Alongside enlistment papers, photographs of men in military uniform, and letters written home from the Front, you may be surprised to find many other small and illuminating clues to the fact that your ancestors played their part in the First World War.
Have a root through the family button box, for instance. Perhaps it contains buttons snipped from military uniforms – from small ones used to secure the chinstraps on helmets, to large ones worn on greatcoats, tunics and service dress jackets. So-called ‘general service’ buttons in the First World War were plain in design, often made in brass and sometimes plated in gold; designed to lift the morale of a regiment. If your buttons are made to a higher specification, have regimental patterns or are mounted, this might be an indication that your ancestor was of officer class.
Likewise, a rummage through the family jewellery box may yield items of great genealogical – if no other – value. Rings, brooches, earrings and cufflinks may have been exchanged by the fiances and spouses in your family during the War years. Look out for white gold which was used as a substitute for the platinum that had been commandeered for other military uses. Keep an eye out for gold ‘Mizpah’ rings, engraved with the initials of both lovers, which were sometimes given when the parties were to be separated for a time and sweetheart brooches, (in the form of a miniature version of a regimental badge with inset gems), which were given by servicemen to their betrothed.
And you might come across even more fragile and emotive mementos of the War. Cecil Raughton, a 17 year old soldier who served in the trenches of Northern France, picked and preserved a poppy which he later sent home to his family with a note reading ‘Souvenir from a front line trench near Arras, May 1916.’ And in April 1936, the writer Vera Brittain (1893-1970), brought home and labelled a piece of broom from the Argonne Front as a sad reminder of a loved one lost in the First World War. More poignant still, attics and garages have sometimes yielded an unexpected scent of the past in the shape of old perfume bottles. Some of the soldiers returning from the First World War brought home French fragrances made by the manufacturer ‘Coty’ for their loved ones. These were packaged in Lalique bottles and decorated with gold labels with raised lettering and Art Nouveau designs.
Finally, take another look at those family photographs that do not obviously look as if they were taken in wartime. Look out for men with moustaches (compulsory in the British military until October 1916), women with short hair (practical styles for a serious era), and small rounded ‘economical’ wedding bouquets. Notice also women wearing breeches or trousers, or with three-quarter length dresses over stout boots. These may have been the unofficial uniform for women working in male occupations whilst the men were away.
Ruth A. Symes is the writer of It Runs in the Family: Understanding More About Your Ancestors,and Stories From Your Family Tree: Researching Ancestors Within Living Memory.