When the call came for volunteers at the outbreak of the First World War, men flooded into Newcastle from the shipyards, mines, factories and offices.
Newcastle raised more battalions of volunteer soldiers who went on to see active service than any other British provincial city, says historian and author Neil Storey.
But the scale of that response and contribution to the war by the city has never been fully recognised, he claims.
“Newcastle raised the greatest number of battalions of any city outside London but that achievement has been lost to history,” says Neil, co-author of a book out next week titled Newcastle Battalions in Action on the Somme.
“It was a remarkable contribution and they made a remarkable sacrifice in the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago.
“Almost all of the battalions raised in Newcastle fought at the Somme at some point.
“But the contribution by Newcastle and Northumberland is often overlooked. Maybe it is partly because of an ’it’s up North’ attitude, which is an attitude which still exists to a certain extent today.”
Neil, the author of 30 books, has written his latest effort - from Tyne Bridge Publishing at £7.99 - with Fiona Kay, who lives in Cramlington in Northumberland, where the family name of Storey is more common than in East Anglia.
Although born and bred in Norfolk, Neil has family connections with Northumberland.
He says: “On visits to the North East I noticed lots of Storeys on war memorials.
“While trying to find out more, I was struck by the sheer number of battalions raised in Newcastle. It was astonishing.”
He estimates that 19 battalions were recruited in Newcastle. Battalions comprised 1,000 men but 1,200 were usually recruited to allow for wastage.
Neil reckons that reasons for the enormous surge in recruitment included the numbers of men working in what was a heavily industrialised area and the patriotic flush of 1914.
In 1912 mines in Northumberland employed 48,450 men underground and 10,854 on the surface.
“Joining up was an escape from life down the pit, and doing their bit for their country. Men didn’t want to miss out on what was considered then to be something of an adventure.
“There was also the fighting spirit of the area and the tradition of its people standing up for themselves.”
As war became increasingly likely in the summer of 1914, The Journal’s report of the Bank Holiday Monday of August 3 read: “ For all the sunshine, there was a cloud - the cloud of war.
“Wherever people congregated the conflict on the Continent was the chief topic of conversation and one naturally which could not be discussed without anxiety.”
When Secretary of State for War Lord Kitchener appealed for volunteers it took just 11 days to raise 1,100 men for the 8th battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers.
This, says Neil Storey, was the first complete battalion of any English regiment for Kitchener’s army.
The call also went out for a battalion of “young commercial men” and this was achieved in less than a week, with the Newcastle Commercials holding their first drill on the field at Newcastle Royal Grammar School.
Another two battalions were formed, becoming the 18th and 19th Northumberland Fusiliers.
“The response of Newcastle was truly outstanding- battalion after battalion was raised,” says Neil.
Schools, churches, sports clubs and societies drew up rolls of their people who joined up. That of St Mary’s RC Boys’ School in Newcastle totalled 443 by October 30, 1914, while 470 men from Heworth Colliery enlisted.
Another 300 men from Bedlington Colliery volunteered and the colour of the Second Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers is housed today at St Cuthbert’s Church in the town.
Eldridge Eastman, a black Canadian who was not allowed to join the Canadian army, travelled to Britain and enlisted instead in the Northumberland Fusiliers.
On October 14, 1914, sanction was given for a Tyneside Scottish battalion, which was full within 10 days. Another three battalions followed.
It was the same story with the Tyneside Irish, with another four battalions.
Both the Tyneside Scottish and Tyneside Irish lost around half their number in dead and wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on July 1, 1916,