It’s A Long Way to Tipperary: colonial troops and First World War music
Alexander MacGregor, a British officer who served with the Indian army, wrote about an interesting musical performance in his diary:
Articles By Author
Remembering the Gallipoli Campaign, April 1915 – January 1916
In his memoir, Over There with the Australians (1918), R. Hugh Knyvett, an Australian officer, pondered on the preoccupation with the Anzac experience at Gallipoli:
Looking for Home? New Zealanders in London during the First World War
Anna Maguire reflects on the activities of New Zealand troops in the capital and the London and the First World War Conference, organised by IWM and the Centre for Metropolitan History (IHR).
Beyond Camps and Forced Labour, 7-9 January 2015: Day 2
The second day of the conference promised, and gave, a very full programme of 32 papers across nine panels. Papers touched on repatriation and resettlement, children, compensation, early testimonies, remembrance, displaced persons and forced labour.
‘We hope to give the lads a little cheer’: marking Christmas during the First World War
During the First World War, the troops made an effort to mark Christmas, despite the obvious difficulties. Words, objects and images from Imperial War Museums’ collections and elsewhere reveal how the soldiers negotiated some space for family, sharing and festivity.
Remembrance Day 2014: Break of Day in the Trenches
On the first Remembrance Day of the Centenary, Isaac Rosenberg’s acclaimed poem ‘Break of Day in the Trenches’ is set alongside images of troops at dawn during the First World War. A moment of quiet and reflection, before the business of the day began, for troops from the fields of France to the deserts of Egypt and Palestine. Isaac Rosenberg, from the impoverished East-End of London and of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, had gone to war as a private soldier primarily to provide his mother with the separation allowance - a payment given to soldiers' families due to the loss of income of them going to war.
IWM Short Film Festival 2014
On a sunny Autumn afternoon, I moved through the crowds pouring into IWM London to attend a screening of this year’s Film Festival. Launched in 2001 as a student competition by Toby Haggith, the Founding Director, the film festival is back from a three year absence to mark the reopening of the Museum.
Guest Post: Black Poppies – Britain’s Black Community and the Great War
To mark the publication of his new book, 'Black Poppies', Stephen Bourne reflects on researching Britain's black community and the First World War.
The Challenges of Remembering: Researching Empire and War
To mark the publication of IWM's guide to Researching the British Empire in the First World War, Anna Maguire reflects on the challenges of remembering war and empire.
Play Up! Play Up! And Play The Game! Football and the First World War
During this World Cup year, it is worth reflecting on the role of football and sport in general during the First World War. Local football teams volunteered as pals’ battalions, most famously the 17th Service Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, also known as the Football Battalion. Walter Tull was both the first black professional footballer and the first black officer in the British Army.