Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, animals played an intrinsic part in domestic life; they were necessary for goods and people transportation, as well as for food. According to Kelly’s Directory of Surrey in 1913, livestock levels in the county of horses, cows, sheep and pigs totalled nearly 140,000. The First World War saw the need for millions of animals, nationwide, to become part of military operations on both sides: from transport and logistics, to communication and propaganda.
The scale of mobilising armies to war was huge; millions of shells and other ammunition needed to be transported across all war fronts as quickly as possible. Railways, trucks and ships transported munitions for much of their war journey, but thousands of horses, donkeys, oxen and even camels and dogs were relied upon for their ability to pull heavy loads through deep mud and shell craters. Six to twelve horses were needed to pull field guns into position, and the dead and wounded were carted away in horse-drawn ambulances. Looking after all these animals required specially trained soldiers, who already knew how to care for such beasts from their jobs before the war, and who were also trained in modern methods of animal husbandry.
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On the Home Front, many pets were killed in an invasion scare and food shortages; the Woking News and Mail in July 1915 held reports of local townspeople killing their pets for fear that they would not be able to look after them in the face of a rumoured imminent German invasion. As horses and other strong animals were requisitioned for military purposes, people on the Home Front were left to think rather creatively when it came to tilling the land, and filling horses’ shoes (so to speak). Zoo and circus animals often carried out essential war service in their place; in Surrey, elephants from Sangar’s Circus were used to plough fields and transport agricultural loads in the town of Horley.
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Linked places: Ashtead, Bookham, Great, Bookham, Little, Capel, Cobham, Dorking, Effingham, Headley, Mickleham, Holmwood, Walton on the Hill, Wotton, Ockley
The 'Dorking and District Area Local Emergency Committee’ was created in August 1914 as part of...
Linked places: Weybridge Memorial, St James Church, Weybridge
As an experienced horseman, Herbert served at the Romsey Remount Station getting horses ready to be...
Linked places: Pirbright, Worplesdon, Heathlands, Worplesdon, Roulers (Roeselare), Beho Beho
A Father and Son killed on the same day one year apart
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Linked places: Addlestone
Linked places: Witley
A newspaper article about Mr Pinckard of Witley gifting part of his estate for use as an Army...