Ken Porter – författare

A brief history of how the people of Laindon and district coped with the problems of the First World War

• Throughout the book are individual family memories, over 100 photographs and appropriate oems mostly written at the time.

• Indication of why Britain went to war

• Insight into the role of the local Explosive factories.

• Individual stories of those who applied for exemption and the hysteria of suspected spies.

• The role played by our Women Folk

• Culminating in individual stories of our men folk who went to war on our behalf.

Prior to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, the Castle Point District was madeup of four very quaint, peaceful little parishes: Canvey Island, South Benfleet,Hadleigh and Thundersley. The initial enthusiasm shown by the young men of thisarea, who were enthusiastic to be part of an adventure that was to be ‘over byChristmas’, was mirrored by thousands of other courageous young men aroundBritain. Most understood that it was their sworn duty to stand up for their king andcountry. They didn’t stop to think or even fully appreciate the hardship and fear theywould leave behind on the home front.This book tells of the memories and recollections of some of these brave men whowere fortunate enough to return home to their friends and families. For the ones whoweren’t so lucky, we hear from the people who endured the pain of a love lost forevermore.Included throughout are a collection of invaluable wartime newspaper reports thatrecount daily life, telling of the sacrifices that those left behind had to endure whilstreading about the war dead, their numbers increasing on an almost daily basis.From the extraordinary role of women during the war, the conscientious objectorsand those exempt from the fighting, to the aftermath of war when the districtcelebrated victory while dealing with the painful loss of 189 men, all aspects ofwartime Castle Point are covered in this remarkable account, interspersed with anumber of wartime poems that further explain in verse what life was like during thesedark days.

Grays (Thurrock) in the Great War tells the story of Grays and the wider Thurrock area from the outbreak of the Great War until the peace of 1918. The Docks at nearby Tilbury were the source of much employment in the area for both fathers and sons alike. They also played their part in the war, but not as a hub of military deployments.In May 1915 the German spy Augusto Alfredo Roggen, a Uruguayan born in Montevideo, arrived at Tilbury on board the SS Batavia, which had sailed from Rotterdam in Holland. On his arrival in England he made his way to Scotland to carry out his spying activities at the Loch Long torpedo range. He was captured, found guilty and executed by firing squad at the Tower of London on 17 November 1915.In July 1915 the German Naval officer and pilot, Gunther Plüschow, made good his escape from Donington Hall POW camp in Leicestershire and made his way safely back to Germany by hiding himself on board one of the many ships that sailed from Tilbury. He became the only German POW to escape from Britain and make it back to Germany during the First World War.The Kynochs munitions factory was situated near Fobbing on the site of what had previously been Borleys Farm. The site, which made shell cases, detonators, cordite and acetone for the British war effort, was so vast that it included its own housing estate for its workers, a hospital and a railway line. It became so big that it actually became known as Kynochtown and was a major source of employment in the area, particularly for women.There were Prisoner of War camps at Horndon House Farm, Puddledock Farm and Woodhams Quarry in West Thurrock which housed over 150 German prisoners.The Thurrock area also played an important part of protecting London from seaborne invasion up the River Thames with the help of Tilbury Fort and Coalhouse Fort at East Tilbury.