Echoes from the Great War 1914-18:People, Stories and Trench Warfare.

Welcome. This site is to enable me to publish items of interest about World War I that may be difficult to have published by traditional means.

I hope you enjoy reading them as well as finding interesting and informative.

I have striven to be as accurate as possible and if I need correction let me know.

Group of soldiers and officers sitting and standing in a trench during wartime, with military gear and clothing.

Men of A Company 1/5 York and Lancaster Regiment in the Bois Grenier – la Boutillerie sector in front of Fleurbaix. Early May 1915.

Featured Items.

The items that interest me, in no particulat order, are,


1. The History of the Trench Warfare Department 1914-1918.

2. Extemporised trench warfare munitions employd by the troops of the British Empire and the French and German armies in all theatres, 1914-1916.

3. The Indian Corps and the development of trench warfare munitions 1914-15.

4. Soldiers buried or commemorates in the cemeterys of Newcastle under Lyme Staffordshire.

5. Miscellaneous and unusual war memorials and other forms of commemoration.

6. Women commemorated on war memorials.

7. The Cornish tin miners of St Agnes who became members of the Tunnelling Companies.                                                        

A black-and-white photograph showing military personnel gathered around a ditch, with some reading papers and others listening, likely during wartime.

In Addition.

1. To encourage you to build your libray by offering for sale books from my library at prices I hope will be attractive.

2. I have spent much of the last 12 years researching a History of the Trench Warfare Department. No such history exists and the final draft runs to over 300 pages. I have submitted it to several specialists publishers and although received warm compliments, was rejected on the grounds that such a book was for a minority readership and not economocally viable. Very disappointing, but that is the fact of life. So I have decided to use this web page to offer my draft text free of charge to interested readers. It will be put up later this year once I have mastered how to do it.

3. Have friends publish on this site

World War I soldiers sitting and resting in a trench, some writing and some talking, wearing helmets and military uniforms.

Who I am

After a career as an acadenic scientist I fillowef my lifelong interest in history by taking a Masters degree in First World War I Studies from the University of Birmingham. My main interest are in the period 1914-1916, with an emphasis on extemporised trench warfare munitions and other equippment. 

I am a member of the Western Front Association, The Douglas Haig Fellowship and Gallipoli Association. 

My publications on WW1are; 

• The Devil’s Carnival. The First Hundred Days of Armageddon. 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, August- December 1914. Reveille Press 2012.

• The Company Commander. In Stemming the Tide, edited by Spencer Jones. Helion & Company 2013. 

• The Supply of Munitions to the Army, 1915. In Courage without Glory, edited by Spencer Jones. Helion & Company 2015. 

• Munitions Technology and Trench Warfare: Gallipoli and the Western Front 1915. In Two Sides of the Same Bad Penny. Gallipoli and the Western Front. A Comparison. (Ed) Michael LoCicero. Helion & Co. 2018. 

• The Destruction of the Canal Bridges at Mons. 23 August 1914. RECORDS The Douglas Haig Fellowship, 2009 

• Sir Douglas Haig and the Introduction of the Trench Mortar 1914-1915 RECORDS The Douglas Haig Fellowship, 2017 

I have also made conference presentations to WFA and Gallipoli Association on the development of extemporised trench warfare munitions, and been the invited speaker to many Branches of the WFA.

An elderly man with glasses and a white mustache sitting in front of a cluttered book-filled bookshelf, wearing a maroon sweater and white collared shirt.