After the War Is Over (32 page)

Glossary of Terms Used in
After the War is Over

Antimacassar:
A cloth placed over the headrest of a chair or sofa, ostensibly to prevent the furniture’s
fabric from being soiled, but also used for decorative purposes.

Armistice Day:
On 11 November 1918 an armistice was declared between combatant nations and the guns
fell silent. Its anniversary later became Armistice Day. In Britain and many Commonwealth
nations, 11 November (or the nearest Sunday) is still observed as a day of remembrance,
and in some regions is a statutory holiday.

Aspidistra:
A particularly hardy form of houseplant that was all but ubiquitous in British homes
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Bathing machines:
High-sided wheeled carts that were stationed on beaches and rolled into shallow water;
they offered privacy to bathers who didn’t wish to be seen in their swimming costumes.
By the early twentieth century they had all but disappeared from British beaches and
any that remained were used as stationary changing huts.

Belgravia:
A small district in central London notable for its grand squares of large Georgian
houses. Edward’s family lives in Belgrave Square, from which the district takes its
name.

Blackpool Rock:
Sticks of brightly colored, boiled sugar candy that were a popular treat at the seaside
resort.

Bovril:
A proprietary brand of thickened, salty meat extract, often diluted with boiling
water to make a sort of broth.

Bubble and squeak:
Main course dish made of fried cabbage and leftovers, typically potatoes, vegetables,
and scraps of meat.

Bully beef:
Popular term for the tinned corned beef that was a mainstay of the soldier’s diet
during the war.

Carfax:
The conjunction of four major streets in the center of the city of Oxford.

Charabanc:
Originally a large, open-topped wagon with bench seats for passengers; the motorized
version of the early twentieth century was popular as a means of transportation from
urban centers to seaside resorts.

Chilblains:
Tissue injury that occurs when a person is exposed to cold and humid conditions,
often resulting in swollen skin, itching, blisters, and infection.

Clippie:
Popular term, first coined during the First World War, for women conductors on buses
and trams.

Command trenches:
Some twenty yards behind the fire trenches, the command trenches formed the rear
part of the front line of British sections of the Western Front, and housed the dugouts
and latrines.

Crape
: A dull black fabric used almost exclusively in the production of mourning clothes
and draperies for a household in mourning.

CSM:
Company sergeant major; the most senior NCO in a company of men, which at full strength
numbered 240 soldiers and five officers.

Debrett’s Peerage: A biographical dictionary, first published in the late eighteenth
century, containing information on members of the peerage and baronetage of Great
Britain.

Demobilization:
The lengthy process by which millions of soldiers were released from military service
and returned to their homes at the end of the war.

Doughboy:
Slang term for American servicemen during the Great War. The term first came into
use in the mid-nineteenth century, but by World War II had largely been replaced by
“G.I.”

Dreadnought:
The largest of the armored battleships that became the center of the arms race between
Britain and Germany in the years preceding the First World War.

Estate duty:
In Britain, this was the tax due on the estate of anyone worth more than £100. In
1919 the highest rate, which applied only to estates worth £1 million or more, was
twenty percent.

Final Honors Schools:
The final set of examinations taken by undergraduates at the University of Oxford.

Fire trenches:
The first of the line of trenches that made up the British sections of the Western
Front, they were zigzagged with frequent traverses to minimize the damage from enemy
bombardment.

GHQ:
Acronym for general headquarters; the central command of the British Armed Forces.

Greats:
A popular name for the
Literae Humaniores
course of study for undergraduates at the University of Oxford. Greats students would
primarily study the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, Latin, Ancient Greek, and
philosophy.

The Great Silence:
The two minutes of silence that were observed at eleven o’clock in the morning on
11 November 1919, the first anniversary of Armistice Day.

Guff:
Slang term for unacceptable behavior or nonsensical talk.

Honor Mods:
The first set of examinations taken by undergraduates at the University of Oxford.

