When all the fighting was done, the UK decided to have a national Peace Celebration. The selected day was Saturday 19th July 1919. This was a little optimistic as the Great War was not officially over when they started the planning, and we were still engaged fighting the Bolsheviks in Russia. We were also still fighting amongst ourselves, with mutinies in Southampton, Calais and Kinmel and tanks on the streets of Glasgow.
There was trouble during the celebrations too, with the riot at Luton being the best known. The town museum, as I remember from a visit many years ago, has a livelier version of events than The Guardian. They blame trouble between the The Discharged Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Federation and the Comrades of the Great War, followed by a riot which involved looting a piano shop and playing Keep the Home Fires Burning after setting fire to the Town Hall. The two ex-service organisations had different political outlooks, the Comrades of the Great War being set up as a right wing alternative to The Discharged Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Federation. Eventually they were to resolve their differences and become founder organisations of the British Legion.
Part of the Peace Celebrations featured the giving of medallions, often in white metal, to local school children. Unlike 1911, Nottingham didn’t produce a medal. The Nottingham Peace Celebrations provided sports, cinema visits, fancy dress parades and teas for 30,000 children, though there is no mention of medals, apart from sports prizes.
Some places provided generic medals, though others were specifically made for individual towns and villages. The Derby Peace Medal in the header page is one of the better examples of design – featuring the badge of the local regiment.
The Sheffield medal is more typical, with a generic figure of Peace on one side and the city coat of arms on the other side.
The Birmingham medal is slightly better from the design point of view – I’ve always liked this representation of Victory. It features on a generic peace medal, with an agricultural scene on the reverse, which was the first of these medals I ever had (given to me by my grandfather back in the 1970s).
This is the obverse and reverse of the Derby medal.
Note: I’ve added a link to the previous post to access a picture of the 1911 silver steward’s jewel.
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The aggressive factor in humans is quite discouraging.
Yes, it never seems to go away.
Lots of medals, worth fighting to get? worth fighting for? Fights for everything. Interesting.
If you put a lot of men together they get bored and start fighting. This, sadly, includes politicians…
Gosh. What a lot I didn’t know. Collecting can teach so much
We were discussing that very subject this afternoon. Blogging is much the same – so much to learn and so many interesting people to read. 🙂
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A lot of brave men were not very happy after the war. My Grandad was personally promised a “Home fit for heroes” by an officer at morning parade. Then he went home to see men begging on the streets of Derby, many of them minus various limbs. They were a common sight for quite a few years, I believe.
Yes, they got a raw deal. We moved to Blackburn in the early 60s and I still remember a veteran in a bath chair plus other amputees – there seemed so many after living in the country.
Sounds like the peace celebrations were not very peaceful. I guess we never change…
Yes, we’re very predictable.
We humans are a fractious bunch, always itching for a fight.
Yes, four years fighting Germans then we started fighting against each other. Who’d have thought it?