Western Front twin towns!

[pmaasz]

British League of Help:

Here is a list of adoptions by the BLH. For this I am grateful to my friend Dr Bryan Lewis whose doctoral thesis was devoted to this organisation.

Appendix A: Communities participating in the adoption scheme

1: British-French

01 Ayr Aire

02 Barking U D Morchies

03 Bexhill Bayencourt

04 Birmingham Albert

05 Blackburn Maricourt, Péronne

06 Blackpool Neuve-Chapelle

07 Bradford Bailleul, Nieppe

08 Brighouse Courcelettes

09 Bristol Béthune

10 Burnley Colincamps, Courcelles-au-Bois, Miraumont

11 Cambridge Vermand

12 Canterbury Lesboeufs, Morval

13 Cheltenham Englefontaine

14 Cirencester Passel, Ville

15 City of London Verdun

16 Darlington Mercatel

17 Derby Barleux, Foncquevillers

18 Doncaster Saint-Léger

19 Eastbourne Bray-sur-Somme

20 Edinburgh Falaise, Margny, Seraincourt

21 Eton U D Eton

22 Evesham Hébuterne

23 Exeter Montdidier

24 Folkstone Morlancourt

25 Glasgow Vouziers

26 Gloucester Orvillers-la-Boisselle

27 Halifax Metz-en-Couture

28 Hastings Sailly-au-Bois

29 Hornsey Guillemont

30 Hove Bourlon

31 Huddersfield Hermies, Havrincourt

32 Ipswich Bazentin, Fricourt

33 Isle of Wight Monchy-le-Preux

34 Inverness Hulluch

35 Jersey Soyécourt

36 Keighley Poix-du-Nord

37 Kensington Souchez

38 King's Lynn & W Norfolk Pronville

39 Leamington Biaches

40 Liverpool Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée

41 Llandudno U D Mametz

42 Maidstone Montauban

43 Malvern U D Landrecies

44 Mitcham U D Chérisy

45 Newcastle Arras

46 Newport Neuville-St-Vaast

47 Oxford Fayet & District

48 Paddington Neuville-Vitasse, Vieille-Chapelle

49 Petersfield U D Noreuil

50 Portsmouth Combles, Flers

51 Plymouth Estaires

52 Rye Coigneux

53 St Marylebone Sailly-Saillisel

54 Sandwich Framerville

55 Sheffield Bapaume, Serre, Puisieux

56 Southampton Gueudecourt, Martinpuich

57 Southport Festubert

58 South Shields Catillon-sur-Sambre

59 Southwark Cambrin

60 Stafford Bellenglise

61 Stockport Haybes

62 Stoke Poges&Neighbourhood Etricourt-Manancourt

63 Stourbridge Grandcourt-sur-l'Ancre

64 Swansea Carnoy

65 Tonbridge U D Thiepval

66 Tunbridge Wells Bouzincourt

67 Turton U D Jussy

68 Wandsworth Villers-Plouich

69 Warwick Longavesnes

70 Westminster Gavrelle

71 Winchester Mailly-Maillet, Auchonvillers, Englebelmer, Beaumont-Hamel

72 Windsor Hardecourt-au-Bois

73 Wolverhampton Gommecourt, Berles-au-Bois

74 Worcester Gouzeaucourt

75 Worthing Richebourg-l'Avoué

91 Manchester Mézières

92 Melbourne Villers-Bretonneux

93 Ladies’ Hairdressers Lagnicourt-Marcel

[cockney tone]

PMAASZ,

fantastic, thank you, 93 has me puzzled though!

would love to see sight of your friends thesis,

Regards,

Scottie.

[Alan Tucker]

It seems to me that the League of Help had some sort of co-ordinating role i.e. sharing out the devastated towns but what was actually done was down to local initiative at a council or private organisation level.

[pmaasz]

Scottie: I'm meeting him on Friday and will ask where it is deposited. I think it will be Reading University Library. If there are any specific questions send me a message and I will put you in touch with him by email.

[Alan Tucker]

Posting the chapter headings would be interesting.

[pmaasz]

I googled 'Bryan Lewis Reading University' and found his thesis listed in the library section of RU website:

Lewis, Bryan F.

Adoptive kinship and the British League of Help : commemoration of the Great War through the adoption of French communities / Bryan F. Lewis.

THESIS--R10083

The website gives a route for obtaining access to it.

I will ask him if it's possible to get a list of chapter headings and a summary.

