The Great War and The People of Wirral, Cheshire, c. 1910-1925

Roberts, Stephen J (2022) The Great War and The People of Wirral, Cheshire, c. 1910-1925. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

Preview

Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (8MB) | Preview

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact of the Great War upon the people of Wirral during the period 1910-1925. It deepens our understanding of the history of a region within the United Kingdom during the early twentieth century and starts to rectify the historiographical imbalance between Wirral and its neighbour, Liverpool, which has so far received far more scholarly attention. A small portion of the British population is here placed under a microscope, so that the impact of the Great War on British society as a whole might better be understood. In order to produce balanced judgements on such topics as reactions to war, recruitment, resilience, patriotism, commemoration and remembrance, the arguments of the national historians are compared with local data and, where possible, comparisons made with other parts of the United Kingdom. An integrated and ’bottom up’ approach has been pursued. Primary sources (such as newspapers, oral interviews, personal papers and service records) have been analysed using the methods of the family, local, regional and military historian and a range of interesting stories and numerical data brought to light. It is argued that the Great War exerted a conservative and reactionary influence on society. The beliefs, structures and attitudes of the pre-war world enabled people to cope with the challenges of total war and were, therefore, still firmly in place by 1925. If twentieth century British history is viewed teleologically as a progression towards a more democratic, equitable, inclusive and peaceful society, the data from Wirral herein expounded does not support the view that the Great War, at least within the decade of its conclusion, was a catalyst within this progression. The labour and women’s movements enjoyed limited political and social success in the immediate post-war years and pacifist views became slightly more acceptable in some circles, but, in general old loyalties and beliefs remained unshaken. In this regard, Wirral was more conservative than districts with stronger Nonconformist traditions (such as South Wales), higher proportions of industrial workers (such as Bolton) or who were represented by pacifist MPs (such as Leicester). It is also shown that the home and fighting fronts were much more strongly linked than has previously been supposed and that, despite their surprisingly detailed knowledge of its horrors, civilians remained committed to the war. The people of Wirral should, therefore, be seen not solely as recipients of the war’s impact, but as prosecutors and moulders of the conflict – active agents instead of passive victims. The thesis contributes to debates about the role of the Great War in British history and about the value of regional studies in advancing historical knowledge. Britain is shown to have been a highly complex and diverse society about which it is difficult accurately to generalise, although certain themes (such as the importance of Christianity, patriotism, commitment to monarchy and empire and Germanophobia) are identifiable in most parts of the country. The work is a provocation for further regional studies which focus on the impact of war on society and for further analysis of Merseyside in wartime.