The Greater Manchester Archives and Local Studies Partnership is looking for volunteers for our World War One projects.
This blog has been set up to share news and developments in local research relating to the First World War.
2014 will mark one hundred years since the outbreak of the First World War. The last veterans who fought in it are no longer with us, but they have left their stories in archive documents and photographs. We can tell their stories for them.
Their stories are based in the areas they came from as well as where they served their country. Local archives are looking to recruit volunteers to research and explore their collections, sharing their discoveries through a range of social media and exhibitions. Training, help and guidance will be given. It will be a moving and valuable process to uncover the stories behind the statistics.
Military records can provide one side of the story. Archives have access to information that fills in the rest of the experience. Family photos of men home on leave, in uniform,perhaps for the last time. Postcards from the Front. Diaries and letters that can show how wives and families coped at home. Not all the stories are military ones.
Here are some examples of the kind of projects planned.
Wigan archives’ collection includes diaries and records from the Leigh Military Tribunal.
Tameside has oral history tapes which need listening to and transcribing as well as digitising.
The Greater Manchester County Record Office has over 2,000 photographs relating to people and places in the First World War from the Documentary Photographic Archive. These images have been digitised but need to be shared and researched to reach a wider audience.
Stockport have plans to research local newspapers and school log books for wartime stories.
Salford will be tying in resources from archives, war memorials and museum collections to the social history of Salford and the legacy of the war.
Trafford has a collection of glass slides and Cheshire Regiment records.
Bury has relevant local newspapers and Bolton hopes to research local Zeppelin raids.
Oldham will be looking at stories around the local Pals regiment and wartime refugees, whilst Rochdale has a collection of letters which will be part of the wider story of life during wartime.
We are so fortunate to have these resources. Many were collected when the First World War was within living memory, and through our efforts and research we can make sure that these important stories come to life and remain alive for future generations.
If you are interested in getting involved please contact:
Greater Manchester County Record Office : Nicky Crewe, n.crewe@manchester.gov.uk
or your local archive:
Bolton: Julie Lamara, Julie.Lamara@bolton.gov.uk
Bury: Gill Paxton, g.paxton@bury.gov.uk
Oldham: Joanne Robson, Joanne.Robson@oldham.gov.uk
Rochdale: Julian Jefferson, julian.jefferson@rochdale.gov.uk
Salford: Duncan McCormick, duncan.mccormick@salford.gov.uk
Stockport: Margaret Myerscough, margaret.myerscough@stockport.gov.uk
Tameside: Larysa Bolton, archives@tameside.gov.uk
Trafford: Karen Cliff, Karen.Cliff@trafford.gov.uk
Wigan: Alex Miller, a.miller@wlct.org
Our volunteer opportunity tells you more about the project and what you could be doing!
GM 1914 
You have really hit a raw nerve with me on this project. I have tried over many years to find why my grandfather Charles Lodge was not included on the War Memorials dedicated by Manchester City Corporation Transport Department. The facts are that he is commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Site with his rank and number.
LODGE, CHARLES Private 27885 20/09/1917 Lancashire Fusiliers United Kingdom Panel 54 to 60 and 163A. TYNE COT MEMORIAL.
Records at Manchester Central Library prove that he was indeed an employee of Manchester Corporation Transport Department. I have had many conversations about this with THE expert on such matters George Turnbull. He has no firm answers to this and I do not criticise for this.
This bloke, was issued with War Medals, which if you want to look at National Archives records were “rejected or not received” by my grandmother who was a very special piece of work. Not the most loved person in my family.
It would be nice and fitting if an answer could be provided. I have failed dismally, (it is my job to supply such answers) but somewhere there must be a record to explain this. I doubt that he was a deserter (possible) as his earlier army records show that he was a part of The Territorial Army (or what they were know as in the day).
He did not have to go abroad to fight because of this fact. He could have stayed in the UK without any problems. He was a reservists and would probably have had no problems with others about this.
The sad fact is that he died.May be it was his choice to join up…but he was killed in battle.
It is beyond my thinking that certain records of his life and death are acknowledge by many others as are quoted above but his name does not appear on the Roll of Honour
That’s terribly unfair. Do you think your grandmother might have asked them not to include him? I’m only wondering and have no evidence to back it up, but if she was strong minded enough to refuse his medals she could have argued against his inclusion.