[cockney tone]

PMAASZ,

i have no specific questions but just a general interest in this field and keen to find out more if possible, a summary and chapter heading would be a great starting place for us, when you see him Friday thank him for his work on this please, really interesting stuff.

Regards,

Scottie.

[jay dubaya]

Hi Scottie and co. what a great thread, I've often wondered how many villages were adopted in the 20's

The following is a footnote from Coppard's (With a Machine Gun to Cambrai) and relates to the Isle of White and Monchy-le-Preux.

'A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Major-General J.E.B Seeley to raise funds. The islanders subscribed enthusiastically and their generosity soon began to take the form of practical assistance. The first bountiful action was the supply in 1924 of sheets to 374 villagers in 146 families. Next came the purchase of land on which to bore wells for water, of which there was a great scarcity. Other good works followed'

The following relates to Sheffield and Serre, and is taken from the City Battalion history

'On 2nd June 1928 Monsieur Maurice Cocquet, the land owner, gave 6.5 acres to Sheffield on he understanding that £37/2/- was paid to the tenant farmer in compensation'

It was on this land that the Sheffield Memorial building was erected, it was designed Mr R. Ratcliffe (formerly Cpl 12/486 'B' Coy Y&L) sadly the building fell into disrepair and the land became badly overgrown during the 40's and 50's. It was decided to replace the building with a more durable structure on the same foundations and 5 acres were sold to keep a more manageable plot.

cheers, Jon

[Alan Tucker]

The following is a footnote from Coppard's (With a Machine Gun to Cambrai) and relates to the Isle of White and Monchy-le-Preux.

'A committee was formed under the chairmanship of Major-General J.E.B Seeley to raise funds. The islanders subscribed enthusiastically and their generosity soon began to take the form of practical assistance. The first bountiful action was the supply in 1924 of sheets to 374 villagers in 146 families. Next came the purchase of land on which to bore wells for water, of which there was a great scarcity. Other good works followed'

The gates to the French cemetery at Monchy were donated by the Isle of Wight and bear the date 1928.

[pmaasz]

Alan:

The only knowledge I have of the League of Help is from the many discussions I have had with Bryan Lewis while he was carrying out his research, here and in France. I have never regarded it as a 'shadowy' organisation and nor has he. Not well known, yes. Not much information in the public domain, yes. But to me 'shadowy', the word you have used both in your excellent Stand-To article and in this thread, implies 'shady'. Or am I mis-reading your intention?

Bryan Lewis will be sending me his thesis contents list and a synopsis. I'll post them as soon as I receive the info.

[pmaasz]

Scottie:

I forgot to ask Bryan about his #93 Ladies hairdressers and Lagnicourt-Marcel, but I do remember him telling me something about this long ago. The connection I believe is because of the 'Marcel Wave' which only those of you who are old enough to remember will know of as a technique of perming or waving ladies' hair.

[Alan Tucker]

The only knowledge I have of the League of Help is from the many discussions I have had with Bryan Lewis while he was carrying out his research, here and in France. I have never regarded it as a 'shadowy' organisation and nor has he. Not well known, yes. Not much information in the public domain, yes. But to me 'shadowy', the word you have used both in your excellent Stand-To article and in this thread, implies 'shady'. Or am I mis-reading your intention?

Perhaps a bit loose - certainly not shady. I meant vague and difficult to pin down. This was as a result of a Times Digital Archive search from which I expected to find out more when I did my Albert research.

Alan

[pmaasz]

Alan - OK. Thanks. Understood.

[PBI]

[Charles Fair]

Hythe, Kent is twinned with Poperinghe

[pmaasz]

My apologies for the delay in getting the promised info from Dr Bryan Lewis: he has been away from home.

Here is a summary of his thesis. I have also a complete thesis contents list, but I think the following is the most useful. However I can post the contents if anyone wishes.

“Visible and Indelible Traces”:

The Adoption of French Villages by British Communities

in the Aftermath of the Great War

Bryan F. Lewis

Summary

Immediately after the Armistice of 1918, the British people were full of hopes for the future. Their expectations were summed up in their desire to create a ‘land fit for heroes’. But it was not to be: the economy slumped, unemployment rose, and financial hardship escalated. There was also a controversial legacy from the years of fighting. Some 750,000 young British men had been killed, but it was not permitted to repatriate their bodies; they had to remain in the many military cemeteries in the countries where they had fallen. The war memorials which appeared in almost every town and village provided one manifestation of the resulting need to mourn and remember these men in new ways. Nevertheless, in spite of their own difficulties, many ordinary British citizens chose to help the people in northern France; people who faced similar problems, but in addition were returning to the piles of rubble that had been their villages, struggling to rebuild their shattered homes, and working to reclaim their riven land.

