HOW WE REPORTED THE ARMISTICE IN 1918:
At 11am on Monday, November 11, 1918, the guns were silenced as the First World War came to an end.
reports on how the news was received in North Staffordshire.
THERE was great excitement at The Sentinel offices in Hanley. At precisely 10.30am, on Monday, November 11, 1918, a Press Association reporter had phoned in the information all the journalists had been waiting to hear – after four years and the deaths of more than 16 million people worldwide – the Great War was finally over.
Or at least it would be over in 30 minutes.
The office at Foundry Street erupted into frantic action as reporters and sub-editors scrambled to get this most vital of news items into that day’s paper.
When the first edition hit the presses, bold, black type cried out the message: “Armistice signed. The Prime Minister’s announcement. Hostilities cease at eleven this morning.”
The newpapers were stacked into piles and put onto vans to be delivered to homes and newsagents across the Potteries.
In its leader column that day, The Sentinel proudly trumpeted: “Right has triumphed over might! Right is supreme! Might is biting the dust!
“This is the greatest day in the history of the world. Today witnesses the noblest achievement in the struggle of nations and people for national and individual liberty.
“We all have the right to rejoice and feel the thrill of victory and triumph today.”
The news was so fresh that the editorial appeared alongside an advertisement for war bonds, when readers were reminded that it was ‘Gun Week’ in the Potteries. Every £5 bond purchased would pay for a five inch shell; every 15 shillings would buy 14lbs of amatol, ‘our mighty British high explosive’.
“Feed the guns with war bonds and help to win the war,” readers were instructed, a little unnecessarily.
Thousands of people streamed into Hanley to celebrate, where artillery guns were being displayed as part of Gun Week.
Among the joyous crowd was the mayor of Stoke-on-trent, Alderman W E Robinson, accompanied by Sir Joseph Cook – the former Silverdale miner who had emigrated to the colonies, and risen to serve as Prime Minister of Australia at the start of the war.
Sir Joseph told the crowds: “It is not a time for very much speaking. Our hearts are too glad today, our spirits too high. Our hopes have been achieved. The armistice has been signed and that means there is going to be no more fighting just yet.”
Alderman Robinson added: “We all rejoice and thank God this morning. There are no words that can express our feeling, our hearts are too full today.”
The words of the two officials were followed by the national anthem, which was heartily joined by the voices of thousands of people who had packed into Market Square.
As the news reached Newcastle, the bells rang out at St Giles Parish Church to celebrate. That night, churches across North Staffordshire were packed with worshippers who attended special services giving thanks for the end of hostilities. Just like that, the war was over. On the Western Front, the Potteries men with 1st/6th Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment had been told the news at morning muster. That was at 9.30am on November 11, a full hour before the journalists at The Sentinel were informed.
According to the battalion war diary, the news had been read out, ‘amidst great cheering’. Similar scenes had taken place across France and Flanders.
The 7th North Staffords – who had been evacuated from Gallipoli at the end of 1915 – were in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) when they heard the news. Their fight had actually ended when Turkey signed an armistice on October 31, 1918.
The 1st North Staffords - the county’s regular Army battalion at the start of the war - had been in the thick of the action since