Search london history from Roman times to modern day
London County Council in the Great War 1914 - 1918
LCC index
CHAPTER XVII
Summary,
The numbers of the Council's staff who served in the Great War were as follows :
See the War Service listing for 1000s
of individuals listed slightly further down the page.
| Department |
Enlisted |
Lost their lives. |
|
Clerk of the Council |
101 |
12 |
| Comptroller of the
Council
A-G ;
H-P ; Q &
Temporary |
290 |
36 |
| Chief Engineer :
Central ;
Bridges etc
; Pumping
etc |
284 |
25 |
| Architect
A-C;
D-J ;
K-R;
S-W |
437 |
40 |
|
Solicitor |
70 |
10 |
| London Fire Brigade |
345 |
27 |
| Public Health |
136 |
12 |
| Estates and Valuation |
87 |
9 |
| Public Control |
94 |
7 |
| Parks |
424 |
61 |
| Tramways |
3507 |
334 |
| Housing |
100 |
9 |
| Education Officer:
Central Administrative Staff |
377 |
39 |
| Education Officer:
Industrial and Special Schools |
40 |
6 |
| Education Officer:
Secondary Schools and Training Colleges |
28 |
7 |
| Education Officer:
Technical Institutes and Schools of Art |
37 |
4 |
| Education Officer:
School Attendance Officers |
117 |
6 |
| Education Officer:
Botany Scheme |
5 |
3 |
| Education Officer:
Stocktakers, etc |
8 |
0 |
| Education Officer:
Schoolkeepers |
235 |
23 |
| Education Officer:
Teachers |
2353 |
273 |
| Stores |
138 |
24 |
| Parliamentary |
4 |
2 |
| Asylums and Mental
Deficiency |
943 |
97 |
| Asylums Engineer |
4 |
0 |
| TOTAL |
10,164 |
1065 |
War Service pages - 1000's of individual service records
Department of the Clerk of the Council ,
Department of the Comptroller of the Council A - G,
Department of the Comptroller of the Council H - P,
Department of the Comptroller of the Council Q - &
Temporary Staff
Chief Engineer's Department -
Central Offices
Chief Engineer's Department - Bridges and
Embankments, Tunnels, & Sewerage & Drainage
Chief Engineer's Department -
Pumping Stations & Outfall workers & Sludge Vessels
Chief Engineer's Department - Architect's
Department (A - C)
Chief Engineer's Department - Architect's
Department (D - J)
Chief Engineer's Department -
Architect's Department (K - R)
Chief Engineer's Department -
Architect's Department (S - W)
Solicitor's Department
London Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service -
Administrative Staff & Workshops Staff
London Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service -
Uniformed Staff (A - F)
London Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service -
Uniformed Staff (G - O)
London Fire Brigade and Ambulance Service -
Uniformed Staff (P - Y)
Public Health Department
: Estates and Valuation Department :
Public Control Department
Parks DEPARTMENT (A -C) ;
Parks DEPARTMENT (D - H)
Parks DEPARTMENT (I - P) ;
Parks DEPARTMENT (R - Y)
Tramways Department A1
A2 B1
B2 B3
B4 C1
C2 C3
D1 D2
E F
G1 G2
H1 H2
H3 IJ
K L
M1 M2
M3 NO
P1 P2
P3 QR
S1 S2
S3 T1
T2 UV
W1 W2
W3 Y
Housing Department
Education Officer's Department - Central
Administrative Staff (A- D) Central Administrative Staff
(E - J) Central Administrative Staff
(K - R) Central Administrative Staff
(S - Y)
Industrial and Special Schools ;
Secondary Schools and Training Colleges ;
Technical Institute and Schools of Art
School Attendance Officers & Botany Scheme
& Stocktakers
Schoolkeepers A - H &
Schoolkeepers I - W
Teaching Staff A
B1 B2
B3 C1
C2 D
E F
G H1
H2
IJ K
L M1
M2
NO P
P2
QR S1
S2 T
UVW (and Y & Z)
Stores Department &
Parliamentary Department ;
Asylums and mental deficiency Department.
Central Administrative Staff &
Pathological Laboratory & Banstead Mental Hospital ;
Bexley Mental Hospital ;
Cane Hill Mental Hospital ;
Claybury Mental Hospital ;
Colney Hatch Mental Hospital ;
Hanwell Mental Hospital ;
Horton Mental Hospital ;
Long Grove Mental Hospital ;
The Manor Mental Hospital & Ewell
Colony & Asylums Engineer's Department
The decorations won were: C.B.E. 5, D.S.O. 5, O.B.E. 14, D.S.C. I, M.C. and two
bars 1, M.C. and bar 7, M.C. 68, M.B.E. 7, Royal Red Cross 10. D.C.M. and bar 2,
D.C.M. 39, D.S.M. 5, M.M. and bar 10, M.M. 125, M.S.M. 100, Medal of Military
Merit 2, mentioned in despatches 313, mentioned for valuable services, etc., 11,
R. Humane Society. Cert, i. Certificate of Merit 1, French decorations 21, Croix
de Guerre (Belgian) 9, other foreign decorations 16.
