The Bickersteth Diaries

The Bickersteth Diaries
Author: John Bickersteth
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 498
Release: 1995-08-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473819067

This book is a studiously edited version of the eleven volumes and more than three thousand pages of the diarist's original work. Ella Bickersteth began to put it together for her six sons, because one of them was in Australia at the outbreak of the 1914–18 war.The book reflects upon church and politics, theological musings and matter-of-fact details of how an anxious mother, who was also a busy vicar's wife, kept going through the huge upheaval of war.

The Bickersteth Family World War II Diary , Dear Grandmother: 1939-1942

The Bickersteth Family World War II Diary , Dear Grandmother: 1939-1942
Author: Nick Smart
Publisher:
Total Pages: 488
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN:

In this family account of life in wartime Britain, the thoughts of old and young, the centrally involved and the isolated, jostle continuously. This volume contains insights into the ways of government and workings of Whitehall, the position of the Church of England, and the problems of education among a vast conscript army. It is also a social document of the manner in which the disruptions and danger of life were coped with during wartime.

If You’re Reading This…

If You’re Reading This…
Author: Siân Price
Publisher: Frontline Books
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2012-02-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1848326106

In this brilliant and profoundly moving collection of ‘farewell letters’ written by servicemen and women to their loved ones, Siân Price offers a remarkable insight into the hearts and minds of some of the soldiers, sailors and airmen of the past three hundred years. Each letter provides an enduring snapshot of an impossible moment in time – when an individual stares death squarely in the face. Some were written or dictated as the person lay mortally wounded; many were written on the eve of a great charge or battle; others were written by soldiers who experienced premonitions of their death, or by kamikaze pilots and condemned prisoners. They write of the grim realities of battle, of daily hardships, of unquestioning patriotism or bitter regrets, of religious fervor or political disillusionment, of unrelenting optimism or sinking morale – and above all, they write of their love for their family and the desire to return to them one day. Be it an epitaph dictated on a Napoleonic battlefield, a staunch, unsentimental letter written by a Victorian officer, or an email from a soldier in modern day Afghanistan, these voices speak eloquently and forcefully of the tragedy of war and answer that fundamental human need to say goodbye.

Reflections on the Battlefield

Reflections on the Battlefield
Author: Robert J. Rider
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2001-01-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780853238973

When Robert J. Rider died in 1961, he left to his descendants a typescript text, tentatively entitled Flashbacks, which would eventually become Reflections on the Battlefield. Broadly autobiographical, this text offers a unique account of its author who fought as an infantryman while also serving as a chaplain, thus exposing himself in peculiar directness to the ambiguities of chaplaincy service on the battlefield. A further particularity is that Rider was in a minority among chaplains, being a Methodist chaplain. In August 1914, Rider, aged twenty-five, was about to begin his third year of training for the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist church, at Handsworth Theological College in Birmingham. Two months later he had enlisted with the First Birmingham Battalion, later termed the 14th Battalion, of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Rider's first-hand accounts of Ypres, the Somme and Arras reveal a man morally opposed to war and yet adamant that Germany and her allies needed to be defeated. Reflections on the Battlefield provides us with a personal and valuable contribution to the present-day debate about the contemporary understanding of the ethics of war, as expressed on the World War I battlefield.

A Church Militant

A Church Militant
Author: Michael Snape
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 517
Release: 2022-06-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0192664441

This is a study of the relationship between Anglicans and the armed forces, of the military heritage and history of the Anglican Communion, and the changing nature of this relationship between the mid-Victorian period and the 1970s. This era spanned a period of imperial expansion and colonial conflict round the turn of the twentieth century, the two World Wars, the Cold War, wars of decolonisation, and Vietnam. In terms of armed conflict, it was the bloodiest period in the history of humanity and marked the advent of weaponry that had the capacity to extinguish human civilization. This book assesses the contribution of an expansive Anglican Communion to the armed forces of the English-speaking world, examines the ways in which this has been remembered, and explores its challenging legacy for the twenty-first century Church of England.

