Barnes, Barrie S. Stars in a Dark Night. Hornsea and the Great War

This is the story of the small town of Hornsea on the east coast of England during and after the First World War. The war touched every aspect of life on the home front and those who were left behind suffered terribly as the war dragged on. This study meticulously explores the problems, hardships and grief faced by the people of Hornsea and is a microcosm of the wider experience of the British nation. This is the only comprehensive history of Hornsea and the First World War that focuses not only on the war dead, but also covers the history of the civilian population. The grief of the generation who lived through the First World War in Hornsea has now become a distant memory of sacrifice and loss, but at the time of the war the loss of sons, brothers and fathers was devastating in its enormity as ordinary people tried to come to terms with the fact that their former loved ones were no longer there. They were looking at a world that was very different from the one they knew. Their point of view is incomprehensible to most of us today as they came together to cope with the emptiness, the nothingness of loss in war. The smaller Hornsea memorials in churches stand the test of time, documenting human suffering and the harsh realities of life and death in war. Today we see these memorials with a cursory glance as relics of a bygone era, but after the war they were highly visible and compelling to all, with their call to the faithful to remember. The First World War generation in Hornsea is now part of history and with it went the grief and pain of all the families. Their memorials now stand as silent witnesses to significant events that are little known to the majority of the public today. Since the end of the First World War, the cycle of renewal and healing has continued every day. The traces left by the people of Hornsea bear witness to the generosity of the human spirit that can and must overcome the heinousness of war.