WW1 Related Events in the United Kingdom
This page provides information about events related to the First World War taking place in the United Kingdom. Index to the listings:
- Remembrance Ceremony — Act of Remembrance
- Theatre The Unknown Soldier on tour; War Horse
- Lecture Programmes on WW1 Military History
Remembrance Ceremony — Act of Remembrance
Daily Act of Remembrance: Last Post & Reveille, National Memorial Arboretum
Date: Daily (except Christmas Day) at 11.00 hours
Venue: Millennium Chapel, National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire DE13 7AR
Admission: Free
(There is a parking charge at the National Memorial Arboretum for cars maximum £4.00 per day - all parking fees go directly to the NMA charity.)
The Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness is the only place where a daily Act of Remembrance takes place in England. The National Memorial Arboretum is located in the centre of England at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire and is the place “Where our Nation Remembers”.
For further details see the National Memorial Arboretum website at:
Website: www.thenma.org Chapel
Website: www.thenma.org
Annual Commemoration of the Arrival of the Unknown Warrior
Date: 10 November 2023 at 20.00 hrs
Venue: Main Concourse Platform 8, Victoria Railway Station, London SW1V 1JU
Admission: Free & open to all.
An annual ceremony of commemoration at Victoria Station by the London Branch of the Western Front Association, to remember the arrival of the Unknown Warrior on 10 November 1920.
- 20.15 Parade Assembly
- 20.20 Narration
- 20.30 Last Post and one minute's silence
- The Exhortation: They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old, Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemnA. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning We will remember them.
- Reveille
- 20.32 Presentation of Wreaths
- Disperse
View a film (3m:23s) of the ceremony on 10 November 2014:
Website: www.youtube.com 10 November 2014 Ceremony
For enquiries or any more information you can visit the London WFA Branch at:
Website: www.westernfrontassociation.com London Branch
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wfalondon/
Email: londonwfabranch@gmail.com
Annual Act of Remembrance, The Western Front Association
Date: Saturday 11 November 2023 at 11.00 hours
Venue: The Cenotaph, Whitehall, City of Westminster, London SW1
Admission: Free public event.
Organiser: The Western Front Association (WFA)
Since the early 1990s the Western Front Association (WFA) has held an annual Ceremony of Remembrance at the Cenotaph memorial on Whitehall at 11.00 hours on 11 November.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the ceremony.
Below are links to short films of the Western Front Association Armistice Day ceremonies held at the Cenotaph in recent years.
Reflections: Film of the Western Front Association Annual 11 November Ceremonies 2014 - 2023
- Watch the live-stream of the 11 November 2023 ceremony:
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2023
- View the recorded live-stream (1hr:12m) of the 11 November 2022 ceremony (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2022
- View a short film (6m:07s) of the 11 November 2021 ceremony with a reading by Nick Bailey (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2021
- View a short film (4m:41s) of the 11 November 2017 ceremony with a reading by Cerys Matthews (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2017
- View a short film (2m:41s) of the 11 November 2016 ceremony, with the poem In Memoriam by Lt Ewart Alan Mackintosh read by Cerys Matthews (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2016
- View a short film (2m:30s) of the 11 November 2015 ceremony, with the poem My Boy Jack by Rudyard Kipling, read by Cerys Matthews (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2015
- View a short film (2m:30s) of the 11 November 2014 ceremony (filmed by Coburn Communications):
Website: youtube.com 11 November 2014
To see information for WFA events visit The Western Front Association website:
Website: www.westernfrontassociation.com
WFA logo by kind permission of the WFA
Annual National Act of Remembrance: Remembrance Sunday
Date: Sunday 12 November 2023 at 11.00 hours
Venue: The Cenotaph, Whitehall, City of Westminster, London SW1
Admission: Free public event with restricted access to the public.
An official annual Service of Remembrance will take place at the Cenotaph in central London.
Following the formal ceremony and wreath-laying The Royal British Legion co-ordinates a march-past of the Cenotaph, which includes members of ex-Service organizations and civilian organizations which have played their part on the Home Front in wartime.
Services of Remembrance also take place at 11.00 hours on Remembrance Sunday around the United Kingdom. For information visit the appropriate website of the local authority.
Annual Armistice Day Service of Remembrance, National Memorial Arboretum
Date: 11 November 2023
Venue: National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire DE13 7AR
Admission: Ticketed event
The National Memorial Arboretum is located in the centre of England at Alrewas, near Lichfield, Staffordshire and is the place “Where our Nation Remembers”.
