Your Heritage
The City of Westminster Archives holds a range of materials relating to the First World War, as do many other organisations in the area – from the National Army Museum through to Chelsea Football Club.
During this project, 400 young people from seven primary and secondary schools explored these archives and focused in particular on the story of Albert Muller. He was a German resident living in Fulham at the time of the war, who was forced to change his name to Miller, and who later died in the Battle of the Somme.
Sources used included newspapers and pamphlets describing the decline of the German community in Fulham and artefacts relating to the Christmas truce of 1914 and the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The project also investigated the grave of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, as well as the Westminster Rifles Memorial.
The project included a range of activities which aimed to engage people from throughout Chelsea and Westminster in a variety of different ways. Young people and their families took part in archive workshops and handling sessions. A group of senior citizens brought in mementos and stories from their families’ experience of the war. People with physical and learning disabilities and schoolchildren worked with professionals to produce a collage and an animation, which people were able to view locally at a central shopping area and at galleries and archives. Two teachers’ packs were produced to enable schoolchildren in the future to engage with these stories.