This article is more concerned with the first world war for which not only men were recruited, but also horses, which were in great demand to haul guns and wagons as well as provide means of transport for officers. Drives were held from time to time, the first being held in 1914 near the “Kings Arms”.

            Recruitment drives for men were held in the same location as is shown, although an awful lot of women seem to have turned up! Note the recruitment Officer in the foreground.

 

            The navy also required many recruits, one of them being Dorothy Bone’s father who had been a regular sailor. He had retired in 1912, but was one of the first to be recalled to duty in 1914.

            By the end of the war about eighty men had served and sadly fourteen had lost their lives. Their names are inscribed on a tablet in the church porch, which was miraculously undamaged when it was bombed in the Second World War. They also appeared on the war memorial, which was unveiled in 1921 by the local M.P. Colonel J.B. Mildmay. The Royal British Legion was formed in the same year.

            The ladies were not left out of involvement, some taking over farm work to replace men who had gone in the forces. This was the first appearance of the Women’s Land Army which played such an important role in the Second World War, though they wore  armbands to indicate their status, instead of the uniform worn by the later group. Other ladies became nurses.

            The 1914 – 18 generation had some consolation in thinking they were fighting the “War to end all wars”. How wrong they were. The 1939- 45 conflict caused even greater death and devastation and directly affected even this small Devon village when it was bombed in 1943. On a personal note I can still remember the sadness on my father’s face when he saw me off at the station to join the Navy. He had spent a great deal of the First World War in the trenches and both his sons were now involved in a struggle against the same enemy.