For enquiries about Armistice Day arrangements see the National Memorial Arboretum web page at:
Website: www.thenma.org
Theatre
The Unknown Soldier
9 Nov 2023 Dolgellau; 10 Nov 2023 Criccieth; 11 Nov 2023 Barmouth
Run time: 60 mins
The Unknown Soldier is a critically acclaimed theatre piece by Ross Ericson, the award nominated writer of “Casualties”. It was successfully debuted at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015 as part of Spotlites' season and received excellent reviews from critics. It was also shortlisted for the Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence. The 2016 tour was a sell-out and this production for 2023 is included in the Bitesize Festival at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith.
Jack stayed on when the guns fell silent, to search the battlefields for the boys that could not go home - for the dead and the missing, for both enemy and friend. Amongst the rusty wire and unexploded bombs Jack is looking for something - looking for someone. He has a promise to keep and a debt to repay, and now there is this strange request from the generals.
Reviews from the 2016 sell-out production on tour:
- 5 stars, EdFest Mag – ‘An unmissable and thought-provoking play that has so much relevance in today’s society’
- 5 stars, ThreeWeeks – ‘Powered by a magnificent solo performance from Ross Ericson’
- 4 stars, British Theatre Guide – ‘Filled with far more nuance and originality than most Great War plays’
- OUTSTANDING SHOW by FringeReview – ‘You won’t be disappointed.’
For details and venues on The Unknown Soldier 2023 tour (Buxton Fringe; Sale; Dolgellau; Criccieth; Barmouth) visit the Grist to the Mill theatre website:
Website: www.gristtheatre.co.uk The Unknown Soldier
War Horse
On tour: UK and International
Due to the global pandemic in 2020 the stage productions of War Horse were suspended. Check with the War Horse website to keep up to date and for selected streaming dates when the production can be seen on screen.
Based on a story by Michael Morpurgo, the First World War is the backdrop for this tale of bravery, loyalty, and the extraordinary bond between a young recruit and his horse. Actors, working with astonishing life-sized puppets by the internationally renowned Handspring Puppet Company, take audiences on an unforgettable journey through history.
At the outbreak of World War One, Joey, young Albert's beloved horse, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France.
He's soon caught up in enemy fire, and fate takes him on an extraordinary odyssey, serving on both sides before finding himself alone in no man's land.
But Albert cannot forget Joey and, still not old enough to enlist, he embarks on a treacherous mission to the trenches to find him and bring him home.
The book on which the play is based came about after Michael Morpurgo had a chance conversation in his local pub nearly 30 years ago with an old soldier who had been to the First World War as a 17 year old ‘with ‘orses’ as he said. He discovered that over a million horses died in that dreadful war – and that was just on the British side – and that most of them that survived were sold off after the war was over, to butchers in France.
For information about the show and any future War Horse streaming dates on screen go to the website at:
Website www.warhorseonstage.com
Photographer: Simon Annand
Talks on WW1 Military History
Please visit the website of the relevant organization to check on updates.
The National Archives, Kew, Surrey
Free and paid lectures, events and tours to see behind the scenes at the archives and find out more on how to research family history using the archive collections. For more information, a calendar of events and how to access online lectures and webinars go to the National Archives' website at:
Website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk Events at Kew
The National Army Museum, Chelsea, London
The museum offers a programme of talks, performances and exhibitions.
To find out more visit the National Army Museum's website at:
Website: www.nam.ac.uk What's On
University of Birmingham Centre for War Studies
The Centre for War Studies at Birmingham University holds weekly seminars and Saturday Day Schools. For information visit the website at:
Website: www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/warstudies/events/
University College London
Lectures held during June 2014 by the University College London can be watched online on YouTube.
