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.