HISTORICAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR SOME OF THE DESIGNS that is not necessarily depicted in the exhibits.

This Flower Festival marks the centenary of the ending of World War 1. We hope you enjoy looking at the displays. In planning this exhibition we have learned so much - we hope you too will discover things you didn’t know before, and come to understand a little more about this very significant part of our recent history.

1b War Horse – our own Joey requisitioned from the farm As you arrive at the church you will see the magnificent horse inspired by Michael Morpurgo’s powerful novel about a farm horse named Joey that was bought by the Army for service in the Great War. Mechanised transport was cumbersome so horses were needed for moving supplies, armaments and casualties to and from the front line, and for the cavalry. Most supplies, i.e. ammunition, food, fuel, and munitions (weapons) were carried to the front on General Service wagons pulled by 4 or 6 horses. Sometimes, they pulled 2-wheeled limbered carts that held huge guns. Ambulances and other service vehicles were horse-drawn, too. Many requisitioned horses were much loved animals. Millions were needed, many shipped over from America, most of whom were killed or died of starvation. Few returned to East .

2 Yorkshire pole wagon and The Wolds Wagoners The unusual design of the East Yorkshire pole wagons required special expertise to drive them. The Wagoner’s Special Reserve, was formed by Sir Mark Sykes of Sledmere, who believed their unique talents were perfect for overcoming the front-line logistical problems he encountered in the Boer War. Regular competitions were staged between the Wolds villages. When war started 1247 of these skilled East Yorkshire wagon drivers joined up and were sent to France. The Wagoners, part of the Army Service Corps, did a superb job of passing on their skills, working with horses unused to battlefield conditions. Not many wagoners returned. A memorial dedicated to their skill, unique to the Yorkshire Wolds, is at Sledmere village. The stories of the Wolds Wagoners, ‘Yorkshire Billy’ and Seth Gilbank are fascinating.

7, 8. The Social Divide – Working Man’s Poverty and Pre-War Opulence during La Belle Époque In rural areas poverty was very real with mechanisation reducing the workforce, the workhouse was the only refuge of those without a job. There was one on Burnby Lane, Pocklington. The search for work took many to the cities looking for opportunities in industries such as textiles, coal and steel. Others joined the Forces or emigrated in the hope of a better life. Medical treatment had to be paid for, and there was no Social Security to fall back on, only the charity of the local benefactors. For the rich 1900-1914 (during La Belle Époque) was a period characterized by optimism, economic prosperity, an apex of colonial empire and technological, scientific, and cultural innovations. Many masterpieces of literature, music, theatre, and visual arts gained recognition. For those who could afford it labour was cheap and life could be enjoyed to the full – until war came, and then things started to change. Wealthy families saw their fortunes dwindle due to increased taxation and the economic decline after the war.

9. South aisle Votes for Women

These days it is almost unthinkable that women were not allowed to vote in elections or own property. At that time many men still considered that women were incapable of making rational decisions! The struggle had begun in the 19th century when members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) along with the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) campaigned to gain women the right to vote. Activists, ‘Suffragettes’, led by Emmeline Pankhurst and others made their case heard in a more militant way than previously by smashing windows, tying themselves to railings and going on hunger strike in gaol where many were force-fed. Many protesters were lampooned in the press. Campaigning was suspended during of the war. In 1918 women over 30 with certain qualifications were eventually given the vote, but it wasn’t until 1928 that the Equal Franchise Act granted equal voting rights to men and women over 21 years of age. 11. South aisle, west wall Communications Keeping lines of communications open between the troops at the Front Line and those in command, plus the politicians at home was very difficult. There were no mobile phones, though the telephone had been invented, but there were few and very cumbersome, and wires trailed cross-country easily damaged. Radio was primitive, so Morse code and semaphore were used initially. Dogs carried messages and First Aid equipment, even fitted with gas masks. Britain set up the War Dog School of Instruction in 1917 to recruit and train animals. Run by Lt Col Edwin Richardson, it trained many of the 7,000 pets given by owners to fight – and in many cases to die – for their country. Carrier pigeons were useful for greater distances, travelling over 100 miles at 50 miles an hour, they were 95% successful in taking messages back to their home roost. Over 100,000 were used to deliver messages in . One pigeon, called Cher Ami, (pictured) flew 25 miles in 25 minutes in France delivering vital information that saved the lives of nearly 200 American soldiers. It had been shot at by the enemy and injured in the chest and leg and blinded in one eye, but it still managed to get home with its message. It was awarded several medals. 12. South Transept, S. wall The first air services used in war Just 8 years after the first powered flight in 1903 by the Wright Brothers the Royal Flying Corps came into being, and then Royal Naval Air Service formed at the start of World War 1. Planes were constructed with a wooden frame covered with canvas, leaving pilots very vulnerable. Photographic reconnaissance was their mission, but on coming under attack, guns and bombs were added to their remit. Initially the pilot’s average lifespan was 11 days. With so many pilots lost, parachutes were eventually allowed. The first Chief of Air Staff, General Hugh Trenchard’s apprenticeship scheme ensured a force of well-trained men from across society. By the end of the war there were 27,000 officers, 260,000 other personnel and 22,000 aircraft. The Sopwith Camel’s and the SE5a’s speed and manoeuvrability were much valued by the pilots. In 1918 the two services merged to become the Royal Air Force, the world’s first independent air service, their uniform material coming from Hainsworth’s at Pudsey, and still does.