The programme of help was coordinated by a charitable organisation, named the British League of Help, which in 1920 was set up with a single purpose: to provide aid to communities in the areas of northern France devastated during the Great War. The League did not ask the British people simply to put money into a pot labelled ‘Help the French’: the aid they were asked to give was personalised. British cities and towns were encouraged to become a ‘godparent’ to a small town or a village that had been destroyed: in effect, to ‘adopt’ it. The British communities chose their own godchild, and most selected one from an area where their local men had been involved, often with distinction, in a significant military operation. In this way, they were able to commemorate and honour men from a local battalion or regiment, as well as help the French community.

The initiative was successful: some eighty British cities and towns adopted ninety-five towns and villages. The basic concept of the British League of Help and the adoptions it fostered was a simple one. But, in both its organisation and execution, it involved some of the ordinary people of Britain and northern France. Each adoption provided a unique, sometimes complex, social story of the Anglo-French relationship that developed.

Many gifts-in-kind were donated: clothes, furniture, domestic utensils, seeds for crops, agricultural implements, and small items of comfort such as felt slippers and tobacco pipes for the men. Energetic fund-raising took many forms: public and private subscriptions, flag days, door-to-door collections, appeals at schools and churches, collection boxes left in shops, public houses and places of work, and a variety of events such as fêtes, concerts, dances and football matches. The funds raised were used to pay for some substantial buildings: town halls, schools, hospitals, village halls, water towers, and dwellings. Raymond Poincaré, the French Prime Minister, thanked the godparents, saying that their help would leave ‘visible and indelible traces’ on the soil of France.

He was right. Much of the aid proved of lasting value. Many of the buildings are still in use today, often fulfilling their original or a related purpose; in the French villages they act as a focal point for the memory of their marraine anglaise, and of the bonds of kinship that were forged during the aftermath of the Great War. This recollection is reinforced by signs on streets and squares that bear the names of the British benefactors: the ‘Rue de Birmingham’ and the ‘Place de Wandsworth’ have a character that can not easily be ignored.

During a recent research programme, more than thirty-five of the adopted communities were visited; there was no difficulty in finding people keen to talk about the history of their adoption, and proudly show the ‘visible and indelible traces’ of the help they had received from their British godmother. In some cases strong bonds were forged that lasted for many years: bonds which, without doubt, made a positive contribution to Anglo-French relations, and strengthened the Entente Cordiale.

In Britain most of all this is now forgotten, both in popular memory and by historians. But not all of it. Two of the adoptions are established under the present twinning movement. Several other relationships have, in recent years, been reawakened by exchange visits between the communities involved. And, in 2006, the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme prompted citizens from a number of British towns to visit their godchild from the 1920s.

The research programme has uncovered a wide variety of material about individual adoptions, held in many scattered archives in Britain and in France. The documents include original letters and reports, press clippings, brochures, posters, postcards, and photographs. Recent photographs of buildings and other structures bring the account up-to-date. These documents and images, together with many anecdotes – concerning the reaction of villagers on hearing the history of the clock in their town hall, or the water tower in their village – provide an extensive and unique record of a story which is of interest today. An important finding of the research is that the adoption movement was not only a means to provide help to a war-time ally; it was also one of the forms of commemoration that emerged in the years following the Armistice, and enabled British communities to remember and honour their local men who had fought, and often died, in France.

A detailed account of the research is given in Bryan F. Lewis, Adoptive Kinship and the British League of Help: Commemoration of the Great War through the Adoption of French Communities (University of Reading: unpublished PhD thesis, October 2006)

[Alan Tucker]

Thanks for this - very interesting research. Deserves to be more widely available that a uni library.

The contents page would also be of interest!

[pmaasz]

OK Alan - here it is: (using copy/paste has screwed up the pagination but I'm sure the rest is understandable)

THE UNIVERSITY OF READING

Adoptive Kinship and the British League of Help:

