Letter from General Sir Neville Lyttelton to his wife Katherine Lyttelton, 25th September 1916.

The letter from Neville Lyttelton describes a Zeppelin raid over London. The second paragraph of the letter reads: 'The servants heard the row on the Zeppelin night, bombs and guns Lizzie says that Brixton and Kennington got rather heavily bombed.' Over 50 bombing raids were made by airships on England during the war.

Click on the link above to download the transcribed letter. PDF's may take a while to download depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Collection of 'How To' letters, c.1918.

Typed letters belonging to A.M. Grenfell giving explanatory notes about the advance guard, rear guard, reconnaissance, musketry and horse grooming. Extracts include: reconnaissance notes that 'information regarding the enemy'۪s dispositions and the features of the country is absolutely essential for success in war'. Rear Guard notes that 'the conduct of a rear guard depends for its success almost entirely on the character, determination, skill, and energy displayed by its commander'.

Click on the link above to download the transcribed 'How to' letters. PDF's may take a while to download depending on the speed of your internet connection.

Images Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Humpty Dumpty, nursery rhyme reworked for propaganda purposes, 1914-1918.

Rhyme accompanying the caricature:

'Humpty Dumpty hammered the Gaul -
Humpty Dumpty had a big fall;
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Can't take Kaiser Billy to Paris again!'

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

East London College Magazine.

East London College Magazine was the student magazine and continued throughout the First World War. The regular features of news from the college, poems, stories, jokes, sketches, cartoons, and reports from union societies, continued. But the roll of service became a new regular feature, reporting the fate of fellow students to their friends.

Click on the links above to view individual pages of the College Magazine. PDF's may take a while to download depending on the speed of your internet connection. 

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Chelsea War Refugees Committee concert programme, 1916.

Hand decorated programme for a concert to be held at Crosby Hall by the Chelsea War Refugees Committee for the Belgian refugees. Over 240,000 Belgians sought refuge in Britain during the First World War.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Christmas card sent from France, 1916.

This image shows a Christmas card sent by George Webb of the 16th (Irish) Division who was serving in France on Christmas Day 1916. The sketch on the printed card shows two soldiers carrying the food for Christmas dinner.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Photograph of a Belgian refugee family, c.1914-1918.

The photograph depicts a family of four Belgian refugees who were harboured by the Lyttelton family. In 1914 Belgium asserted its neutrality under international treaty and Britain promised to defend this. However, after refusing to give permission to Germany to cross Belgian territory in order to reach France, Germany declared war on Belgium and invaded the country. Over 1 million refugees fled the country over the coming weeks, mostly to the Netherlands but also to France and Britain.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Higgledy-Piggledy, nursery rhyme reworked for propaganda purposes, 1914-1918.

Rhyme accompanying the caricature:

'Higgledy-piggledy, my black hun!
She lays mines where the trade ships run;
Friends and foes she treats as one -
Higgledy-piggledy, my black hun!'

In February 1915 Germany declared the waters surrounding British Isles to be a war zone in which ships could be sunk without warning, and began the first U-Boat campaign with unrestricted attacks against merchant and passenger ships. The British Navy retaliated in March by imposing a total sea blockade on Germany, prohibiting all shipping imports including food.

Image Courtesy of Queen Mary University of London Archives.

Moonrise on the Somme, by Percy Smith from the Drypoints of War series, 1916-1919.

Taking place between July and November 1916, the Battle of the Somme was one of the largest of the First World War with more than 1 million men wounded or killed.

Image Courtesy of Percy Smith Foundation

Dugout Fires, by Percy Smith, 1916-1919.

Image Courtesy of Percy Smith Foundation.