A Bradford Pal: âIt was Simply Heart Breakingâ â From Mill Town to the Battlefields of France
John Broadhead
Hardcover
(Uniform Press, Sept. 15, 2019)
In 1914, the city of Bradford was the worldâs leading manufacturer of fine woolen goods. Upon the outbreak of war, and at the urging of the cityâs wealthy industrialists, thousands of young men rushed to enlist. Within a matter of months, two volunteer âpals battalionsâ were formedâbattalions comprised of men who enlisted together as long as they could serve together. John Broadhead, the son of a Bradford Pal, tells the story of the battalions and the part played by his father, George William Broadhead, a town hall clerk from Batley. The authorâs research was inspired by his fatherâs diary of 1916, which he handed to the author shortly before his death in 1980, saying, âHere lad, you might be interested in this.â Like many soldiers, he rarely spoke about the war, but the diary, alongside the authorâs use of official records, newspaper reports, and memoirs, reveal the stark horror of what faced the nationâs youth. Few of the original Pals survived the war, but George Broadheadâs luck held. In 1918, he married a French girl and stayed in France for eighteen years working with the Imperial War Graves Commissionâthe British institution tasked with burying and commemorating First World War dead and missing soldiersâbefore returning to his home town to resume his earlier career. He was an ordinary soldier but a quite remarkable person, and this is his story.