Chatham played a very important part in the nation's Great War effort. It was one of the British Royal Navy's three 'Manning Ports', with more than a third of the town's ships manned by men allocated to the Chatham Division. The war was only 6 weeks old when Chatham felt the effects of war for the first time. On 22 September 1914, three Royal Naval vessels from the Chatham Division, HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, were sunk in quick succession by a German submarine, U-9. A total of 1,459 men lost their lives that day, 1,260 of whom were from the Chatham Division. Two months later, on 26 November, the battleship HMS Bulwark exploded and sunk whilst at anchor off of Sheerness on the Kent coast. There was a loss of 736 men, many of whom were from the Chatham area. AUTHOR: Stephen Wynn is a retired police officer having served with Essex Police for thirty years. His first book, Two Sons in a War Zone: Afghanistan: The True Story of a Father's Conflict, was published in 2010. It is his personal account of his sons first tours in Afghanistan. He had a had grandparent who served in and survived the First World War. SELLING POINTS: ? A fascinating insight into how the people of Chatham coped with the problems of the First World War ? A look at some of the individuals who went off to war and never came back. ? Covers wartime Chatham and everyday life in the town. ? Over 150 rare wartime illustrations ? Winston Churchill, the then First Lord of the Admiralty, and his visit to Chatham. ? William George was 78 years of age, a retired soldier who had served 21 years with the Royal Field Artillery. He was part of the Recruitment team in Chatham and one of the towns Special Constables.
