We said right at the beginning that as a group, our remit was going to include contributing to the historiography of the First World War. We’d like to embark on a long term research project together; one that it’s possible to involve yourself in from anywhere in the world, no matter how confined to the house you are, and no matter your level of knowledge.

The principle is that we can all learn something new, whilst furthering the historiography of the First World War.   

Divisional histories are immensely useful to those researching the war. They are packed with information and they widen the scope of the reader from just researching a single battalion and what it did in any given battle . They put the contribution of  the formation into wider context, as well as telling a story of its contribution to the war. We’d like to do this in memory of all the men who went to war with 14th (Light) Division and did not come home. 

The way in which the writing of the existing divisional histories was approached in the aftermath of the war was very ad hoc. Some divisions have them, and some do not. We picked the 14th (Light) Division for a number of reasons. Firstly, it has no particular bias in terms of where the men came from. It’s not attributed to any one part of the country, such as the 9th (Scottish) or the 17th (Northern) Divisions. We thought that was fair. We also think that, as an exercise in commemoration, it would be apt to complete a “missing” divisional history for one of the K1 formations. This division was formed initially from the first wave of Kitchener volunteers, who flooded to recruitment offices at the beginning of the war. And lastly, the scope of operations, we think will appeal to a wide number of interested contirbutors. For example, the division served in the Salient, on the Somme and at Passchendaele. A division is a large formation, a little way short of 20,000 men at full strength, so there is lots for everyone to get involved in. 

For starters, all contributors will be named both in the final volume and on relevant project pages online. The more individual submissions you contribute, the higher up the list your name will appear. Where you contribution is the same as someone else, the alphabet will dictate your position. We think that although this means a little more work for us, it is fairer than a straight, alphabetical list. When the project is finished, contributors will be entitled to a minimum 15% discount off the RRP on a copy of the book. We also recognise that students will want to participate for academic reasons. We will be happy to provide a letter from the Great War Group trustees that confirms how many contributions you submitted to the project.

As we are now at the writing stage maybe you would like to contribute to the actual production of the book. There are still one or two areas not allocated to am author as yet or perhaps you would loike to be part of the eventual editing process – do get in touch.