Introduction

This work is based on a book of the same name published in 2021 by a local history group called the Great War Dead of Fulflood and Weeke (GWDFW). This section of the website is much shorter than the main part of the website and is intended for use by schools in their teaching of the history of the Great War. It offers a local perspective on the momentous national and international events of 1914-18.

13 Men included

The main part of the website contains the stories of the 91 men whose names are recorded on the war memorials at St Paul’s Church, Fulflood, and St Matthew’s Church, Weeke. This section of the website focuses on just 13. They have been chosen to provide a cross-section of the 91 men featured in the main part of the website.

The men came from different backgrounds – some were wealthy, some poor and others somewhere in between. Most served as soldiers but there is also a sailor and an airman. The 12 men also served in a range of military ranks, from lowly Army privates and a Navy stoker to a Brigadier-General. Some were already serving in the armed forces when war broke out in 1914, either as full-time soldiers and sailors or as part-time soldiers in the Territorials. Others joined as volunteers in 1914 and 1915. One man was ordered to join up after the introduction of conscription in 1916.

Among those featured here are teachers, labourers, a gardener, a farmer, a dental assistant, a tailor and an Oxford University student who was the son of the local rector. Most are from Fulflood which was then the more densely populated part of the parish. These men also tend to be the lower ranks. Those living in Weeke were generally wealthier, of a higher social status and predominantly officers.

Two of the men were from overseas – New Zealand and Canada. One had family with close connections to Winchester, the other had emigrated in the years before the war. Both volunteered to fight for the ‘Mother Country’.

Each biography contains a description of the man’s life in the parish and also of his military service. At the end of each is a list of suggested research activities that pupils may wish to undertake.