maintained their relationships with their wives, by They the the men could means which were girlfriends, parents and children. their temporarily, their pre-war, to albeit recover, and surroundings attempt escape independent selves. We sometimes see in the letters they sent to their children, an hero for their fictional themselves children soldier to character attempt create a -a hoping the doing to be By they this suspend were perhaps could proud of killer. father, their between potential a self, their soldier and a self, real connection

6 During the war itself postal chargesfor those sending letters from England stood at one penny per had to Initially for the pay abroad letters serving for soldiers postcardseach and one penny ounce German high, that too but the and that were costs they after complaints sent postageon all mail August 28th lowered. From the free service, prices were soldiers were able to take advantageof a for free, be four those less than ouncescould sent 1914 letters to Britain and the Colonies weighing July 1915 This 4d. the after case until remained between four ouncesand one pound were chargedat Letters Atkins' Tommy the Boyden, four was chargedat a penny each. which each ounce over History of the British Army Postal Servicefrom 1795 p 31. I Ibid. p 28.

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For those at home, most often the wives, mothers and sisters of soldiers, the act of letter in the a writing was way which they showed their continuing devotion to their husbands, brothers. Parcels of clothing and tobacco were also sent sons and absent as the women attempted to continue their role of providing for the physical well being of their families. Early in the war, before food shortageshad really begun to be felt in Britain, parcels of food were also regularly dispatched by families of all baked Working class wives and mothers classes. cakes and pies with whatever spare food they could manage, while richer families could order luxury hampers from the be department to sent straight out to their soldier's regiment. stores major

Perhaps most importantly receiving a letter from a soldier was, for those left at home, a continuing sign of life. With communication lines often disrupted and letter battles, proved to unreliable, a newspaper reports, particularly after major those at home that their soldier was still alive.

The absenceof a letter, for both those at home and those at the Front, often caused disruption by the Delays troop of mail or a movements caused alarm and confusion. home Those fearful both that leave at worried and confused. parties service could their soldier had been injured or killed while the soldiers themselves often worried 8 from Front left behind. News had by the forgotten being those they that they were by the stringent censorship rules prevented soldiers were as was often unsatisfactory in. had taken they details from giving any part about where they were or the action Censorship of letters had been introduced on the outbreak of War prohibiting men from discussing a range of subjects regarded as possibly useful to the enemy. These included comments on the effects of hostile fire, the physical and moral condition of 9 from friends family the Letters defensive to nondetails and the troops and work. of Officer. their be had to the commanding of to scrutiny submitted commissioned 8 Christa Hammerle, "'You Let a Weeping Woman Call You Home? ' Private Correspondences During Letter-Writers, Letters Selves in Epistolary " Germany, and : the First World War in Austria and 1600-1945, ed. Rebecca Earle (Aldershot. 1999), pp 158-59. 9 Boyden, Tommy Atkins' Letters the History of the British Army Postal Service from 1795 p 30. -

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Officers on the other hand were expected to censor themselves, although their mail liable be before by being England_ to the to still was read regimental censor on sent This double standard meant Officers perhaps felt able to communicate more freely families, feeling their that their personal lives were under scrutiny. with without

The effect of censorship on the content of letters sent home is impossible to tell. Would men, freed to write as they please have told those at home more of the details know, in We letters they this the cannot were experiencing? although one of of what knowledge does be by that the that their to suggest chapter read a third mail was did for men's enthusiasm curb some party writing as well as the content of their from hand, England Letters the on other were uncensored so some men got message. by leave. friends home This the their to to mail rules giving post on when around learnt in letters this to that of way men sent soldiers were uncensored and also meant the true extent of food shortages and bomb damage from their families at home. In Germany letters sent out to troops were liable to be censored. Wives complaining too bitterly about conditions on the home front sometimes had their letters returned '0 by the Army as they were considered too dangerous to troop morale.

The role of mail in maintaining morale in wartime was appreciated by the British High Command and a regular mail service was maintained throughout the war. Behind the lines men could take advantage of the recreation huts established by free Guides like Scouts the which always supplied and churches and groups letter. Indeed to many of stationary as well as a comfortable place compose or read a headed, YMCA in included letters or equivalent this the chapter are written on home. found to Even a way write paper. without appropriate stationary men still from torn for Other letters read this chapter were written on scraps of paper, fountain from in to diaries, pen. crayon and penned anything notebooks and harder. Not home lines got the practicalities of writing When men moved up the only were writing

materials

it but find, harder to was what and a surface to write on

10Hammerle, "'You Let a Weeping Woman Call You Home?' Private CorrespondencesDuring the First World War in Austria and Germany," pp 154-57.

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limited The to possible say was as well. army's answer to this second problem was the Field Service Postcard. The pre-printed card allowed men to communicate a limited amount of information to their families by choosing the option from a list of best described that their circumstance. The remaining options could be several deleted but no additional messagewas allowed. Thus men in front line trenches let families know their could whether they were well or not, and whether they had but could give away nothing as to how they were feeling received any mail recently, in. they taking part or what action were These cards amused many at the time and have become a much lampooned image of the war because of the way in which they allowed the sender no opportunity for individuality in their expression of anything from good to really dreadful news. Paul Fussell has described them as being the first widespread example of a 'form' - that 11 type of document which'uniquely characterises the modern world'. Fussell also in implicit the post cards saying: the optimism points out One paid for the convenience of using the postcard by adopting its cheerful belated be in by to things, mail and a a world where pretending view of is happen, healing there that the only and where can worst wound are rapidly '2 direction thinkable one can go - to the rear. one But adopting a cheerful view of things was not something soldiers did only when is War World First image Another the Service Postcard. Field of enduring using a described in their circumstances to those at the optimistic way which many soldiers home. No doubt designed initially to allay their family's fears, the stoical good humour displayed in many soldiers' letters quickly became a kind of communicative formula which allowed men to cheer themselves as well as their families. Understating the horrors they were witnessing and risks they were taking, many language breezy the like stories letters adventure the of gung-ho much read soldiers fun, idea the that a terrific discussed in chapter 5. Perhaps perpetuating the war was helped to be lucky a positive create men to of, they part a were adventure

11P. Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory (Oxford: 1975) p 185. 12Ibid.

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in atmosphere the trenches that prevented any but the most desperateadmitting, at least in their letters home, how they really felt.

But there are other reasonstoo why men might adopt a positive, enthusiastic tone in these letters. This chapter will explore the ways in which men's style of writing feelings towards participation in the war as well as their attitudes their own reflected towards their children. These men were constructing their war experience on paper for their children and we must try to understand the part this construction played in helping them reconcile their role as both soldier and father. The letters in this chapter are part of the Imperial War Museum's collection of documents that have been donated over the years since the war ended.13Sometimes these letters are part of a larger collection of one family's correspondenceand are information like by detailed biographical and other artefacts often accompanied holds individual On the archive simply other occasions medals and photographs. letters, with little or no accompanying biographical detail, so where biographical information is available it has been included but it is often incomplete or largely missing. With the exception of a group of letters sent and received by correspondentswho by in letters this the chapter were exchanged children and were not related, all of intimate letters Many fathers the their represent of or other close male relative. issues Edwardian life family to of parenting and and give valuable clues portraits of do family. Many father the the role of the sets of correspondence not of within the begin until 1916 or 1917 suggesting that these family men did not volunteer to fight but were eventually conscripted into the army and forced to leave their families. As family units were broken up by war, letters became the main channel through fathers husbands between could and children and and wives which communication be maintained. Some men, who had perhaps never written before, wrote regularly to Others from be abroad. a partner and parent their wives and children, attempting to 13File referencesfor each set of correspondentsare included in the bibliography.

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were clearly unfamiliar with the practice or lacked the confidence to write lengthy letters. Without detailed knowledge of the educational background of these regular it is difficult to be certain whether reticence in writing was a result of correspondents lack of ability, or simply a lack of inclination on the writer's part. Working class have soldiers would attended Elementary school at least but many perhaps had had little use or opportunity for composing letters, and were therefore hindered in their attempts to maintain contact with those at home. That is not to say however that all fathers working class struggled to correspond with their children. On the contrary, in letters the this chapter are from men serving in Other Ranks and it is often most of the letters from Officers that are the most uncommunicative-

Because we have only a very small proportion of the millions of letters sent between fathers and their children we cannot draw any general conclusions about the differences between working, middle or upper class family relationships. It could be that working class families, where children lived at home and were schooled locally, it being less Or therefore to perhaps was separatedand wrote more often. were used the case that Officers were more conscious of their duty to keep up morale at home do know is in What their terms to children. we general, positive and so wrote only that these letters have survived the intervening years becausethey meant something to the people that received them. They were sent and kept by families that loved deposited in They the treasured national archive eventually and each other. were becausethose that kept or found them recognised the importance of them as testimony to how ordinary people responded to extraordinary conditions.

Children, particularly older children, often wrote weekly to their fathers, encouraged by mothers and teachers to keep their fathers up to date about their lives and to show letter in included the Younger for writing the war. their support children were also by be intended them letters to to fathers read out writing them separate cycle, with by dictated letters their children, or In their mothers. return mothers penned became letter The for a often the of a arrival themselves young. very composed ones little hear the family event with everyone gathering together to news, as men with letters their their to siblings. with share time to write asked children 233

Letters to the Unknown Soldier

But letter writing was spread wider than the immediate family unit with many including letters children with the parcels of cigarettes and clothing they collected and sent out to the troops via their schools. Encouraged by teachers and parents, children sent messagesof support to soldiers they had never met, and in return letters received of thanks. The following examples show how the practice of letter became common to complete strangers as the home front supported the writing fighting line through the mail.

Very early in the war, as we have seen in chapter 3, schools mobilised their pupils to buy Very to to the troops make overseas. often the children collect, and goods send include letter to these to a particular soldier who was parcels a with were encouraged designated `their' soldier. For the children this provided a personal contact with the focus their energy when collecting or they could war and a real soldier around whom knitting scarves and gloves. The soldiers who received these parcels and messages by touched the gesture and effort of the to the children and were clearly often replied letter writers. Some children and soldiers exchanged a single letter while others began a correspondence that lasted the duration of the war and beyond.

Amongst the collection at the Imperial War Museum are several letters from had them thanking they to never would, perhaps met and never servicemen children for their gifts and making enquiries after their health and well being. As with all did I by to them. letters those far found than letter I sent types of soldiers sent more This is becausethe survival of letters sent to the Front was much more precarious discarded battle, in lost been have home. the They or course of than those sent may by a soldier on the move. Letters sent to Britain on the other hand were usually by but by family also, as we shall see, treasured and saved, not only members individual children who valued their messagesfrom `their' soldier.

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The pupils at St John's School on the Isle of Dogs in East London were one such group of children who were each given the name of a particular soldier and encouraged to knit and send parcels to them. Amy Griffiths, eight years old in 1914, letter her in a accompanying sent parcel the first months of the war. Amy's mother had insisted she include her age on the letter to avoid any complicated later misunderstandings on. Amy was the first at school to receive a letter from her Sergeant J. Hancock adopted soldier, of the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers, and her in to the reply was read out whole school assembly. Although Amy's letter to SergeantHancock does not survive we can imagine its tone and content from the Sergeant Hancock reply she received. wrote to Amy on October 11"' 1914 saying:

I am writing to thank you for your kindness in sending me the tobacco cigarettes, it was very kind of you, I'm afraid you've given me rather a hard task in telling me to kill all the Germ-Huns, but I'll do my best for you. I'm he I Kaiser the afraid can't manage as won't come anywhere near me but him look-up I'll give a when we get to Berlin. The unfortunately, Germans serenadeus in the evenings with their national songs, and we give them a cheer when they finish, and invite them over to our trenches, but they are too shy. Please thank your friends for their kindness and accept my thanks for health. find in best hope I the this of will you yourself.

Goodbye,yours faithfully, J. Hancock This letter displays the cheery optimism of the early days of the war when the be fight That believed the eight year the and short victorious. would volunteer army in language to the Amy the referring of propaganda, war old was already versed Germ-Huns, is no surprise when you consider, as we did in chapter 2, the mood of first lead in to, the the that months of, and up nation swept anti-German sentiment first letters Amy, the Hancock's Sergeant to the war. But which after subsequent in difference hint begin the her home the to soldiers' and to at address, one were sent 1915 Hancock January In developing their writes enemy. perceptions of civilians' Western the Christmas her Amy truce which occurred at places on to telling of the found last, from in different the respect Front. The letter, very tone suggestsa new for the men on the other side of no-man's-land.

