and next time spell check first - sorry all Di ----- Original Message ----- From: "Balloon Expedition Co." <balexped@ihug.co.nz> To: "Brian Binns" <bnbinns@gmail.com>; <nottsgen@rootsweb.com>; <leicestershire-plus@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, August 04, 2013 11:29 PM Subject: Re: [NTT] Effects of The Crimea War > anohter vbery inmteresting book based around WW1 is TheSandcastle Girls by > Chris Bohjalian - real eye opener > > Di Mckee > AUckland > New Zealalnd researching VICKERS NOtts, Canada, Colorado, and USA > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Brian Binns" <bnbinns@gmail.com> > To: <nottsgen@rootsweb.com>; <leicestershire-plus@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Sunday, August 04, 2013 10:32 PM > Subject: [NTT] Effects of The Crimea War > > >>I am not a great reader of novels, but one author I particularly like is >> Sebastian Faulks. >> >> >> >> Probably the best known of his novels is "Birdsong", generally recognised >> as >> one of the best novels (if one can use this adjective for such horror) >> about >> The First World War. This focuses on something which to me was an unknown >> element of this conflict until I'd read the book, namely that of the >> tactic >> of soldiers tunnelling under German lines to place explosives, with them >> operating vice-versa. It also has local connections given that most of >> the >> tunnels were being dug by ex-Nottinghamshire miners. If you've never read >> it >> I can fully recommend it, though it doesn't pull any punches in telling >> of >> the horrors of The Great War. >> >> >> >> However that is not the main point of this email. I have just read one of >> his recent novels, "A Possible Life", which actually is a collection of >> short stories that end up having links - but I won't spoil it for those >> who >> may want to read it by saying anymore. >> >> >> >> One of the stories follows the life of a young boy from his childhood in >> the >> mid 1800's through to the end of that century. His father had been a >> shoemaker in London employing several people but the business collapsed >> because of The Crimea War and the boy had to be put in The Workhouse. The >> reasons given were twofold - the shortage of male workers, and a massive >> rise in price for leather. Now I know that Sebastian Faulks does >> impeccable >> research for his novels, so I have little doubt that what is related in >> the >> novel is correct. However I can find nothing about this on the internet - >> not a massive search though, I have to admit - so I wondered if any other >> family historians here can shed light on this. I think most of us know >> about >> the economic and social changes brought about by the First World War, and >> certainly World War 2. Some of us knowing first-hand about the latter, >> even >> if like me it was only the rationing and lack of certain things in the >> immediate post-war period. >> >> >> >> So the question I am asking is, does anyone know of any paper written on >> the >> social and economic effects of this war - apart from the obvious Florence >> Nightingale ones? And moreover does anyone have a leather working >> ancestor >> (shoemaker etc) in their tree, who too went from being relatively >> well-off >> to ending up poor and even in The Workhouse? If they did, then the >> reasons >> used in this novel may explain the situation. >> >> >> >> Brian Binns >> >> >> >> Notts Surname List >> >> http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/notts.html >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> NOTTSGEN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >