Soon after the end of the First World War, the 19th of July was designated as Peace Day in Britain.
The image below was taken on that day in 1919, during celebrations outside the Guildhall in Winchester in Hampshire.
Tag Archives: 1910s
The Canary Girls
The so-called “Canary girls” were British women who worked through the First World War to make trinitrotoluene (TNT) shells. The nickname was given to them as repeated exposure to the substances they used turned their skin the colour of a canary.
Hundreds of the women became ill from the conditions they worked in, with one hundred fatalities reported.
The image below is of women in Nottinghamshire in July, 1917.
On this day…
The aftermath of a battle.
The region of Nervesa della Battaglia in northern Italy was retaken from the Austro-Hungarians in June of 1918.
This photograph was taken as Italian forces returned to the region to survey the destruction.
On this day: a Peace Treaty is Signed
The Treaty of Versailles, the most important of the peace treaties to end the First World War, was signed in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles on the 28th of June, 1919.
The war also began on the 28th of June, when Serbian assassin Gavrilo Princip murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie five years before.
The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919.
Painted by Irish artist William Orpen
On this day: the Royal Military College, Duntroon.
On the 27th of June, 1911, the Royal Military College, Duntroon – located in what is now Canberra, Australia’s capital city – opened its doors.
The college is the training centre for officers in the Australian Army, and sits adjacent to the Australian Defence Force Academy, which trains members of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
On this day: a pet dog at war
This image of British soldiers playing with their dog in a trench near Gavrelle, France is dated the 27th of June, 1917.
Taking pets and native animal mascots to the trenches was quite common in the First World War, including kangaroos, and Winnie the black bear who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh.