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I spent a rather interesting if not a happy Xmas, we made a truce with the enemy opposite us they are only 60 yrds away and exchanged cigarettes, papers etc, a lot of them could speak English, they are Saxons and object to being called Germans they said they would be very glad when the war was finished, but they firmly believe they are going to win, I have enclosed one of their postcards with the chaps name on who gave it to me. We are having very rainy weather and our trenches are like little rivers, and are not at all pleasant to live in. Please excuse this awful scribble, as writing is rather a difficult job. These letters plus a couple of postcards and a field service postcard, all sent between 25 October 1914 and 17 February 1915, were deposited at the Imperial War Museum by Amy's daughter and accompanied by a description of the circumstances kept had Amy the the letters all her life and told the story of of correspondence. their provenance to her children and grandchildren. She had taken pride in the do into the time to at and adulthood, suggesting the correspondence continued so for her feelings had the she childhood contribution to the war effort and strength of her relationship to a soldier. Other children sent gifts and letters to groups of soldiers they did not know as part of individual December In but reply. many still received an a whole school effort, 1915,7-year-old Bertha Wadey received a letter from a Lieutenant H. N. Hignett, for her in France, Cheshire Regiment in 1/5th Battalion the thanking the serving School. The from Hamlet Dulwich had Battalion to the sent out parcel of gifts she hide be trench does the to to of conditions need any of conscious not seem officer having thank from to 7-year-old, the the and write of extra work nor resent warfare her. His letter shows no condescension, I have only time to write you a very short letter, but I wish to thank you very big box for kept the I Vaseline for of of tin out the myself which of much how I know don't to You from was glad things which came your school. have it last night. The trenches were half full of water and freezing at the hands face I biting with and time. As there was a cold wind smeared my is frost. It the from kept most Vaseline and so them getting chapped with the to kind all very things were who these men to out send all of you awfully pleased with them. Wishing you a very happy Xmas and New Year, Yours sincerely, H. N. Hignett

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This letter is accompanied in the archive by a certificate of gratitude to Bertha from the Overseas Club, a patriotic organisation established 'to promote the unity of British Subjects the world over'. Groups like the OverseasClub and the Girls Patriotic Union were active in organizing and recognizing the work children did for the war effort. They awarded certificates and ribbons in recognition of children's large the contribution, and numbers of them deposited in the Imperial War Museum suggeststhat the recipients treasured them as tokens of their part in the `official' war Bertha's effort. certificate recognizes and thanks her for sending comforts to the troops at Christmas 1916 and an additional, hand written, note at the bottom thanks her for helping Belgian children.

Some schools `adopted' Prisoners of War and children sent letters and parcels through the Red Cross to Germany. Joan Gillespie's form at Woodford School, East Croydon, adopted Private W. J. Fitzwalters who was held at Giessenand Soltau during their period of correspondence. Private Fitwalters' first postcard to Joan, sent in January 1916, is fairly formal, thanking her for her parcel and letter and replying that horses are his favourite animal. But gradually, perhaps surprised that the begins him, Private Fitzwalters is to to to to open up write schoolgirl continuing Joan and tells her something of his life back home describing his house in Hackney, North London and saying 'I'd give anything to be there now'. By June 1917 the pair to Fitzwalters intimate pleased genuinely seeming correspondents with are more have heard from loan and taking an interest in her holiday plans: Dear Miss Gillespie, I was very pleased to hear from you and as it is the health in is I I day in day and am good out with me all can say and same for just is ideal been has the a right weather sick, sister sorry your spirits, best happy be May long holiday by the sea. one, my this term at school a J. Fitzwilliams W. form, I truly, remain yours wishes to you and the

Other schoolsand groupsfocusedtheir attention on woundedsoldiersconvalescing in their local area. Many collected food, newspapersand magazines and even paid For home. from far these men, the to recuperating men, often cheer personal visits how be both welcome sure horribly cannot we mentally, and physically scarred often 237

these visits were. But without close family nearby, and perhaps becauseof their interest, naive wounded soldiers occasionally wrote to the children of the horrors they had experienced and the frustration they now felt. Alice Waterhouse, a schoolgirl at Parochial School, Aughton, received such a letter after collecting food for the patients at a military hospital in Moss Side, Liverpool. Lance Corporal H. Bearer wrote to Alice in June 1915:

Just a few lines hoping you are in the very best of health. I am pleased to let know that I am feeling a little better considering I have been in hospital you over 8 months now. Also I wish to thank you very much for your kindness in heartily I those giving me eggs which enjoyed for my tea. I was buried alive by a shell bursting in front of my trench while I was on for observation post nearly three days before being dug out. This is the ninth hospital I have been in. I was in six different hospitals in Manchester before being sent to Maghull so I must thank God I am alive. You may remember me I passedby your school in the wheelchair about two like few lines for I to to thank weeks ago. would write you a you your kindness to me. God bless you with successand good health these are my kind best My to regards and respectsto you and your sincere wishes you. teacher. Sincerely yours 7338 L/Cpl H Bearer For some children and soldiers, these donations and visits to hospital started up beyond. 12 Doris Tickner lasted the throughout that old and year war relationships Australian friendship Mick Teulan, Private soldier an with struck up one such in by had been injured Teulan AIF. Private Division 5th a shell serving with the France and was recovering at Spalding Hall Convalescent Home in Golders Green, North London, near to where the Tickner family lived. The archive contains 55 letters written to Doris between 1917 and 1919, mainly by Mick but also by both his importance to in The Australia. his of great clearly was relationship sisters and wife itself by the family, war the whole Teulan separated thousands of miles as well as for family Tickner their support and refer Teulan's wife and sisters thank the whole he has Mick from Australia. have often asks why to packages and presents they sent then is he the for and from country heard Doris time around moved as some not fairly is but back France, correspondent. regular a to clearly she eventually

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When he is eventually sent back to France in the spring of 1918 Teulan jokes to Doris that he is unlikely to see her again until he gets another wound and is sent back to England:

You see I have taken your advice this time I am letting all the shells go by just and at present there are any amount of them flying about our own and German ones. They are going over the ground where we are camped and I am not in the deep dug out either in fact there are only a few pieces of wood covering me, not enough to stop a shell if it happens to fall on it I will try to arrange to get to a hospital where you can visit if I am lucky enough to get back to England again. In September 1918 Teulan was in England again after being shot through the wrist joked it 'certainly Doris I to thought that and was only the shells that I was to dodge. You did not mention bullets, bombs or grenade, nor Gas.' Mick Teulan survived the Australia in 1919. to war and returned

Writing was good for morale. This was recognised by everyone from the army, the individual families letter Sending to the a government, and schools. post office, and had become a national endeavour, important both for maintaining the ties of bonds Children but for the of citizenship. were also strengthening affection highlighting had to them the they to to never met as a way of men encouraged write in front, in POW By the the or camp a adopting a soldier at war effort. enormity of hospital children were ensured a personal connection to the war regardless of fighting. in And involved had the they children clearly relished a relative whether initial fact the The that the correspondence often outlived exchange this connection. how friendships fledgling into developing much shows of gifts and thanks, importance was attached to the link by both the children themselves and the soldiers kind, Here uncondescending to whom they wrote. we see men writing genuine, letters of thanks and goodwill to small children they had never met. They appear for those interest by men with no the the particularly truly touched and children of helped letters formed the through family close by, the relationships they probably the throughout them war. sustain

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Family letters

The remainder of this chapter looks at letters sent between children and their fathers during the war. Some fathers wrote to their children individually and often, others hardly at all, preferring to send love to them as a line at the end of their letters to their wives. Some fathers spoke at length about the war and the conditions in which they were living while others dwelt entirely on family matters, responding to the from home. None of the letters I have read, written by fathers home to news instances children, mention specific of violence or death although some do mention far fewer There guns and shells. are surviving letters sent by children to their fathers but from the replies sent back to England it is sometimes possible to gauge the tone letters. the children's own and content of

The letters sent by children to their fathers are overwhelming concerned with domestic details and family life. This is unsurprising as it made up almost the is it but it the nevertheless significant as represents children's experience, entirety of in family Children involved keep father determined the the to reported unit. effort a holiday, had done the the they as actions of as or on well at weekend at school, what date fathers keep to to their about significant up siblings and other relatives happenings and relationships in their lives. By taking an interest and responding in fathers the to participate seeking such news were on with questions or comments daily lives of their children. If they couldn't be there in person to share in their details for fathers domestic their children enquired and prompted routine children's For imagine the they the to them children missing. that would allow were world interest in letter fathers their and receiving via a sharing their adventures with their became fathers their of and understanding their memory that of a part return meant the events and people in their lives. domestic in the that mirrored Fathers in turn often wrote to their children a way in business day-to-day the home. Indeed the detail of life at of work much of the from domestic equipping and cleaning chores, trenches consisted of entirely 240

trenches to the preparation and serving of meals. Regular soldiers carried out these tasks while the Officers had responsibility for ensuring the smooth running of the operation. When men were sick or injured it was other men who cared for them and thus, very much like the women they had left behind, men became immersed in the domestic details of caring for themselves and each other. In Dismembering the Male Joanna Bourke has argued that for the men fighting in the trenches `home remained the touchstone for all their actions' and that men actually pursued domesticity in an 14 honour `to regain their senseof attempt and a taste of contentment.

So it was easy for fathers to summon up a domestic image to describe to their living food, friends in designed animals conditions, and a way children and wrote of to give their children a way of picturing their absent father in circumstances they daughter letter his Mildred, E Hopkinson's Lieutenant to to. young could relate in is Then 2nd in 1916, Lieutenant December the this. a a good example of written 1/8th Battalion Sherwood Foresters, Hopkinson describes the contents of a Christmas parcel received from the civic authorities in Nottingham writing:

I said I would tell you what the parcel contained. Well here they are:1 tin plum pudding 1 tin milk 1 tin Dubbin 1 tin peppermints 1/2lb Cadbury's chocolate 1 tablet carbolic soap 1 stick shaving soap 1 packet butterscotch 1 pair leather laces

1 carriagecandle

1 packet bachelors buttons 1 Christmas card here. for to is do out Now me receive you not think that a very useful parcel is is, last between difference The this years one and a plum pudding in We is butterscotch for extra. put of packet a and cake a plum substituted have I The things not have had two plum puddings and they were good. other yet sampled.

14JoannaBourke, Dismembering the Male: Men's Bodies, Britain and the Great War (London: 1996) p 23.

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The rest of Hopkinson's letter contains news of the platoon's sports fixtures and line his score and suggestedanswers to a spelling game begun by his daughter. In return Hopkinson poses her a maths question and enquires about school and homework. In response to the news that the family back home have been trying to has that taken up residence at the end of the garden Hopkinson writes: catch a rat

Of course out here it is nothing to see scores of rats when in the trenches and in billets. At night when I am in bed I can here the rats running about in the loft room above. But I do hope you will get rid of them down the garden becausethey are not at all pleasant companions. Centring letters home on domestic details was perhaps particularly necessarywhen the children were very young, when fathers may have feared that an extended for bond had had little be build the they time to too much such absencewould up. One such father was A. C. Stanton who was called up late in 1916 and began service in in Section Corps 13th Kite Balloon Royal Flying Air Mechanic the the of as an February 1917. Stanton's two children Peggy and Hugh were just four and three Western Stanton Front to carry out meteorological to the sent was respectively when ballooning duties in the summer of 1917. During the war Stanton's Wife Dora and the children moved from Wembley to Highgate in North London and the family letters between April 1917 18 Stanton the children sending corresponded regularly, 1918. December and

In his first letter home to the children Stanton explains `When you are both a little for home from had it know I to that a go away why was more grown up you Will hearted. but light letter is ' But leave the the rest of time and nothing you and mother. After drawing a picture of a tent and explaining that that is where he now lives Stanton goes on: it to tent the We got some pretty plants and put them round make nice and like home. I expect the plants belonged to some little girl like you Peggy, had leave but them and go away. to she once, fluffy hair, long kittens, little here ones, In the place there are three grey with big trees, have Nearby and many time. so ever they are woods with a good birds lots in trees the called little snowdrops grow under the trees, and of are

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black Ask magpies, mother to tell you about magpies,they are and white. like somelittle children who chatter all the time and play tricks.

The other day I saw a soldier who had a monkey for a pet, the monkey sat on the ground and squeaked when I gave him one of the raisins which mother he sent me out, was so pleased to show all his teeth.

You must try and be good children and kind to mother, and when I come home we shall all have a big treat together. From reading the next few letters Stanton sent to his young children you could be forgiven for thinking that his portion of the Western Front had more in common with full farm is it bunny (which he a or sanctuary, so yard wildlife with rabbits (which feed dogs (that he befriends), than a the to) sketches), goats men cake and battlefield. But the tactic works and the children respond (in letters written by their but by them) with enquiries about the animals and a addressed mother, and signed dogs home bring is to the the one of after plea war over.

