scholarly journals ‘Splendid patriotism and heroic self-sacrifice’: First World War memorials in Welsh metalworks

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 73-84
Author(s):  
Gethin Matthews ◽  
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Great War ◽  
World War ◽  
The South ◽  
War Memorials ◽  
South Wales ◽  
War Effort ◽  
First World ◽  
A Share

Much of the academic attention on issues of Great War mourning and commemoration has focussed on the civic memorials, particularly given that they are designed to be public, visible reminders of the local community’s contribution to the war effort. The focus of this article is on a different subset of memorials, in that they refer specifically to workers from particular companies who served in the war. As such they were not always public memorials, being located in many cases within the works and thus only on display to fellow workers. Yet neither were they entirely ‘private’ memorials, such as the ones established in so many family homes to those they had lost. This article considers twenty five metalworks memorials in the south Wales counties of Monmouthshire, Glamorgan and Carmarthenshire. Taken as a whole, these memorials convey a number of messages about south Wales society in the immediate aftermath of the war. In most examples these were commissioned within three years of the Armistice, and the terms they deploy show that the ‘language of 1914’ was still in vogue. Patriotism was ‘splendid’; self-sacrifice was ‘heroic’; the memory of the fallen was ‘glorious.’ Death was preferable to dishonour. In naming these men, the metalworks companies claimed them as their own and by extension laid claim to a share of the glory. The men’s identity as employees was highlighted in the numerous memorials which noted their position within the company. They had an identity as steelworkers or tinplaters, as well as their identities as men of their hometown, and as Welshmen, Britons and sons of the Empire.

The First World War and the Lake District

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-180
Author(s):  
Saeko Yoshikawa
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
First World War ◽  
Great War ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Lake District ◽  
World War ◽  
War Memorials ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World

Chapter 5 reveals how the Great War of 1914–1918 produced a remarkable upturn in Wordsworth’s reputation, and how it had an inescapable impact on the cultural landscape of the Lake District. For obvious reasons, Wordsworth’s sonnets on liberty and independence had strong public appeal, and his sense of crisis during the war with Napoleonic France was shared by many who stood against Germany. Equally, Wordsworth’s poetry and the Lake scenery offered consolation and relief at a time of widespread tension, anxiety, and horror. When hostilities ended, Wordsworth’s association with the Lake scenery, combined with his patriotic revival during the war, produced the idea of the Lakeland mountains as a stronghold of national liberty. Twelve mountains were donated to the National Trust to be preserved as war memorials, and public free access to them were also secured.

scholarly journals CROATS AND CROATIA IN THE WAKE OF THE GREAT WAR

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 165-181
Author(s):  
John Paul Newman
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Great War ◽  
World War ◽  
The South ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Kingdom Of Yugoslavia ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World

ABSTRACTThis article addresses the experiences of Croats and Croatia in the aftermath of the First World War, showing how the interwar Kingdom of Yugoslavia privileged the wartime sacrifice of Serbia and the Serbian army and how Croats were often depicted as the remnants of a defeated state, Austria-Hungary, and therefore less entitled to citizenship in the South Slav kingdom. It focuses on three large veteran associations: the Association of Reserve Officers and Warriors, the Union of Volunteers, and the Association of War Invalids.

The Edwardian Jewish community and the First World War

2019 ◽  
pp. 100-112
Author(s):  
Nigel Grizzard
Keyword(s):  
Jewish Community ◽  
First World War ◽  
Immigrant Community ◽  
World War ◽  
War Memorials ◽  
The First World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Widespread Belief ◽  
Friendly Societies ◽  
First World

This chapter examines the Jewish community in Edwardian Leeds, by which time it was not just an immigrant community. The Aliens Act limited further mass migration and so the community grew naturally. It is shown how local institutions developed, such as synagogues and friendly societies. The chapter takes issue with the widespread belief, which underlay the 1917 anti-Semitic riots, that Jews were not contributing to the war effort. Numbers are provided of those Jews who served and died in the First World War. The importance of war memorials is stressed.