13. South transept windowsill ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag’ Concerts, including in Pocklington, were used to raise funds for families of servicemen and to pay privately for medical care of the wounded, there being no NHS.

15. S. transept, south wall Navy and Merchant Navy Before WW1, submarines were considered to be an unfair way of fighting a marine battle, and enemy crews should be given a chance to surrender. This attitude changed when vital supplies in merchant vessels were targeted by enemy U-boats. As well as attacking ships, submarines were used for coastal bombardment. Many Hull fishermen and Pocklington men served courageously throughout the war making a significant contribution to Britain’s maritime war effort. To help protect provisions and supplies brought in from the colonies and around the world much of Hull’s fishing fleet was requisitioned for mine-sweeping and to search for submarines which were causing havoc. Hundreds of these minesweeper craft were built in Humber shipyards; there were very few trawlers left for fishing, so supplies of fish became scarce. Minesweepers ‘swept’ an area using wires, as in this picture, and would detonate the mines once they were on the surface.

Significant sea battles were at Heligoland and Jutland. The sinking of the RMS Lusitania by U-boat torpedo attack off the Irish coast outraged ‘neutral’ Americans and helped bring the USA into the war.

The Lusitania going down. 16. S. transept window ‘We are sailing’ Sailing ships were still operating, particularly iron- hulled windjammers used for bulk cargo on long- haul voyages, and speedier narrow, wooden-hulled clippers for high value cargo like tea. Steam ships were fast becoming the norm though. The words of the song are perfect and adopted by the modern Navy for concerts and sing-songs. “We are sailing, Home again 'Cross the sea, We are sailing, Stormy waters, To be near you, To be free, Oh Lord, to be near you, to be free.” A typical Windjammer

17. Corners of altar platform ‘Keep the home fires burning’ Written in 1914 by Ivor Novello this song became very popular, being sung regularly – the refrain being: “Keep the Home Fires Burning, While your hearts are yearning. Though your lads are far away They dream of home. There's a silver lining Through the dark clouds shining, Turn the dark cloud inside out Till the boys come home.” As well as looking after their families, women in wartime were busy keeping Britain’s vital systems working. Some worked on farms producing food; others worked in munitions factories to make explosives and ammunition, as this picture shows. Most other women just did the jobs that men had done (but for much less pay). Workers in munitions factories were often paid higher wages than was usual for women because it was dangerous work but many were poisoned by the chemicals used. The variety of jobs done by women was far greater than pre-war, often doing as good a job as the men, especially in clerical, organizational and voluntary work. Many prominent ladies formed groups to organise sock-knitting parties in their homes or parish halls. This was important work, as soldiers needed lots of socks and gloves and this was a task everyone could do, even elderly people and children. Some schools even began extra early so children could knit for 30 minutes before lessons. Here are some children in a school in 1918 Women cared for children and older relatives, managed money and often had a job as well. Shopping during wartime was hard with food and coal shortages and higher prices. The average food bill for a family of four rose from less than £1 a week in 1914 to over £2 in 1918. Although many women were paid less than men for doing the same work many working women were better off than they had been in the past. But when the men returned many had to relinquish their jobs. Sock knitting in schools.

18. Central Altar Inspired by Monet’s ‘Poppies in cornfields.’ The paintings by French artist Claude Monet (1840-1926) are famous and very much admired. The war raged close to his famous garden in Giverny. His son Michel was called up to fight in 1915. In 1918 Monet’s response to the war was to gift to the nation of France a series of pictures of water- lilies and weeping willows (a symbol of sorrow).

Poppies have been linked with war remembrance since the Napoleonic wars. Claude Monet was still painting during the war period. His ‘Poppies in a cornfield’ series of paintings are the inspiration for this design echoing the poppies in Flanders’ fields that sprang up after the conflict. Beauty and sorrow are entwined with the season.

