Crewe Railway Station (Cheshire Image Bank c10557) |
Holyhead boat trains, Scottish expresses, the Irish Mail,
the London, Plymouth and Dover trains, the Travelling Post Office, ambulance
trains bringing the wounded to northern hospitals, all called at Crewe. Navy men going north to the Fleet at Scapa
Flow, Army men heading south towards the Front in France and Belgium, plus vast
supplies of shells and armaments all went by rail. Around 300 trains a day used
this vital link, being shunted, marshalled and watered, before they steamed out
again.
Crewe: Soldiers' Sailors' Rest (Cheshire Image Bank c00801) |
Book-stalls, telegraph offices and refreshment rooms were
always open, and so, from spring 1915 was the famous Soldiers’ and Sailors’
Rest, next to the station, where a meal and a bed could be had anytime of the
day or night. Later in the war a trolley service with urns was set up to visit
the trains which were only stopping for a short time, and to provide the troops
with a welcome mug of tea before they steamed off again to continue their vital
journeys. The station rest and refreshment services for military personnel in
transit were organised by CEMS, the Church of England Men’s Society.
In the photograph above, the Soldiers’ and
Sailors’ Rest visitors’ book can be seen on a stand in the centre of the image. Twelve visitors’
registers were signed by 130,000 men since April 1915; the final two registers,
covering 1919, are lodged with us at Cheshire Record Office (reference D 4998). These are a fascinating record
of a brief spell in the lives of thousands of men a hundred years ago, some
being demobilised, some going on leave, and some back to their regiments, many
on long journeys to far distant parts.
A sample index of over 1000 men adding their names to the visitors’ book in March-April 1919 has been compiled by our volunteers. We will be posting extracts from the book on Twitter over the coming weeks – follow us @CheshireRO to keep updated!
No comments:
Post a Comment