London and the First World War

Session 2: Enemy Aliens

Martyrdom of a Metropolitan Maecenas: the rise and fall of Sir Edgar Speyer

Tony Lentin
(Wolfson College, Cambridge)

As part of events to commemorate the centenary of the First World War, IWM (Imperial War Museums) in partnership with the Centre for Metropolitan History is organising a major conference that will explore the ways in which London and its inhabitants were affected by, and involved with, the 1914-18 conflict. For the first time London was effectively on the front line, subject to aerial bombing and surveillance, whilst its streets, buildings and spaces were shaped by the needs of mass mobilisation, supply and defence. The war had an impact upon everyday life in the capital in other ways too, including the economy, governance, standards of living, culture, leisure, the physical environment and social life.