19. Against pillar Tribute to Harry Blanshard Wood, VC MM Following the outbreak of war in , Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, and France’s industrial regions forming the Western Front that stretched from the Swiss border in the east, through Amiens, to Ostend on the Belgian coast. During the , (1 July to 18 November 1916) the Allied armies fought the enemy across of the upper reaches of the River Somme, east of Amiens. Far from hastening victory for the Allies, as hoped, it became the largest conflict of the First World War on the Western Front. The first day was the worst day in the history of the , suffering 57,470 casualties. More than three million men fought over this relatively small parcel of land and one million men were wounded or killed, making it one of the bloodiest battles in human history. Harry not only survived the Somme, but Ypres, and the pitiless trench warfare of Passchendaele, with another third of a million British and allied casualties.

24. Chancel steps, south Nursing There was an active Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) in Pocklington during WW1. With so many casualties, nurses, medical attendants, VADs and doctors, were in high demand. The legacy of Florence Nightingale and Edith Cavell had improved both training and standards. Nurses and volunteers were mobilised from all over the world. They worked in field, mobile, camp and base hospitals, hospital trains and ships, and evacuation hospitals, dealing with appalling injuries never seen before. While doctors worked in surgery, nurses proved capable decision makers and managers, not only saving lives, but making a vast difference in patient care both close to the battlefield and during recovery. During the war more than 41,000 men had their limbs amputated; 272,000 suffered injuries in the legs or arms that did not require amputation; 60,500 were wounded in the head or eyes; and 89,000 sustained other serious damage to their bodies. Many large houses and hotels became temporary hospitals. This war brought incredible changes to nursing, a profession-changing and life-changing experience for all, providing women with a new role in society.

30. Back of north pillar Letters and parcels to the Front

The General Post Office was the biggest business in Britain and played a key part in the war effort, distributing recruitment forms nationwide alongside the regular 5.9 billion items of post each year. From the depot at Regent’s Park, London, the British Forces Postal Services did an excellent job of sorting 2 million letters and postcards each day to all theatres of war. There was even a special battalion - The Post Office Rifles Infantry force which fought on the Western Front, one soldier being awarded the for gallantry. The British Army Postal Service delivered around 2 billion letters during the war. In 1917 alone, over 19,000 mailbags crossed the English Channel each day, transporting letters and parcels to British troops on the Western Front. Letter writing was the main form of communication between soldiers and their loved ones, helping to ease the pain of separation. Troops were forbidden to write home with any degree of accuracy or truth about the life they led. A ‘secret language of stamps’ developed, so tender messages could be understood from the position of the stamp on the envelope or card. This picture, right, shows part of this language: Prisoners of War would receive a food parcel every 2 weeks from the Red Cross. It contained tinned beef, cheese and milk; tea, cocoa, biscuits and cigarettes. Each parcel weighed about 5kg. Over 2.5 million of these parcels were sent throughout the war years.

31. Use of Medicinal Plants in WW1. Many traditional remedies for common ailments were simple herbal mixtures made from rosemary, comfrey, calendula, nettle etc. The few pharmaceuticals that existed and many of these herbs were imported from Germany and Austria. This source dried up with the onset of war, causing serious problems, particularly the lack of morphine. The Women’s Farm and Garden Union formed the Herb Growing Association to grow the plants needed to maintain the supply of some medicines. In addition, children in the Scout and Girl Guide movements were recruited to collect sphagnum moss from areas of Britain with extensive peat bogs e.g. Scotland, Thorne Moor and Dartmoor. This was better than cotton wool for use in wound dressings as it is much more absorbent and is antiseptic, helping reduce infection - and cottonwool was needed to make explosives! During the First World War, the Government drew up a list of key plants to grow, forage, dry and process in order to produce medicines for the wounded and the British public. This included belladonna for atropine; henbane and stramonium for hyoscyamine; foxglove for digitoxin; autumn crocus for colchicine; and valerian for valerium.

Belladonna Foxglove Henbane Autumn crocus

The only recognition the public volunteers received were certificates of merit, but, of course, the sense of camaraderie and contribution to the war effort must have provided a sense of achievement. 32. School chapel, east side Women’s Land Army, 1917 3 million men were away to fight in the War, with the result that Britain was struggling for labour. The government wanted women to get more involved in the production of food and do their part to support the war effort. A considerable number of women allocated to land work had no experience of it, having come from the cities, but it gave them a freedom they had never experienced before, which many loved. As food production dwindled and shipping was disrupted, their work was vital to feed the nation. Rationing had to be introduced. By the end of 1917 there were around 250,000–260,000 women working as general farm labourers, with 23,000 in the Land Army itself, doing chores such as milking cows, picking fruit and harvesting potatoes.