However as the fighting continues it appears Stanton is beginning to miss his both happy he to them to them children more and more and when writes wish birthday in October 1917 he writes:

I should very much like to seeyou for a little while out here, as there aren't day but here, big the children will all some grown-up men, only any children in boys fathers, back the their and girls will play and mothers and come with the holes and corners where the men have to live now. I shall tell you more about this when I come home, so until then you must is dear kind be for to to mother, who each other and ever so me and wait taking so much care of you. From then on the war itself makes more of an entrance into the letters, perhaps as Stanton begins to forget his earlier concern for his children's age, or becausehe life the by him bring them closer to giving them a clearer understanding of wants to he is living. Hughie is told of the airships and balloons Stanton seesand rides in, in French is the and Peggy villages the told neighbouring children all about while how their lives have been altered by the war. In the summer of 1918 Stanton writes been have detail that frightening the letter would war the about to children with a few first letters. He his in writes: unthinkable 243

Let me tell you something pretty I saw the other day_You know that where I am the Germans fire great big guns at us and the shot from these guns goes in the air with a great noise, and then all the pieces of shot come falling off down, and sometimes may hurt somebody. Well the other morning I was down the road when I saw two children a little girl about as big as going Margaret and a tiny little boy, not quite so big as Hughie; just as I came up to them a big shot came whistling along, and the little girl at once put her arms her little brother, and hid his face in her apron until the shot had burst round with a great noise and all the pieces had fallen down. They both looked up at laughed. Now wasn't that pretty !I hope you will both be as kind and me and brave as those two little children. Then perhaps as an attempt to allay the children's fears Stanton goes on, in his first last attempt to explain warfare, to say: and

I have to carry a helmet with me to put on when there are pieces of shot falling down. A helmet is a sort of hat made of iron. Years ago before there is is iron Soldiers that pieces of wore what called armour, were any guns being hurt by The to them their prevent swords and spears. clothes over bravest of these soldiers were called knights, and they rode on horses. They brave deeds, doing the and generally they country all sorts of went about found a lovely princess in the end and married her. And although we don't helmet I there told the are still. about, you now-a-days, except armour wear lots of brave deeds that can be done, and there are princessestoo, but you have to watch for them. I found one once, but perhaps I will tell you about that another time. Stanton's only method of explaining war to his children is to compare it to the tales from By familiar be knights their they storybooks. with would of and princesses doing this Stanton escapeswith them into a fantasy world where he too can be a knight doing brave deeds for their princess-mother. During the two years that Stanton is away from his family Peggy and Hughie start school, attending Home School which appears to be a small, independent school with a progressive life beginning home. In this Highgate of school to their celebrating curriculum, near kind the them Stanton his to of same give wants obviously children with but home, been he had done have he such a missing at as would encouragement Stanton: lives to his in was clearly a wrench children's milestone

Mother told me in her letter about your going to school and about all the do hope I do that beginning there. you to whatever things are you wonderful 244

it is whether singing or painting or feeding the birds, that you will always try to do it as well as you possibly can, and you will find that whatever it is will become easier and better all the time. Always ask questions when you want to know about anything, but be sure to try and listen to what the answer is, then you won't have to learn the same thing over and over again, but before asking any questions have a little `think' and see if you can find out yourself what you want to know, then ask and see if you were right. Other fathers also took an active interest in their children's education despite being by huge In letters four by 100 the the the collection war. of over separated written Butling children to the father Private A. J. Butling, serving in France with the Army Service Corps, and his letters to them, there are constant referencesto school and first letters When the the marks received. of were regular updates on all exams and just 2 11, Grace Ben in George 1.3, Eric 7 1916 the and eldest child was was sent both George Eric family lived in Liverpool Wavertree, The and wrote and years old. just father, he in to them, turn to their one sometimes wrote regularly almost weekly letter which was to be read to the others, sometimes individually. In his first letter to his father, sent in March 1916, George is obviously well up on events of the war and keen to show his father how well he is doing at school, writing:

Just a few lines to let you know I am still thinking of you in the present grave few days in but turn; I the tide that the think anyhow we must will next crisis have Germans happens. I the that captured quite a see wait and see what know than but that I us tanks about more expect you will and guns number of in Blighty. There is a vigorous offensive in our school this last week - as the exams are far in fine done have but I the I especially arith. think that majority so on, Geometry, nature study, and not so bad in Latin and algebra but I had better finished have too yet. not much as we not say First `A George boys' The war was on the suggesting minds often at school with drawing Eric lesson drawing for a machine Class Naval Battle' as the subject and a George in distracted their But for his handwork with work they not were exam. gun being his for his in and subjects top of some class especially regularly coming he in for holiday day's which 1916 Christmas subject each a with rewarded at George father his Writing to said: excitedly excelled. 245

We are to have as many holidays as we are top in, and we can choosewhich day we like, so when you come home on leaveI shall have my odd days, so let me know in time so that I can apply for them. Christmas 1916was also an exciting time for 7 year old Gracewho wrote to her father of a visit into town to seeFatherChristmas: I went to the Grotto with Mother and Ben and Mrs Himman and Willie came I I was glad with us. very when saw what I got, there was a tank there, and soldiers peeping up out of the trenches to see if the Germans were coming. My present was a slate and when I got home I began to draw on it. The war came even closer to the children's lives at home when in February 1918 the boys got a new teacher at school, a discharged soldier Eric described as `a fine his father boys' imagination fired Eric This to the all about the and wrote chap'. disguised, `he how description the trench teacher's guns were of warfare and new told us of one gun which was disguised so weil that it was there fifteen months later George being found ' A to see some an excursion reported month out. without of the weapons of war:

Last night an illuminated tramcar in the form of a tank came down Smithdown Rd so we all went to see it. The tractors were edged with electric light and at various other parts, altogether making a fine show, also a dreadnought was towed on behind looking very grotesque as it was all in darkness. When Private Butling wrote to his children his letters contained a mixture of domestic detail, entreaties to good behaviour and comments about the war, in differing amounts perhaps depending on the age of the child the letter was addressed domestic to his light Butling Grace attempting To 7 situation, of to. made year old like daughter his to like play his might somewhere make sleeping quarters sound writing: in. box the that mother sent cakes I am writing it [letter] in my bunk on the in it to if house it You and Benny would call a cubby you saw and want play it, I expect, wouldn't it be fun. One man sleeps underneath me and another level is bunk his ladder to has which The to top a go up man man above me. 246

with the eighth step of the ladder. Mine is on the forth. So you see we have to do a little gymnastics when we go to bed.

But writing to the older Eric this cubby househas lost someof its charm: I shall soon be getting in to bed beg pardon, my bunk (a sort of cubby house) blankets, two with waterproof sheet and my overcoat. Fancy it? Guess not. Much love etc, Yours Dad. Although addressedto a particular boy Private Butling always intended George and Eric to share their letters and as well as encouraging them in their school work he his took responsibilities as an absent father for their moral upbringing. also seriously Unable to be there in person to show and teach them to be conscientious, honourable boys, Butling sometimes wrote serious letters, advising them of their responsibilities behave. he he In April 1917 Eric: to them to and entreating wrote while was away

I should very much like to be with you for a few evenings, or, for good, but there is a great amount of work for us to do here yet so don't expect me yet a while. Well Eric my lad, I am expecting both you and George to be honourable boys and I wish you both to grow up thorough Christian children. It is up to both hope I that whatever scrapesyou get always remember will and you you in to. But it was to the eldest, George, that Butling wrote in most detail about his feelings leave home father his letter Replying to will get some asking when a about the war. Butling writes: At present I cannot tell when that will be as since this "Push" has started it has altered things somewhat. The Kaiser wishing to annihilate us, especially hat I to take our British, treat my they off contempt. with us still evidently us fallen comrades deeply deploring their loss, at the sametime greatly odds. enormous such their against stand and valiant sacrifice noble admiring has been lives that British It is a revelation that, once more the spirit still handed down to us to take up and carry on. George it it that Butling its Private who was The war took was toll on and appears Private In father's his suggests which comment a to mind. of state most sensitive 247

Butling may have been suffering from some of the symptoms of shell shock George in September 1918: wrote

I am glad to here that you have got over your toothache, and I hope that you free from all complaints in the future, including "night alarms" will remain like. and such Despite surviving the war itself Private Butling died of dysentery in 1919 after for he is buried in France three years at Charleroi in Belgium. serving It is clear from many of the letters how preoccupied some fathers were with the differences they would see in their children when they returned home. Realising that they were likely to be away from home for years rather than months the men who from did Those 1916 to the with young not expect war end quickly. were called up have daughters knew their they that sons and would returned children when developed both physically and mentally while they were away. As we have seen but for fathers in keen interest fathers their took whose children's schooling a many for it too school was the physical changesthat prayed on their young children were in into Engineers Royal Sapper Ernest Williams When the was called up minds. 1916 his two children, Marjorie and Harold were too young to go to school. The letters he writes have to be read to the children by their mother and the ones they he begin by To illustrated her by him the with children. and are penned send to but dear Harold', `My little dear Marjorie' letters `My to sonny and addressesthese by the following year, after Marjorie has turned five, he is acknowledging her letter April In big) Marjorie'. little (I dear that beginning `My of pet mean growth 1917 he goes on: dresses 2 has big to Mother tells me that you are growing so make new she for you - never mind how big you grow I will put you on my shoulders when I come home - becauseI am getting such a strong daddy.

he family his All of Williams' letters to nature, rarely children are of a purely in done have the together dwell they things to on mentionsthe war at all and seems his future. He in do family and wife the misses clearly they a as might past and what 248

desperately is keen to remind them of his love and encourage their bond children and him despite their separation. On many occasions he write notes to Harold, who with I think was perhaps a year or two older than Marjorie, chastising him for not writing to him saying things like:

Harold dear every letter mother sends you must send me a note in it every time. Don't forget that your daddy wants a note from his big boy every time. While training at Hitchin in Hertfordshire Williams wrote to Marjorie of an incident illustrates how his often children were on his mind saying: which

Well yesterday I saw a big bear in the street and the man told him to dance and when the man started singing - the bear danced - oh it was funny and all the children did enjoy themselves. I asked one little girl if her name was Marjorie and she said no it is Maggie. You see she looked something like just if her I you so wondered name was the same as yours. Although none of the children's letters to their father survive it is clear from in his letters in Marjorie that them particular was a regular comments about he had drawn, displayed him She on the wall which sent pictures she correspondent. him him flowers. She bunk, his the to of new clothes she also wrote and near sent had been given and told him jokes and stories about what she had been doing. At by family he Newark, in to 1917, the came stay near was training at one point while his deal letters from his it is thought that part and planning on of a great obvious and do his they in to might while wife and children were stay and what went to where family Williams trying to intents To the were they were there. purposes and all letters became long face in family the separation and of such a maintain their unit the chief means for them to develop this relationship. her Marjorie the Williams seventh By May 1918 when occasion of on writes to half has He four birthday he had been away since she was missed almost years old. filled is letter his but affection: her life with tinged sorrow with although of

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My darling sweetpet own girlie Marjorie,

Your daddy sendsto his darling daughter, a special letter all by itself to wish her very many happy returns of her birthday. Fancy she is 7 years old she be must getting a big girlie now and I must not say little girlie any more, but if she grows as big as a house she will always be her Daddy's own loved daddy Oh is girlie. going to try so hard to get this silly old war finished so that he can get back home again and be with his girlie every day and not to be miles and miles away from her over the sea. I do hope you have a jolly day - that it is fine sunshine and that you have a good time all the time. I like box lovely flowers but the poor things would be to should send you a of before let I them them go on growing all withered away could you get so will in the fields and gardens and just imagine that you can smell them. Ta to my darling pet. God bless and take care of you and dear loving brother Harold and that sweetest of all, our Mother. Heaps and heaps of love and kisses from your own always loving Daddy.

Williams and many other fathers included sketches in their letters. Sometimes these flowers, trains things they thought their children would enjoy. or were of animals or Other times the men sketched their surroundings, showing their children their drew Williams animals and cartoon sketches uniform or sleeping arrangements. designed to amuse his children while the poet EG Buckeridge illustrated his journey to France for his young son Anthony. Beside a detailed picture of a boat Buckeridge wrote: I suppose you are now quite the man of the house now that I am away, even though you are only 4 1/2years old. This is Daddy going over in the steamer in looking is important him. He hope I France. the to gentleman you can see the bows. There wasn't room to draw the captain and the crew. I expect they bonnet. in is his don't Daddy downstairs This tin new you. are somewhere He is somewhere inside. P. A. Wise serving with the 102nd Siege Battery RGA on the Western Front went daughter Alice. In his letters illustrated the beautifully further in to two young even letters (see Appendix B) it seems Wise is trying to make light of his situation by illustrating the humorous side of life in the trenches although some of the pictures letters, illustrating to daughter. By his have their most often might well alarmed their helping the fathers to of war story these create are quite young children, have books in like they Just the in at their picture the children. minds of experience home, these fathers are appearing as characters in their own life story. For children Williams Buckeridge the four Anthony Wise, children, Alice or old year as young as

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imagining their absent father in circumstances so unlike any they had ever have been almost impossible. Their fathers, realising that their experienced must be children would confused and troubled by their absencecreate and illustrate a for hero, They them. the are story embarking on an adventure, crossing the sea home for themselves in strange and exciting tunnels. a steamer and making aboard a The children in turn could use these illustrations, just as they did with their picture books, to become enthralled by the tale of their father's adventure.

