Welcome to the Wing at War website.

Wing in Buckinghamshire is little known for its war efforts and this site aims to highlight what Wing on the Home Front was like. With thanks to the Buckinghamshire County Archive and All Saints’ Church we have been allowed to publish the Parish Magazine from 1914 to 1918. As part of that we have also collated certain parts over the four years to make it easier to see Wing at a glance.

Now the website is up and running it is over to the people of Wing and beyond to send in stories, pictures and information. Please use the contact form below to register information. Anything that is sent in will be given proper credit, thank you.

This timeline is the best one to look at with reference to some of the battles named here.

1914

In July 1914 Wing was carrying on as normal. The planning of the Harvest Festival, the Flower Show and even the setting up of a new Scout Troop under the Headmaster of the Boys’ School, Mr. Long. There was also the excitement of a new addition to the Village Hall, a supper room and billiard room. It is hard to believe that by the time the schools went back on 1st September that the country would have been at war for nearly a month.

In the September edition of the Parish Magazine the Rev. Henry Tatham was describing ‘a war on so stupendous a scale, waged on land and sea and in the air by so many nations at once over so wide an area and with such enormous armies, has never been witnessed in all the world’s history before’. Already 40 had signed up to join the fighting and would be joined over the next four years by some 300 more men. Wing would become the home for one particular regiment for a time and a stopping off point for another, as well as a home for Belgian refugees, all within the first few months of the war. By the end of it not only would Wing have lost some men fighting at the front but also some of its most notable residents, it would certainly never be the same village again.

This is only scratching the surface and we are looking for more information, so please feel free to email wingheritage@gmail.com or leave a comment.