33. School chapel seats Old Pocklingtonians This is the church for Pocklington School, founded in 1514. Former pupils served with honour in almost every aspect and area of the war. The school has honoured their former pupils with their own exhibition. A special memorial book for Old Pocklingtonians is placed before the altar in the Lady Chapel.

35. Pulpit steps Poets of World War 1 This was the first time educated men were conscripted or were fired by patriotism to fight in war. They, and ordinary men too, put pen to paper (or in diaries), their poems, drawing on dire physical experience, expressing what others thought. From scathing verses on the horrors of life in the trenches to laments on the tragedy of a lost generation, the First World War inspired some of British poetry’s most poignant and affecting work. Women also wrote poetry expressing the pain of the loss of their men and the hardships associated with their situation.

37. Garden of Remembrance and the Old Sotheby Cross A tribute to all those who served in whatever capacity, and gave their lives from the local area, the many troops who passed through our town’s training camps during the World War One and Old Pocklingtonians. The 15th century cross, erected in the town by the Sotheby family, was brought into the church after it was found buried in the churchyard in 1835. A new one was erected outside the church’s west door. The family moved to London where they set up an auction house for Fine Art. The Old Sotheby Cross stands before the photo-wall of Roclincourt Cemetery, near , where 28 of these 916 gravestones belong to men who fell in action at Oppy Wood between April and June 1917. The Arras Memorial nearby commemorates 34,785 soldiers of the Allied forces with no known grave of the same period. This was a war like no other – with mechanised killing machines and gas attacks. It was unprecedented, utterly appalling. The ceramic poppies have been made to commemorate those on the memorial tablet in this church or any chosen service personnel, by relatives, friends or members of Pocklington Flower Club and the church. * If you wish to remember a serviceman/woman please purchase a Royal British Legion cross to place in the turf with the others.

42. Floor space between windows The world has now changed So much changed by the end of the Great War. The sheer scale of it meant that few families were untouched by the conflict, and with far fewer men around. Most ex-servicemen had to cope with both physical and mental problems. It was a time to rebuild and start anew. Some women now had the vote and, as they had proved, they could do far more than just keep house and mind the children. Many needed to become breadwinners. Women took jobs in the civil service, police, factories, docklands, tramways, post office, farms and hospitals. It became a social and cultural revolution. All aspects of life were changing - transport, medicine, photography, communications. Working class incomes doubled and there was even some social mobility. The new style of Art Deco emerged.

48. High ledge on NW pillar Mata Hari She was a charismatic, well-educated, multilingual Dutch woman who had been orphaned in her teens. She married an older soldier serving in the Dutch East Indies to try and bring some stability to her life. Incompatible, they parted, leaving her destitute. Back in Europe, she survived by her wits becoming a famous exotic dancer and international courtesan. A few took exception to this and she was accused of spying, betraying French secrets, and was executed.

49. Central aisle ‘Oppy Wood, the trenches and East Yorkshire Regiments’ The village of Oppy north-east of Arras, overlooking Allied lines, had been in German hands since October 1914. It was now part of their formidable defensive system including trenches, dug-outs and thick barbed wire fortifications on the Western Front. The , part of the Somme offensive, began in April 1917, and one of the Allies’ main objectives was the very heavily fortified Oppy Wood. At the forefront were the East Yorkshire Regiments (92nd Brigade) comprising the three Battalions, which included Pocklington men. The attack on 3rd May 1917 carried out under a constant of machine gun fire was disastrous. There were heavy casualties, with 40% of those involved either killed or injured. 2nd Lieutenant Jack Harrison, a teacher and player with Hull FC, won a posthumous Victoria Cross for his bravery in protecting his platoon. Oppy Wood was finally captured on 28th June 1917 with the help of Canadian forces. It has come to symbolise the sacrifice of Hull and its surrounding towns and villages in the Great War. The City of Hull Memorial at Oppy, France, was unveiled in 1927 and commemorates over 200 men of the Hull Pals. A small woodland, called Oppy Wood, has been established near Cottingham for a similar purpose. British and Empire troops suffered 420,000 casualties in the Battle for the Somme. More information about one of these Hull men can be found at http://barriebarnes.com/books/This%20Righteous%20War/index.html and at the Imperial War Museum.

Oppy Wood 1917, Evening, by John Nash, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35125079

Oppy Wood, from the air, from the collections of the Imperial War Museums Little of it was left after the ferocious bombardment from both sides of the conflict.

The Festival Committee hope you have enjoyed this memorial to our ancestors, and hope you find the above information interesting and that it helps you understand better what people had to cope with 100 years ago.