THE FIRST World War is often described as the Great War or the War to End All Wars and, in retrospect, neither label was totally accurate but there is no denying that life for everyone in the nations involved was irrevocably altered.

Whether they were survivors of the fighting, families of those who were killed or residents of communities where a major proportion of the population had personal experience of the consequences of war, from rural hamlets to cities, the Armistice signed on November 11, 1918, marked a step-change in their lives.

Petersfield and its surrounding villages were affected in the same way and a new booklet, Petersfield 1918 From War To Peace, looks at various aspects of the legacy of the First World War.

The town’s newspaper, the Post’s forerunner, The Hants and Sussex News, was published then, as now, on a Wednesday but issue number 1834, published on November 13, had no mention on the front page of the momentous declaration of peace, although there was a description of a united service of thanksgiving on Page 3, written by the paper’s long-serving reporter and editor, Frank Carpenter.

Among those assembled at the Drill Hall for the service were the ‘boys in blue’, wounded servicemen who had been convalescing at the three auxiliary hospitals close to the town – Cold Hayes in Steep, Clayton Court in East Liss and Adhurst St Mary at Sheet. During the course of the war, a total of 4,981 sick and wounded soldiers were cared for by volunteers as well as medical staff under the command of the military.

Gifts of food and items, such as books and games, were given to the wounded men by kind-hearted residents, who also raised funds, despite food rationing meaning everyone was deprived of wholesome food – a fact which resulted in the Petersfield meat scandal when a delivery from London was condemned as unfit for consumption on its arrival in the town.

Personal stories also feature in the booklet.

The contribution of women to the war effort was one of the factors leading to the establishment of Petersfield Girls’ High School in the former Dolphin Hotel at the eastern end of High Street, opposite what would become the site of the war memorial.

The first proposal for a memorial to the men who had died was for a commemorative obelisk in The Square but controversy raged because that would have led to moving the statue of King William, with one suggestion being that it should be melted down and the lead made into toy soldiers for little boys.

The eventual unveiling of the memorial, designed by Harry Inigo Triggs, was by the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Jack Seeley, on May 8, 1921.