Stony Stratford During the First World War

Description

In 1914, Great Britain, as it liked to call itself, had enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity and Stony Stratford was not excepted from this general well being. An assassination in far off Sarajevo would hardly seem to disturb that, but it did trigger a series of events that led to Britain entering the war on August 4th. Hundreds of thousands volunteered to fight against German aggres-sion and most believed it would be a very short war. Many came from Stony Stratford. In the end the Western Front bogged down in trench warfare in which millions of lives were lost for no progress. It changed everything. It transformed our understanding of warfare and transformed the society back home. A society which had a laissez faire government in 1914 and in which towns such as Stony Stratford largely administered their own affairs, became in 1918 part of a centralized regulation system. Historian John Taylor captures in some detail the life of Stony Stratford as it was and as it changed during those four years. He describes the daily lives and efforts of those at home and the lives and deaths of those young men who volunteered to fight at the war front. And it was a volunteer army: recruitment was not an issue. Against the background of war the affairs of Stony Stratford continued. Men and now women went to work, businesses continued to trade, the town and parish had to be managed, schools continued to educate, churches and chapels continued to care for their congregations, and there was sport and entertain-ment. John Taylor examines all this through contemporary sources and brings to life a picture of Stony Stratford as it was during those uncertain times.