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial: remembrance, dissonance and resonance

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Lemelin ◽  
Kelsey Johansen
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
First World War ◽  
Great War ◽  
World War ◽  
Content Type ◽  
War Memorials ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to expand the discussion pertaining to Vimy beyond traditional historic and military circles and to illustrate that the site is a significant tourism attraction featuring evolving management and interpretation approaches. This is achieved by describing the commemoration of First World War sites and the evolution and transformation of visitor typologies at these sites. The conversation is framed within a discussion of the role of heritage dissonance in management. Since this article was written at the onset of the centennial of the Great War, an examination of the management of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, which includes a tourism perspective, is timely. Design/methodology/approach – Consisting of participation observations and a review of literature, documentation, government reports and Web sites describing the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, this analysis is complemented by site visits and discussions with key personnel involved in the management of the site. Findings – Because this article precedes the upcoming centennial of the Great War, an examination of the management of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, which includes a tourism perspective, is timely. The discussion and conclusion sections provide a suggestion of how dissonant heritage can be addressed, and present an argument for the inclusion of new technologies in the management and interpretation of First World War memorials and the celebrations associated with the centennial of 2014-2019 in order to embrace new visitor types. Research limitations/implications – This is a conceptual paper examining past and current management strategies of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. No participants or manager was interviewed or surveyed. Practical implications – Strategies to improve future management through the engagement of tourism researchers, new technologies and by addressing dissonant heritage are provided through literature review and on-site visits. Social implications – Currently, the management of the Vimy Memorial caters largely to a certain segment of Canadian population. The findings suggest that by addressing other components of Canadian society and even other combatants, the management and interpretation of the site could be greatly diversified and could eventually become a battlefield like Gettysburg or Gallipoli, where all combatants are recognized and honored. Originality/value – This is the first paper examining the management of the Vimy Memorial from a tourism perspective.

A New History for a New Channel: The Great War and the Launch of BBC2

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Downing
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Great War ◽  
World War ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Television History ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Great War ◽  
First World ◽  
Intense Debate ◽  
Do So

This article considers the making of the BBC2 series, The Great War, and examines issues around the treatment and presentation of the First World War on television, the reception of the series in 1964 and its impact on the making of television history over the last fifty years. The Great War combined archive film with interviews from front-line soldiers, nurses and war workers, giving a totally new feel to the depiction of history on television. Many aspects of The Great War were controversial and raised intense debate at the time and have continued to do so ever since.

The role of nitrogen in transforming British agricultural productivity production prior to and during the First World War

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-609
Author(s):  
John Martin
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Coal Gas ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Food Shortages ◽  
War Effort ◽  
First World

This paper explores the reasons why artificial or mineral sources of nitrogen, which were more readily available in Britain than in other European countries, were only slowly adopted by farmers in the decades prior to and during the First World War. It considers why nitrogen in the form of sulphate of ammonia, a by-product of coal-gas (town-gas) manufacture, was increasingly exported from Britain for use by German farmers. At the same time Britain was attempting to monopolise foreign supplies of Chilean nitrate, which was not only a valuable source of fertiliser for agriculture but also an essential ingredient of munitions production. The article also investigates the reasons why sulphate of ammonia was not more widely used to raise agricultural production during the First World War, at a time when food shortages posed a major threat to public morale and commitment to the war effort.

Great War Prostheses in American Literature and Culture

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Shaheen
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
American Literature ◽  
Disability Studies ◽  
First World War ◽  
Great War ◽  
World War ◽  
Prosthetic Devices ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
First World

Drawing on rehabilitation publications, novels by both famous and lesser-known American writers, and even the prosthetic masks of a classically trained sculptor, Great War Prostheses in American Literature and Culture addresses the ways in which prosthetic devices were designed, promoted, and depicted in America in the years during and after the First World War. The war’s mechanized weaponry ushered in an entirely new relationship between organic bodies and the technology that could both cause and attempt to remedy hideous injuries. This relationship was evident in the realm of prosthetic development, which by the second decade of the twentieth century promoted the belief that a prosthesis should be a spiritual extension of the person who possessed it. This spiritualized vision of prostheses held a particular resonance in American postwar culture. Relying on some of the most recent developments in literary and disability studies, the book’s six chapters explain how a prosthesis’s spiritual promise was largely dependent on its ability to nullify an injury and help an amputee renew (or even improve upon) his prewar life. But if it proved too cumbersome, obtrusive, or painful, the device had the long-lasting power to efface or distort his “spirit” or personality.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document