First World War Archives ~ Cumbrian Characters

Border Regiment prisoners of war: WWI

Posted on May 18, 2019May 18, 2019 by Harriet

Prisoners of war have long been a staple of movies and TV dramas, from those based on true stories like The Great Escape, to the enjoyable nonsense of Escape to Victory. The focus is almost always o... Read More

Tom Telford – one more casualty

Posted on April 20, 2019 by Harriet

Tom Telford is another of the men recorded on the 1920 Penrith Congregational Church memorial plaque. It’s ‘just’ one plaque among countless tributes to the dead of the First World W... Read More

Mustard gas – a delayed killer

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Harriet

Mustard gas is possibly misleading in this piece about the deaths of two Cumbrian First World War soldiers. Chlorine gas and phosgene were also used as chemical weapons. Which somehow have always seem... Read More

Penrith brothers in arms: the Pilkingtons

Posted on March 10, 2019March 30, 2019 by Harriet

Henry and Jane Ann Pilkington, of Penrith, lost three sons to war. This is their story. Penrith Congregational Church unveiled a memorial table on September 26, 1920, ‘in grateful memory of the men ... Read More

Brunswick Square Penrith – and the First World War

Posted on February 16, 2019February 17, 2019 by Harriet

Brunswick Square, Penrith, isn’t famous, or remarkable. On the Penrith Town Trail, it is described as: Brunswick Square, a Victorian housing development commenced about 1850 and built around an ... Read More

Armistice Day centenary

Posted on November 11, 2018February 16, 2019 by Harriet

A post for Remembrance Sunday, with a reminder of a just a very few First World War Cumbrian casualties. The ever-poignant commemorations of Remembrance are upon us in the UK. As a child, it was seei... Read More

Cumbrian Characters

Family history is so much more than names and dates

Category: First World War