First World War Exhibition opens
John Attrill, Patrick Seely and Brough Scott opened the first "Isle of
Wight at War 1914 - 1918" exhibition at Carisbrooke Castle Museum on the
18th of May entitled: “ Men and Horses Go to War” featuring General
Jack Seely and his horse Warrior, the Island’s own War Horse. While
Warrior was one of the more famous horses of the Great War, men like
Thomas Attrill (John's father) were, as members of the Hampshite
Yeomanry a mounted calvery Regiment, called up to serve the day after
war was declared and went off with their horses to fight. (see Thomas
Attrill's storey at Island Stories tab). Reginald Denham, a local boy
who worked as a Clerk at Whitecroft Hospital, left his job to join the
Royal Army Medical Corps Territorial Force and was a medical orderly at
Southsea Hospital when the first wounded arrived back in Britain.
A
large group of guests including the Attrill and Seely families toured
the exhibition and were pleased at what they saw. This exhibition will
be open until the autumn and is the first of a series of exhibitions on
how the First World War affected the Isle of Wight that will be staged
over the next four years.