Kingston upon Hull War Memorial 1914 - 1918
The story of Hull in World War 1
Over, 7,500 Hull men died in the First World War. Over 1,200 of these were sailors working with the fishing fleet, or serving with the Merchantile Marine, the Royal Navy and the Royal Navy Reserve. They carried out vital war work, bringing in supplies, transporting troops and minesweeping the seas
There were nearly another 1,500 men who were born in Hull, but who lived elsewhere. They died fighting for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and America. There are many others, who enlisted in Hull or who were associated with the City, but are not usually remembered on Hull war memorials. As Hull had four large hospitals and was the port of entry for repatriated prisoner of wars, servicemen from all over the world are buried in Hull. The Kingston Upon Hull Memorial aims to remember all those with a Hull connection who died in the First World War.
There are over a hundred families on the Hull Memorial that lost two or more of their family. Sometimes fathers, sons and brothers were lost on the same day. Some families lost three sons, other Hull families lost four sons, including all their children in the First World War. At least one in six Hull families lost a direct relative. Many others would lose close friends, work colleagues or others known to them. Each death was irreplaceable and an individual tragedy for someone.
Unfortunately, not all deaths were recorded in official casualty figures, particularly if soldiers died of sickness, accidents or were discharged home with wounds, of illness. By 1924 the Ministry of Pensions reported that there were 20,000 war wounded living in Hull. Although they survived the war, they are rarely recorded on war memorials. What follows here are snippets of some of those people who died, whose deaths were reported in the local newspapers.
We now call it the First World War or World War One. Contemporaries certainly thought it was a world war and called it that. The term “World War” (Weltkrieg) first appeared in Germany in 1914. The French and British referred to the war as “La Grande Guerre” or the “Great War”, but also adopted the term … Read more
While fighting during WW1 spanned the globe, the Western Front was the primary focus of Britain’s war. The ‘Western Front’ marked the furthest German advances. It was a 400 mile battle line, extending from the North Sea coast at Nieuwpoort, to the Swiss border. The French held about 360 miles of this line and carried much of … Read more
OPPY WOOD, 3rd May 1917 – The Hull Pals Attack The Capture of Oppy Wood was an engagement, North East of Arras, between May and June 1917. The Germans were in possession of a fortified wood to the west of the village of Oppy, which overlooked British positions. The wood was 1-acre (0.40 ha) in area and contained many German observation … Read more
A separate, but related event to the Great War, was the great 1918 flu pandemic. It exclusively attacked human beings and not other animals. This deadly flu virus infected more than one-third of the world’s population, and within months had killed more than 50 million people – three times as many in World War I … Read more
Hull Civilian Deaths in WW1 due to German Air Raids (Names, Age in brackets and Address where killed) June 1915 Maurice Richardson (11) – 50 South Parade. Son of Maurice Richardson, a soldier. Violet Richardson (8) – 50 South Parade – Daughter of Maurice … Read more
Kingston Upon Hull was founded over 700 years ago, by Monks from Meaux Abbey, who used the deep, wide, Humber, to trade wool into Europe. Hull has had a long and varied history since then and is the place best known for abolishing slavery and where the English Civil war began. However, it was not … Read more
Keeping Britain supplied, the sea’s safe and the enemy blockaded became the primary tasks of World War 1. The war at sea is one of the lesser researched subjects of the 1914-18 War . The main focus is usually on the naval battle of Jutland in 1916, or the lesser known sea battles off the … Read more
Britain was the first county in history to experience widespread strategic bombing of civilians. Two large, rigid air ships, named Zeppelins L3 & L4, after their creator Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin, dropped bombs on eastern coastal towns in January 1915. They caused casualties in Great Yarmouth and Kings Lynn. As in the Second World War, … Read more
Hull’s contribution during the First World War is often underestimated. As a North Eastern, coastal City with a population of approximately 300,000, Hull citizens served extensively across all branches of the British Army, Royal Navy, Merchant Navy, Royal Air Force, and the Home Defence. They also died serving Commonwealth nations such as Canada, Australia and … Read more
The Kingston upon Hull Memorial remembers the 7,500 men from Hull, who died in the First World War. This ‘digital’ memorial lists all the Hull men who died in the First World War and where they lived in the City. It has taken 30 years to research and is the definitive database of Hull casualties … Read more
