Event    From 4/8/1914  To 11/11/1918

World War 1

Categories: Armed Forces, Tragedy

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came along at which point it was renamed as World War One or the First World War. But the term was first used in print in 1920 as the title of a book, 'The First World War' by Charles à Court Repington. He was using it to emphasize the global nature of the war rather than its sequential nature.

Different memorials give different years for the end of WW1. The Armistice came into force at 11am on 11 November 1918 and fighting ceased on the western front but hostilities continued elsewhere. The Treaty of Versailles, signed by Germany and some of the allied powers following the Paris Peace Conference, was not until 28 June 1919.

The war did not officially end in the UK until 31 August 1921, as explained at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission: "When the Termination of the Present War (Definition) Act 1918 was passed by Parliament, it gave discretion to His Majesty in Council to declare the date of the termination of the war. Consequently, war with each of the Central Powers ended close to the date of the ratification of the various peace treaties. Although a treaty with Turkey had yet to be ratified, it was decided that 31 August 1921 ‘should be treated as the date of the termination of the present War’. As the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) was charged with responsibility for the graves of service personnel who died between the outbreak and end of the War, this meant that those casualties of the First World War who died after 31 August 1921 fell outside the remit of the Commission."

Note - it seems to be just a lucky poetic chance that the Armistice coincides with "the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month". Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on November 9th, presumably not thinking "just in time for a poetically-timed Armistice".

For some signs of WW1 on buildings in London see Spitalfields Life.

2024: We've just come across the London World War 1 Memorial - looks like it could be a great resource.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
World War 1

Commemorated ati

24th London Division - memorial

These 3 figures are said to be modelled on the soldier poets: Robert Graves, ...

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8th London Howitzers

The way this monument meets the sloping ground has been well thought out: a s...

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Abney Park - CWGC war memorial

The screen wall at the back, south, of the memorial carries a number of bronz...

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African and Caribbean Armed Forces

Unveiled on Windrush Day. A very simple design, we think the horizontal obeli...

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Air raid

Very small plaque on the doorframe.

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Other Subjects

W. Gillham

W. Gillham

Co-partner or employee of the South Suburban Gas Company. Served but did not die in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial
Midshipman Anthony Edward Baldwin

Midshipman Anthony Edward Baldwin

Anthony Edward Baldwin was born on 18 April 1900, the youngest of the three children of Edward Thomas Baldwin (1847-1937) and Emily Henry Louise Stoker (1866-1936). His birth was registered in the ...

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
J. R. Burnell

J. R. Burnell

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW2.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
A. E. Sherwood

A. E. Sherwood

Resident of the Central Ward, Hendon who served and died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Ronald Neil Stuart, VC

Ronald Neil Stuart, VC

Awarded the VC for his heroism on 7 June 1917, age 30, while serving in the Royal Naval Reserve. "HMS Pargust disguised as a merchant ship, encountered an enemy submarine. The submarine was sunk an...

Person, Armed Forces

War served, WW1
1 memorial

Previously viewed

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen

Poet and soldier. Born Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, near Oswestry, Shropshire. In 1915 he enlisted in the Artists Rifles Officers' Training Corps, eventually being commissioned as a second lieutenan...

Person, Armed Forces, Poetry, Seriously Famous, France, Scotland

1 memorial
Prince Albert

Prince Albert

Born Schloss Rosenau, Coburg, Germany, as Albert Francis Augustus Charles Emanuel. Married his first cousin, Victoria, in 1840. President of the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition. Generally in...

Person, Royalty, Seriously Famous, Germany

21 memorials
National Theatre

National Theatre

First proposed in 1848, the gestation of the NT is complex (see the NT's own site). The first site for the NT was acquired in 1913, immediately behind the British Museum, at the corner of Gower Str...

Building, Theatre

4 memorials
Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley

‘Tin Pan Alley’ originally, 1885, referred to the section of New York City where music publishers and songwriters were based.  In 1920s London music shops congregated in Denmark Street and the term...

Place, Journalism / Publishing, Music / songs

1 memorial
Ewer Street Burial Ground

Ewer Street Burial Ground

St Saviour's Southwark has some good reports describing this burial ground at various times: 1822 - a report of a body-snatching incident; 1839 - a report of its over-filled "repulsive" condition; ...

Place, Religion

1 memorial