Redbridge and the First World War

Redbridge Museum's current exhibition is on Redbridge and the First World War. It runs until 30 May 2015.

This major exhibition by Redbridge Museum uncovers some of the local impacts of the First World War. Based on new research, the exhibition explores how the war affected local life, the international nature of the conflict and the family histories of today's Redbridge residents.

The display features a wealth of historic objects, photographs and personal items, many on display for the first time. The exhibition also includes films made by Wanstead High School students and artist Victoria Lucas, working with the Museum and the National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk/nationalmemory).

A brand new website about Redbridge and the First World War will also be launched shortly, alongside a new book about the subject. These will include photographs of the First World War memorial at St John's Seven Kings. 

More information about the memorials at St John's can be found at: http://joninbetween.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/memorial%20boards; http://joninbetween.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/world-war-1-war-memorial-updated.html; and http://stjohns7kings.org.uk/lost-generation-competition. These include research into those named on our First World War memorial.

See www.redbridgefirstworldwar.org.uk for photographs and the book once the site is fully functional and has been launched.

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Ivor Gurney - Black Stitches.

World War 1 War Memorial updated

In 2006 one of our young people at St. John’s Seven Kings, Sara James, together with two friends, won first prize out of 1000 students who had entered a TV competition in Channel 4’s Lost Generation season. Entries were open to students aged 11-16, working in groups of three or five to create a short project about World War One.

Sara, with her friends Rebecca Smith and Zeenat Pelaria, decided to adopt the war memorial dedicated to those who lost their lives in the First World War from St. John’s. The three 14 year olds represented the Chadwell Heath Foundation School and were up against GCSE students from the best private and grammar schools from all over England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Initially they obtained information from historical research of St. John’s. They then compared the names on our War Memorial with a photograph of the church football team from a few years before the war (above) and found that several of the names matched. They were able to obtain more information on the internet using sites such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 1837 Online and the Western Front Association in order to find out more about some of those who had died.
Their competition entry, along with all the others, was judged by a panel of historians, writers, teachers and others involved in Channel 4’s history programmes. They won a ClipBank History Library worth £700 for their school’s history department, which will enable everyone to obtain further wide-ranging historical materials about the two World Wars. There was also a VIP trip for Sara’s class of around 30 students, along with some humanities teachers, to the Imperial War Museum in London.

As a result of their research featuring on our website we were contacted by the family of Charles Brooks Smith, in the football photo, and his brother Frederick Allam Smith. Both had been killed during WW1, Charles Brooks Smith at the Somme no less, but their names had not be included on the War Memorial. Their family, therefore, asked whether their names could be added to the Memorial and today that happened with the letter cutting being undertaken by Mark Tremaine of Woodenyou. 

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The Call - War Weary World.