Contemporary newspapers of the Great War period provide a rich seam of information on both officers and men and often include a photograph of the soldier in uniform. Although the majority of articles are about the men who were killed, there are also many references and photographs of those that survived. An article may be the only surviving source of information available on a man and in nearly all cases will prove to be an excellent starting point for further research and corroboration.
So what information do the newspapers contain?
Newspapers were the social media of the day and were used extensively by both the families and the soldiers themselves. Early in the war newspapers printed letters from serving soldiers expressing their fear, their hopes for the future, their hardships, their excitement and their national pride. When an officer or a soldier was killed the entries celebrated a life lost and often give a pen picture of the man and in many cases a photograph too. Articles vary greatly, but in general the number of articles and the detail diminishes after 1916.
Our volunteers have scoured and continue to scour WW1 period newspapers to identify pieces which relate to the officers and men of the Worcestershire Regiment. All entries and details of photographs are transcribed (verbatim in most cases) and entered into the WW1 database where they can be searched.