December 1915 In December 1915 in Hamilton there were many parallels to life today. Refugees were in the news and in the national consciousness, especially as they were far from home and their families at Christmas and a film "Little Belgian Refugees" was playing at one of the local cinemas this month. While something a bit less familiar was happening in George Square in , although more famous today for the Christmas lights and ice skating during the festive period, in 1915 there was a display of captured German machine guns!

Belgian Refugees at Springhall House, Rutherglen

The recruitment campaign was still very evident in the newspapers with one piece strongly appealing to the very idea of masculinity, telling readers that: Now is the day and now is the hour, tomorrow will be too late. Young men who have dallied up to now in getting their name enrolled on the 'Roll of Honour' either with a lame excuse or their calling it conscientious objection are urgently asked to reconsider their position now if they wish to hold their heads again among their fellow men. What a magnificent time for if she can carry this war without conscription, how it will rebound them in everlasting glory. This was further emphasised by the issuing of the 'Khaki armlet' for men who were waiting to be called up but had already enlisted and those who were deemed medically unfit at the assessment phase. So strong was the current drive that there were reports that the town of Hamilton had ran out of copper coins as the men were paid 2s9d to sign up. Either that or all the coins were in gas meters due to the cold weather! However there was also, like today, a notable anti-war movement, which was this month banned from meeting in a hall in Glasgow, so decided to meet directly outside the venue instead. Women were also still being sought for work in what were previously seen as men's jobs, but also in what were more feminine or traditional roles. The Red Cross was seeking to fill various roles and appealed to women, aged twenty-three to thirty-eight, not yet trained or qualified as nurses who would need a first aid qualification but would be trained in 'Sick Nursing' by the Red Cross. They also were looking to recruit cooks, orderlies, clerks, short hand writers, aged twenty one and over.

Poster appealing for men to enlist

More appeals were made to send gifts to the front, one Tommy requesting any spare musical instruments, to allow the men to amuse themselves and pass some time at the front. He was especially keen on getting a mandolin. Another gift idea was raised, in what could very likely be known today as an 'advertorial' which read: Our men in Flanders amuse themselves when they have nothing else to do by testing their skills by killing rats with guns and bayonets. We had not realised how numerous in the trenches these pests were until the other day when we received a copy of a letter saying that 'rats are a plague on the battlefield and during the recent cold weather they all flooded the dugout, making matters very uncomfortable for Tommy, but thanks to Rodin the whole lot have cleared off. Another present for Tommy - Rodin'. While local man Sergeant John Hamilton, of the 1/6th Battalion, while on active duty in . wrote in to say that: Nothing is too much to give the men out here as they are suffering greatly and it is marvellous to see their mirth despite such hardships.

French Soldiers with the rats they had killed in the trenches.

Again, like today, the newspapers were being criticised for being biased and printing lies. One rumour that was published but was now under an injunction by the courts was that the Prime Minister's wife had been communicating and sending parcels and gifts to high ranking German officials. Under the Defence of the Realm Act the Government had the power to shut newspapers down if they were deemed to be threatening national security. The Daily Mail, Daily Record and The Times were all under investigation under this act as they were "contributing to the propaganda of the enemy" and that "although we in the county might know how to estimate these jaundiced sheets at their true value, but they are a constant source of disappointment to our allies and disgust to neutrals". Lloyd George was accused of calling munitions workers drunkards and shirkers, which he of course strongly denied. Two soldiers were charged with defrauding a clerk in Wishaw when they convinced him that they had been robbed on the train and needed money to complete their journey from Birmingham to Inverness. Also in Wishaw a publican was charged with contravening the new stricter drink laws and was fined £10 of a possible £100. Those found guilty could also be sentenced to six months hard labour. In a man was executed when he was found guilty of espionage. The war had seen shortages develop for items that Britain needed to import and this was having a knock-on effect in terms of food production and livestock rearing. Advice was published that, due to restricted supplies of meat and animal feed, families should strive to only have meat for dinner three or four nights a week. , however, was better equipped as she was able to produce 90% of her food needs. Britain though did have ample supplies of potatoes and ingredients for bread, whereas many German bakers were being forced to emigrate as they could no longer operate in Germany. One man not effected by cutbacks though was the Duke of Hamilton, who donated a whole cow to the local Combination Poorhouse for their festive feasts. In the war the allies were seen to be using a new strategy in multiple theatres of war. They retreated and moved their troops out of both Serbia and where they suffered over 100,000 casualties. There were also heavy losses in the Balkans where they "fought against very heavy odds and it was largely down to the gallantry of the troops that the mission was successfully accomplished". It was particularly difficult due to the mountainous nature of the country. Both sides saw munitions works explode, causing thousands of casualties, both in near Le Havre and in Germany. The Germans were also accused of covering up a Zeppelin disaster, when they were said to have abducted local peasants who witnessed it explode and crash. While the King was back to health and handing out more Victoria Crosses, seven men were decorated at Buckingham Palace including James Pollock of the Cameron Highlanders, who had, in September in a redoubt in France, held up enemy bombers from an advancing party who had "superior numbers" by climbing out of the trench and "bombing them from above" while under "heavy machine gun fire the whole time". This lasted for around an hour, until he was wounded. Churchill had also recently arrived back at the front, and it was reported that he was lucky to escape unscathed as a bomb entered his trench and killed his orderly. There appeared to be growing opposition though to the Kaiser in Germany, the German Humanity League issued a statement saying that "war is being waged to satisfy the savage greed of Prussian conspirators. There can be no peace until the Kaiser has been disposed from the throne he had fouled". Lastly, in a show of unity and solidarity France, Great Britain, , and had signed a pact that said that they would not be willing to declare peace separately. Come along to Hamilton Library and find out more about the war, or delve into the Hamilton Advertiser Archive at no charge. It is held in the Reference Library and goes back to 1856!