You're Bard!

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,

Henry V, Act III, Scene 1

William Shakespeare [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare is commemorated on 23 April.  Last year was 450 years since Shakespeare's birth and next year will be the 400^th anniversary of his death.

Our records show that there was a Private William Shakespeare serving with the Durham Light Infantry during the First World War.  I haven't been able to find any service records for Private Shakespeare but he does appear in the medal records and the list of recipients of the Silver War Badge. 

Private Shakespeare enrolled with the 11th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment (Hull Pals) in January 1916 and at some point transferred to the 10th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.  His medal index card shows him with the Durham Light Infantry Depot.  

Detail from Private William Shakespeare's medal index card (The National Archives, WO 372/18/2578, via Ancestry.com)

In June 1917, Shakespeare was discharged due to sickness for which he received the Silver War Badge.  This badge was awarded from September 1916 to men discharged wounded or sick so the public would know that they weren't Conscientious Objectors.

If anyone has further information about this William Shakespeare, we would be interested to hear about it at contactdurhamatwar@durham.gov.uk

The Second Battle of Ypres - The Making of the Exhibition

I had already done a lot of research into the Durham Light Infantry’s territorial battalions at the Second Battle of Ypres (April/May 1915) which went into a series of posts this time last year.  However, an exhibition is very different to a blog. 

I found the challenge of producing an exhibition about a battle lay in striking the balance between providing enough information about events taking place simultaneously in different locations, and keeping a clear storyline.

Testing ideas for the layout

I decided to take a chronological approach with the dates clearly indicated, using the words of the men who were there – colour coded by battalion, and centred around maps to give a sense of the geography.

Finding a range of interesting images can sometimes be a struggle with archival exhibitions.  The use of cameras by all men serving in the British Army in the field had been banned in March 1915 but fortunately for us, this didn't deter Captain Percy Hugh Beverley Lyon and many of the photographs, as well as some of the words used in the display come from Lyon’s memoir.

Once I had established the content of the exhibition came the task of how it was actually going to fit together in the space available. Our four boards in the corridor actually work well:

Finalising the layout

1) From the North East to Belgium

2) April 1915

3) May 1915

4) After the battle

I took myself out of the way where I could start to lay things out on the floor.  After refining the content, I taped out the board dimensions and used drafts of each piece to work out the final layout.

Jenny does some precision work colour coding the text by battalion

We got through a lot of spraymount

Next, everything was printed out onto nice paper and then it was to the conservation studio to mount it all onto card.  I knew Jenny, our conservator, would love me for my David Hockney approach to the UK and France maps.  Whilst it was a joint effort, I did the straightforward bits and let Jenny do everything involving accurate measuring and cutting.

Rough cutting                                                                 Measured cutting

I have a Blue Peter moment with some sticky back plastic (there were actually about 100 of these moments)

With my plans and my spirit level (only dropped a couple of times), getting the pieces up was fairly straightforward

Mapping the photos

The last touches were to plot some of the captions and images onto the maps.  I was particularly pleased when I realised the hand drawn map from the 8^th Battalion war diary actually described its location on the proper map:  “The farm building is the one in the North West corner of square D8a on Ypres map”.

The final board gives all the names of the men who died within the dates of the battle (more will have died afterwards of their wounds) with their battalion colour coded down the side.  It really gives an immediate visual impact to the number of names listed.

This free exhibition is located at the entrance to the Record Office in County Hall, Durham. It is open to the public 8.45am to 4.15pm Monday to Friday, from 17 April to the end of December 2015.

The final product

A recent addition to the Durham at War website is the diary of Roger Allison Stamp of Stockton, a private in the 5^th Battalion Durham Light Infantry who was at the Second Battle of Ypres.  A transcript of April-May 1915 is available to read here: http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/material/496/

Finally, on Saturday 18^th April 2015, historian Harry Moses will tell the story of the students from the Teacher Training College of the Honourable Bede, Durham, when he visits the DLI Museum and Durham Art Gallery this weekend.  This talk will include their role in the Second Battle of Ypres as part of 8^th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.  Tickets for the talk are £3.50. Normal museum admission charges also apply. To book in advance, visit the museum shop or call 03000 266 590.  More information can be found here: http://www.durham.gov.uk/article/5896/The-teacher-soldiers-of-the-First-World-War

Happy Easter

D/DLI 7/913/197 Easter postcard sent by Private Fred Lucas, 12 April 1917

Private Fred Lucas lived in Low Fell, Gateshead and served with the 12th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry during the First World War.  He sent home over 400 postcards to his wife Betty and young son Freddie during his time in the army.  This postcard was sent to Freddie for Easter 1917.  The message reads:

"My Dear Freddie,
This is instead of your Easter Egg.  Hope you are having a fine time on your Tricycle. Love to Mother and yourself.
From Daddy."