To begin with fathers and their children looked for common experiences, details of domestic life that they could share with each other. They turned to the familiar, to food in keep to plants and and and surroundings an attempt animals up a mutual between lengthened But their the the as gaps meetings connection. war went on and fathers had to look for some other way to forge an identification with their children. It was no longer enough to rely on shared experiences especially when very young it like have father their to children perhaps could not even really remember what was for fathers home Instead their to attempted create a new reality some at at all. in became fathers letters. These their through characters a narrative of the children invented landscape. They heroes in told their a partially pictures on a page or war, children the truth about the more pleasant aspects of their surroundings and then fictionalised the rest to produce a tale that was both positive and exciting. Children in their turn responded to these letters with interest; they wanted to play with the dogs their fathers had met and sleep in the cubby house bunks where their dads went to bed. They wrote regularly, often with immense detail about what had gone on at had food had friends they had the they seen and received, the school, the marks they for life in figure bonds their who emotional with this central eaten, maintaining the the present could not be with them.

War News

length it discussed from kept fathers at Not all their children; some the war letters In these life Front. are describing every aspect of their most cases at the 251

addressedto older children, perhaps becausefathers believed that the children were already well aware of the war and what it entailed. As we have seen from earlier interested in the details of the war and are many chapters children were extremely likely to have asked their fathers for details even if the fathers were originally describing Letters to them. the war range in style from jokey, gungshare reluctant ho references to serious, descriptive passageswhich show that not all parents were at from hide the to their children. pains war

Captain B. Foulis of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders clearly felt his young instilled be behind Nancy the the should niece with a strong senseof purpose fighting and wrote to her regularly after he joined up in 1914. His letters are funny in his he knew his brutal that that the time at suggesting niece would share same and first is in fighting October 1914 in Germans. The delight the short, one sent ghoulish simply saying:

Thank you very much for your letter which I got today- It was very wicked of these bad German to shoot Uncle Willie, so I hope to get near them soon and bunnies. just Teddy Uncle lot the that them the shoots way of shoot a great We are kept very busy here marching and practising shooting so as to be very Germany. killing Kaiser to the when we go good at A year later he has more detail to give about life in the army and, although playing down the danger he is in, still describes a far more gruesome war than many of the from the trenches: to children other adults who write is It Germans. in living the here to I have now got over a trench close and am holes little houses little for jolly there are all sorts of and snug trench rather a for houses little Some dug these we use of out everywhere. and corners for in our meals. sleeping and other The "Germs" are about 100 yards away, and we often throw shells and bombs and things at each other, but our trench is a jolly strong one so that they cannot do us any harm. We have got a lot of enormous rats and tiny mice. They scuttle and scamper bother do the war at all. about not about everywhere and Now large killed we This morning one of our soldiers rat with a spade. a have a bomb throwing machine, so we put this rat onto the machine and it for had if I they German into trench. wonder the threw it all the way breakfast?

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It is rather pretty at night here there are so many wonderful lights in the sky. You see the flashing of big guns and of bursting shells very often, but mostly long a way off. Then there are the rockets which are sent up every few both by ourselves and the Germans. They light the sky almost like minutes daylight, so that you can see every blade of grass in the ground between us and the Boches. They are fine to watch. Foulis seems confident that his niece will appreciate the humour in the rat throwing incident as much as he and his men evidently did, suggesting that he remembers fun disgusting. Officer As Foulis the the truly children can get out of well very an his in his he killing Germans to trusted to censor own mail and although refers was first letter he plays down any suggestion that he himself is in danger. Perhaps himself, Foulis Nancy's to the truth to age, or perhaps reluctant admit conscious of describes an exciting, amusing war - much like a game his niece might enjoy. The "Germs" and he throw bombs at each other while he makes a "snug" little home for himself in his trench. Foulis is likening his experience to a game, much like the one built in Chapter 2 his friends Waugh they Evelyn a camp playing when and we saw fought neighbouring children over territory. and

Other men who enlisted at the start of the war also seem keen to sharetheir he in his 30s Harker R. P. enlisted as a when was experiences with their children. He the failing the to war. very start of secure a commission at regular soldier after boarding Freddie, 13 been have school. at year old son, a widower with a appearsto Harker's letters to Freddie are full of the details of army life, in fact contain almost is he like the than he writing one a schoolboy sounds more nothing else, and at times keen life hardships senseof and a of army to. He shows a ready acceptance of the his In November have to he to son. wanted pass on appearsto patriotism which 1914 he wrote to Freddie describing the men's attitude to fighting: beat Bigshotte hear that Awfully letter. to last you Many thanks for your glad The form in that of sketch the week. one so easily, and so glad you were up letter. We last it is are quite good on your the destroyer with the gun on Our filled is army seem billeted in a school here and this town with soldiers. Germans the don't think much of to be doing magnificently and our soldiers their is also German and but good fighting awfully the artillery men, as have They have show. poor a made they them would machine guns, without 253

all sorts of unsportsmanlike tricks and attack our men disguised in khaki and kilts sometimes and shout out sentencesin English saying "don't shoot, we are so-and-so", giving the name of some English regiment. They also shout "cease fire" in English and give our signals. I don't think the war will be out over before next spring at the earliest. Harker was clearly revelling in his new role as a soldier. So keen was he to get out to France that he had enlisted as a regular soldier despite the fact that he would have had he waited a couple of months. Harker, almost undoubtedly got a commission in himself the product of a public school education certainly writes very much that has here be 'The is Fussell British Phlegm. Paul termed trick to to affect style if entirely unflappable; one speaks as the war were entirely normal and matter-of15 fact. ' Harker's letters are breezy and confident and he embracesArmy life to the full. In many ways his letters are reminiscent of the boys' adventure fiction discussed in the previous chapter, fiction Freddie was likely to be reading at school. All is exciting, the British are upstanding, fine chaps, while the Germans are by depicting By the presenting war as a great adventure and underhand and sneaky. himself as the hero of the tale to his teenage son, Harker is helping to reconcile Freddie to his absence while boosting his own senseof pride and confidence.

Shortly after being commissioned into the North Staffordshire Regiment in March 1915, Harker was killed by sniper fire. In the following months his sister Ethel fellow friend family Waterall Horace soldier. and an old corresponded regularly with by been has feels Freddie too it is Ethel letter that From one affected not clear that his father's death saying: it but the does things Freddie same all It is a merciful thing that not realise for having Robert be it inexpressibly years that after so should sad seems have lot Freddie that everything. might past given up such a it 2 in seemscertain However from reading the autobiographical accounts chapter likely is by to the but boarding war, still surrounded that Freddie, away at school

15Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory p 181.

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have felt his father's death perhaps even more because of the detailed way in which his father had been writing to him of his life.

It was not only to boys that fathers sometimes felt comfortable describing the more frightening aspects of the war. British born Canadian, Captain Ivan Finn of the 10th Battalion CEF, wrote to his daughter living in England in 1915 of the conditions he in: living was

My darling Margaret Father sends his love to you. I cannot write very much becausethere is such fearful from hope I that I shall see you soon again and that a noise our guns. the war will end quickly. A lot of farms are burning up and the sun is very bright and warm. I live in a hole and feel very dirty for I have been unable to wash since I left England. The other day I saw a battle in front where the poison gaseswere from hanging like horrible looked It the sky. green yellow curtain a used. Now my darling I will end. God bless you and keep you always. Your loving father, Ivan. Whether Margaret was alarmed by this or not it is impossible to know. The effects of by known the public at this time and wounded soldiers were a poison gas were his daughter believed but Captain Finn in England, would obviously common sight be more interested than scared by his descriptions. For some fathers the need to far their they concerns outweighed and overwhelming seeing was share what were for what their children might need to hear. In a fascinating letter that avoided the daughter his Lucy Front Western to W. Vernon Private the wrote serving on censor 1918. in German the from Marne the spring of advance after the of the Allied retreat family dealing is fairly the letter first half The weather and with predictable of the been had fathers letters to their hundreds like writing the of other matters, much Vernon letter to half pages the adds But after then the second explodes of children. by begins He by telling been has the his unsealed letter that censor. passed already injured he how been has he and recovered. Lucy about where was and where and Then he begins to talk of the retreat:

troops and the have with packed were You should roads retreating, seen us horses, guns, limbers, Red Cross Ambulances, French and ours and wounded 255

walking for miles and miles. They daren't stop for fear of Jerry catching them but the worst of all was the civilians, they had to run for their lives and leave everything they had, only just what they stood up in and plenty we saw little baby in few with a a pram and a odd things, just what they could lay hold of and they were on the road for days and days sleeping on the roadside it heartbreaking to seethem. Some of our A. S.C. drivers would at night, was give them a lift on the wagons. While we were retreating Jerry was over the top of us with his aeroplanes dropping bombs and firing his machine gun at us and we started firing at them. We brought one down with our rifles. It was fine sport. Again we hear the echoes of adventure fiction in the 'fine sportTof bringing down an is Or final the enemy aircraft. phrase an example of Private Vernon adopting the language his inspire Officers it is Then to their enthusiastic used men? again delight in down Vernon After took that the a genuine shooting all possible plane. by had just living in being Vernon trenches, shot at perhaps spent several years Germans, and so felt justified in revelling in his enemy's death. JoannaBourke has feelings have towards their victims noting the soldiers often ambivalent explored that 'although the act of killing another person in battle may invoke a wave of 16 has Bourke incite intense feelings it distress, of pleasure'. may also nauseous described how successfully hitting the enemy gave men a senseof their own power 'kill' to their score was often a cause of much celebration. that another adding and Importantly however, Bourke also recognises the link between fantasy and integral has become As part of the modern an martial combat experience. imagination through literature and films, so soldiers have gone to war already late have killing. As by the possibility of nineteenth century seen, we excited battles imperial full literature tales and military adventures and of of was children's before in they image had their War First World minds well of warfare an soldiers so fantasy killing in Bourke, the According Front. Western to and of act the arrived on for the intertwined the soldier's moral of sake so and must remain experience are from literature borrowed fantasy, level imbuing By their actions with a of survival. [are] exceptional of films, acts 'combatants to around story a construct able or 17 their actions pleasurable'. render could violence which 16JoannaBourke, An Intimate History of Killing Face to Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare (London: 1999) p 13. 17Ibid. 42. p

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Here again we see the idea that men, in describing their experiences to their children in this way, were casting themselves as the heroes of a story their children might linking fantasies By their enjoy. own about the war they were fighting with the ones their children read in adventure fiction, these soldiers were attempting to find a place for the war within a fantasy world both understood. Children could imagine their fathers in a tale that always had a happy ending, while fathers could reconcile their by locating in familiar language to themselves them the actions of their own because Perhaps they were writing to children, men like Foulis childhood stories. felt freer language is fantasy. Vernon In Vernon's to this there employ of a and case between his description German his the of advance and account of the stark contrast first his down he heart his daughter At the to about the of pours out plane. shooting fleeing detailing 'heartbreaking the the sight of civilian refugees realities of warfare, their homes. But then he returns to the language of adventure stories when he describes his own part in killing a man. Clearly Vernon was not insensitive to human different light. in his he just to that own act of violence a chose set suffering,

Vernon is well aware of the risk he is taking in sending this letter but it appearshe just cannot stop himself now he has the chance for the first time to tell his daughter like: is the war really what Dear Lucy, don't tell anybody what I have told you in this letter for if I was if I fill 30 20 I Court Marshalled. I found pages or could to get out should get liked telling you my experiences, it seemsquite different writing when you it letter like in the without anyone censoring after you. can put what you This is the first time I have had a chance to send a few exciting lines. doing been have I You draw I think I will now to a close. will wonder what love letter, to long all, with so sending such a From your Loving Father xxxxxx

Good Night having is the letter to about different how worry bit This last without writing a about in family detail of lack many matters on the concentration and of censor may explain to truth the telling it Vernon the home. To letters of possibility was the other men's The detailed in him way. to write his daughter that caused such an eager and 257

difference between the first half, read by the censor, and the second is telling. A bland and uninteresting letter written by a man who appears slightly bored and perhaps only writing to his child out of duty, becomes an exciting and moving letter is free Vernon he likes. He to when as write risked Court Martial and possible imprisonment for sending this letter but was clearly desperateto share with his daughter what he was experiencing.

