I do not know anything about private Arthur Land except what is written in the back of the bible

Our Great Uncle Jack was one of seven brothers who all volunteered for the Army during The Great War. All survived service. Six of the brothers served overseas in France and the other, our grandfather, in the United Kingdom with the Territorial Army. Two of the brothers were wounded and one of these, Jack, returned suffering form shell-shock in addition to his physical wounds. John (Jack) Elkins was born in 1891 in Bermondsey, London, later moving before the war to Manwood Road, Crofton Park, south east London. He was employed, as a clerk, by The South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co. Ltd. in High Street, Lewisham. Volunteering for the Army on 5th September 1914 at Holly Hedge House, Blackheath he subsequently joined the 20th Battalion of the London Regiment. He was in training until 9 March 1915, when he embarked for France as part of the first reinforcement of the Regiment, being encamped at the base depot at Harfleur in Haute Normadie. On 22 May he joined the rest of the Battalion and was posted to “A” Company “in the field”. Four months later he spent a few days in hospital with sores caused by lack of cleanliness and poor food. On 25 September 1915 he was “wounded in action” with shrapnel in his thigh. He was treated at a casualty clearing station and sent to a base hospital at St Omer, Pas de Calais. However, the wound or its consequences were severe and he was transferred to a hospital at Versailles. He appears to have recovered enough to return to duty by the middle of November at the base camp at Le Havre. (The injuries were severe enough for his record to have his next-of-kin noted upon it.) He returned to active service only to be wounded again at the end of May 1916. The record shows the cause to be “shell shock”. He was sent to a casualty clearing station and then Le Havre with what was termed “W” shock and stayed here until returned to his unit on 20 June 1916. On 12 July 1916 he was awarded 21 days Field Punishment No.1 by the Officer Commanding for “When on active service conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline”. (Field Punishment No1 was where a man was confined, usually in the open, for a number of hours a day in a position of danger, i.e. placed in harms’ way) We do not know what he had done to attract such punishment, but it was a serious offence that could easily have been related to his mental condition i.e.” shell shock”. At the end of October 1916 he was promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal and then to Corporal in March 1917. In June 1917 he reached the rank of Sergeant, but in early November reverted to the rank of Private “at his own request”. In March 1918 he was granted two weeks leave to home to Crofton Park, south London. He appears to serve then until the end of the war without incident and afterwards until he is admitted to St Luke’s War Hospital in Halifax for six weeks with a carbuncle on his neck caused by “impure food and water and irregular meals”. He was demobilised from the army on 11 April 1919 and returned to his job with the The South Metropolitan Electric Light and Power Co. Ltd. || Three photographs: Uncle Jack, five great-uncles, uncle Jack and unknown compatriot

The printed details on the back of this postcard include the following pieces of information: ‘H. B. Series. Entire British Production. London, E.C. / No. 758’. The illustration on the front, signed ‘A. E.’ by the artist, conveys many visual and written messages. The central figures are a father pushing his baby son in a pram. He is looking at a newspaper billboard that exclaims: ‘WAR NEWS / ANOTHER GREAT BATTLE – ENORMOUS CASUALTIES!’. The Post Office in the background has two posters in the window; the larger one states: ‘MATERNITY BENEFIT 30/ / INSURANCE ACT.’. The comment positioned at the bottom of the scene reads, ‘WHAT A LIFE ! LLOYD GEORGE GIVES THE KID THIRTY BOB TO COME INTO THE WORLD, AND LORD DERBY GIVES THE FATHER TWO AND NINE TO GET OUT OF IT!’ The mentions of Lloyd George, ‘THIRTY BOB’ and ‘MATERNITY BENEFIT 30/’ refer to the National Insurance Act of 1911, according to which workers who contributed to this compulsory health-insurance scheme were entitled to, amongst other benefits, maternity benefit of 30 shillings. David Lloyd George (1863–1945), who proposed the act, was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time. Lord Edward Derby (1865–1948) had also made a proposal (in August 1914): the raising of battalions of what later became known as ‘Pals’. His name is additionally associated with a scheme: on becoming Director–General of Recruiting, in 1915 he established the Group Scheme, or Derby Scheme, by which men between the ages of 18 and 40 were encouraged voluntarily to attest that they would serve in the military when needed, until that time being entitled to wear an armband, or brassard, to signal that they were not cowardly shirkers. Those who attested that they would join the British Army wore a khaki armband emblazoned with a red king’s crown; those who opted for the Royal Navy wore a blue armband with a red fouled anchor. They also received 2 shillings 9 pence for the day of attestation, this being a day’s pay for an infantryman. His armband identifies the father in this scene as a ‘Derby man’ who has attested for the army. It additionally dates the postcard to the end of 1915, for the Derby Scheme only operated from October to December of that year. || A British postcard. || || Postcard || A British comic postcard: 'What a life!'