What did you do in The Great War, Grandad?
Andy Stuart
- Regions:
- South East, East of England, London, East Midlands, Cumbria, Lancashire
- Notice Period:
- Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
- Type:
- Author / Hobby
- Fee:
- Expensed: Travel expenses only. Free within reasonable distance.
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 11th October 2024
- Tagged:
- Family History | Military History | 20Th Century History
A question many over the age of 60 might wish they'd asked. A generation now of an age where their grandparents, who they knew, would have made a contribution to the national effort in The Great War. I was 11 when Arthur Walton, my grandad died. But he left stories with his son-in-law, my dad, and me about some of his experiences as a soldier in WW1 and then the Russian Civil War. This direct link of verbal, family history is diminishing as time goes by. Those tales inspired my three books. This talk is focused on using limited family information to find out a great deal about their units, where they were and the battles they were in. A journey I've been on myself. There are some more details here: https://www.andystuart.net/
Views: 297 | Enquiries: 0About Andy Stuart
With a collection of anecdotes from Arthur Walton, my Grandad, filed in my head, I knew one day I needed to record them in some way. He died in 1972 (I was 11), and the bizarre closure of the world in 2020 with Covid created the time. I started writing without knowing what would emerge and without the intention of a book for publication. I had a beginning, August 1914, and an end, 1920, which gave me a timeline. I needed to get the story from a. to b.
The outcome evolved into far too many words for one book; detailed research into a forgotten part of British History with 'Churchill's Intervention', and a fascination with the Allied involvement in the Russian civil war.
My dad was a professional soldier and I was too; in the Royal Artillery, like my Grandad. I left the army in 1987 to work in financial markets for 25 years, travelling extensively to the great city's of the world. After school in south east London, I studied Economics at Warwick University, and later for a Master of Business Administration. After a City career in 2006, I co-founded a technology development business.
Having disliked composing imaginative stories at school, I now find inspiration everywhere. My writing weaves fiction within historical facts of real events throughout WW1 and during a period largely forgotten by British historians; our involvement in the Russian Civil War.
Groups I've presented to and are scheduled include Veterans, Rotary and Probus clubs, Writers groups and U3A. https://www.andystuart.net/
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