BOOK REVIEWS
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Hull Pals |
This, one of the Pen & Sword "Pals" series, is a BIG book. The large format makes it considerably larger than A4 size, and there are 248 pages.
It tells the story of the Hull Pals - the four "forgotten" Pals Battalions who were among the units in reserve during the attack on Serre of 1st July, 1916, when the better-remembered Pals' battalions - the Accrington Pals, the Bradford Pals, the more formally-named Sheffield City Battalion and so on - suffered terrible casualties.
David Bilton here sets the record straight with a really monumental work of Remembrance to the men of Hull and the the surrounding districts who enlisted in response to Kitchener's threatening stare and accusing finger pointing out from the famous recruiting poster.
Hull, at the outbreak of the war, had a wide range of "social classes" within its population, ranging from the very wealthy to the very poor and the commercial, industrial and maritime interests of the city provided ocupations for them all. The four Service Battalions raised by the city (there were also Depot Companies for each) reflected the class dividing lines which were prevalent - and happily accepted - at the time. There was the "Hull Sportsmen's Battalion" open to those who enjoyed sports and games; there was the "Hull Commercials' Battalion" which encouraged recruits from the commercial houses; the "Hull Tradesmen's Battalion" which was where the city fathers thought the ordinary Working Man might best feel at home and finally there was the fourth of the city's battalions which, for the want of any better name, was usually referred to as "T'Others." Considering its size, Hull's four-batallion contribution to the Army was unequalled.
David Bilton has researhed his subject very, very deeply. No matter what he is describing - the exciting but amateurish intitial attempts to turn these motley collections of men in soldiers, their intial foreign service in Egypt, their transfer to France and their exposure to the horrors of trench warfare - his account is full of personal stories to balance and illustrate the wider historical viewpoint.
I'm not a Hull man myself, but this doesn't matter. This book has plenty to interest the general reader because what happened to the Hull Pals happened to hundreds of thousands of others.
Quite simply, the book must contain just about everything that anyone could possibly wish to know about the Hull Battalions. The appendices are staggering. There are Nominal Rolls of all four battalions, covering Officers and Other Ranks, details of soldiers' deaths in date order, personal details of those who died, relative death-rates from the Hull Pals' main battles, and much more. And to illustrate this wealth of information, there are hundreds of photographs. (The only minus point is that this there is no index.)
The cover price of £18.95 represents tremendous value for money, and "Hull Pals" is an excellent addition to the "Pals" series.
HULL PALS
is published by Pen & Sword Books, Ltd.
ISBN 0-85052-634-5
Paperback, 248 pages - maps, photographs
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