Grief, Ghosts and the Search for Summerland

Dr Alice Vernon is at the National Army Museum on Friday 13 November, with her talk Grief, Ghosts and the Search for Summerland. It's part of the museum's regular programme of talks, where historians and experts take different angles on the British Army's history. This one looks at spiritualism and how it helped bereaved families cope with the trauma of the First World War.

It's a specific, human way into a well-trodden subject. The First World War left a huge number of families without fathers, sons and brothers, and for many, the grief didn't just go away. Spiritualism—the belief that you can communicate with the dead—became a way for people to make sense of that loss and find some kind of connection when the traditional answers weren't enough. Vernon looks at how that worked in practice, and why so many turned to it during such a long period of national mourning.

The museum itself is in Chelsea, on Royal Hospital Road, and it covers the British Army from the 1600s to the present day. A good part of what it does is focus on the personal side of things—the letters, oral histories and memorabilia that leave a record of the people who lived through the history rather than just the dates and the battles. This talk fits right into that, focusing on the private grief of families rather than the movements of armies.

It runs from 12:00pm to 1:00pm, so it's a lunchtime session. Entry is free, and the museum is at Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HT, in Chelsea.