Some fathers would never see an end to the war. Lying in a VAD hospital in Earls Colne, Essex, Sergeant F. H. Gautier of the 11th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, knew he was dying. From there he wrote to his young daughter Marie with a note is front dear daughter `To Marie the the of envelope saying my on when she able to had been killed The Gautier's Albert Ypres at and eldest son recently understand'. in this letter Gautier is calling on his daughter to remember him and her brother who he knows she will be too young to remember:

To my darling daughter Marie, Dearly loved daughter this my letter to you is written in grief. I had hoped to happy spend many years with you after the war was over and to see you in because I happy I into want you woman. am writing a good and grow up know dearly loved I know how I that you are too young to to you, after years keep me in your memory. I know your dear mother will grieve. Be a comfort to her, remember when you are old enough that she lost her dear brave son, brother Your father, brother, time. was a within a short and me, your your dear brave boy, honour his memory for he loved you and your brothers dearly and he died like a brave soldier in defence of his home and Country. May God guide and keep you safe and that at last we may all meet together in his eternal rest. I am your loving and affectionate father F. H. Gautier Gautier died two months after writing this letter in June 1916. Marie treasured the letter, keeping it with a postcard from her brother Albert which said `I shall come home to see you some day, love brother Albert. ' Here Gautier is using the letter form to communicate with his youngest child over a space in time rather than a fathers by letters their to the written case with most physical space which was her his the in him to lets It at age appropriate not child a manner address children. 258

time and allows him to appeal to her to support her mother and remember him and her brother in a way a baby never could.

Some men seem to have had no hesitation in telling their children about the realities fighting. They are either matter-of-fact about it like Harker or Captain Finn trench of it in like Foulis is interesting but Vernon. It to they to that revel or appear or note all letters describing these one of war news was sent to girls. This suggeststhat the men interest daughters in have the their the childish and nieces would recognised battle did believe detail heard be by they they of and not ghoulish would upset what By describing scenesof firing rats at the Germans or shooting down aircraft with likening fun their to they these merely experience childhood are men are rifles taking part in an adventurous game rather than in a dangerous war. They did this to but their also perhaps to convince themselves that what they were children reassure have loved doing to thing they than the sort of would was nothing more seeing and do as children.

Conclusion

Writing to their children gave men a chance to return to the themes of play and Through had their their that of warfare. pre-war understanding sustained adventure identity for illustrations themselves which a wartime men constructed words and lived in holes This they presented to their children. creation of a soldier-father, who in the ground and who saw danger but was never threatened by it, allowed both facing. fathers they terms themselves to come to were with what children and Children could feel positive about their fathers' absencebecausetheir fathers were be their fathers to In new role as themselves. reconciled could return positive brought first had fantasy to language by killers that warfare the of recalling potential their attention.

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Michael Roper has suggestedthat the circumstances of trench life led young men, and particularly junior officers, to identify with their own mothers as they fulfilled a for the men under their command. When they organised or maternal role caring food, the clothing, or nursing duties they were performing provision of undertook '8 had for the very tasks their own mothers them. If, as Roper once performed identification this them a closer gave understanding and suggests, with their own is it it led that not also possible mother married men to identify with their wives in their duty of performing the maternal role for their own children? Did fathers have a it for being to the meant care of of physical and mental well new understanding what their children? The concerns over health and adequate diet expressedby many fathers in their letters to their children certainly suggest that they now recognised the fundamental importance of these issues. If caring for other men did lead fathers to identify with their wives as mothers, and thus see their role as parent more clearly, perhaps it is also possible that as soldiers, identified have fate, their they their with may also own no control over with during fighting decide Powerless the their to experience of on own actions, children. the First World War has been described as emasculating. But does this experience had little being Children in have or no control a child? much common with not also for dependent in England lives Edwardian their on parents and were over their own their material well being. So perhaps their fathers, in a similar situation gained a new insight into their children's position and felt closer to them as a result. families family letters Most of these were relationships where suggest close They by bonds to their each other. writing attempting to maintain and strengthen by in the their bridged a physical separation as well as a vast gap war experience of in doing, they were missing telling each other about what they were and also what letters the Each being continuing of to sign a as together. on rely came side not life. Fathers health their love from and the of proof as as well other existence of their backing a distance, children with from their providing and wives up a parented 18MichaelRoper, "MaternalRelations:Moral ManlinessandEmotionalSurvivalin LettersHome History, GenderingModern War Politics ed. inMasculinities in War, " During the First World and 308. 2004), (Manchester: Tosh John Hagemann, Karen p Dudink, Stefan and

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link to the world outside the domestic sphere. Children learnt about the war through the separation from their fathers as much as through any descriptions of the war itself that their fathers might give them. The war meant grief and separation for homes Britain throughout millions of and even for children whose fathers did return in the end they had already experienced the loss of years of family life.

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Chapter 7- Conclusion Children were surrounded by the First World War everyday, at home, at school and in their youth groups. They read about it in books, magazines and newspapers, it studied at school and re-enacted it in their private games. The separation from fathers and brothers, when they volunteered or were conscripted to fight, meant that the wider international conflict took on a personal significance, endangering the men these children loved. So the children tried to make senseof the war around them, learnt from they the about combining what war adults with what they came to it for And themselves. about understand adult representations of the war could be different from it felt by Sometimes the these two forms realities of as children. very of understanding complemented each other, allowing the children to accept and but became themselves to the they reconcile at others war confused, unsure how the feeling in light had been they the they told. made sense of what were way

Schools and youth groups taught children specific lessons with regard to the war and their role in it. The war was held up as a lesson in citizenship. It could be used to both teach children about their national history as well as give them concrete had been focused ideal Attention British the the race. characteristics of examples of in by the training the pre-war years of young people education and on leaders, There Imperialists Educators. Union Trade Labour and and philanthropists, birth falling in light Empire British the the the the of security of was concern over health and education amongst the working population. rate and poor standards of Children were seen as a hope for the future, a way of ensuring that Britain could legislation just So in both trade and war. sought as new pre-war continue to compete fit be in to serve health they that to protect children's might order and well-being became development in a their country years to come, so their minds and moral focus to ensure that children understood and accepted this future responsibility.

War entered the school curriculum through the teaching of history, geography and English, but the underlying emphasis was on citizenship. Teachers sought advice on how to explain the war to the children from the Board of Education who pointed

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towards explanations that stressedBritain's role as one of a great people defending the rights of weaker nations. There was concern from the Board that intellectual neutrality be maintained as far as possible. They wanted children to know that Britain's involvement was the right thing but they hoped that through careful teaching of Britain's past achievements, and the study of international geography and history, children would come to this conclusion by themselves. Lessons on the war designed to teach the children their place as citizens of a great empire but they were help to the children make senseof the war around them. Teachers were also attempts knew that children were suffering at home from the absenceof fathers and brothers incorporated into lessons the their to help the children understand why and so war that separation was necessary. For the leaders of Britain's uniformed youth groups there was no question that the ideal fact held happens In to a example of what war was up as an war was necessary. if its do for Despite the the take security of country citizens not responsibility nation. denying any links to the country's military machine the leaders of Britain's male instil in ideal to the their organisations as young way uniformed youth groups saw have fight defend Indeed how desire to to their the to country. seen we men want Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, lamented the fact that he had not begun his movement earlier so that there would have been a body of trained ' declared. Equally to take girls up arms when war was men ready and willing hygiene home-craft be be to taught to to trained and needed useful companions men, future destiny biological fulfil to the their that they as wives and mothers so could Boys Brigade Scouts like Girl Guides, Youth the were and groups sons of empire. development in the to of set up the pre-war years answer adult anxieties about immensely became They in sufficient moral character working class adolescents. training because their character they on emphasis successfully combined popular The these that provided war enjoyed. children with adventurous activities how to ideal their selfto practise the members show opportunity organisation with discipline, obedience and self-sacrifice by working for the war effort as everything from messengersto guards and hospital volunteers. 1 The Boy Scout Association, "Headquarters Gazette, " September (1914): p 263.

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Schools and youth groups saw children's participation in the important war effort as in terms of teaching them about the duties of citizenship but it in 'the was war after the war' that children's education and character training would really come into its 2 Educationalists, teachers own. and youth group workers continually stressedthe important role their children were to have in the reconstruction of the country once the fighting was over. Pre-war pressure for a new education act that would increase funding providing for a raising of the school leaving age, nursery provision and the introduction of continuation schools, gained greater urgency during the war. Reformers stressedthe need to make up for the huge destruction of human life by future that the the ensuring generations of would receive an education that would fit them to be productive citizens of a global empire. Britain needed not only to be but be improved. Young peoples' talents were being wasted becauseof the to rebuilt, lack of adequate secondary provision and the limits of what could be achieved in the few years of schooling before the domestic economy forced them out to work. The further Education Act the to that added energy needed create an war provided went than ever before in legislating for the educational needs of Britain's children. Despite the cut backs of the 1920s much of the thinking behind the 1918 Education Act informed the education debate in Britain up until the Second World War.

But what about the children themselves? How did they respond to their lessons at leaders? It instructions their the appearsthat they relished of school and youth group the chance to become involved with the war effort and learn about it at school. In it some cases was the children themselves that propelled the war onto the curriculum led increased inspectors to that their an enthusiasm reported and school improvement in results despite the practical difficulties imposed on schools by the by to them the Some the gave schools chance children were particularly excited war. be they relatives or men previously correspond with soldiers abroad, whether did they to In to the not soldiers write children encouraging unknown to the children. know, schools and teachers were hoping the children would learn to identify with the battle. For in their children some part themselves the men sacrificing and war effort, for their keeping the them letters of rest they treasured the were sent, sometimes 2 Girl Guide Association, "Annual Report," (London, 1916).

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lives as a souvenir of the part they had played in the war effort. When given the chance children enthusiastically collected, saved and made things for the war. They badges, earned certificates and the praise of their teachers for their work and seemed to want to genuinely be a part of the national endeavour whenever they could. Indeed sometimes the children went against the guidance of the adults around them to take on even greater responsibilities than that which had been proposed for them. We have seen how some Scouts in Westgate took up arms in defence of their 3 despite instructions country not to do so. Particularly in the early years there was for the war, reflected.in the successof Kitchener's widespread popular support led boys to attempt to enlist in the army recruiting campaigns, which many young before they had reached the required age. Brought up on adventure fiction that battle the and presented glorified war chance of as a great adventure, some young boys were desperately keen to have the chance to fight.

In June 1915 twelve year old HJ Palmer from Plumsted in London wrote to an Army recruiting officer,

Dear Sir, When you read these lines you will think I am silly or something after that, but I am quite earnest. My greatest friend has been killed by treachery at the front, my brother has been discharged medically unfit from the West Kents, and my father is feel first I I in For thing the the must avenge and want arsenal. making shells his by honour brother's keep feel friend, I I taking must up my my secondly has begun. father feel I I the that thirdly work my must carry on place, and I am twelve and a quarter years of age and exactly 5ft 3" high and 33 inches best do Will to procure me a position as your you please chest measurement. for I is in bugler drummer can assure any regiment where one needed or a Country. God, King, for best do I and my my my my you that will I remain your faithful servant, HJ Palmei-4 his death duty. The in Army closest of This child wanted to serve the as a matter of defeat He the to become had friend meant that the cause of war wanted personal. be Children friend. his for killing in protected and Germans revenge could not 3 Alwyn Dawson, The Story of the Ist Chiswick Early Years 1908-1939(1978) p 18. 4 Imperial War Museum

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sheltered from death; by the end of the war bereavement was an almost universal experience touching every family in the country. How children responded to their loss however could vary enormously and depended on the strength of their relationship to the dead man and the circumstances under which they experienced that loss. Here Palmer wants to strike out against those that have hurt him and offers himself as a willing servant of the army.

But there is something else going on here as well as his desire for revenge. Palmer is his brother is fulfil troubled his that to clearly older unable obligation as a soldier. The elder Palmer's discharge on medical grounds is seenby his younger brother as a his honour he begs for the chance to serve in his brother's place. We stain on and have seen repeatedly how young boys brought up reading adventure fiction imbued duty desperate have the to the public school ethos of self-sacrifice and with were battlefield. Regardless of the type of school to them themselves the chance prove on the Palmer boys went to (no biographical information accompaniesthis letter in the both in ideal, by fiction, the they archive) promoted schools and were well versed duty but honour. that to serve your country was not only a also an youth groups,

But not all children responded to the loss of a close friend or relative by seeking in by Indeed the autobiographical evidence suggeststhat army. revenge enlisting death. how It feel to react after a ambivalent or unsure about children could often boarding living it that those that at school away children appears particularly was little by feelings. Surrounded their the other children, and with most unsure of were boarding schools adult-child communication about personal matters, children at felt how had They they left to and what to grieve on their own. make senseof were did Schools Public The both by their their peers and school. was expected of them their displays teaching pupils self-restraint. of means of emotion as a not encourage That fact coupled with the schools' almost universal support for the war effort meant be brother their to father lost of proud encouraged that children who were or older a loss and to see it as a noble sacrifice.

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But it was not only children at boarding school that could be confused by their feelings. Children living at home had to adapt to the changing dynamics of their neighbourhood after war was declared. Many found that where before their parents had frequented German shops and may even have had German friends, they had now turned against their neighbours and were encouraging their children to do the same. For their part many children were keen to display their patriotic credentials by Germans the they knew. Some did this with little attacking or abusing comprehension of the pain it caused and others only came to realise later how ashamed they were of their actions. Autobiographies offer occasional glimpses of how this transformation of attitude occurs. Authors recalling their childhood selves interpretation to the events that they are recalling. Thus C.H. Rolph's add an adult his German school friend experienced is shapedin part by the the memory of abuse fact that he is ashamed of the fact that he did nothing to protect him. The memories in layers recorded autobiography are actually of memory, added over time, as knowledge experience and give meaning to the fragmentary images recalled from 5 childhood.

