Beverley author donates to archives

A major new book looking at Beverley’s history from 1914-24 will be launched in the town on Wednesday – and the author will then donate the archive of research he created for it to East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

‘Known unto God’ (‘Beverley and the Great War 1914-1924) by local historian Barrie Barnes will be launched at an invitation-only event in St Mary’s Church in Beverley next Wednesday evening. The book is nearly 1,000 pages long, with over 600 contemporary photographs, and only 400 copies will ever be printed. It includes a map of Beverley in 1910; a history of the town month by month during the Great War; the raising of the Hengate Memorial, a list of Beverley men who were never recorded on the Hengate War Memorial; a full list of the Fallen and histories of their families; and a look at what the author describes as the years of disillusionment, 1919-1924.

The foreword to the book has been written by another local historian, Dr John Markham, who writes: “This is the most comprehensive volume on the subject that will ever be produced.”

After the launch, the author will present his archive of research to the council’s collection, to be catalogued and ultimately made available for research at the Treasure House. The materials will be presented to John Taylor, archives manager, and Sam Bartle, archives collection officer. John Taylor commented: “On behalf of the council, I would like to thank Barrie for this generous and fascinating gift, which will greatly enhance our archive as it relates to Beverley and the Great War.”

Barrie Barnes added: “When the Great War ended, Beverley was a deeply traumatised community; over 430 men had been killed with well over 1,000 terribly maimed and wounded, others came home with mental problems, some committing suicide into the 1920s or dying of their wounds. These men are buried in Beverley and I have found their last resting places.

“I never got the book I expected when I began this work - something darker emerged. Anyone expecting a stoic stiff-upper lipped jaunt through the Great War will be disappointed, but here is the truth, warts and all, and this study is meant to stand as a memorial to that generation, the likes of which we shall not see again.

"Many who had served throughout the war came home only to die in the great influenza epidemic, this would kill more people worldwide than the war itself. Unemployment was rife in 1920 and beyond and in the early 1920s families in Beverley were starving. Rationing of basic goods was still in place, but if you had no man in the house and no income even rationed goods were beyond your reach.

"Occasionally as I worked, long forgotten heroes would step out of the shadows, Lockwood Huntley (Beverley Head Librarian) and the first Labour Mayor, John Fox, created a relief fund and went begging from house to house for cast offs and money for the poor, but the poverty was so grinding that there was never enough, no 'Land fit for Heroes' for the ordinary folk."