linden Posted 22 November , 2007 Share Posted 22 November , 2007 I have been reading posts about visits to the battlefields and cemeteries in the 1920's . Also, questions about the Visitors' Books . So yesterday I looked at "Silent Cities" and the article about pilgrimages . I was really surprised to discover that there were so many visitors . I googled "St Barnabas Society" and Rev M Mullineaux , but there doesn't seem to be any information online . I have become interested in the travel organisations because I have a "lost" ancestor who may have made this pilgrimage and then died in France during the journey . How many of you know that your family visited their lost relatives ? It does look as though there must have been a lot of them . Do any of you know anything about the tour companies ? Does anyone know how I can find out if my ancestor did die and is buried in France ? Regards, Linden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 22 November , 2007 Share Posted 22 November , 2007 There was considerable travel organised by local pals groups - such as the Leeds trip covered recently in a thread and also mass pilgrimages such as the one organised by the British Legion in 1928 - I am fortunate enough to have a personal diary , pictures and ephemera gathered by a pilgrim on this pilgrimage. An interesting official book about this one was also issued. I have a modern book that covers pilgrimages in a bit of detail and will post title/author when I get home. A fascinating topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linden Posted 22 November , 2007 Author Share Posted 22 November , 2007 Thanks Ian. When my cousin and I visited our great uncle's grave this summer we thought we must have been the first family members , because it would have been so difficult to travel straight after the first world war . In the past couple of days I've begun to realise how wrong we were . I'm looking forward to getting a sense of how it must have been . Regards, Linden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Poilu Posted 22 November , 2007 Share Posted 22 November , 2007 You can see a leaflet advertising tours by Thomas Cook in 1923 in this topic below: http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...st&p=771938 There were tours long before this date of course, perhaps while the war was still on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 22 November , 2007 Share Posted 22 November , 2007 The book "Battlefield Tourism: Pilgrimage and the Commemoration of the Great War in Britain, Australia and Canada, 1919-1939" by David W. Lloyd is a good in-depth look at this subject. Published by Berg in 1998, paperback 251pp ISBN 1 85973 179 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 22 November , 2007 Share Posted 22 November , 2007 Yes, the book by David W Lloyd is the one I have . Very good and thought provoking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted 23 November , 2007 Share Posted 23 November , 2007 'A Distant Grief' by Bart Ziino also touches on the post war pilgrimages Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linden Posted 23 November , 2007 Author Share Posted 23 November , 2007 Thank you . I shall order both the books - they sound as though they are just what I'm looking for . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelS Posted 24 November , 2007 Share Posted 24 November , 2007 Although the Michelin Guides to the Battlefieds series of the early twenties were dedicated to the members of their staff lost during the war they must have been responding to a demand from people who wanted to organise their own pilgrimages. They make interesting reading - at least going by the reproduction of the one I have for Ypres - having suggested tours with descriptions, maps, and many before and after photographs. Looking at DingleRoad's brilliant pictures ( http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...tly+photographs ) I wondered whether his ancestors may have followed some of the suggested routes NigelS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linden Posted 11 January , 2008 Author Share Posted 11 January , 2008 I've just finished the David W Lloyd book . It was fascinating , and some of the stories were startling - Henry Williamson's article about the woman who married the German veteran who had killed her fiance . Thank you for the recommendation . Linden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 11 January , 2008 Share Posted 11 January , 2008 Try Thirteen Years After by Will Bird, a terrific writer who also wrote Ghosts Have Warm Hands, on of the very best accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fair Posted 11 January , 2008 Share Posted 11 January , 2008 An account by my grandfather in 1920 is on the internet here:Old Haunts Revisited The first Michelin Guide - to the battlefield of the Ourcq - was published in 1917. The others were mostly published in the 1919-1921 period in French. Some of the most popular were later revised and expanded e.g. the Verdun volume which was reissued in c. 1926. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 11 January , 2008 Share Posted 11 January , 2008 Thanks for posting that link, Charles. Fascinating. These early visits must have been extraordinary and pretty harrowing - particularly for your Grandfather those graves at High Wood - not like they are today rather softened and dignified - but so raw in 1920. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Pegram Posted 11 January , 2008 Share Posted 11 January , 2008 'A Distant Grief' by Bart Ziino also touches on the post war pilgrimages As does Bruce Scates, 'Return to Gallipoli', CUP, 2006. A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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