Autobiography highlights the diversity of emotional responsechildren had to the down be like Similar Zeppelin, the events, shooting of a could an air-raid or war. interpreted and understood in very different ways. Some children remember being for being in by they the up the saw, enjoying unusual opportunity excited what Germans that the terrified, the convinced were on middle of night, while others were their way to the family home. There was no pattern of feeling, regardless of age or first by For be the time they saw. what or enthralled scared gender children could homes in being the British their once and own attacked citizens were ordinary be become had to wary of. something exciting and novel sight of an aeroplane

But it could also be something to revel in. Young boys were often particularly by the evidence of the night's raids, collecting and swapping any souvenirs excited It fallen times they that debris found in were at seems the they aircraft. of shells or 5 S. Freud, "ScreenMemories," in The Standard Edition of the Complete Worksof SigmundFreud (London: 1962).

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in caught so up the excitement of what they were seeing that they had few thoughts to spare for what it meant to be an airman in battle. In September 1916, fifteen year old Patrick Blundstone witnessed a Zeppelin being shot down near where he was Mrs Willy, a family friend in Cuffley, Essex. The following day Patrick staying with his father to wrote excited to tell him what he had seen but keen to allay any fears his father might have over his safety, Dear Daddy, I hope you are not alarmed, you should not be, unless you know where one of the Zepps went. I have heard that it raided London (up the Strand) and heavy caused casualties. But this I know becauseI saw, and so did everyone in house. the else Here is my story: I heard the clock strike 11 o'clock. I was in bed and just going to sleep. Between 2 o'clock and 2.30 o'clock, Lily (the servant) woke Miss Willy and told her she could hear the guns. Miss Willy woke Poolman [family him flashes heard We told to then saw chauffeur], and wake me, ... and "Bangs" and '.Pops",". Suddenly a bright yellow light appeared and died down again. "Oh! Its alright" said Poolman. "Its only a star shell". That light appeared looked Poolman I Miss Blair, to the and rushed window and again and we inflames, Zepp! It the there, roaring was right above us was out, and ... ... field! down into ! It It the to a right, and crashed and crackling. went slightly 6 house directly from 100 the and opposite US!!! yds away was about Being so close to the action the whole group rushed out into the night to inspect the damage. In his letter to his father we can see how Patrick partially recognises the his but is description his feel father to his excitement unable contain at will revulsion in details the writing, gory at passing on all I would rather not describe the condition of the crew, of course they were dead, - burnt to death. They were roasted, there is absolutely no other word for it. They were brown, like the outside of Roast Beef. One had his legs off from bombed joint! Zepp The the knees, an was the see could and you at have We bomb incendiary relics some wire some an with above, aeroplane ... Miss Willy but Mrs beastly is The framework. are and weather and wood jolly people, hoping you are all well, love to all, Your loving son Patrick?

6 Imperial War Museum 7 Ibid.

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Patrick's ghoulish delight in the details of what he saw could be explained by his age. Indeed soldiers writing to their children sometimes put in details of disgusting things they had seen or done, like firing dead rats into German trenches, because they knew it would amuse their audience. Unlike Patrick however soldiers rarely death the mentioned or injury of fellow soldiers. Instead they edited out the danger of war turning their experience into a tale of adventure.

They became semi-fictional characters in their own letters home creating a narrative in which they could appear quite safely. In order to maintain their bonds with their fathers be their to children need children able to picture them. At first they achieved this by concentrating on domestic scenes,describing their living conditions, their food and the people and animals they met day to day. But as the war went on this had been long They for these illusions of shared too gone was not enough. be to enough. They wanted their children to understand where they were experience doing. To they reconcile themselves and their children to their new and what were language fantasy had to the these that of role soldier-fathers often reverted and play fun They the their own pre-war understanding of combat. presented sustained war as both in it to to please their children childhood games order and exciting, comparing fears. to their own and perhaps allay

Through play children were most able to reconstruct the war for themselves. Provided with props by toy manufacturers and parents, children could create battleships. toy the soldiers, guns, planes and war with miniature versions of Alternatively they could dress themselves as soldiers and shoot each other with imitation guns. But evidence suggeststhat even when children had no toys available they were still keen to play war games. They could make their own toy guns with had before fight the they found lying territory as they over around and could what Western Colonies from Imperial to the battlefield imaginary the war, changing their Front. If girls were excluded from these games by their brothers there were nurses tend the They to hospitals them. to encouraged toy were amuse uniforms and The them. but battles to brothers' fell in to war with play their that not want soldiers divided along the toys sharply games the of creation and of production encouraged

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lines. Masculinity became closely associated with soldiering just as gender femininity did with domestic roles and nursing. Despite the new opportunities for women to work outside the home opening up during the war the toys and books that for were produced girls still saw their future in domestic terms. Girls' fictional heroines had fun, drove they wartime some ambulances and military vehicles, in worked munitions factories and caught spies; but they also took care of their appearance,made chutney and fell in love. While this shows some indication of an acknowledgement that women were capable of more than just domestic duties it hardly suggeststhat women writers of girls fiction were hoping to revolutionise the outlook and prospects of their readership.

But opportunities for girls to become more involved in life outside the home had been opened up by the war. As Guides they served in public buildings and hospitals and their work was recognised by government as being significant to the war effort. At school their chances of a secondary education were improved, as were those of their brothers by the implications of the 1918 Education Act which recognised the importance for in Britain the the postreconstruction of children's education of vital heart debate future The Britain's the the of about war years. war placed children at it was no longer enough to talk about 'national efficiency' and bemoan the lack of interest in the Empire. If war was to be avoided in the future, and if Britain was to be both intellectually Imperial and educated remain a strong power, children must morally for the task ahead.

To fully understand the relationship of the First World War to the lives of children in Britain further research is needed to see what happenedto these children after the in 30s? 1920s did the How to the war alter attitudes childhood and war was over. How did it influence psychologists', psychoanalysts', teachers', health workers' and did How development of children? others' understanding of the physical and mental became How they adults? these children respond to the task of reconstruction when did they feel when faced with another war so soon after the one they had grown up during? Did the experience of children during the First World War influence the care World War? Second during the by the teachers authorities and parents, of children 270

The answers to these questions would allow us greater insight into the lives of children in the first half of the twentieth century and help us to understand how the First World War influenced the conception of childhood in Britain.

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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCES ARCHIVAL

SOURCES

London Metropolitan

Archive

Board of Education. "Circulars. " Nos. 816 to 1081 (1913-1918). (LCC/EO/GEN/10/13 ) London County Council. "Annual Report of the Council Education, 19151919." 1920 (LCC Official Publications) London County Council. "Miscellaneous Printed Reports." (EO/GEN/5/34) London County Council. "Air Raids. " 1917. (EO/WAR/3/1) London County Council. "Air Raids in School Time. " 1917. (EOIWAR/3/1) Aldenham Street School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV2/ALD/LB/2) Brecknock School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV2/BRE/LB/1)

Burghley School. "Log Book."

(EO/DIV2/BGH/LB/2)

Cobourg Road School. "Our School War Record. " (EO/PS/11/58) Compton Street School. "Log Book. "

(EO/DIV3/COM/LB/4)

Dagleish Street School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV5/DAL/LB/4) Eleanor Road School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV4/ELE/LB/2) Halstow Road School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV6/HAL/LB/3) Ivydale Road School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV7/IVY/LB/2) Sandhurst Road School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV6/SAN/LB/2)

ShapStreet School. "Log Book." (EO/DIV4/SHP/LB/3) St. Saviour's School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV8/ST. SAV1/LB/1) Trinity Place School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV4/TRP/LB/7) Trundleys Road School. "Log Book. " (EO/DIV7/TRU/LB/1)

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Wood Close School. "School Magazine." (EO/PS/11/18)

Imperial War Museum

H. Bearer (ref misc. 2892) P. Bhundstone(ref misc. 2804) E. G. Buckeridge (ref. 05/9/1)

A. J. Butling (ref. Con Shelf) I. Finn (ref misc 3112)

W.J.Fitzwalters (ref misc. 27) J. B. Foulis (ref. 85/15/1) F. H. Gautier (ref. 86/19/1) J. Hancock (ref 99/13/1)

R P. Harker (ref. Con Shelf) H. N. Hignett (ref misc. 2785) W. R. Hogg

(ref. 95/6/1)

E. Hopkinson MC (ref. 94/5/1) W. D. Hooper (ref misc. 687) Hubert (surname unknown) (ref. misc. 2009) Mrs D. C. MacDonald (nee Tickner) (ref. P 341) J. G. McDonough (ref. 67/111/1) M. Meades (ref. 01/53/1) W. Morgan (ref. 01/51/1)

H. J. Palmer (ref. 91/5/1) A. C. Stanton (ref Con Shelf) A. F. Uncle (ref. 89/7/1)

W. Vernon (ref. 03/30/1) 273

F. A. Waldren (ref misc. 1506)

W. Walter (ref. misc. 2423) E. I. Williams (ref. 82/3/1)

Individual

School Archives

King Alfred School.

Leighton Park School. South HampsteadHigh School.

REPORTS Board of Education. "Board of Education Annual Report 1914-1915." London: HMSO, 1915. Board of Education. "Report of the Board of Education 1917-18." London: HMSO, 1918.

Girl Guide Association. "Annual Report." London, 1916. Ministry of Reconstruction. "Juvenile Employment During the War and After. " London: HMSO, 1918. The Boy Scout Association. "11th Annual Report. " London, 1919.

CONTEMPORARY

MAGAZINES

AND JOURNALS

Boys' Own Paper Games and Toys Girl Guide Gazette Headquarters Gazette Little Folks The Boys' Brigade Gazette The Scout The Schoolmaster

274

The Toy and Fancy Goods Trader

UNPUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY All held in the Working Class Autobiographical Archive at Brunel University unless otherwise stated. Armitage, J.H. "The Twenty Three Years. Or the Late Way of Life and of Living. " (ref. 2-15) Austin, V. Untitled (ref. 2-22) Betterton, K. "'White Pinnies, Black Aprons

.....

"' (ref. 2-71)

Burkin, H. "Memoirs of Henrietta Barkin. " (ref. 2-118)

Cowley, M. "My Daddy Is a Soldier: A Working ClassFamily in the Lloyd GeorgeEra." (Local StudiesCollection - Richmond upon Thames.London). Hannan, D. R. "Those Happy Highways: An Autobiography. " (ref. 2-357) Henderson, K. "Had I But Known. " (ref 2-384) Hodges, A. "I Remember." (ref. 2-411)

Hughes, G.C. "Shut the Mountain Gate." (ref. 2-426) Ingram, J. "A Wartime Childhood.." (ref 2-430) Jacobs, A. P. "Just Take a Look at These." (ref. 2-431) Keen, M. "Childhood Memories 1903 - 1921." (ref. 2-449) Lea, E. G. "Reflections in the Setting Sun." (ref 2-469) Lowe, E. G. "Autobiography of Early Childhood, 1913-1920 and Before. " (ref. 2487) Martin, E. "The Best Street in Rochdale" (ref. 2-514)

Metcalfe, S. "One Speckof Humanity." (ref. 2-526) Ponton, D. M. "Autobiographical Letter. " (ref. 2-629) (ref. 2-638) " Railwayman. F. "Memoirs of a Prevett, (ref 2-706) 1913-1921. in Coventry, Life Family "School Shilton, E. and

275

PUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY Ackland, Valentine. For Sylvia an Honest Account. London: Chatto and Windus, 1985. Auden, W. H. "As It Seemed to Us. " In Forewords and Afterwords. London: Faber & Faber, 1973. Barker, Greta. Buckinghamshire Born. Milton Keynes: The People's Press of Milton Keynes, 1980. Bates, H. E. The Vanished World - an Autobiography. Vol. Vol. 1. London: Michael Joseph, 1969. Betts, P.Y. People Who Say Goodbye - Memories of Childhood: Souvenir Press, 1989. Brown, B. C. Southwards from Swiss Cottage. London: Home and Van Thal, 1947. Cartland, B. The Isthmus Years. London: Hutchinson and Co. Ltd, 1943. Church, Richard. Over the Bridge - an Essay in Autobiography. London: Heinemann, 1955. Churchill, Winston. My Early Life -a Roving Commission. London: Leo Cooper, 1989.

Cowen, G. Loud Report. London: Michael JosephLtd, 1938. Graves, Robert. Good-Bye to All That. London: Penguin, 1960. Green, H. Pack My Bag -a Self Portrait. London: The Hogarth Press, 1979.

