Author has to order more copies after book's pre-launch event success

David Seymour held an event at Misterton Library on Saturday, February 17, to pre launch a new book about the men and women of Misterton and West Stockwith, called Suns of Home, where he was able to give customers details of their ancestors or show village scenes that have long-since changed.

David was born in South Yorkshire and moved to Misterton in 2012.

David said: “The war changed the villages forever, bringing economic decline and a changed world, national, and local outlook.

“These three books chronicle those changes using lots of local primary resources, including photographs, newspaper extracts, and oral history records to give a local slant to changes felt across the whole world.

“This is a local book for local people, and I’m grateful to all those who have contributed to it.

“It has taken four years to research and compile and as we commemorate the end of the First World War this year, it is timely that we can look back at our villages’ involvement in that global war and its impact on our local communities.” Suns of Home describes how Misterton and West Stockwith enjoyed ‘boom’ times in the Victorian and Edwardian periods before the war: full employment, rapid population growth, developing industries, new public buildings, and a confidence that things could only get better.

The second, third, and fourth books, If I Should Die, Some Corner of a Foreign Field, and Under An English Heaven, will be published later this year. All commemorate the contribution local villagers made to the First World War: before, during, and after it. Pre-publication orders are being taken.

If I Should Die covers the optimism of the first few months of WW1 reflecting a belief that it would be ‘over by Christmas’, a time which saw the first local casualties in the war, including Nurse Kitty Jollands. Some Corner of a Foreign Field describes local people’s involvement in the big conflicts of the war, including Gallipoli, Ypres, the Somme, and Passchendaele - and village life after the war. This book also includes the death of the local doctor from cholera in India, the death of a boy soldier from West Stockwith on the first day of the battle of the Somme, and the death of a medic from Misterton on the sister ship of the Titanic.

The final title, Under An English Heaven, looks at the Home Front, other local combatants, the end of the war, and remembering the fallen. So the series of four books begins and ends with the local war memorials.

Suns of Home is a limited-edition, paperback book priced at £12. It is only available from David Seymour by e-mailing [email protected] or call 01427 890936 or 07952 544 604.