The story of this website

The story of this website

November 2014 was the centenary of the start of WWI. Several hundred people gathered around the War Memorial in the centre of St Ives on that Sunday. The Mayor gave a moving speech and read out the names of the 74 St Ives men shown on the Memorial who died in WWI.

How many of those listening knew anything about those men? Their lives before they went to war. Their experiences whilst serving. How they died and who they left behind? The original purpose of this website was to answer those questions. To ensure the telling of their stories.

Families of the fallen gather around at the unveiling of the War Memorial in 1920.

One information source was the British Newspaper Archive. Newspaper articles from 1914 told of St Ives preparing for WWI. How those left behind understood what was happening. For example, news of the first St Ives man to die, William Roden. The articles included the names of many other St Ivians. So the website's purpose expanded. It included a weekly publishing of newspaper articles from exactly 100 years ago. An index provided links to articles mentioning specific surnames.

The 74 men named on the War Memorial were not the only St Ives men to die in WWI. A further 18 are not named. Men who lived over St Ives Bridge and considered themselves St Ivians. But because a parish boundary crossed, their names appear elsewhere. Traumatised by loss, some families couldn't face a reminder on the War Memorial. Men died from war wounds some time after the War ended. So their stories were added.

The crowd gathered in 1920 for the unveiling ceremony.

What about men who survived WWI? How did they fare? How many sustained injury? The Roll of Honour names 397 St Ives men who returned from war. There are a further 33 not mentioned. The website contains information about all 430 men. This includes details of injuries and stories of particular interest.

The website content has expanded over the decade. Sometimes there isn't any news from exactly 100 years ago in a particular week. Then, articles from the 1880s appear. The aim is to publish newspaper articles from 1794 through to the current week. Also to index every surname appearing in those articles.

Articles with interesting information appear regularly. A history of St Ives Union Workhouse. St Ivians transported to Australia. Charles Bullard, the St Ives man who invented the treaded tyre and lost a fortune. New content appears weekly.

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