One of the questions I am most often asked is ‘Where can I find a list of those killed in air raids on the Home Front in the First World War?’ And there is a simple answer – there isn’t one. The government at the time made no attempt to compile a central register and as such those lists that do exist are the fruits of the labours of local historians working on their own town’s history, leaving many places with no casualty lists at all. When I started the ‘Forgotten Blitz’ project I set out to try to correct this, creating for the first time a national list of those who were killed, victims of this first sustained aerial campaign. It has been challenging at times, has involved much detective work and the following up of hunches but, following my list for 1915 published in ‘Zeppelin Onslaught’, I can now add that covering 1916. Interestingly, although the official totals show 293 killed in Zeppelin raids, I have evidence of 300 deaths. In some cases this is due to people dying of their injuries after the numbers were collated (at least four), while in other cases it demonstrates a lack of consistency in including those whose deaths are attributed to ‘shock’ suffered during an air raid. Of the 300 deaths I have traced, I have been able to put names to the victims in all but six cases: a child in Wednesbury, two women in Sunderland, two men in NE London and a woman in West Hartlepool. If anyone can help fill in the blanks I would love to hear. www.IanCastleZeppelin.co.uk
