Did the First World War come as a shock? There had been plenty to warn people that a war was likely. But had they heeded the warnings?
In 1912 the army had held a massive military exercise across Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. The forces were split into two armies – the Red and the Blue – and each was led by its own general. They fought a full mock campaign, and at the end the Blues were the declared winners. The Hurrells of Shelford and Newton, and the Wales of Little Shelford were both big landowners and magistrates. Indeed Col. Henry Hurrell of Trinity House in Great Shelford was an officer in the Cambridgeshire Regiment. So they offered their land for accommodating the troops. Cavalry were camped at Newton, and an assortment of troops in the grounds of Shelford Hall. They’d bring their horses down to the river between the Shelfords to water them.
Over on the Gogs a 10-hour battle was fought, between midnight and 10am, while planes buzzed backwards and forwards overhead (CC Sept 29 1912).
All this activity was a great source of excitement to the villagers, and people were out watching at every possible moment. Aeroplanes were very new at this stage, and the military was experimenting with their use. So the sight of planes – and even an airship - flying backwards and forwards over the village was really, really exciting. As Fanny Wale said: “The inhabitants of the Shelfords lived out of doors watching the Manoeuvres while they lasted, and felt dull when they were over”. Which leaves you feeling they didn’t quite grasp the potential gravity of the situation.
Even more surreal was the fact that the king, George V, who had come to Cambridge to inspect the army and watch, invited his German cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm, as well as the French general, Foch.
But it wasn’t just the military who were preparing. The Red Cross and War Office had co-operated to build up volunteer nursing units called Voluntary Aid Detachments or VADs. In the event of a war they would run hospitals in the UK for the reception of wounded. In 1913 Miss Gaskell of Uplands in Great Shelford was at the heart of a Red Cross exercise to set up a field hospital just off Hills Road. They set up an operating theatre tent, tents for officers and nurses, improvised facilities for dealing hygienically with food waste, cooked food and demonstrated their first aid skills. They were duly inspected by a RAMC officer, and highly praised for their efforts (CIP Jul 25 1913).
So all this activity set the stage for what was to follow only a day after August Bank Holiday, 1914.
Sources:
Fanny Wale, A Record of Shelford Parva, probably 1919.
Newspapers, Cambridge Chronicle (CC), Cambridge Independent Press(CIP).
v1 © Helen Harwood, uploaded February 2025