In the preceding chapters it has rarely been possible to state the numbers
engaged, or the losses sustained, in the different battles and campaigns. The
following figures, too vast for the mind to realise in any detail, may help the
reader to form some vague impression of the immensity of the conflict. The
numbers of those who served from the British Empire alone were as follows:
| Strength of Regular Army, Reserve and
Territorials on 4th August, 1914 |
733,514 |
| England recruited during the war |
4,006,158 |
| Scotland |
557,618 |
| Wales |
272,924 |
| Ireland |
134,202 |
| Dominions: Canada |
628,964 |
| Dominions: Australia |
416,809 |
| Dominions: New Zealand |
220,099 |
| Dominions: Africa |
136,070 |
| Dominions: Newfoundland, etc |
23,922 |
| Coloured troops: India (i.e. pre- war
239,561 and during war 1,161,789) |
1,401,350 |
| Coloured troops: S. Africa |
92,837 |
| Coloured troops: West Indies |
10,000 |
| Coloured troops: Other Colonies |
20,000 |
| TOTAL |
8,654,467 |
There were also Chinese and other labour units which served in France, Egypt,
Mesopotamia and elsewhere.
The casualties amongst all the belligerents were as follows:
| Country |
Killed, including
missing unless separately stated |
Missing, presumed dead |
Wounded |
TOTAL |
| Allies |
|
|
|
|
| Russia |
1,700,000 |
? |
3,500,000 |
5,200,000 |
| France |
1.358,872 |
361,654 |
2,750,000 |
4,470,526 |
| British Empire |
765,483 |
108,346 |
2,090,989 |
2,964,818 |
| Italy |
507,169 |
? |
1,000,000 |
1,507,169 |
| Roumania |
300,000 |
? |
300,000 |
600,000 |
| Serbia |
300,000 |
? |
300,000 |
600,000 |
| Belguim |
102,382 |
? |
200,000 |
302,382 |
| United States |
53,160 |
1,160 |
179,625 |
233,945 |
| Portugal |
8,367 |
? |
16,000 |
24,367 |
| TOTAL |
5,095,433 |
471,160 |
10,336,614 |
15,903,207 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Central Powers |
|
|
|
|
| Germany |
1,600,000 |
103,000 |
4,064,000 |
5,767,000 |
| Austria |
800,000 |
? |
3,200,000 |
4,000,000 |
| Turkey |
250,000 |
? |
500,000 |
750,000 |
| Bulgaria |
100,000 |
? |
200,000 |
300,000 |
| TOTAL |
2,750,000 |
103,000 |
7,964,000 |
10,817,000 |
| GRAND TOTAL |
7,845,433 |
574,160 |
18,300,614 |
26,720,207 |
The combined death-roll was therefore over 8,000,000, or several hundred
thousand beyond the present entire population of Greater London. 2 The
total casualties approached 27,000,000, and quite probably may have been nearly
30,000,000, or about two-thirds of the population of the United Kingdom.
Only those campaigns in which the British were concerned and those incidents in
which they shared have been described. Most of the main features have thus been
dealt with, for, except on the eastern front in Europe, they had a part, and
often an important part, in all the fighting. It is natural and right that our
interest should centre in them, but the events of the war and the final victory
must be regarded as a whole, not singly, nor even in relation to one country.
The British Empire did not win the war, nor did France, nor Italy, nor the
United States, although, if any of these had been absent, the result might have
been far different; nor was any country alone in her endurance and in her
sacrifices. So, when the final reckoning comes to be made, let it be remembered
that Russia's losses were the heaviest, and that, but for her efforts, prolonged
over two years in the face of every difficulty, the position of the Allies on
the other fronts would have been most dangerous, if not impossible. For more
than four years Belgium, a narrow strip excepted, was under the sway of a
foreign despotism, her people were liable at any moment to heavy fines, to
imprisonment and to deportation, and her industries were being impaired or even
ruined. The like misfortunes befell Roumania but for a shorter time. The fate of
Serbia was more terrible. After her army had been crushed by overwhelming
numbers, disease and starvation swept through the country carrying off one-third
of the population. The sufferings of France are known, by sight Or by hearsay,
to all. It was on the western front that men and guns were accumulated in the
greatest profusion, and it was there that the struggle was fiercest and most
obstinate. For a year or more she bore the brunt of the attack along a front of
several hundred miles; throughout the war the fighting on the greater part fell
to her lot. Her casualties, most of them incurred in this noble task, amounted
to 4,470,526. In the early days the enemy approached to within twenty miles of
the capital, and, when driven back, lay encamped during nearly four years little
more than twice that distance away. In the spring of 1918 he again closed in
upon the city, which for some months was under artillery fire at long range. A
belt of country, 250 miles long and twenty or thirty wide, was reduced to a
desert, 1,659 communes or townships were blotted out, 2,363 others were wrecked,
and 630,000 houses were destroyed or seriously damaged.
So many mines were ruined that the output of coal was reduced by a half, 21,000
factories were gutted, and great manufacturing centres like Lille and the Longwy
district were systematically despoiled of the machinery vital to their
prosperity. Deaths among civilians, by artillery in the battle zone or by
aeroplanes in the back areas, were frequent.
This sketch has been written so that the memory of the part taken by the
Council's staff in events which called for much bravery, much endurance, much
self-sacrifice, might not pass away without record, however slight. The task is
now completed. On so many memorials, up and down the country, of those who fell
in the Great War, it is truly written : " They died that we might live." For
that example and that sacrifice no return can be adequate, but it is for each of
us who survive to determine that the example and the sacrifice shall not have
been wholly in vain.
Trying to avoid privacy and cookie settings overwriting content