Call to Arms

Call to Arms
Author: Charles Messenger
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2015-04-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1780227590

This is a comprehensive account of how the British Army coped with and adapted to the enormous challenges and pressures of the First World War -- the first major continental war that the army had had to fight for almost a hundred years. Following the course of the War, both on the Western Front and in other theatres, Charles Messenger tells how the British Army managed the challenges of command, training, technology and new weapons of war. He examines officer selection, medicine, discipline, the manpower crisis of 1918, the integration of women into the forces and many other topics. Based on years of original research, this will become the standard work of reference on the organization and administration of the biggest army Britain has ever put into the field.

The Church of England and the First World War

The Church of England and the First World War
Author: Alan Wilkinson
Publisher: Lutterworth Press
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2014-01-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0718841654

"The Church of England and the First World War (first published in 1978) explores in depth the role of the church during the tragic circumstances of the First World War using biographies, newspapers, magazines, letters, poetry and other sources in a balanced evaluation. The myth that the war was fought by 'lions led by donkeys' powerfully endures turning heroes into victims. Alan Wilkinson demonstrates the sheer horror, moral ambiguity, and the interaction between religion, the church and warwith a scholarly, and yet poetic, hand. The author creates a vivid image of the church and society, includes views of the Free Churches and Roman Catholics, portrays the pastoral problems and challenges to faith presented by war, and the pressures for reform of church and society. The Church of England and the First World War is written with compelling compassion and great historical understanding, making the book hard to put down. This expert and classic study will grip the religious and secular alike, the general reader or the student."

The Somme

The Somme
Author: Robin Prior
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 399
Release: 2016-04-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300220294

Published in a new edition on the centenary of the seismic battle, this book provides the definitive account of the Somme and assigns responsibility to military and political leaders for its catastrophic outcome. “A magisterial piece of scholarship. . . . It is a model of historical research and should do much to further our understanding of the Great War and how it was fought.”—Contemporary Review “Revisionist history at its best.”—Library Journal (starred review) “A major addition to the literature on the military history of the Great War.”—Jay Winter

The Whole Armour of God

The Whole Armour of God
Author: Linda Parker
Publisher: Helion and Company
Total Pages: 211
Release: 2013-06-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1908916036

The Whole Armour of God examines and reassesses the role of the Anglican army chaplains in the Great War. The tensions and ambiguities of their role in the trenches resulted in criticism of their achievements. As with other groups such as army generals, the chaplains were given a bad press in the general disenchantment and iconoclasm of the 1920's and 30's. Popular literary figures such as Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon were particularly scathing and spoke to a wide audience. This book seeks to readdress the balance by using the words and actions of the chaplains themselves, interwoven into the events of the war, to show that many strove valiantly to bring the reality of God to the troops in the maelstrom of war. They gave a great deal of thought to the often conflicting demands of providing for the material and social needs of their men and maintaining their more spiritual role. It explains how they overturned orders and won the right to be with the troops in the front line. It tries to judge the chaplains by the ideas and standards of the time. In February 1919 the Army Chaplains Department was awarded the accolade of being made the Royal Army Chaplains Department in recognition of its work in the war. There is compelling evidence that subsequently the Chaplains have been judged too harshly. 'The Whole Armour of God' argues that the Anglican Chaplains should be given their rightful place in the history of the Great War.

Chaplains at War

Chaplains at War
Author: Alan Robinson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2008-07-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857711237

Patriotism and religious belief were defining characteristics of both public and private life during the 20th century. British army chaplains were shaped by these powerful sentiments and in turn shaped and interpreted them to understand their own roles and to provide a message and ministry to soldiers and officers. Focusing on World War II,. 'Chaplains at War' reveals how the army, the government and the churches responded to the challenges of war, leading to innovation that was unknown in peace time such as the appointing women as Chaplains' Assistants. Alan Robinson uses interviews with former chaplains, officers and soldiers and extensive archive research in military, government and church archives to draw together personal experience and official policy. His book will be essential reading for anyone interested in British military history, church history and religious studies.