The Great War: The men who made up Lord Derby's Pals

Today marks 100 years since Britain entered the First World War.

A century ago, thousands of Liverpudlians signed up to fight, inspired by the then Lord Derby.

[To find out more about special exhibitions and events being organised by the Imperial War Museum North to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the war, click here.](http://To find out more about special exhibitions and events being organised by the Imperial War Museum North to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the war, click here.)

The call to arms in the First World War was overwhelming.

Men signed up for a great adventure - it was a chance to be with all of their friends.

But the famous Pal’s regiments, which were formed in World War One, had one major flaw - friends that fight together often die together.

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Charlotte Czyzyk, a researcher at the Imperial War Museum North explains that the men rushed off in their thousands, thinking the war would be short:

But the Pals battalions were decimated and many were completely wiped out.

Nowhere was recruitment more spectacular than in Liverpool, where from his ancestral home, Knowsley Hall, Lord Derby, encouraged thousands from the city’s offices and factories to sign up.

William Hodson joined the Liverpool Pals in 1914. He served in the front line as a bomber - an almost suicidal occupation.

William died on the first day of the infamous Somme Offensive.

Extensive research by his nephew, Norman, has revealed that there is no known grave and William is among the 72,000 names listed on the Thiepval war memorial in North France.

Edward Smith joined the pals at just 17 in 1915. He was hit by shellfire laying wire long no man’s land in Ypres.

In the last few hours of his life he was cared for in hospital by a Liverpuldian serving with the New Zelaand medical corps who later wrote to Edward’s mother.

After the slaughter on the Somme and the horrors of Ypres, the British Army changed the way it formed regiments.

Such losses proved to be unacceptable on every level.