Spring Talks: Four years, three months and one week:

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Using the diaries of Alice Packard, a farmer's wife in the Suffolk village of Shotley, this talk will explore how the First World War affected both a single family and a wider rural community. From the first appearance of casualties at Shotley Barracks in early August 1914, following the sinking of HMS Amphion off the Suffolk coast, the war became part of daily life for the village, culminating with the surrender of U-boats on the River Stour in November 1918. This paper will consider the diverse nature of the Shotley ‘home front', as recorded by Alice, and it will reflect upon the various ways in which local people experienced the war, from grassroots charitable initiatives to Zeppelin raids. Talk by Dr Edward Packard, Lecturer in History, University Campus Suffolk.