Living Through The Great War at Home: How the People of Bromley Faced the Challenges of War

Living Through the Great War at Home tells the story of the people of Bromley from the month before the outbreak of war to the Armistice in 1918 and the celebration of peace in July 1919. Although it shows how men were mobilised, volunteered, conscripted and left to ‘follow the colours’, it is a book about the people of Bromley and how their lives were challenged and changed during the war, how they supported their own boys in the army, how they dealt with the problems of war, the restrictions of DORA (Defence of the Realm Act) and the threat and reality of the Zeppelin raids. We learn of the generosity of the people in supporting their ‘boys’, caring for the Belgian refugees and the wounded—the VAD hospitals and how women rose to the challenge, both in terms of filling the gaps in the workforce left by the men and struggling to put food on the table as rising prices and shortages finally led to rationing. The work is based on real information from the local newspaper, together with research to put them into context and understand the stories better.

A mother and grandmother, Pam Preedy was born in Bromley. She lived and was educated in West Wickham and Bromley. She trained as a teacher and taught for many years, and since retirement, she has been travelling with her husband on his lecture tours. During this time, she continued studying and gained an Advanced Diploma in Local History with the College of Continuing Education, Oxford. This wonderful course gave inspiration to this book. Originally interested in researching the men whose names appear on the Bromley War Memorial, reading the local paper opened a window for her into the world of Bromley 1914 – 1918 in World War 1. Her research takes up most of her time, now working on a PhD in local history, but she still has time for reading and knitting, and the gym.

Customer Reviews

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Tudor Davies

Given the number of books addressing all aspects of the First World War published over the last century and especially in the years of its centenary, the author has made a brave decision to add one more. To ensure a fresh perspective she has focused on the story of Bromley in these years and undertaken the demanding research required to write this book. At 400 pages, organised into fifteen chapters this is a truly formidable task and quite an achievement.

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