In 2018, as part of the national WWI centenary commemorations, Cockermouth Heritage Group and Kirkgate Arts & Heritage were awarded a Heritage Lottery grant for a project to develop and share understanding of the effects of World War I and its aftermath on those living and working in Cockermouth and the surrounding area.
To read more about the project please see below:
During our project we investigated many aspects of WWI and have collected images related to that period. These are shown in the gallery so you can zoom into the images by clicking on them and then scrolling through.
1916 postcard sent from the Somme to Cockermouth
A World War I soldier’s kit (courtesy of Thom Atkinson)
Construction of the Grand Theatre during WWI
Dead Man’s Penny – a bronze name plaque given to the families of servicemen killed in fighting during WWI (this one is for Reuben Scott)
A Cockermouth fireman’s leather helmet
Mechanics’ Band drum
An embroidered French card sent home from the Front – this one was for a child
Derwent Ladies’ Football Team from 1917 – workers from Derwent Mills
Cockermouth’s Cottage Hospital, founded in 1915
Boys Brigade Bugle
Cockermouth man Dawson Dickson, at one time driver in the Middle East for T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) during WWI, and later a key figure in the Boys’ Brigade in Cockermouth
Box iron with metal block – the block was heated on an open fire and then placed inside the iron to press laundry
Galvanized tub for washing clothes – a copper posser or a wooden dolly would have been used to agitate the clothes in the tub
An early manual typewriter
Bowler hat bearing the label P W Fletcher (Main Street) inside
A pair of child’s clogs, made of leather with iron caulkers on the bottom
Childs Wooden Spinning Top
A box of lead pencils for use on a school slate board (found in the former All Saints School)
WW1 Tin Helmet
Bayonet from WWI era
Spent bullets and shrapnel brought back from the French battlefields of WWI
Autograph entry (1918) from a book of autographs collected by Nurse Edgar, a VAD nurse at the Auxiliary Military Hospital at Cockermouth Castle which opened in 1917
Another page from Nurse Edgar’s autograph book – some men drew pictures, others wrote poems, and most wrote their names and rank.
Cockermouth man Col. Thomas W MacDonald, received his DSO at Buckingham Palace in 1918 – his wife Molly was a victim of the Spanish Flu pandemic and died in 1919
Convalescent soldiers and nursing staff at Cockermouth Castle during WWI – the men enjoyed free film showings, concerts and rounds at the golf course during their stay
The Peace Bird toy, popular with children at the end of WWI