Now there will not be too many people who know that the German Imperial navy bombarded Scarborough in the December of 1914.
I have to confess I only vaguely knew of the incident, but last year on the back of some research and a conversation with David Harrop it became a blog story.*
Recently David followed up our conversation with a series of pictures of a porcelain lighthouse complete wuth the name and coat of arms of Scarborough.
During the Great War the china companies switched from making crested porcelain models of tourist attractions and substituted grimmer ones connected with the conflict.
And some time shortly after the attack one company rushed out this one, which for good measure even had a shell hole.
The attack was carried out by the German High Seas Fleet and resulted in 592 casualties, many of them civilians, of whom 137 died.
It caused public outrage given that it was an attack on civilians, and led to a series of patriotic posters calling for men to enlist and avenge the bombardment.
Also attacked were Hartlepool, West Hartlepool and Whitby, of which Hartlepool was a more significant target because it had extensive civilian docks and factories.
In total something like 200 people were killed and 300 houses, seven churches and five hotels were damaged across the four towns and along with the public outcry, the enlistment posters and media coverage, the picture postcard industry was quick to exploit the event.
They rushed out a series of cards featuring the devastation and one in the possession of David has a detailed account of the attack.
Location; Scarborough
Picture; crested china, 2018, from the collection of David Harrop
*On this day .... 103 years ago on the north Yorkshire coast, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/on-this-day-103-years-ago-on-north.html
Recently David followed up our conversation with a series of pictures of a porcelain lighthouse complete wuth the name and coat of arms of Scarborough.
During the Great War the china companies switched from making crested porcelain models of tourist attractions and substituted grimmer ones connected with the conflict.
And some time shortly after the attack one company rushed out this one, which for good measure even had a shell hole.
The attack was carried out by the German High Seas Fleet and resulted in 592 casualties, many of them civilians, of whom 137 died.
It caused public outrage given that it was an attack on civilians, and led to a series of patriotic posters calling for men to enlist and avenge the bombardment.
In total something like 200 people were killed and 300 houses, seven churches and five hotels were damaged across the four towns and along with the public outcry, the enlistment posters and media coverage, the picture postcard industry was quick to exploit the event.
They rushed out a series of cards featuring the devastation and one in the possession of David has a detailed account of the attack.
Location; Scarborough
Picture; crested china, 2018, from the collection of David Harrop
*On this day .... 103 years ago on the north Yorkshire coast, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/on-this-day-103-years-ago-on-north.html
No comments:
Post a Comment