Over the centuries the people occupying the settlement of Doncaster have played a part in defending the country from one foe or another.
During the time of the Saxons there were conflicts between kingdoms. Along came the Normans with various bloody engagements during the Harrying of the North. The town was a hive of excitement, trepidation and confusion during the Wars of the Roses in the fifteenth century. Conisbrough Castle was a base for the ill-fated Richard, Duke of York, and it was from here that he set out for his property at Sandal Castle and the Battle of Wakefield where he was defeated and killed by Lancastrian supporters of King Henry VI.
Fast forward to the seventeenth century and townsfolk were called to choose between the Crown or Cromwell in the English Civil War. The civil conflict of that period caused much disturbance as armies marched along the Great North Road from north to south and back again. Cromwell and his men arrived in Doncaster to be entertained by the Corporation at the expense of the townspeople. That both the King’s men and Parliamentarians came to Doncaster in search of new recruits is well documented.
As the Victorian period was ending, came the Boer War with its improved fire power through advancing technology. At its end in 1902 the wounded arrived back on our shores and Doncaster families lamented their sons who had fallen on African soil. The dust settled, peace and tranquillity returned and Doncaster slipped back into its routine as an emerging mining town. Relative normality resumed and the memories of war gradually faded.
The harmony ended abruptly in the mid-summer of 1914 when the Great War erupted in Europe. Once again Doncaster men and boys were called to arms and Doncaster felt the sadness and anguish that can only come when those that are dearest to us are laying their lives on the line. Doncastrians, it seems, were a willing bunch when it came to fighting for what they were persuaded to believe was a good cause.
However, in the long years of war Doncaster was shaken to its foundations and communities were damaged beyond repair. People’s memories of the Great War still persisted into the twenty-first century but with the 100th anniversary these have all but faded away.
This book looks at ways in which the First World War took its toll on Doncaster in particular. It serves, not only as a lasting memory for a generation in danger of forgetting, but also, and more importantly, as a means of expressing grateful recognition for the men and boys who lost their lives in that conflict.
Symeon Mark Waller