ALL OUR YESTERDAYS The hidden casualties of war that did not die on distant battle fields
World War One was tragedy heaped on tragedy for many Huddersfield families with more than 3,500 men from the town serving with the armed forces losing their lives. But in an award-winning essay called Death On The Home Front, Huddersfield historian won this year’s Edward Law History Prize 2018 from Huddersfield Local History Society for throwing the spotlight on those who sought exemption at special tribunals from the armed forces and the terrible repercussions this could cause. The prize is in honour of the late Huddersfield historian Edward Law and Pam’s feature is published in the latest edition of the society’s journal specialist manufacturing, mining, and farming.
The next morning James Shaw sent his son to Slaithwaite Town Hall for the papers he would need to try to appeal the tribunal’s decision but he had no hope that this would be successful.
He locked his house door and then, after a desperate struggle, first hanged his wife from the banister rail and then himself. The terrible scene that met Charles on his return and the effect on his sanity is almost impossible to contemplate.
Mr and Mrs Shaw were well known in the district, described by neighbours and acquaintances as a quiet, respectable and unassuming couple.
James and Betty had married in March 1895; she a spinster of 28, he a widower and father aged 40.
James’ first wife Elizabeth had died in May 1894 when their children Edna and Charles were just three and five.
The Shaw family were staunch chapel goers. James’ brother Joseph had a family pew at Pole Moor Baptist Chapel.
On Monday, December 4, James and Betty were buried together in the chapel’s cemetery in the same grave as Elizabeth, James’ first wife.
Initially, most Baptists had reconciled their conscience to the necessity of war. But by the end of 1916, hostility to warfare was beginning to replace patriotic fervour. Many fathers, sons and husbands had been killed in action, reported missing or wounded.
For James his faith challenged by the tribunal’s decision, prayers seemingly unheard, there would have seemed no end to his pain and it is impossible to comprehend the struggle that must have taken place in his conscience prior to taking the life of his wife, then his own. As a practising Christian he would have believed the value of life to be sacred, that to usurp God’s right to determine the time of one’s death the most elementary sin. Forty years a blacksmith and farmer with failing health - the inquest revealed that his post mortem had discovered a weak heart - he would have known that to continue labour intensive blacksmithing and farming without the help of his son would be impossible.
When told by the tribunal he could appeal to the Appeals Tribunal in Huddersfield, he had replied that he would like time to sell up if unsuccessful. He must have believed refusal inevitable, the future intolerable.
Incapable of practising his trade alone, he would have feared destitution, of becoming a burden on others and he may have felt it his duty to protect his wife from the shame of the workhouse.
Sadly, the tragedy does not end there.
Two months later Charles was sent to Rugeley Camp at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire to join his new battalion and commence his military training but four weeks later he was admitted into Brindley Heath military hospital which specialised in war neuroses and other mental health problems.
Doctors treating Charles would have been aware of the tragic deaths of his father and stepmother, his gruesome discovery of their bodies, loss of home and livelihood.
They would have understood his mental anguish but were unable to heal him.
Two weeks later, while still in hospital, he ended his own life by undisclosed means.
How far were such war-related deaths on the home front mirrored across the country? The casualties of the Great War cannot be counted only in the deaths on the Somme and other battlefields. ■■Huddersfield Local History Society hopes that Pam’s success will encourage others to follow in her footsteps and attract a growing number of entries for the Edward Law History Prize.
The competition is free to enter and open to anyone who has not previously published their historical research. There will be a £150 longessay prize for submissions of 2,500 to 3,000 words and a £50 shortessay prize for submissions of 500-800 words.
Those wishing to enter the 2019 competition should send expressions of interest to the society’s publicity officer at info@huddersfieldhistory. org.uk and check the society’s website for further information. The closing date for entries is Thursday, January 31, 2019. ■■Death On The Home Front is in the 2018/2019 journal of Huddersfield Local History Society. It’s £4 plus £1.75 p&p from HLHS, 24 Sunnybank Road, Huddersfield, HD3 3DE (cheques to Huddersfield Local History Society) or via the website at www.huddersfieldhistory.org.uk/ publications/journal
Other features in this publication include Homes Fit For Heroes Victory Avenue; Dispersal Bussing in Huddersfield during the 1960s and 1970s: Solving The Problem of Immigrant Children by Joe Hopkinson; Chief Constable Ward’s ‘Pleasant Trip’ to Spain - A Tale of Embezzlement, Extradition and the Enforcement of the Law in Victorian England by David Taylor; Our Local Order of Chivalry - Huddersfield’s Jubilee Freemen in 1918 by Anne Brook.