Fritz and Tommy: Across the Barbed Wire

Peter Doyle & Robin Schäfer • £20
The History Press

lives of ten million people. Two great nations met each other on the field of battle for the first time. But were they so very different?

For the first time, and drawing widely on archive material in the form of original letters and diaries, Peter Doyle and Robin Schäfer bring together the two sides, ‘Fritz’ and ‘Tommy’, to examine cultural and military nuances that have until now been left untouched: their approaches to war, their lives at the front, their greatest fears and their hopes for the future. The soldiers on both sides went to war with high ideals; they experienced horror and misery, but also comradeship/ Kameradschaft. And with increasing alienation from the people at home, they drew closer together, ‘the Hun’ transformed into ‘good old Jerry’ by the war’s end.

This unique collaboration is a refreshing yet touching examination of how little truly divided the men on either side of no-man’s-land during World War One.

Missing But Not Forgotten

Pam & Ken Linge • £25
Pen & Sword

The Thiepval Memorial commemorates over 72,000 men who have no known grave; all went missing in the Somme sector during the three years of conflict that finally ended on 20 March 1918.

This book is not a military history of the Battle of the Somme: it is about personal remembrance, and features over 200 fascinating stories of the men who fought and died and whose final resting places have not been identified. Countries within the UK are all well represented, as are the men whose roots were in the farflung reaches of the Empire and even ‘foreigners’. The stories that lie behind each of the names carved into the memorial’s panels illustrate the various backgrounds and differing lives of these men.

The diverse social mix of the men – young and old, gentry to labourers, actors, artists, clergy, poets, sportsmen, writers, and more – is something that stands out in the book. Despite their social differences, what is most apparent is the wide impact of the loss for over 50 widows, around 100 children left fatherless and over 30 families mourning more than one son. Ranks from private to lieutenant colonel are expertly covered, as well as all seven winners of the VC.

Servants’ Stories

Michelle Higgs • £12.99
Pen & Sword

Step into the world of domestic service and discover what life was really like for these unsung heroines (and heroes) of society. Between 1800 and 1950, the role of servants changed dramatically but they remained the people without whom the upper and middle classes could not function.

Through oral histories, diaries, newspaper reports and never before seen testimonies, domestic servants tell their stories, warts and all – Downton it isn’t! Find out about the ‘servant problem’ and how servants found work; how National Insurance began to improve their lot; and the impact WW1 had on domestic service.

Family History Nuts and Bolts

Andrew Todd • £8

This widely acclaimed book describes how you can research wide, ie look for brothers, sisters, cousins and the many social and economic networks to which your ancestors belonged. Many little-known techniques are described and illustrated: they’ll help you understand these past lives more fully, but also push back your direct line by overcoming those twin banes of the family historian’s life: where did they come from? which one is mine? Andrew Todd’s book is an exceptionally well-thought-out guide to solving problems using ‘family reconstitution’ - exploring the wider family to establish better parameters for where and when your main ancestors might be found. This book has long been a classic, and this new, significantly expanded edition should be on the bookshelf for any serious family historian.