Dr Megan Wang (née Kelleher)

When we think of the First World War, we often think of the male populations of villages, towns and cities largely being lost, but this is not a wholly true representation of the conflict. Indeed, some villages and towns did not lose a single person! These places are known as “thankful” or, less commonly, “blessed” villages in Britain, and provide a really interesting lens to view the First World War from.

The term “thankful” village was popularised by writer and educator Arthur Mee in the 1930s, and was utilised to describe a location in Britain where all service personnel who left the area to participate in the First World War returned home. Initially, he identified 32 such locations but as of 2013 there were 53 known to exist in England and Wales. Currently, there aren’t any advertised in Scotland and Ireland, but perhaps there will be someday.

There are also villages who did not lose anyone in the Second World War in addition to the First, and these are referred to as “doubly thankful” villages. Currently, there are potentially 17 villages that may hold this title in England and Wales.

Some of these villages have still opted to place a war memorial in their locality as a way of acknowledging their area’s role in the First World War and their luckiness. These often do not have the names of those who served on them, but they nevertheless appear in an area that traditionally would’ve been where a war memorial was erected such as near to the Church or on the main street in the village.

So, if you ever see one, make sure you stop and reflect at it; they are pretty uncommon, and share an underrepresented part of the history of the First World War!