You mention a number of former Everton players ... I assume being largely volunteers at this early stage of the war, the current players of the time would have been discouraged from signing up?

But presumably when full conscription got underway even the current players must have found themselves involved in the blood and gore? I can't imagine "footballer" would have been an exempt occupation...

We are all so lucky to be living the lifestyle we enjoy today compared to those that made it possible for us.

Long may they be remembered and cherished.

Loved this:

"The 10th were known as the “Hull Commercials” as they were mainly office workers, teachers and businessmen. The 11th were the “Hull Tradesmen” as they drew their recruits from the skilled trades like joinery and welding. The 12th were the “Hull Sportsmen” raised at the instigation of F S Jackson, the former Yorkshire cricket captain. The 13th were a battalion of no particular specialism or trade. They humorously called themselves the “Hull t'others”.

It really does show the futility of War.

My, paternal, Granddad "went to teach the Bosch a lesson" aged 15. He fought at "Wipers". He got shot in the upper thigh, and as he put it "if that bugger had been a couple of inches taller, you wouldn't be here".

Both my Granddads "fought the bloody Kaiser", both proper Evertonians. On entirely separate occasions they both told me, "Blue Blood doesn't leak easy, Sunshine", then they "tousled" my hair.

Isn't it fuckin ace being a "Pureblooded Blue"?
Granddads, Grandma's, Man 'n Dad, all Bluebloods. I'm a lucky bugger. I don't treat my heritage lightly, never have, never will.

Chosen.

The Craic was mighty!

The Working Classes are this country's foundation and always have been.

However, I will now wander into a possible area of controversy. The class thing. The "incompetent generals" thing. My grandfather was public school educated and a junior officer in the Great War. Junior officers had the highest casualty rate of any type of soldier. And most of them were public school boys. This is not the case of working class lads being sacrificed. They were all sacrificed.

As to the futility of it and the incompetence of generals – this is a matter of dispute. Read "Blood Guts & Poppycock" for a view that WW1 was necessary for the British to fight, that the generals learned relatively quickly how to fight this new modern war, that we won the Battle of the Somme – essential for relieving the pressure on Verdun and by the end the British Army (and the newly arriving American army) was the only one capable of continuing to fight.

The "Lions led by Donkeys" suggestion was completely rejected by my grandfather, who at the time was on the front lines but, being an officer, understood what was being attempted and the difficulties of dealing with a new type of warfare. He didn't live to see Black Adder Goes Fourth... but don't confuse that for history. He did see Mel Gibson's Gallipoli – and said it was ludicrous.

I love the articles on WW1 – it was a terrible tragedy and I have nothing but respect for those that took part.

John Keegan's “Face of Battle” interestingly compares Agincourt (Hand-to-hand combat) to Waterloo (Single-missile combat) and then again to The Somme (Multi-missile combat). In support of Dave's comments (#14) WWI and this brand of warfare was completely unprecedented, and thankfully will never be seen again. Both sides were caught in a horrific battle of attrition, using technology never seen before and unfortunately those making, and taking, the orders didn't have the luxury of historical perspective that we have today.

One thing is for sure though, reading this piece alone about just two of the hundreds of thousands of barely adult men taken in that conflict – never mind the effect on those who survived – brings home to true horror and atrocity that was endured by so many only one hundred years ago.

Thanks again Pete.

Lest We Forget.

As a side note there was a TV series in the 80s called the "Monocled Mutineer" which was loosely based on one Percy Toplis. Although in reality he was not a mutineer, he was a private in WW1 who impersonated an officer (and wore a monocle) and he got away with it because (a) "gentlemen" were taken at face value and (b) no-one could imagine a private being able to impersonate a gentleman. It shows the depth of the class gap at the time.

On the class differences: I guess those differences might have been bigger to start with in the UK than on the continent, and that fighting a defensive war in your own country brings a whole different dynamic in comparison to fighting elsewhere to liberate allies, but I know my granddad always claimed the wars helped to lessen the class differences (basically the French speaking elite vs Dutch speaking working class – it's really not useful to pretend you don't understand each other when you're getting slaughtered) significantly in Belgium.

He survived to serve in the Royal Engineers in WW2. My Dad, myself and my son are all Evertonians and all called Robert McKie. Couldn't imagine it any other way.