Rum Jars And Coal Boxes on The Western Front

The lives of Chiswick soldiers in the First World War told through their letters

A wealth of letters written by soldiers from Chiswick who fought in the First World War has been uncovered by former Labour councillor John Grigg, who has now published them as a book, 'All Quiet In The Western Suburbs- World War One in Chiswick and Nearby Districts'.

John uncovered hundreds of letters which were published in the local Chiswick Times and Acton Gazette from 1914-1918, from the Western Front, India, the Boer War, Iraq and elsewhere. There are even letters from Russia where British forces were engaged against the Bolsheviks after 1918.

Many of the letters were sent to the Revd RA Oldfield in Chiswick, who was vicar at the St Mary Magdalene Church, and who knew many of the young men because they had been members of his Church Lad's Brigade. The Lad's Brigade was a thriving organisation with a football team and a band.

Other letters from servicemen were sent directly to the papers, but most of them to relatives, and friends, churches and clubs. The letters were published in The Chiswick Times virtually every week during the War. The local newspapers also printed letters from nurses, sailors, and suffragettes.

It was the first time that most of the young men and women had been abroad and while many of them consisted of chit chat, such as news of somebody that they had come across from home, with lots of requests for cigarettes, talk of the weather, the food, and thanking people for sending socks, John says that there is evidence of historic and traditional racial prejudice, particularly in some of the letters from India, Egypt and Palestine.

Many of the local men served with the 10th Middlesex Territorial Regiment based at Stamford Brook, and went to India, though a reserve battalion raised in 1915 went to Gallipoli the following year and suffered heavy losses. Others joined the 8th Battalion at Hounslow, most of whom went to Gibralter and then France, where they became victims of an outbreak of typhus.

While some of the material may have been censored, there are descriptions of the horrors of war and life in the trenches, how they prepared food and lived with constant shelling-Rum Jars and Coal Boxes were slang for enemy shells and bombs.

The idea for the book came from John's history studies of local newspapers in Chiswick Library. He was recording items from the Chiswick Times and the Acton Gazette year by year from the 1890s and when he reached 1914, he discovered a wealth of material about the First World War and decided to chronicle the lives of the servicemen by drawing the letters together into a book.

John served as a Labour councillor in Hounslow between 1958-1990 and is an amateur local historian specializing in social and political history.

John describes the letters as "an insight of how they sustained themselves in the midst of the horrors of war, with thoughts of loved ones, music, and happier times at home."

The book, which costs £15, is available on Amazon and Chiswick Library will also have copies.

Or you can email John (john.grigg535@btinternet.com) and he will deliver a copy to you.

August 6, 2018