|
|
|
|
 Farnham
in the Great War
Maurice Hewins has written the
book which Bill Ewbank-Smith, in
his ‘Farnham In War and Peace’,
said must one day be written –
‘a detailed history exclusive to
Farnham’s role in the Great War
years...’.
Maurice’s book is a
comprehensive narrative of the
period 1914 to 1919 and leaves
us in no doubt about the
debilitating circumstances that
challenged life in and around
Farnham for the period and
beyond. It takes us way beyond
those thirty pages in Ewbank-Smith’s
aforementioned book.
The book’s scope embraces
conscription, tribunals, the
roles of women and older boys,
the privations of billeted
troops and the community and the
progressive development of the
Labour movement during the
period – this is a common man’s
view, not that of the armchair
general.
Maurice also includes numerous
anecdotes which leaven the
story. Apart from the
narrative, the book has many
wonderful images and archive
excerpts which help bring so
much to life. We tend to see the
Great War in terms of the
fallen. Maurice sets out to go
way beyond that and “unearth a
little of the surprising story
of Farnham’s part in 1914-1919”.
|
|
|
|
|
|