- Sex and the Somme, Dr Clare Makepeace, UCL History. Tommies queued in their hundreds to visit brothels in the First World War. Dr Clare Makepeace explores this little-discussed aspect of the war. She uncovers soldiers' reasons for visiting brothels, their reactions to them and the prostitutes, and how they dealt with the potential consequences: venereal disease. The findings give us fresh insight into what it meant to be a British man at war. Watch on YouTube
- Investigative conservation and the archaeology of the Western Front, Renata Peters, UCL Institute of Archaeology. Staff and students at the UCL Institute of Archaeology have been involved in the investigative conservation of objects excavated from Western Front trenches. Some of these objects were associated with unidentified human remains thought to be of soldiers killed in battles between 1914 and 1918, and provided important information for their identification. Others provided more questions than answers, but also shed light on the reality of life and death in the trenches. Watch on YouTube
- Reconstructing Broken Bodies: From Industrial Warfare to Industrial Engineered Tissues Prof Robert Brown, UCL Surgical Science & Mr Colin Hopper, UCL Eastman Dental Institute. Trench warfare protected combatants from many injuries, but left the head exposed, producing a massive demand for experimental facial reconstructive surgery. WW1 is acknowledged as the first ‘industrial scale’ war, but it has taken a century to stumble upon the concept of industrial scale tissue production. This very 21st century idea can be traced back to WW1 and the clinical pressures produced by industrial scale, non-lethal trauma. Watch on YouTube
- Science and the First World War, Prof Jon Agar, UCL Science and Technology Studies. This year is the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. By examining the lives of figures such as Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley and Fritz Haber, this talk will show how scientists on all sides were swept up in the tide of patriotism, militarism and nationalism, making contributions, some tragically brief, some devastatingly effective, to the waging of war. And what of the long-lasting effects? While some saw the Great War as an irreparable crisis of modern civilisation, with science as a symbol of inhumanity, others saw science as an internationalist project capable of healing wounds. Watch on YouTube
University of Wolverhampton: First World War Research Group
The group was launched in 2014. A Study Day is held on a Saturday each term. Directors are Professor Stephen Badsey and Professor Gary Sheffield.
For information about the First World War Research Group visit the website:
Website: www.wlv.ac.uk First World War Research Group
The Western Front Association (WFA)
Lectures, seminars and conferences are held at regular monthly Branch meetings and at a national level around the United Kingdom and internationally. Speakers include well-known military historians and WFA members with expertise in a wide variety of topics related to the First World War.
Lectures are available to watch on YouTube:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/WesternFrontAssoc
For the calendar of lectures and branch talks visit the WFA website at:
Website: www.westernfrontassociation.com Events
England Regional WW1 Centenary Commemoration
The following websites, set up during the 1914-1918 Centenary, are still available to view.
Berkshire: Berkshire at War
A blog produced by the Berkshire Record Office.
Website: berkshirevoiceswwi.wordpress.com About Berkshire at War
Kent: University of Kent Gateways to the First World War Project
Website: www.gatewaysfww.org.uk
Shropshire Remembers
Website: www.shropshireremembers.org.uk
Surrey in the Great War: A County Remembers
Website: www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk
Wiltshire
Website: www.wiltshireatwar.org.uk
Scotland WW1 Centenary Event Commemoration
The following website, set up during the 1914-1918 Centenary, is still available to view.
Scotland and the First World War
Website: www.visitscotland.com Scotland and the First World War
Wales WW1 Centenary Event Commemoration
The following website, set up during the 1914-1918 Centenary, is still available to view.
Cymru’n Cofio — Wales Remembers 1914-1918
Website: www.walesremembers.org
Related Reading
War Horse
by Michael Morpurgo
This book is about Joey, a farm horse requisitioned by the British Army for service in the First World War on the Western Front. The reader experiences the horrors of war and the compassion of the animals and humans in the story through the eyes of the horse. Written about 25 years ago as a result of Michael Morpurgo's conversations with First World War veterans, the story has taken on a new life as a highly acclaimed play and has been adapted into a major film by Steven Spielberg. Published by Egmont Books Ltd; Film tie-in ed edition (7 Nov 2011), ISBN-10: 1405259418 and ISBN-13: 978-1405259415
The War Horses: The Tragic Fate of a Million Horses Sacrificed in the First World War
by Simon Butler
The War Horses focuses on the horses, mules and donkeys that were requisitioned by the British Army to carry rations, pull guns and wagons full of munitions. The book is has received excellent reviews. It is illustrated with more than 200 photographs, includes eye witness accounts and reveals the great bond between the men and the animals they cared for in such difficult circumstances. Published by Halsgrove, 2nd edition (27 Sep 2011), ISBN-10: 0857040847 and ISBN-13: 978-0857040848
Warrior: The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse
by General Jack Seely
Warrior was a thoroughbred horse which went to France with Jack Seely in 1914. With Jack the horse survived on The Western Front for five years, both of them cheating death from bombs and bullets, and leading a cavalry charge by the Canadians in 1918. This republished edition is introduced by General Jack Seely's grandson, the well-known racing broadcaster and journalist Brough Scott. Published by Racing Post Books (10 Oct 2011). ISBN-10: 1908216107 and ISBN-13: 978-1908216106.
Related Topics
Events on The Western Front
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Events relating to the First World War on the Western Front battlefields:
Artois & French Flanders Events
Virtual WW1 Online Exhibitions
There are a number of virtual WW1 exhibitions available to view online. For links to these you can visit our page at: