‘Trench art’ is folk art of the war, reusing as it did the bullets, shell cases, copper drive bands, fragments of aircraft, pieces of wood and other detritus of war in order to manufacture objects as souvenirs. Trench art was sometimes made by soldiers in the frontline, but more often manufactured in the rear areas where there was more access to tools and equipment. Typical soldier items include decorated shell cases, letter openers, matchbox folds, lighters, tanks and field caps.
Trench art is commonly encountered; but in putting together our book Remembering Tommy – which places Great War artefacts in historic settings in order to tell the story of the average soldier in wartime – we wanted it to have a period feel, to look like something freshly manufactured. In order to achieve that we (or more appropriately, the person with the skills in this area, CF) had to replicate the methods used.
This meant filling a period shell case with lead, and carefully punching out the outline of a regimental badge – in this case, of the Cameronians, a regiment that appears here and there in officer’s dugouts and family homes throughout the book. It was hard – and unpleasant work – but it demonstrated just how difficult and physically demanding working with shell brass was, 100 years ago this year. As will all our work on the book, creating an original piece in keeping with the period required dedication, research – and a steady hand.
Peter Doyle is a military historian and geologist, specialising in military terrain. He is a familiar face as television expert on documentaries, including WW1 Tunnels of Death: The Big Dig, Battlefield Detectives and The Great Escape: Revealed on Channel 5. He is Visiting Professor at University College London and is co-secretary of the All Party Parliamentary War Heritage Group, which is actively supporting the British government’s commemorations for the centenary of the First World War.
He has co-written Beneath Flanders Fields: The Underground War 1914-18 and Grasping Gallipoli , as well as Battle Story: Gallipoli 1915 , Battle Story: Loos 1915, Trench Talk: Words of the First World War and Remembering Tommy: The British Soldier in the First World War.