Greene,G, ed. The Old School. London: JonathanCape, 1934. Greene, G. A Sort of Life. London: The Bodley Head, 1971. Hall, E. Canary Girls and Stockpots. Luton: Workers Educational Association, 1977. Hunter, E. The Profound Attachment. London: Andre Deutsch, 1969. Inglis, B., ed. John Bull's Schooldays. London: Hutchinson, 1961.

1966. Ltd, Co. & Methuen London: C. Exhumation. Isherwood, 1971. Ltd, Co. & Methuen London: Frank. Isherwood, C. Kathleen and

276

Leggett, Joe. Growing up in Griggs Green. Liphook: Bramshott Liphook and Preservation Society, 1999. Linton, Alice. Not Expecting Miracles. London: Centreprise Trust Ltd, 1982. Loeha, Duchess of Westminster. Grace and Favour the Memoirs Loelia of Duchess of Westminster. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1961. Nichols, B. Father Figure. London: Heinemann, 1972. Prichett, V. S. A Cab at the Door an Autobiography: Early Years. London: Chatto and Windus, 1968. Raine, K. Farewell Happy Fields Memories of Childhood. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1973. Rolph, C.H. London Particulars. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. Rowse, A. L. A Cornish Childhood - Autobiography of a Cornishman. London: Jonathan Cape, 1942. Smith, Rev. J. Leonard. A Tansley Boyhood. Loughborough: Teamprint, 1996. Sternberg, Joan. 'Don't Tread on the Butterflies' - Memoirs of a Childhood in Heacham and Stiffkey 1912-1932. Norfolk: Larks Press, 2000. Sturgess, A. A Northamptonshire Lad. Northampton: Northamptonshire Libraries, 1982. Thirsk, James.A Beverley Child's Great War. Beverley: Highgate Publications Ltd, 2000. Turner, Edward. Memories of a Gamekeeper's Son: Malthouse Press, 1997. Walton, Reginald. Boyhood Memoires of Old Wath. Rotheram: Rotherham Department of Libraries, Museum & Arts, 1996. Waugh, Alec. The Early Years ofAlec Waugh. London: Cassell & Co. Ltd, 1962. Waugh, Evelyn. A Little Learning - the First volume of an Autobiography. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1964. Windsor, Fred. Richmond Boy - Memoirs of Richmond 1914-1933: Richmond Local History Society, 1995.

OTHER PUBLISHED

WORKS

The Royal Navy - an Abc for Little Britons. London: Thomas Nelson, 1915. Our Soldiers -

1916. Nelson, Thomas for London: Britons. Abc Little an 277

Baden-Powell, Olave. Training Girls as Guides. London: C. Arthur Pearson, 1917. Baden-Powell, Robert. Girl Guides: A Suggestionfor Character Training for Girls. London: Bishopsgate Press, 1909. Board of Education. Handbook of Suggestionsfor the Consideration of Teachers Others Concerned and with the Work of the Public Elementary Schools. London: HMSO, 1.905. Brazil, Angela. The School by the Sea: Blackie and Son Ltd, Acquired by the British Museum 1914. Brereton, Capt. F. S. With French at the Front Story Great War Down the of -a to the Battle of the Aisne: Blackie and Son Ltd, 1915. Brereton, Capt. F. S. With Our Russian Allies: Blackie and Son Ltd, 1916. Brereton, Capt. F. S. Under Haig in Flanders Story Vimy, Messines of and -a Ypres: Blackie and Son Ltd, Acquired by the British Museum 1918. Bulkley. The Feeding of School Children. London: G. Bell, 1914. Cock, Albert A. A Syllabus in War Geography and History -for Use in Senior Classes in Elementary and Secondary Schools. London: George Phillip and Son Ltd, 1916. Cook, H. Caldwell. The Play Way : An Essay in Educational Method: Heinemann, 1917. Girvin, Brenda. Munition Mary: Oxford University Press, 1918. Hartley, C. Gasquoine, and Arthur D Lewis. Children of the Empire -a Young Citizens Reader. London: T Werner Laurie, 1916. Holladay, A. J. War Gamesfor Boy Scouts - Played with Model Soldiers. London: Gale & Polden, 1910. Holmes, Edmond. What Is and What Might Be: A Study of Education in General 1911. Constable, London: Particular. Education Elementary in and Household, H W. Our Sea Power - Its Story and Meaning. London: Macmillan, 1918. MacDonald, Nina. War-Time Nursery Rhymes. London: George Routledge and Sons, Acquired by the British Museum 1919. by Acquired Son Ltd, Blackie France: Girl in and Marchant, Bessie. A Transport the British Museum 1919.

278

N. U. T. War Record 1914-1919 Short Account Duty Work of and -a Accomplished During the War. London: Hamilton House, 1920. O'Neill, Elizabeth. Battles for Peace: The Story of the Great War Told for Children. London: Hodder and Staughton, 1918. Schaller, Charlotte. At War! London: Grant Richards, 1.917. Thome, G. The Secret Service Submarine Story Present War: T. C. & the of -a E. C. Jack, 1915. Wells, H. G. Floor Games. London: Frank Palmer, 1911. Wells, H. G. Little Wars. London: Frank Palmer, 1913. Westerman, P.F. Rounding up the Raider Naval Story Great War. the of -a London: Blackie and Son Ltd, Acquired by the British Museum 1916. Westerman, P.F. The Fritts Strafers -a Story of the Great War. London: S.W. Partridge & Co. Ltd., Acquired by the British Museum 1919. Whitworth, Geoffrey. The Child's Abc of the War. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1914. Wilson, Richard. The First Year of the Great War - Being the Story of the First Phase of the Great World Struggle for Honour, Justice and Truth. Told for Boys Chambers, Girls London: 1916. British Empire. the and of Wood, E. How We Baffled the Germans - the Exciting Adventures of Two Boys in South WestAfrica: Thomas Nelson & Son Ltd, Acquired by the British Museum 1917. Woodhouse, E. What the Elephant Thinks of the Hun and Those 'out There', or, Jungle Jingles by Jumbo Junior for Other Little Juniors, 1918. Yoxall, Sir James. Why Britain Went to War - to the Boys and Girls of the British Empire. London: Cassell and Co., 1914.

SECONDARY

JOURNAL

SOURCES

ARTICLES

AND BOOK CHAPTERS

" In Working Youth. Organised Nationalism "Imperialism, Blanch, Michael. and Chas Clarke, by John Theory, Class Culture - Studies in History and edited 1979. Hutchinson, London: Johnson. Critcher and Richard

279

Kenneth D. "Modelling for War? Toy Soldiers in Late Victorian and Brown, Edwardian Britain. " Journal of Social History 24, no. 2 (1990): 237-54.

Bryder, Linda. "'Wonderlandsof Buttercup, Clover and Daisies' Tuberculosis and the Open-Air School Movement in Britain, 1907-39." In In the Name of the Child - Health and Welfare, 1880-1940,editedby Roger Cooter. London: Routledge, 1992. Davin, Anna. "Imperialism and Motherhood. " History Workshop Journal 5 (1978). Dawson, Graham- The Blond Bedouin Lawrence of Arabia, Imperial Adventure and the Imagining of English-British Masculinity. " In Manful Assertions - Masculinities in Britain since 1800, edited by Michael Roper and John Tosh. London: Routledge, 1991. Deadman, Martin. "Baden-Powell, Militarism, and the'Invisible Contributors' to the Boy Scout Scheme, 1904-1920. " Twentieth Century British History Vol 4, (1993): 201-23. 3 no. Gordon, Peter. "The Handbook of Suggestions for Teachers: Its Origins and Evolution. " Journal of Educational Administration and History 17, no. 1 (1985): 41-48. Gordon, Peter. "Curriculum. " In A Century of Education, edited by Richard Aldrich. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002. Hammerle, Christa. "'You Let a Weeping Woman Call You Home?' Private Correspondences During the First World War in Austria and Germany. " In Epistolary Selves : Letters and Letter-Writers, 1600-1945, edited by Rebecca Earle. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999. Hendrick, Harry. "Child Labour, Medical Capital and the School Medical Service, 1890-1918. " In In the Name of the Child - Health and Welfare, 18801940, edited by Roger Cooter. London: Routledge, 1992. Johnson, Nicola. "Penny Plain, Tuppence Coloured. " In Patriotism: The Making by Fictions, 3: National Vol Identity, National British Unmaking edited of and Raphael Samuel. London: Routledge, 1989. by Education, Century " A In Education. "Secondary Gary. edited McCulloch, of Richard Aldrich. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002. Proctor, Tammy M. "On My Honour - Guides and Scouts in Interwar Britain. " Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 92, no. 2 (2002). Survival Emotional Manliness Moral Relations: "Maternal and Roper, Michael. Politics Masculinities in " In War. World First and in Letters Home During the Hagemann Karen Dudink, by Stefan History, War - Gendering Modern edited 2004. Press, University Manchester Manchester: and John Tosh.

280

Springhall, John. "The Boy Scouts, Class and Militarism in Relation to British Youth Movements 1883-1935. " International Review of Social History 16, no. 2 (1971). Springhall, John. "Building Character in the British Boy: The Attempt to Extend Christian Manliness to Working-Class Adolescents, 1880-1914." In Manliness Morality Middle-Class Masculinity Britain in America 1800-1940, and and by J. A. Mangan and James Walvin. Manchester: Machester University edited Press, 1987. Steedman, Carolyn. "Bodies, Figures and Physiology Margaret Mcmillan and the Late Nineteenth-Century Remaking of Working-Class Childhood. " In In the Name of the Child - Health and Welfare, 1880-1940, edited by Roger Cooter. London: Routledge, 1992. Tosh, John. "Domesticity and Manliness in the Victorian Middle Class the Family of Edward White Benson. " In Manful Assertions - Masculinities in Britain since 1800, edited by Michael Roper and John Tosh. London: Routledge, 1991. Tosh, John. "Hegemonic Masculinity and the History of Gender." In Masculinities in Politics and War - Gendering Modern History, edited by Stefan Dudink, Karen Hagemann and John Tosh. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. Voeltz, Richard A. "'the Antidote to Khaki Fever'? - the Expansion of the British Girl Guides During the First World War. " Journal of Contemporary History 27, (1992): 4 627-38. no. Warren, Allen. "Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the Scout Movement and Citizen Training in Great Britain, 1900-1920. " English Historical Review 101 (1986): 376-98. Warren, Allen. "Popular Manliness: Baden-Powell, Scouting and the Development of Manly Character. " In Manliness and Morality - Middle-Class Masculinity in Britain and America 1800-1940, edited by J. A. Mangan and James Walvin. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987. Warren, Allen. "'Mothers for the Empire? - the Girl Guide Association in Britain, 1909-1939. " In Making Imperial Mentalities - Socialisation and British Imperialism, edited by J.A. Mangan. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990.

PUBLISHED

WORKS

Poemsof the Great War 1914-1918.London: Penguin, 1998. 281

Andrews, Lawrence. The Education Act, 1918. London: Routledge& Kegan Paul, 1976. Bodington, Prunella R. The Kindling and the Flame: South Hampstead High School, 1976. Bourke, Joanna. Dismembering the Male: Men's Bodies, Britain and the Great War. London: Reaktion, 1996. Bourke, Joanna. An Intimate History of Killing Face to Face Killing in Twentieth Century Warfare. London: Granta.Books, 1999. Boyden, Peter. Tommy Atkins' Letters the History of the British Army Postal Service from 1795. London: National Army Museum, 1990. Bramwell, R D. Elementary School Work. Durham: University of Durham, 1961. Brookes, Ron. King Alfred School and the Progressive Movement, 1898-1998. Cardiff University of Wales Press, 1998. Brown, S. W. Leighton Park - the History of the School: Leighton Park, 1952. Burnett, J., ed. Destiny Obscure - Autobiographies of Childhood, Education and Family from the 1820s to the 1920s. London: Allen Lane, 1982. Cadogan, Mary, and Patricia Craig. Women and Children First - the Fiction of Two World Wars. London: Victor Gollancz, 1978. Cunningham, Hugh. The Children of the Poor - Representations of Childhood Oxford: 1991. Seventeenth Century. Blackwell, the since Cunningham, Hugh. Children and Childhood in Western Society since 1500. London: Longman, 1995. Cunningham, Peter. "Primary Education. " In A Century of Education, edited by Richard Aldrich. London: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002. Curtis, S.J. History of Education in Great Britain. London: University Tutorial Press Ltd., 1967.

Daiken, Leslie. Children's Toys Throughout the Ages: Spring Books, 1963. Davin, Anna. Growing up Poor - Home, School and Street in London 1870-1914. London: Rivers Oram Press, 1996. 1908-1939,1978. Years Early Chiswick Ist Story Alwyn. The Dawson, of the Imagining Empire Adventure, the British Soldier Heroes and Dawson, Graham. 1994. Routledge, London: Masculinities. of

282

Dudink, Stefan, Karen Hagemann, and John Tosh, eds. Masculinities in Politics and War - Gendering Modern History. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004. Evans, Keith.. The Development and Structure of the English School System. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1985.

