Boat of Garten War Memorial

3 Responses to Boat of Garten War Memorial

1. Nick Kilner says:

   July 1, 2019 at 11:00 pm

   So I must confess to not thinking through my previous post, which Magicfingers has kindly removed to save me looking an idiot (not for the first time it has to be said). So lets try this again.
   I’m always struck by the losses of small villages much more so than those of towns or cities. Perhaps in part because because I grew up in one (you’ll find Calstock war memorial in the Cornwall section of the menu), but probably also because its much easier to envisage 15 men than it is 1000, as odd as that might sound. But the reality is that during WW1 the survival rate for infantry was around 90%, just one in ten didn’t make it home. Remarkable really given the slaughter that we consider it to have been. However, when you start to move away from overall statistics and take a look at actual memorials like this one, you start to see a very different picture.
   In the 1950’s Boat of Garten’s population was only 400, in 1914 it was likely to have been considerably less. So let us for arguments sake say it was 350, with a roughly 50:50 split men to women. That leaves us with approximately 175 men, and they only lost 15… doesn’t seem so bad.
   In 1910 average life expectancy for men was around 51 year old, which means there would have likely been just 70 men aged between 18 and 40 living in the village when war broke out. 15 didn’t make it home, which actually gives them a casualty rate of around 1:4, worse than twice the national average.
   All gave some, some gave all, and sadly it seems the villages were often hardest hit.
   Great post Magicfingers, and thanks for the assist

   Reply
   • Magicfingers says:

     July 2, 2019 at 1:52 am

     Oh, you’re welcome, mate. And a most erudite comment, if I may say so (assuming we can believe any of your figures………).

     Reply
     • Nick Kilner says:

       July 2, 2019 at 8:36 am

       Well yes, there is that of course lol

       Reply

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