Peter Doyle

@profpeterdoyle.bsky.social

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Military Historian (and geologist) Trench warfare, terrain and material culture FRHistS

Ancient beams in an old cart house in Essex, at the Thames Chase Forest Centre. The date 1915 is prominently displayed
Four New Zealand Army Officers, Gallipoli, Turkey. Powles family papers. Ref: PA1-o-811-20-2. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Looking up at the branches of my Old apple tree
Screenshot of BBC news item ‘Find out which university degrees could earn you more across your lifetime’
Me wearing my DEVO tour shirt
Princess Mary’s gift in a wooden frame, with the cap tally from a sailor of the Queen Mary, sunk at Jutland 1916
Historian David Olusoga lecturing at Cadogan Hall
RND anchor silk postcard with the words ‘Souvenir from France’
Silk postcard with the flags of the Allies, and a central Maple leaf and crown motif of the CEF. It’s message- Souvenir de la Grande Guerre - suggests it was aimed at French Canadians
Silk postcard with the flags of the Allies, a doing of mistletoe and the message ‘A kiss from the trenches’
Abram Games’ poster, at the IWM (Art.IWM PST 2911) showing the health centre with a child with rickets behind: the centre, still thriving, is shown below, 2026
Zeppelin building, Farringdon
Rifleman Strudwick’s grave in 1985
Laurel & Hardy, masters of their art
Remains of FWW shells and other detritus at Hooge Chateau, part of the Ypres Salient
The Khaki Chums’ memorial cross at Plugstreet, scene of one of the Christmas Truce meetings in No Man’s Land, 1914
Exhibition catalogue from the Great War Huts exhibition in Princess Mary’s Christmas Gift 1914
Page from Bullets & Billets, showing soldiers inn1914 struggling in mud under a star shell
A FWW Christmas Zeppelin; a Cold War Cosmonaut new years decoration, and Princess Mary’s gift box for the British sailors and soldiers of 1914
Trailer in Copenhagen with the name Zeppelin … Hire
‘Out of the north parts’, bronze ranks of marching soldiers in relief
Me pointing at a flamboyant crowned Liverpool Special postbox at the Albert Dock. It’s a bonkers, uniquely Liverpool creation from the 1860s
The bronze brooding soldier, dressed for frontline service and holding his rifle in front of him, towers over a discarded picklehaube helmet
Memorial plaque depicting Britannia and a lion trampling a Prussian eagle. Each one was specially cast
The Cenotaph in Birkenhead
Bronze statue of kneeling ww1 soldier in cap, with rifle and fixed bayonet
Maquette of grieving figure by W. Gilbert of the Bromsgrove Design Guild
Maquette in plaster of a classical figure of Britannia, by W. Gilbert of the Bromsgrove Design Guild
French 75 field gun: on a silk postcard
Mannequin of Worcester soldier in Gallipoli, 1915, peering through a trench periscope. On display until recently at the Soldiers of Worcester exhibition - now closed.
Mannequin of a mounted First World War Worcester Yeoman looking at his compass for inspiration, on display in the Soldiers of Worcester exhibition until its recent closure
Mannequin of a National Service period soldier in the Soldiers of Worcester exhibition, which closed on 31 August and will open in a new form at The Commandery in the city some time in the future
Cast iron dish depicting the ruined city of Ypres - specifically the remains of the Cloth Hall
Colditz castle at night, taken on my very first digital camera, a Kodak easyshare in the early 2000s. I’ll never forget that trip
Cover of my book on Loos, showing a soldier in a PH helmet
Ammonite, Dactylioceras tenuicostatum from Whitby. Collected by me as a young teenager
Crossed laid at the Menin Gate
Crosses of remembrance laid at the Menin Gate
Home Guardsman; ARP Warden in civvies; ARP warden in uniform; RAF airman
Four servicewomen of the Second World War, WAAF and WRNS
Portrait photographs of four British soldiers of the Second World War, c1940-1945
Four portraits of British soldiers in uniform, c.1940-42
Remembering Ottoman bravery and resistance at Gallipoli: the Ottoman War Medal: TL, original painted version; TR, BB&Co enamel version; BL, re-enamelled in green; BR, unfinished version
Map of Anzac Cove, Gallipoli, with Australian charity button badges to provide for wounded heroes
Map of the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915, with medals of a Lancashire Fusilier at W Beach and of a French soldier who landed at Kum Kale
Scratchbuilt Dreadnought model, c.50mm
1960’s Lesney Matchbox B-Type bus painted in ASC colours. Base model a gift of Mike Stockbridge. Thanks Mike!
Image from Doyle & Foster, Remembering Tommy: a miners cottage at Beamish, depicting a Manchester Pal’s home in 1914-15
WW2 Newspaper clipping from the Kent Messenger: it’s a map that shows where the V1 flying bombs fell over Kent
The NASA ‘meatball’ logo on Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin’s flight jacket. NASA, not Nasa…
Medals to a RWF: France & Germany Star, 1939-45 Star, War Medal and Defence medal, with their box of issue, cap badges and a brooch.
WW2 War Medal and 1939-45 star; the only medal entitlement to those thousands of men who were captured in France in 1940
Classic WW1 German poster image of a soldier in steel helmet, with gas mask and stick grenades
‘Trench sign’ - ‘To the Frontline’ in my office, surrounded by artefacts to remind me
View of the Supermarine S6b showing its wonderful nose and float shapes, with the suspended Spitfire behind, at the Science Museum
Incredible nickel-plated Spitfire model on display in the Science Museum’s ‘Making of the Modern World’ exhibition, London
Lithograph of London Bridge in 1616, on display in the Science Museum, London