Local historian Peter Christie looks at North Devon during WWI in his 41st book

Peter Christie a well-known local historian and author has just published his forty-first book.

Entitled ‘The First World War in North Devon’ its 214 pages look at the ‘Home Front’ during those turbulent years.

He charts the huge wave of popular support at the start of the war when thousands of young men enlisted, the decline in volunteers as the real cost of the war in human terms began to emerge, the imposition of conscription and the many appeals against it along with the growth in local medical centres, the movement of women into the labour market, the introduction of tractors and the food rationing that had to be imposed towards the end of the conflict.

All these topics are lavishly illustrated with both photographs and extracts from the local newspapers which give a real flavour of what people were experiencing in this area.

Peter notes in his preface that he had been collecting material for many years before sitting down and writing it up. Peter said: "Everyone has heard of the battles during the First World War but from reading the contemporary local newspapers I became interested in the lives of those living in North Devon during this the first mechanised, modern war.

"By concentrating on the events in our area I think we get a much fuller picture of the great changes that society and individuals experienced – many of which changed lives for ever."

The book is dedicated to all those North Devon men and women who died in the conflict – and also to those who died after the war from the effects of the fighting – but whose names are not recorded on war memorials. It costs £20 and is available in local bookshops and Museums as well as on e-bay.