I HAVE read many books on ‘The Great War’ and this one, by Christopher Ridgway, ranks among the very best. It tells the personal stories, not only of the Howard family, but also of those who worked on the Estate at the time.

Many enlisted, many died and this book – which ties with an exhibition at Castle Howard –vividly reveals the effects of war on a relatively small community.

All these stories are accompanied by superb photographs of the people who feature in this book and some of their letters, diaries and possessions together with contemporary newspapers, cartoons, pamphlets and posters.

For me the real ‘character’ featured in this book has to be Rosalind Howard who was in charge of Castle Howard at the time. She had married her husband, George, in 1864, (with whom she had 11 children) and, after his death in 1911, became a vocal supporter of rights for women and the Temperance movement.

Despite her strong feminist convictions she denounced the Suffragette movement as "lawless, scolding women with hate in their hearts" and, in 1914, Castle Howard was forced to temporarily close after repeated threats from Suffragettes.

One of her sons, Geoffrey, who was serving in France, wrote to her asking if Castle Howard could house some troops. She replied: “I ought not to be singled out for a military occupation…soldiers will turn me out of my house which is full of valuables.”

Rosalind felt her priority was to help the women, children and the elderly affected by the crisis and both she, and her daughter, Mary, played a major role in helping to provide homes for Belgian refugees on the Estate. In October 1917 another of her sons, Michael, was killed in action at Passchendaele.

This book is a ‘must’ for anyone interested in World War One, and English society, 100 years ago.