The events of September 1917
With the battle of Passchendaele raging across the channel there was inevitably a large increase in the number of casualties to fill
the columns of the newspaper. As well as the usual galleries and reports of wounded, killed and honoured, we find a growing
number of men who have suffered from the increasingly deadly gas attacks.
But amid the carnage there are occasional reminders, too, that for many men this was the first chance to experience life in another
country and there is no mistaking the fascination at seeing the pyramids first hand or getting to grips with cultures far removed
from Shipley and District.
There is no doubt that the war changed men and we get a glimpse of that with Rev Richard Whincup’s somewhat reluctant return
from the front to his parish. At home, some people were already planning for what they realised would be a different society after
the war and labour leader Tom Mann told a Shipley Glen audience that it was time to think about a five-day working week and at
least £1 a day.
There was even talk of what, 100 years later, we call work-life balance, with Parkinson’s praised for the way they supported their
workers’ choir, where bosses and workforce met on equal terms to enjoy some leisure time.
Most people at home, however, were more concerned about the here and now and ensuring they had enough to eat. Food
committees had been established to try to stop profiteering; sugar cards had been introduced in an effort to share the diminished
stocks more fairly; and all over the district people were hoping for a bumper crop from the potatoes they had planted.
And there was plenty of concern too as the row over a possible plot by some clubs to breakaway from the Bradford League
rumbled on. Meanwhile, on the pitch, Saltaire celebrated their first championship.
The links here will take you to pages containing stories published exactly 100 years before. The headlines shown are only a taste of
the stories that appear on that page.
7 September 1917
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- Chaplain changed by time at the front
- Vicar tackles church and war dilemma
- Sunday School treats to be curtailed
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Club cleared of cricket breakaway plot
- No mud on competition spuds
- Van accident kills six-year-old girl
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Increase in wounded clue to war severity
- Given a chance, Germans will surrender
- Military Medals for local soldiers
14 September 1917
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- Salts Mill seeks to eject tenants
- Food Controller sets out his objectives
- Mother and daughter buried in same grave
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Can CO work in munitions?
- Rainy end to cricket season
- Ladies make sock-mending trips
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Soldier’s view of life in Salonika
- Killed when ammunition dump went up
- DCM for soldier whose health is shattered
- Vicar given warm welcome home from front
- Volunteer worth more than Tribunal men
- News of son’s death arrives on his birthday
21 September 1917
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- Hard work for Food Control Committee
- Sort out Alf but don’t hurt her feelings
- More money to help the poor
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Reflections on work-life balance 1917
- League ponder poaching of a bowler
- Daughter is an enthusiastic war worker
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Spotlight on a family’s service and sacrifice
- Boatbuilder killed in action
- Brewer suffering from shell shock
- Right royal treatment in Egyptian hospital
- Train delay takes edge off hero’s welcome
- Keen horticulturalist killed in action
28 September 1917
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- Quick thinking saves chum’s life
- Planning for five-day week at £1 per day
- Need to control what films children view
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Plea to light benighted Shipley
- Idle Tide today and in the past
- Premier club in premier English league
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Never to be forgotten trip to pyramids
- Musical welcome for medal hero
- Not the place to cook with coal
- Belated medal presentation at council
- Baildon gardener dies of his wounds
- Khaki wedding in Eccleshill