Army Officer and WAACs at Brocton Military Camp,

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Date:1917 - 1918 (c.)

Description:Army officer and four members of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps. The cat sitting on the lap of one of the WAACs could possibly be Snooks, the cookhouse cat, and the photograph has been signed by Gladys Harvey, who worked in the canteen. Miss Harvey can be seen on the left of the back row.

Cannock Chase had been used as a military training ground since the 1870s. During the First World War two military camps were built on the Chase - Brocton Camp, which was located near to Anson's Bank, and Rugeley Camp, which extended along Penkridge Bank. The two camps were separated by the Sherbrook Valley.

Brocton Camp provided troops with canteen facilities, a bank, post office, shops and even a theatre. A standard gauge railway built by West Cannock Colliery Company, carried food and other supplies around the camp to the troops who were stationed there. Soldiers who died, through wounds received in France, accidents or illness, were buried in the military cemetery to the south of the camp. Many died during the influenza epidemic of 1918.

After the war the soldiers left and the huts were sold. In the 1930s gravel workings covered large areas of the site, but today some traces of the camp still exist.

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Donor ref:P95.004.0010 (18/582)

Source: Staffordshire Museum Service

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