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“Our Boys”
650 men from the small Hertfordshire town of Ware fought in the 1914-1918 War and at least 220 of them were killed. That represents the horrifying figure of one death for every three Ware men in uniform. Almost every family in Ware lost a son, husband or other relative; every street affected by the deaths of neighbours. However, only 212 men were initially named on the memorial that commemorates the town’s war dead.
Derek Armes – who was a volunteer and consultant at Ware Museum – has carried out extensive research into “Our boys” and tells their story, together with that of their families and the battles in which they fought. This new edition of “Our Boys” is well illustrated, presenting 23 period photographs and five maps, which helps to tell the stories of Ware men who either do not appear on the town’s War Memorial or were added at the refurbishment and rededication of the memorial in June 1999.
Ware at War
The History of Ware in Hertfordshire can be reckoned in thousands of years, but never was it so profoundly changed as in the six years of World War II. While many of its citizens were called up in the armed forces, everyone who remained had a role to play – as air raid wardens, Fire-fighters, first aid and rescue workers, members of the Home Guard, and in many other roles. Ware suffered from enemy action in a number of raids and felt the effects of rationing and regulations, imposed by the British State to support the ‘War-effort’ – but there was a great community spirit.
Derek Armes – once a Volunteer and consultant for Ware Museum – tells the story of Ware at War from the aftermath of the Munich crisis in 1938 to Victory in 1945. This work sequels Armes’ earlier work, “Our Boys: Ware Men in the First World War”. His work is fully illustrated and based upon extensive documentary research as well as interviews with participants in the war and their families.
A New History of Ware
Ware has a long and fascinating history. It grew up where one of the ancient trackways of pre-historic Britain crossed the River Lea. That track became a military road for the Roman Legions and so a small Roman town was established – followed by a Saxon settlement, which eventually became the centre of a large estate.
Mentioned twice by Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales’, Middle ages Ware was an important stopping point on the ‘Old North Road’ from London to Scotland and inns lined the south side of the High Street – then known as Water Row. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, visitors were attracted by the famous Great Bed of Ware – mentioned by Shakespeare and other playwrights. However, the local economy could not rely on the inn trade indefinitely, and was eventually replaced by something nationally more important as Ware became a key centre for malting brown malt, used in brewing ‘porter’.
Never before has the full story of Ware been told, but all of this and more is described in vivid detail in David Perman’s ‘New History’. A New History of Ware uses a variety of historical sources to reveal how this quaint Hertfordshire town has grown up from the earliest times to the present.
