Earl Shilton - The Great War

The Great War

One thousand men from Earl Shilton served in British forces during World War I. Many men from Earl Shilton, in the Fifth Leicestershire Regiment, also served in Ireland during the 1916 Easter uprising. The village factories also supplied the government with thousands of pairs of socks and army boots. These same manufacturers also supplied vast orders for the Russian Cossacks.

During the latter stages of the war, Earl Shilton held a ‘big gun week’, when a large howitzer was paraded around the village. Many were invited to buy War Bonds. Military bands often visited the village to inspire recruiting. In a very different age when information was seriously censored and patriotism was paramount, young men clamoured to join up. In one week alone 80 enlisted, and were cheered on by crowds of happy followers as they marched to Elmesthorpe station on their way to the mud filled trenches of the Western Front.

It was all over on the 11th November 1918. All work was suspended for the day, while flags and bunting appeared in windows. Fireworks were let off and a comic band toured the streets. Watching silently were the German prisoners of war who were working in the area and billeted at nearby Normanton Hall.

A captured field gun stood for a time near the Wesleyan Chapel, and was removed for a time to a field off station road. The guns final resting place was the Wood Street Recreation Ground, which was once a sand pit, where the gun now lies buried and forgotten.

Over a hundred men from the village were lost in the conflict, and a cenotaph was erected in their memory.

On wake Sunday 1919, and for many years afterwards, the British Legion, public bodies and factories held a parade for the fallen.