A book on the Manchester Pals by Michael Stedman

Now I may be looking in the wrong place, but I can’t find much for the general reader on Manchester and the Great War.

Cover f the book

In the fullness of time I shall plunge into the Ref and start reading the newspapers of the period and pickup on the diaries and letters of those who lived through the conflict but before all of that I wanted a broad picture of our city during the war.

The gap has been partly filled by Manchester Pals by Michael Steadman, which is a detailed account of the formation of the Manchester Pals battalions.*

“Unlike its near neighbour, working-class Salford, Manchester proved able to raise eight Pals battalions. Initially, these battalions were composed of middle-class men who experience before the war years was within the commercial, financial and manufacturing interests which formed the foundations of Edwardian Manchester's life and prosperity.

Manchester was undeniably proud of its pals battalions; that the area was capable of raising.""**

Now I am only a third of the way through but it is my sort of history book drawing on the contemporary accounts of the men who volunteered along with a fine set of photographs.

Embroidered postcard

Here too is a clear description of the city on the eve of the Great War including the grand commercial centre with its towering offices and exchanges, the mean and grim working class areas just a few minutes from that affluence and an account of the growing confrontation between labour on the one side and the powerful people of plenty on the other.

Added to this we get a sense of just how the Pal’s battalions were such a powerful force in drawing young men to the Colours in the first few months of the war.

Mr Callaghan

Men like William Eric Lunt from Chorlton who enlisted in the September of 1914 aged 19 and was posted to the 8th Battalion and my friend Joe’s dad who served in the same unit.

Bit by bit their stories are coming out of the shadows and so I welcome Mr Stedman’s book which is giving a context to their service.

So as I get to the half way mark I shall return with more from the book.

Pictures; cover from Manchester Pals, embroidered postcard of the Manchester Regiment from the collection of David Harrop, and Mr Callaghan courtesy of Joe Callaghan

*Manchester Pals, 16th, 17th, 18th,30th, 21st, 22nd & 23rd Battalions of the Manchester Regiment A History of the Two Manchester Brigades, Michael Stedman, 2004

**Michael Stedman.  http://www.michaelstedman.co.uk/?manchesterpals

***William Eric Lunt a soldier of the Great War, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/william-eric-lunt-soldier-of-great-war.html