Commemoration of the Great War

through the Adoption of French Communities

Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Department of History

Bryan F. Lewis

October 2006

CONTENTS

Dedication v

Acknowledgements vi

Abbreviations

Archives and major holdings ix

Publications by the British League of Help xi

List of Illustrations xiii

Introduction

Background 1

The Research Project 4

The British League of Help

Commemoration

Reconstruction

Other Contexts

Research Methods and Methodology 15

Literature

Archives and personal papers

National and local newspapers

Visual material – contemporary and present-day

Interviews and questionnaires

Existing twinning arrangements

Origin of sources

Sample of adoptions

Conclusion 29

PART ONE – CONTEXTS

1: Commemorative Practices in Britain after the Great War

Introduction 34

Rolls of Honour 39

Personal Shrines, Street Shrines and Street Memorials 42

Roads of Remembrance 45

Pilgrimages and Battlefield Tours 47

Wooden Crosses (Battlefield Grave Markers) 51

War Memorials 55

High Diction and Big Words 59

Conclusion 63

2: Destruction and Reconstruction of French Communities

Introduction 67

Destruction of Life, Property and Identity 71

Destruction of life

Destruction of property

Destruction of identity

Reconstruction 88

Aid 94

Conclusion 102

PART TWO – ADOPTIVE KINSHIP

3: The British League of Help – Formation and Operation

Introduction 105

Lady Bathurst and the Adoption of Ville and Passel 106

The Formation of the British League of Help 117

Preparatory work

The economic and social environment

The launch of the League

The Purpose and Promotion of the British League of Help 126

The Operation of the British League of Help 138

The End of the British League of Help 143

Conclusion 146

4: The Adoptions

Introduction 148

The Decision to Adopt 150

The Formation of an Adoption Committee 155

The Selection of a French Community 164

The Determination of the Aid Required 170

Economic and Social Problems 174

The Raising of Funds 181

Providing the Aid 188

The Completion of the Adoption Project 197

Conclusion 201

5: Achievements and Legacy

Introduction 203

Material Achievements 204

Exchange Visits 209

Memory of the British Adoptions 213

Textual References 218

Anecdotal Support 219

Economic Adoptions in the 1920s 223

The Present-day Twinning Concept 225

Conclusion 226

Conclusion 228

Appendices

Appendix A: 241

Communities participating in the adoption scheme

Appendix B: 245

Military and other links between British and

French Communities

Illustrations 250

Bibliography 276

Unpublished primary sources

Newspapers and Periodicals

Primary printed sources

Secondary sources

Addendum: 297

Lasting Values – Visible and Indelible Traces

A Visual Record of the Adoptions

[Alan Tucker]

Thanks for your help in bringing this interesting material to the Forum

[pmaasz]

You are very welcome! Hope it is of interest to a lot of people.

[cockney tone]

PMAASZ,

thank you so much for going to the trouble to locate and post this info. when i started the thread i had hoped that I would find some of the adopted villages/towns but the extra information is really very interesting and gives me so much more, thank you for sharing it with us all,

Kind regards,

Scottie.

[jay dubaya]

The Leicestershire Farmers Association also adopted a town, sadly I can find no other reference to them or the town which was adopted.

Doncaster adopted St. Leger since the the well known race meeting had been held in the Yorkshire town since the 1700's

Sheffield funded social housing and a school for Baupame in exchange for which the town built a cemetery for the citizens of Sheffiled killed in the battle. The Baupame vase can be seen in Sheffield's Town Hall and the city still has links with the town.

cheers, Jon

[mbriscoe]

There was an item on Radio 4's BH programme this morning about the close link between Manchester and Mézières - I missed the start of the item so will have to listen on iPlayer later.

 

Apparently Manchester heard how the Germans had destroyed Mézières completely (it was not liberated until right at the end of WWI.  So raised large amounts of money to help rebuild the town.

 

Because of these ties, black flags were flown all around the town of Charleville-Mézières (its new name) after the Manchester Arena bomb.

 

 

[mbriscoe]

This one is intriguing

 

Quote

93 Ladies’ Hairdressers Lagnicourt-Marcel

 

 

This explains it

 

Quote

Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Tuesday 24 October 1922

 

THE HAIRDRESSERS' VILLAGE

The School of Ladies' Hairdressing have adopted Lagnicourt in commemoration of the 70th birthday of Monsieur Marcel, the inventor  of hair-waving. The municipal authorities of Lagnicourt intend to rename their little village "Lagnicourt-Marcel," and to devote the funds subscribed to the rebuilding of the schools, which will be called "Les Ecoles Marcel," and will bear a tablet with a suitable inscription.

 

 

Edited 5 November , 2018 by mbriscoe

[The Scorer]

I wonder whether No. 46 'Newport Neuville-St-Vaast' is the Newport in South Wales (my home town / city) or one of the other 14 Newport's in the UK? I certainly haven't heard of this before, although I have seen references to some of the others here and there. Mind you, it might also be the crater on Mars called Newport …. only joking!