How British newspapers brought the war home to the breakfast table

[sykikcabbage]

Hello everyone!

I've been wondering just how much of a glimpse the British public might have had of the actual conditions of life and death on the Western Front from reports and letters published in national or local newspapers. Were editors generally tempted to sanitize the picture for their readers, or were there some who refused to pull their punches as much as the government would doubtless have liked? Would the public have been reassured that the war may have been going slowly but at least it wasn't going too badly, or would it have gotten a real inkling of catastrophe from the way the newspapers reported major reverses on the Western Front?

What I'm trying to get a sense of here is just how much the public might have known about the scale of some of our disasters from what the newspapers were telling them. I imagine that the obituary columns in local newspapers would have quietly told their own terrible story about just how bad things in France really were, regardless of what editorial policy on news from the front may have been. Just how frank could printed letters be, for example?

Thanks for any hints and tips anyone might be able to give.

[John_Hartley]

Best tip I can give, assuming you're in the UK, is to pop to your nearest local history library and read your own local papers. That way, you'll be able to form your own view first hand.

Bar in mind that most newspapers published shortened versions of their pre-war editions so tended not to carry much by way of readers letters. And, as for obituary columns, these never included anything like the numbers who died.

[renny]

I am currently writing a book about my home town of Crawley, part of which includes various obituaries, letters etc that are printed in the local papers of the time. There has been some quite graphic stuff printed that would certainly give you an idea of what was going on at the Front.

another thing that has stuck me was the weekly tribunals for exemption and joint army/police raids on cinemas etc. to check young men's papers to see whay they weren't fighting

if you have the time reading your local papers really does bring it all home to you

Renny

[sykikcabbage]

I expect that's probably my best bet. Maybe I'll go to London and make a day of it at the British Newspaper Library at Colindale, too. (While it's still there -- I understand it's scheduled to move sometime.) Thanks, chaps.

[Perth Digger]

John, In your experience of local newspapers, do the In Memoriams go on for years after the death is first announced (on the anniversary of the death)? I've followed some In Memoriams through in the The Times and was surprised how many were annually commemorated into the 1930s. A couple went on into the 1950s. Some were the same year after year, but a number always said something different. I have, however, no experience with local newspapers, so do not know if The Times, which commemorated the more well-to-do, was unusual.

Thanks

Mike

Best tip I can give, assuming you're in the UK, is to pop to your nearest local history library and read your own local papers. That way, you'll be able to form your own view first hand.

Bar in mind that most newspapers published shortened versions of their pre-war editions so tended not to carry much by way of readers letters. And, as for obituary columns, these never included anything like the numbers who died.