Sydney and Arthur Markham were tenant farmers in Roxby. The family that owned their farm refused to sign the papers that would keep their tenants in reserved occupations and out of the war. This left Sydney and Arthur with no choice but to enlist.
Both brothers joined the Lincolnshire Regiment, although Arthur was transferred to the North Staffordshire Regiment in August 1917. He was killed on the 30th November 1917 and was buried where he fell. Sydney was killed on the 15th April 1918, less than five months after his brother’s death. His body was never recovered.
The Markham family were so devastated by their loss that they moved to another farm in North Kelsey. Their mother, Olive, wore black in their memory for the rest of her life.

Dugouts were underground shelters built close to the trench line. Troops used them during rest periods as they provided protection from the weather and enemy bombs.
There were several different types of dugout. The best could contain several rooms and were equipped with electric light. These were generally used by officers.
The entrance to the dugout was often covered with a gas curtain to protect against gas attacks. They could, however, have the opposite effect. If soldiers entered the shelter after an attack they could carry traces of the gas on their boots. The curtain would then seal the gas inside the shelter.

Life in the trenches could be quite boring, especially in areas where there was less fighting, and many men would write to keep their morale up. They would often write letters to their loved ones at home or poems about their experiences. One man from Scunthorpe wrote a poem about his transport ship being attacked by a German U-boat.
The British Government understood how important it was for the soldiers to communicate with their families. This required a huge operation by the Army Postal Service. Mail was sorted at the specially built Home Depot, which covered several acres of Regent’s Park. The Post Office released over 75,000 of their staff to serve in the Army Postal Service. In return, thousands of women took on jobs delivering and sorting mail.

Women played an important role during the war. With so many men away fighting, women had to take on the jobs usually reserved for men. They were also needed to nurse wounded men on the battlefield and at hospitals in England. Some women encouraged men to enlist by handing out white feathers, a sign of cowardice, to men not in uniform.
Jean Graham of Scunthorpe volunteered for the Women’s Legion, which later became the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. The WAAC was formed to free up more men for the front by giving women support roles behind the lines. While serving in France, Jean also performed in pantomimes and concerts organized to entertain the troops.

The Military Service Act was passed on the 27th January 1916, making military service compulsory for the first time. It initially applied to single men aged between 18 and 41 and was later amended to include married men. By 1918, the age range had been extended to 51.
The exception to this was men in reserved occupations, which were jobs that were considered essential. Examples of this included farmers, doctors and clergymen. In Scunthorpe, many local iron and steel workers stayed behind to deal with the increased demand for local ore.
Men in reserved occupations were issued with metal badges to show that they were on war service. This helped protect them from accusations of cowardice and shirking.

North Lincolnshire was home to a number of airbases, including Royal Naval Air Service Killingholme. It was a large seaplane base tasked with repelling zeppelin raids and protecting the oil depot at Immingham. At its biggest, the base was home to almost 1000 servicemen. Planes from Killingholme were also used on anti-submarine patrols.
In the summer of 1918, RNAS Killingholme was handed over to the United States Navy. The Americans stayed until January 1919, when the station was returned to the RAF.
On the 31st January 1916, Scunthorpe experienced its only zeppelin raid. Twenty high-explosive bombs and over fifty incendiary bombs were dropped on the town and its surroundings. Three people were killed in the raid, including the former Scunthorpe United goalkeeper Thomas Dawson.

The attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt was part of the Battle of Loos and took place on the 13th October 1915. The Redoubt was a defensive position held by German forces that the British aimed to capture.
Many men from North Lincolnshire were serving in the 1/4 and 1/5 Battalions of the Lincolnshire Regiment. These Battalions were part of the 138th Brigade that consisted of Lincolnshire and Leicestershire Regiments. They formed part of the larger 46th North Midland Division, who were involved in capturing the Redoubt.
With the 1/5 Battalion at the front and the 1/4 in support, the Lincolnshire Battalions initially managed to cut through the barbed wire on the west and east faces of the Redoubt with few casualties.
The first objective was the Fosse Trench located behind the Redoubt. When soldiers began to advance into the open ground in front of the Fosse Trench, they were mowed down by rifle and machine gun fire from different directions. Retiring to the Redoubt they came under German shell fire and counterattacks and suffered heavy casualties.
Of the 23 officers in the 1/5 Lincolnshire battalion, 11 were killed and a further 11 wounded, one of whom later died of his wounds.