Tea and Talk in Barnstaple

On Tuesday 22^nd May, between 2 and 5 pm, the second in this year’s series of ‘Tea and Talk’ afternoons, comprising a talk of local interest and a Devon Cream Tea, will take place at the North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple.

 North Devon Record Office
Barnstaple Library
Tuly Street
Barnstaple
EX31 1EL

Emil Sokolov, of Exeter University, and one of the Devon Remembers Heritage Project’s leading researchers, will be talking on:

The Many Faces of the Great War: Local Patriotism and Recruitment in Ilfracombe, 1914-1918

Historians have studied the effects of the First World War on Devon in terms of nationalism, housing, food shortages, social unrest, religion, pacifism, and volunteerism and conscription.  On the issue of voluntary service, however, Devon has often been portrayed in a rather unpatriotic light.  There are many sides to this debate, but there is one story about a small seaside town, which has remained untold so far. It is an exceptional story, which has presented us with almost five hundred pictures of a patriotic and united Devon. The history of Ilfracombe’s photos of soldiers from the war is essentially a tale of how two prominent local men – a councillor and a headmaster - brought together and inspired their compatriots to go beyond the picturesque views of North Devon and participate in one of the deadliest conflicts in human history.

The men whose pictures were exhibited in the local school, grocery stores, town hall and elsewhere gave the war a collection of recognisable human faces. In Ilfracombe, the national narrative about the Great War was understood through the hardship and suffering of some five hundred local men, whose photos constantly reminded the rest of the community what this war really meant to them.

Ilfracombe’s exhibition of soldiers’ photos was simultaneously a tribute to the self-sacrifice of native community members, but also an organised response to the national demands of recruitment in times of great conflict.  The story of Ilfracombe is an excellent contribution to the British historiography of the First World War and the ways in which local communities met the demands of the war effort.

If you would like to attend, please contact Gary Knaggs at the North Devon Record Office on 01271 318795 or northdevon@swheritage.org.uk.