Chris Nation Photography

Bray 100. 100th anniversary commemoration of the firing by 'E' Battery RHA of the first artillery rounds on 22nd August 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force in World War 1.



The commemorative firing of a 13-pounder Quick Firing Gun on the 100th Anniversary of the first round fired by British Artillery in WW1, on 22 August 1914. Near Peronne. Belgium


The commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the summary execution of the mayor and his 19 year old clerk by German forces advancing through Belgium on 22nd August 1914.

The mayor is holding a print presented by Major James Allen, Commander, 'E' Battery, R.H.A. of the painting 'First Shots' by Dawn Waring. The original large oil painting is in the Officers' Mess. R.H.A.

'E' Battery was in support of units of 3rd Cavalry Brigade, patrolling the area between Peronne and Binche, Belgium.

St. Symphorien Military Cemetary on the outskirts of the city of Mons, Belgium. It is unusual in having graves of both British and German troops. It is set in the woodland garden of an old quarry, very different to the usual layout of cemeteries of WW1, regular rows of graves in open, flat fields

St. Symphorien Military Cemetery is notable for the graves of the first British fatality of W.W.1 and also the last British soldier recorded killed, on the day of the Armistice, 11/11/1918.

Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers in Europe [SHAPE] is 2-3 kms from the cemetery. A senior officer of each of the countries of SHAPE & Russia attended & laid a wreath

The Stone of Remembrance was designed by British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Imperial, now Commonwealth, War Graves Commission (I/CWGC). It commemorates the dead of World War I & now WW2, to be used in I/CWGC cemeteries containing 1,000 or more graves, or at memorial sites commemorating more than 1,000 war dead. The phrase inscribed on the stone was proposed by the British author, poet & Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The phrase on the Stones of Remembrance is from the Wisdom of Sirach

Cedric Charles Dickens was a grandson of the novelist. Commissioned in the London Kensington Battalion, he went to France on 3 Nov 1914. As a Major he commanded a group covering a gap in the line at Bouleaux Wood. The position was subject to heavy machine gun fire & Dickens was killed. His men buried him in a shell hole & set up a cross. It has been moved several times since. Dickens's remains have never been found. He is commemorated on the memorial to the Missing of The Somme, at Thiepval.







The largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetary in the world. It contains the graves of 11,965 British and Commonwealth soldiers, of which 8,369 are unnamed. In addition there are 34,959 names of the missing commemorated on the wall panels.

The U.S.A. joined W.W.1 on the Allied side after The Zimmermann Telegram had been decoded by British Intelligence. The telegram, addressed to the president of Mexico by the German Ambassador to the US, promised to assist Mexico in the annexation to Mexico of states in the southwest of the USA, from California to Texas, if Mexico would launch offensive operations against the USA. US troops joined Allied operations in 1918. US fatalities were some 110,000, 45,000 being due to 'Spanish Flu'.

The commemorative tower and gardens in memory of troops of the Ulster regiments who died, serving the Allied cause.