Fraser,Antonia. A History of'Toys. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1966. Freud, S. "Screen Memori es." In The Standard Edition of the Complete Works of Sigmund Freud. London: Hogarth Press, 1962. Fussell, P. The Great War and Modern Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975. Gordon, Peter, Richard Aldrich, and Dennis Dean. Education and Policy in England in the Twentieth Century. London: The Woburn Press, 1991. Gordon, Peter, and Denis Lawton. Curriculum Change in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. London: Hodder and Staughton, 1978. Graves, John. Policy and Progress in Secondary Education 1902-1942. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1943. Harris, Henry. Model Soldiers. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962. Haste, Cate. Keep the Home Fires Burning - Propaganda in the First World War. London: Penguin, 1977. Hendrick, Harry. Children, Childhood and English Society 1880-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Hendrick, Harry. Child Welfare - Historical Dimensions, Contemporary Debate. Bristol: The Policy Press, 2003. Hopkins, Eric. Childhood Transformed. Working-Class Children in NineteenthCentury England. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1994. Hughes, John R Thirty Years and More. Derby: Derby East District Scout Council, 1996. Johnson, Peter. Toy Armies. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1981. Kemot, Charles Frederick. British Public Schools War Memorials, 1927. Kerr, Rose, and Alex Liddell. The Story of the Girl Guides 1908-1938. London: The Girl Guide Association, 1976. 1976. Blackwell, Basil Oxford: Biography. Montessori Maria Kramer, Rita -a England. Education in History A Social Silver. Lawson, John, and Harold of London: Methuen and co, 1973.

283

Lewis, Jane. The Politics ofMotherhood Child and Maternal Welfare in England, 1900-1939. London: Croom Helm, 1980. MacKenzie, John. Propaganda and Empire the Manipulation of British Public Opinion, 1880-1960. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984. Maclure, Stuart. A History of Education in London, 1870-1990. London: Allen Lane, 1990. Mangan, J. A. Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public Schools. Cambridge, 1982. Marwick, Arthur. The Deluge - British Society and the First World War. 2nd ed. London: MacMillan Education Ltd, 1991. Mosley, Nicholas. Julian Grenfell - His Life and the Times of His Death 18881915. London: Persephone, 1999. Orwell, George. Inside the Whale and Other Essays. London: Penguin, 1962. Parker, P. The Old Lie - the Great War and the Public School Ethos. London: Constable, 1987. Penn, Alan. Targeting Schools - Drill, Militarism and Imperialism. London: Woburn Press, 1999. Pinchbeck, Ivy, and Margaret Hewitt. Children in English Society Vol Ii -from the Eighteenth Century to the Children Act 1948. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973. Rickard, John F. Scouting around Portishead: Published by Author, 2000. Roper, Michael, and John Tosh, eds. Manful Assertions - Masculinities in Britain 1991. Routledge, 1800. London: since Rosenthal, Michael. The Character Factory - Baden Powell and the Origins of the Boy Scout Movement. London: Collins, 1986. Selleck, R. J.W. English Primary Education and the Progressives, 1914-1918. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972. Sherington, Geoffrey. English Education, Social Change and War 1911-1920. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1981. London: 1870-1920. Movement, Labour Education Simon, Brian. and the Lawrence and Wishart, 1974. Glasgow 24th History the 1908-1988 Spalding, Alec J. The 24th, of -a (Bearsden) Scout Group, 1988.

284

Springhall, John. Youth, Empire and Society British Youth Movements, 18831940. London: Croom Helm, 1977. Springhall, John, Brian Fraser, and Michael Hoare. Sure and Steadfast -a History of the Boys' Brigade 1883 to 1983. London: Collins, 1983. Steedman, Carolyn. Childhood, Culture and Class in Britain: Margeret Mcmillan, 1860-1931. London: Virago, 1990. Steedman, Carolyn. Past Tenses Essays on Writing, Autobiography and History. London: Rivers Oram Press, 1992. Steedman, Carolyn. Strange Dislocations Childhood and the Idea Human of Interiority, 1780-1930. Cambridge, Massachusettes:Harvard University Press, 1995. Steedman, Carolyn. Dust. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001. Streatham Sea Scout Association. Golden Jubilee of the 4th Streatham Sea Scout Group. 1913-1963. London: Boy Scout Association, 1963. der Eyken, William, ed. Education, the Child and Society: A Documentary van History. London: Penguin, 1973. Van Emden, Richard and Steve Humphries. All Quiet on the Home Front an , Oral History of Life in Britain During the First World War. London: Headline, 2003. Vincent, D. Bread, Knowledge and Freedom: A Study of Nineteenth Century Working Class Autobiography: Europa Publications Ltd, 1981. Vincent, David. Literacy and Popular Culture - England 1750-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Walvin, James.A Child's World -a Social History of English Childhood 18001914. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982. Warrack, Joan, and Peggy Greening. Girl Guides - the Edinburgh Story. Edinburgh: County of the City of Edinburgh Girl Guides, 1977. Wells, Edward. Mailshot: A History of the Forces Postal Service. London: Defence Postal and Courier Services, Royal Engineers, 1987. Whittaker, Nicholas. Toys Were Us -a History of Twentieth Century Toys and ToyMaking. London: Orion, 2001. Winnicott, D. W. Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock, 1971.

285

Appendix A The following is a brief introduction to eachof the autobiographersincluded in this thesis: Joseph Armitage was born in Leeds in 1908. The son of a steel worker and a domestic servant, Armitage was educated at St Joseph's Roman Catholic school for 8 years. His unpublished memoir held in the Working Class Autobiographical Archive at Brunel University is part autobiography and part documentary about the working class way of life in Leeds beginning at of 20th century. The poet W. H. Auden was born in York in 1907. Educated at preparatory boarding school (alongside Christopher Isherwood) and then Gresham's (a public school) Auden's family lived in Birmingham where his father was professor of public health at the university. The memories quoted in this chapter come from his essayAs it seemed to us, published in his collection Forewords and Afterwords (1973). The writer H. E. Bates was born in May 1905 the son of a shoemaker. Bates describes a happy childhood spent in Northamptonshire, where he grew up in an atmosphere of intense respectability knowing neither affluence nor poverty. Bates was educated at elementary school progressing via a scholarship to in grammar school Kettering. Kathleen Betterton's 300 page unpublished autobiography, entitled `White black pinnies, aprons... ' concentrates on her childhood years. Born in 1913 in Fulham, London, Betterton's father was a liftman on the London underground and she considers that her family were poor but `respectable'. Betterton was very young during the war but in later years she attended Queensmill Road Council School then went via a scholarship to Christ's Hospital and Oxford. The Anglo-Irish novelist Elizabeth Bowen was born in 1899 in Dublin. Her father was a barrister and the family were prominent figures in the community. Bowen's memories of her school days at Downe House, a girls' boarding school in England, are contained in a collection of school memoirs compiled by Graham Greene entitled The Old School (1934). Born in 1904, Henrietta Burkin's father was exempt from military service because of his specialist knowledge of the cabling of the London underground. For much of the war the family lived in East London. Burkin attended a local 1919. in Field's St till Martin the then school church school, and Beatrice Curtis Brown was born in 1901 into a middle class family living in London. Her autobiography Southwards from Swiss Cottage (1947), describes her youth growing up in London where she attended a private girls' school. in family 1901. Her into born Cartland Dame Barbara an upper class was in high family businessman the Cartland father, Bertram moved and was a her Cartland that in mother's social the memoir recalls society although funds. lack by hampered of a ambitions were often

286

Gibson Cowan was born 1903 near Southend. Cowan's father, who worked as a chauffer, was Jewish and Cowan experiencedseveralincidents of anti-Semitic abuseat the local village school before moving to London in 1915where he continued his educationat secondaryschool. The daughter of a master plasterer, Minnie Cowley was born 1907. During the war she attended Nelson Road school in Whitton, leaving at fourteen to become a domestic servant. Her unpublished autobiography My Daddy is Soldier, is held a in the Local Studies Collection at Richmond upon Thames describes her and happy but harsh childhood and her mother's attempts to for her family provide while surviving on her husband's army pension. The novelist Graham Greene was born in 1904. He grew up in Berkhampstead and attended Berkhampstead School where his father was the Headmaster. Greene' s autobiography A Sort of Life (1971) tells of unhappy schooldays made by his father's worse position. The writer Henry Green was the son of a wealthy industrialist. Born in 1905, Green attended a preparatory boarding school on the South Coast and later went to Eton. Green's memories of childhood make up the majority of his autobiography Pack My Bag (1970) where the First World War features heavily. Edith Hall was born in 1908 near Hayes in Middlesex. Her father was a baker who enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the war. Her autobiography Canary Girls and Stockpots (1977) was published by the Workers Educational Association and recalls her childhood during the war when female munitions workers from the local factory boarded with her family. Dora Hannan was born in Portsmouth in the first decade of the 20th century. Her father was a stoker in the Royal Navy and served aboard H. M. S. Audacious her it by father Fortunately Irish the a mine off coast. until was sunk was picked by Hannan the was educated at up a passing steamship and survived war. 14. the then age of elementary school and secondary school until Born in 1908 Eileen Hunter grew up in an upper-middle class family living on the outskirts of London. Her father ran a successful printing business allowing the family to afford to send Eileen to a boarding school during the war to avoid the air-raids. Jim Ingram was born in 1912, the son of a typewriter mechanic. His father fought in the Army during the war and Jim and his mother stayed with various family Suffolk to the in Manchester London, emigrated until and relatives Canada after the war. The writer Christopher Isherwood was born in 1904 in Diley, Cheshire. He Preparatory St Edmund's boarded background from at and an upper class came father His Auden. H. W. he a was of a contemporary was school where in 1915. Front Western killed the on professional soldier and was

287

The son of a Post Office worker Arthur Jacobs born in the first decade of was the 20th century. The close family lived in Hampstead, North London during the war, where Jacobs father was greatly missed by his son and wife when he was called up into the Army.

Molly Keen was born 1903 in Hounslow on the outskirts of London. Her father was a mastersign writer and remainedat home during the war. Two of her elder brothers however, were in the armed forces. Sheattendedthe local Catholic school and remembersa happy childhood. Syd Metcalfe's unpublished memoir One Speck ofHumanity, describes an often unhappy childhood. Born in 1910, Metcalfe's father was a painter and decorator before enlistment. His parents marriage was an unhappy one, with his mother regularly unfaithful and showing little interest in her children's welfare.

The writer Malcolm Muggeridge's recollectionsof his schooldaysare from a collection of school memoirs called John Bull's Schooldays(1961). Muggeridge born in 1903 from a working classbackgroundand lived in London as a was he child where attendedBorough SecondarySchool run by the London County Council. The writer Beverley Nichols was born in 1899. His family were wealthy although suffered at the hands of Nichols' father who was an alcoholic. A teenager during the war Nichols was educated at Malbourough College. Loelia Ponsonby (later Loelia, Duchess of Westminster) was born in 1902 and lived in St James' Palace where her father Frederick Ponsonby was secretary to the King. She had fairly unhappy childhood, and her undemonstrative mother left her and her brother to be brought up by nannies. The novelist V. S. Pritchett was born in 1900. His father was a failed stationer family house his father the and salesman and moved repeatedly as pursued new business opportunities. Pritchett was educated at various schools around London leather his in father. left 15 trade the to take the request of at and at up a position The poet and literary critic Kathleen Raine was born in 1908. She grew up in a father her household in Ilford socialist was a schoolmaster middle class where (1973) Fields Farewell Happy Her teacher. memoir and mother was a her childhood years. concentrates almost entirely on The son of a police sergeant C. H. Rolph was born in London in 1901. After Elementary school, Rolph went on to be educated at Childerley Street Central School between 1910-1915. The historian A. L. Rowse was born in St Austell, Cornwall in 1903. He was the before son of a china clay worker and was educated at elementary school be father Rowse's too to old was winning a scholarship to grammar school. half Oxford through iron in but way the to near mines called up was sent work the war.

288

The poet Stephen Spender's recollections of his school daysare also from Graham Green's The Old School (1934). Born in 1909 in London Spender's father was a liberal journalist. After preparatoryschool Spender attended University College School in London. Arthur Sturgess was born 1905 and lived near Kettering as a child. His father drove a steam digger for an iron and oil company and his mother had previously been a domestic servant. Sturgess was educated at Loddington School near Kettering between 1910-1917 and his memoir A Northamptonshire Lad (1982) tells of a happy rural childhood. Extracts from the autobiographies of both Waugh brothers, Alec (born 1898), and Evelyn (born 1903), are included here. Their father, Arthur Waugh, was a publisher and literary critic and the family lived a comfortable life in Hampstead, London. Alec Waugh was educated at Sherborne, leaving in 1915 to join the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps, where he spent two years before going to France. After preparatory school, Evelyn Waugh was sent to Lancing, unable to follow his brother to Sherborne after Alec's involvement in a homosexual scandal.

289

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