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CITY | HISTORY
ARMISTICE AND AFTERMATH As we look to commemorate the centenary of the end of the First World War this month, historian Catherine Pitt reflects on the consequences it had on the city of Bath
D
uring the First World War fivemillion men served to fight for Britain. In 1914 the population of Bath was around 70,000, over 11,200 men fought in the war, and more than 1,800 were killed in action or died of their wounds. The Great War ended at 11am on Monday 11 November 1918, although it had been agreed at 5.10am that morning. When the news reached Bath, people flocked to the abbey for an impromptu service of thanks. Others swelled the streets around the Guildhall where the mayor and his wife were driven through the crowds. At Holloway a carpenter created an effigy of the German kaiser and hung it outside his shop; an attempt to burn it in Saw Close was soon stopped by city police. On Peace Day the following July (The Versailles Peace Treaty wasn’t signed until then) various trees were planted around Bath including a Peace Oak in Sydney Gardens. In Crescent Field, in front of the Royal
Crescent, crowds gathered to see doves released, although it was discovered that the ‘doves’ were in fact homing pigeons that flew back around rather than away. A MEMORIAL FOR BATH One of Bath’s main concerns immediately after the war was how to commemorate those who had died. The corporation (the council) was seemingly slow to react. Controversy was over cost, form (whether there was memorial hall or cenotaph) and location. By the early 1920s many of the local schools, businesses, colleges and churches had their own memorials. In 1923 Bath Abbey created a memorial chapel and also built the cloister vestry (now the site of the abbey shop) as a Great War memorial; but the city overall still had nothing. Five thousand local people donated more than £3000 to pay for a cenotaph designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield, but still the location was debated. People took to the local papers to complain and the matter became political.
Cedric Chivers was re-elected Mayor of Bath in 1924 on the promise of a memorial, even if it was at his own expense. Chivers commissioned four bronze plaques with names inscribed to be placed on the side of the Mineral Water Hospital that faces on to Union Street. Although a temporary measure it became an unofficial memorial site, with troops acknowledging the plaques on Remembrance Sunday Parades, and people laying wreaths at the site. It also became a tradition for local brides to place their bouquets here once they were wed. Finally the entrance to Victoria Park was chosen and the Stall Street plaques joined others on the memorial. The official unveiling of Bath’s War Memorial happened on 11 November 1927. THE AFTERMATH OF WAR Despite peace, deaths from war injuries continued. Adding to these were the victims of the pandemic known as Spanish flu that swept the world. Between 1918 and 1920, 228,000
© Bath in Time
Peace Day Thanksgiving service on 19 July 1919 at the Royal Crescent
KES A level drama performance 66 TheBATHMagazine
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noveMBeR 2018
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issue 194
