Annual Booklist 2021 : Sarah Ashbridge
Dr Sarah Ashbridge is a Research Fellow in Military Science at the Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI). She has recently completed her PhD thesis which examined the development and implementation of identity discs, the identification of human remains during the First World War and the ways in which public memory has been shaped by the Commonwealth War Graves Cemeteries which were established during the conflict. She has helped to recover the remains of British and German soldiers during archaeological fieldwork.
It will come as no surprise for those that are familiar with my work to hear that my favourite books about the British Army relate to the response to fallen soldiers during the First World War. This conflict resulted in mass losses for the British public, an experience which has shaped the way that we remember the Great War and those who fought and died within it, particularly through engagement with the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s (CWGC) cemeteries and monuments for the missing. My top five books explore the experience of and response to death on the battlefields from a range of angles, including an archaeological perspective, each of which provide new insights into how British soldiers experienced a life amongst death.
My first recommendation is the classic book The Unending Vigil: The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission written by the then official historian of the Commission, Philip Longworth. Longworth’s book made extensive use of the Commission’s archive to piece together a history of the Commission with a heavy focus on the role of its founder, Sir Fabian Ware. As a former newspaper editor and colonial administrator, Ware’s work forced the British Army and the British government to recognise the societal need for answers about the dead. Ultimately, his work resulted in the creation of the CWGC’s cemeteries which ensured those who fought and died for King and Country will be remembered for all of perpetuity. Longworth’s book is a delight to read, and does much to explain how and why our current cultures of commemoration came into existence.
Building upon this theme, Photographing the Fallen: A War Graves Photographer on the Western Front 1915-1919 by Jeremy Gordon-Smith is a fantastic book which takes the reader on a journey through the experience of Ivan Bawtree and his work as a war graves photographer. As a descendent of Bawtree, Gordon-Smith has used personal letters and photographs to illustrate this work, to create a truly engaging read which helps us to understand the reality of this rather macabre work both during and after the war. In addition to being interesting, this book is a brilliant introduction to archival research, and the full collection of photographs and documents is now available to view within the Imperial War Museum, providing a unique opportunity to engage more deeply with the topics described within the book.
Best-selling author Richard van Emden has created yet another compelling book which engages with the experience of loss entitled Missing: The Need for Closure after the Great War. Van Emden takes us on a journey through the experience of Angela Mond as she engaged with the then Imperial War Graves Commission in a bid to discover the location of her eldest son, Lieutenant Francis Mond, a pilot within the Royal Flying Corps (the air arm of the British Army). The War did not simply cease upon the declaration of the Armistice, with the long demobilisation process leaving thousands of families in a state of limbo as they waited for news. This case study perfectly illustrates the struggles of many families who lost a loved one during the First World War, particularly those whose sons and husbands would become unknown soldiers with no known grave.
War Letters of Fallen Englishmen by Laurence Housman (with foreword by Jay Winter) flips the narrative of loss from those who responded to it or experienced the results of it, offering an impressive collection of letters from soldiers writing home from the battlefields. Originally published in 1930, this book removes speculation by giving us access to the words of soldiers themselves, showing the variety of thoughts, perspectives and emotions which occasionally interrupt accepted narratives about life on the battlefield. The foreword by Jay Winter beautifully captures the importance of the book and situates it within the immediate response to the war in literature, providing context to its contents and publication.
My last recommendation explores the archaeology of the First World War, and informs us how the buried remnants of the now historic war which are recovered during archaeological investigations can provide new insights into the conflict today. Digging Up Plugstreet: The Archaeology of a Great War Battlefield by Martin Brown and Richard Osgood describes an excavation led by No Man’s Land Archaeology and the International Group for Great War Archaeology along with a multinational team of skilled volunteers which ultimately resulted in the identification of an Australian soldier, Private Alan Mather. The book is beautifully illustrated with a large quantity of photographs to take us through a journey of excavation through to interpretation. Though not directly focused on the British Army, it does help to explain the difficulties with the identification of soldiers who are recovered today whilst offering a wonderfully engaging read.
Finally, the book I’d like to see written would be one which ties together the experience of life amongst death on the battlefield then and now, engaging with the experiences of soldiers describing encounters of death during war, and how these individual experiences might be reflected within the archaeological record today. There is much work to be done to help the general public understand the limited ability to identify soldiers who are recovered today during archaeological works, particularly given the failures of identity discs which I describe within my own work. Such a book would help to manage public expectations about the aftermath of a war which is no longer in living memory whilst engaging with a range of methodologies such as archival research, archaeological analysis and the study of material culture to provide an offering which speaks to a range of interested audiences.