Croxley Green in the First World War

This book, written by Brian Thomson, was published by Rickmansworth Historical Society in 2014. Its aim was to understand the ways that the war affected the people of Croxley Green, as well as to tell the story of their contribution to the national war effort. In 1914 Croxley Green was a small, closely knit community beside Dickinson’s paper mill. The residents of Croxley were all impacted by the conflict; well over four hundred men from the village joined up, including the Church Lads who enlisted together and fought at the Battle of the Somme. Volunteers rallied round to support a hospital for wounded soldiers, and many families would be affected by the hardship, heartbreak and endurance brought about by war. The book is arranged as a chronicle of local events set within their national and international context. The narrative covers Dickinson’s Croxley Mills, the Red Cross VAD Hospital and the activities of local schools and families. It begins with a brief survey of the village as it was in 1914, then follows the course of events until the peace agreement of 1919 and concludes by describing how the community commemorated the war. 57 local men are remembered on the war memorial on the Green, with their deaths marked at their relevant points in the narrative. Special attention is also given to the Croxley Church Lads who were such a source of local pride.