The official start of WWI was June 28, 1914 when the Archduke and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia, were assassinated. The war ended on November 11, 1918 with the treaty of Versailles.
It is estimated that, on all sides, 65 million men were mobilised. Of these, 8.5 million were killed, 21 million wounded and 7.7 million became Prisoners of War. Therefore over half of all soldiers who were involved were killed, wounded or captured.
I am exploring the commemoration of the outbreak of WW1 through scene at the war memorial. Music and song would form an essential part of the work which would treat in a serious manner the deaths of so many people.
According to the memorial and my research on the website Genuki (see: http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/Payhembury/PayhemburyBook.html), seven men were killed: Private F. Ayres [died 10th November 1915]; Private Fred Batten [?]; Private John Lentle [31st October 1918]; Private Henry Pratt [1st October 1918]; Company Sergeant Major W. Pratt [5th June 1915]; Gunner A. Willis [8th August 1917]; Private T. Dimond [5th September 1916].
If you are a descendant of any of these men/families or know those who are, please can you contact me as I would like to use the real names of the men and have one of them played by an actor who would eventually lead the audience to the War Memorial where his name is inscribed. It would also be helpful to trace photographs or documents which relate to these men or Payhembury’s role in WW1 more generally. I will organise a meeting to discuss this production and would be interested in hearing from anyone who would like to help in any way with its organisation, development, music, writing and execution.
John Somers, 01884 277390 (J.W.Somers@ex.ac.uk)
