Contents

Introduction: 1914

PART ONE: JUNE

Champagne and Plovers’ Eggs

Monday 1 June Assembly Rooms, Presteigne, Radnorshire

Tuesday 2 June Royal Fusiliers’ Albany Barracks, Parkhurst, Isle of Wight

Wednesday 3 June Dieppe Harbour, Normandy, France

Friday 5 June Blair Atholl Castle, Perthshire

Saturday 6 June Duke’s Arms, Presteigne, Radnorshire / Keighley Green Working Men’s Club, Burnley, Lancashire

Monday 8 June Glen Tilt Experimental Aerodrome, Blair Atholl, Perthshire

Monday 29 June Mechanics’ Institute, Burnley, Lancashire

PART TWO: JULY

Death in a Distant Land

Saturday 11 July Pear Tree Cottage, Overstrand, Cromer, Norfolk

Sunday 12 July Kettledrum Inn, Mereclough, Burnley, Lancashire

Wednesday 22 July Wellington Barracks, Tower of London, City of London

Friday 24 July Pear Tree Cottage, Overstrand, Cromer, Norfolk

Saturday 25 July 84 Eaton Place, London

Sunday 26 July Willey Lodge, Presteigne, Radnorshire

Friday 31 July Admiralty House, Whitehall, London

PART THREE: AUGUST

Into the Boiling Cauldron

Sunday 2 August Wellington Barracks, Tower of London, City of London

Thursday 6 August Blair Atholl Castle, Perthshire

Friday 7 August Pentry Farm, Presteigne, Radnorshire

Saturday 8 August Keighley Green Working Men’s Club, Burnley, Lancashire

Monday 10 August Cabinet Room, 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London / Rouen, Normandy, France / Rules Restaurant, Covent Garden, London / Royal Fusiliers’ Albany Barracks, Parkhurst, Isle of Wight

Monday 24 August Admiralty House, Whitehall, London / Bougnie, West Flanders, Belgium / Inchy, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France / Bavay, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Tuesday 25 August Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

PART FOUR: SEPTEMBER

Your King and Country Need You

Tuesday 1 September War Office, Whitehall, London

Saturday 5 September Wellington Hotel, Brunshaw Road, Burnley, Lancashire / Admiralty House, Whitehall, London / Rue du Marteroy, Jouarre, Seine-et-Marne, France

Tuesday 8 September Saint-Ouen-sur-Morin, Seine-et-Marne, France

Thursday 10 September 54 Hart Street, Burnley, Lancashire

Saturday 12 September Vailly-sur-Aisne, Picardy, France

Monday 14 September Troyon Sugar Factory, Vendresse, Champagne-Ardenne, France

Tuesday 22 September Duke’s Arms, Presteigne, Radnorshire / New Street Station, Birmingham

Thursday 24 September 54 Hart Street, Burnley, Lancashire / Docklands, Tiger Bay, Cardiff

Friday 25 September Boughton House, Kettering, Northamptonshire

Monday 28 September Hereford General Hospital, Herefordshire

PART FIVE: OCTOBER

Race to the Sea

Friday 2 October Keighley Green Working Men’s Club, Burnley, Lancashire / Victoria Station, London

Monday 12 October Town Hall, Great Harwood, Lancashire

Saturday 17 October Herlies, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Sunday 18 October Royal Welch Fusiliers’ Regimental HQ, Hightown Barracks, Wrexham, Clwyd

Sunday 25 October Neuve-Chapelle, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Wednesday 28 October White Drawing Room, Royal Apartments, Windsor Castle, Berkshire

Thursday 29 October Reform Club, Pall Mall, London

Friday 30 October Poperinghe, West Flanders, Belgium

PART SIX: NOVEMBER

Graveyard of the Old Contemptibles

Wednesday 4 November Merris, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France

Sunday 8 November Zwarteleen, West Flanders, Belgium

Monday 9 November British Army Field Hospital, Provoost Lace Mill, Poperinghe, West Flanders, Belgium

Wednesday 11 November Hooge, West Flanders, Belgium

Sunday 29 November Belcaire, Lympne, Kent

PART SEVEN: DECEMBER

Christmas Truce

Tuesday 8 December HMS Inflexible, Falkland Islands, South Atlantic

Wednesday 23 December Keighley Green Working Men’s Club, Burnley, Lancashire

Friday 25 December Blair Atholl Castle, Perthshire / British Army Field Hospital, Provoost Lace Mill, Poperinghe, West Flanders, Belgium / 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, London / Kemmel, West Flanders, Belgium

Epilogue

Maps

Glossary

Dramatis Personae

Casualty Figures of the Great War

Genealogies

Acknowledgements

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