Was patriotism in the First World War really shared by all, or was it shaped and enforced from above?

In the latest episode of Oh What a Lovely Podcast, we speak with Richard Batten about his book For King and Country, an examination of patriotism in Devon during the First World War.

Using Devon as a case study, Richard explores how local elites tried to encourage, direct, and sometimes police patriotic behaviour on the Home Front. From recruitment drives and conscription tribunals to charity work, farming, and fishing, the conversation looks at the many ways people were expected to serve the nation between 1914 and 1918.

References: Batten, R. (2025) For King and Country: The Role of Patriotism in Mobilisation in the First World War. Barnsley: Pen & Sword History. Catriona Pennell (2012) A Kingdom United: Popular Responses to the Outbreak of the First World War in Britain and Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press Gregory, A. (2008) The Last Great War: British Society and the First World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Silbey, D. (2005) The British Working Class and Enthusiasm for War, 1914–1916. London: Frank Cass.