The end of the war

Royal_Irish_Rifles_ration_party_Somme_July_1916 CFFamously, in 1914 many people predicted the war would be over by Christmas. So the next four years must have seemed very long.

 

By the time the armistice finally came in November 1918, over sixteen million people had died all over the world. In England, every community was affected. Of the men who did return, many were wounded or traumatised. The ones who were able-bodied wanted their jobs back, and so many thousands of women were expected to return home. Some women were relieved; others preferred life at work.

 

In most communities, from villages to schools to railway stations to department stores, the survivors set up memorials to the dead.

 

At the Cass school, the headmaster organised a collection to set up a memorial to the former pupils who had died in the war. In 1919 the trustees agreed contribute to the £120 cost, and to commission Mr S Stabler to design and make the memorial that is in the school hall today.