WORLD WAR ONE – 1914-18

Orkney paid a great price for the Great War – the war that was to end all wars, but failed.

One in seven of the Orcadians who went off to fight for King and Country never returned as nearly 600 men in the prime of their life made the supreme sacrifice and were killed in battle, far from home and, invariably, in scenes of utter carnage.

The Seaforth Highlanders – traditionally Orkney’s regiment – suffered as dreadful a toll as any other military unit. During World War One, a total of 50,000 men of all ranks served in the Seaforths. Of those, more than 8,000 were killed in action and thousands more left seriously handicapped by injury.

Twenty-five years later, Orcadians were well aware of the threat of hostilities months, even years, before the outbreak of World War Two. But, in 1914, when The Orcadian and The Orkney Herald provided the only news for the majority of the population, especially in the isles and rural areas, the declaration of war came with little warning.

Within weeks and months, the names of faraway places – often not even shown on Orkney schoolroom maps – would become part of everyday conversation as Orcadians died in Mons, Ypres and Gallipoli and other theatres of war.

It was The Orcadian dated August 8, 1914, which carried the headline: “Britain at War.”

The newspaper explained: “A British ultimatum was addressed to Germany protesting against the German violation of Belgium’s neutrality and demanding a reply before midnight. The British request was summarily rejected, and the British government have declared to the German government that a state of war exists between the two countries as from 11pm on August 4.”

It was a tragic truth that, alongside the dreadful toll of death during wartime, the county economy in Orkney, in both World War One and World War Two, was to be boosted to levels which it could seldom attain in peacetime. The provisioning of the Military and Naval authorities meant growing business for local merchants and other Orkney concerns.

Within 24 hours of the declaration of war, Orkney saw the reality of the conflict at first hand. Two enemy ships were reported sunk off the Northern Isles and German prisoners were landed in the county as early as Wednesday, August 5, 1914.

Within weeks, Orkney was, in effect, under the rule of Martial law as the Defence of the Realm Act introduced a catalogue of Draconian powers. The Orcadian reported: “We have had no actual experience of war of any serious kind in this country sine the time of Cromwell and we hardly yet realise how entirely we are in the hands of the war authorities.

“They can without any civil proceedings or ceremony enter any house by force, order the lights to be put out, require all persons within any area to remain indoors between stated hours. They have the power to take possession of any land, building and any moveable property they like. They can demolish your house, arrest you without any warrant, order whole communities to leave specified districts, and close public houses.

“It sounds a little strange to us in this fair land of liberty and freedom, but happily we all know that wisdom and discretion will govern the operation of these martial regulations. War is a ruthless business and all private considerations have to give way before the necessities of war.”

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