Identity disks:
Small leather or pressed cardboard tags worn by British soldiers and officers during
the Great War; a precursor to the modern metal dog tag.

Landau:
A four-wheeled carriage, often with a convertible top.

LSE:
The London School of Economics.

Matriculation
: Formal ceremony by which membership of the university is conferred on new students
at Oxford.

Mithering:
To fuss or whine about something; popular term in central and northern England.

Moleskin:
Heavy cotton material with a short nap on one side, typically in a buff or olive
color.

NCO:
A non-commissioned officer, for example a sergeant or warrant officer.

Neurasthenia:
Medical term originally used to describe a disorder of the nervous system, but during
and after the Great War was used to describe symptoms of shell shock, or what we would
now refer to as post-traumatic stress disorder.

NYDN:
Acronym for “not yet diagnosed, nervous”; used by medical staff when shell shock
was suspected but not formally diagnosed.

OC
: Officer in command, as distinct from CO, or commanding officer. Edward was the OC
of his infantry company.

Peace Day:
19 July 1919, the day chosen to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Versailles
and thus the end of the Great War.

Pillock:
Slang, considered quite vulgar, for an annoying person or fool.

Pioneer battalion:
Soldiers in these battalions took on the “fatigue” work of trench digging, moving
munitions and supplies, and the installation and maintenance of barbed wire entanglements,
among other duties.

Plimsoll
: Type of shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole.

Prebendary:
Senior cleric or canon in the Church of England; the title was often accorded to
an administrator at a cathedral.

Punch: A weekly satirical magazine published between 1841 and 1992, with a brief revival
in the early years of this century.

RAMC:
Royal Army Medical Corps. Its members included medical staff such as physicians as
well as support workers such as orderlies.

Representation of the People Act:
Also known as the Fourth Reform Act, the 1918 Act radically expanded the franchise
in Britain by extending the vote to all men over the age of twenty-one, and to women
aged thirty and over who could meet certain property requirements.

Roll of Honor:
The portion of
The Times
newspaper during and after the war that listed the names of soldiers and officers
who were killed, wounded, captured, died of their wounds, or who went missing. In
the days and weeks after major offensives it typically stretched to several pages
or more.

Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act:
The 1919 Act removed most restrictions to women’s employment in the professions,
among them medicine and the law, allowed them to serve as magistrates or jurors for
the first time, and disallowed marriage as a bar to women’s employment.

Shell shock:
Common term for what we would now term PTSD. In 1917 it was banned as an official
diagnosis and its use was censored elsewhere, with the mandate that “neurasthenic”
instead be used to describe men whose nervous shock had no known physiological cause.

Special military probationer:
Nurses employed in military hospitals and facilities in Britain. Many were drawn
from the ranks of the VAD and had little formal training.

Subaltern:
A second lieutenant in the British Army.

Subfusc:
Academic dress worn by University of Oxford students for examinations and other formal
occasions during their course of study.

Suffragist:
A member of the suffrage movement, which sought to extend the franchise, or the right
to vote, to all adults; the term is more commonly associated with those seeking the
vote for women. “Suffragette” is often used in its stead, though its origins are derisive.

Toff:
Slang term for someone from an aristocratic or upper-class background.

Treaty of Versailles:
The treaty that formally ended hostilities between the Allied Powers and Germany.
It was signed on 28 June 1919 after six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace
Conference.

University constituency:
A constituency in the parliament of Great Britain that represented a university or
group of universities rather than a geographical area. The university constituencies
were abolished in 1950.

WAAC:
Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. “WAAC” was also the term used for an individual member
of the corps.

War Graves Commission:
Formally established in 1917, the commission is responsible for the establishment,
indexing, and maintenance of the graves or places of commemoration of the soldiers
and officers of Great Britain and its empire (now the Commonwealth).

WC:
Water closet; informal term for toilet. Considered less polite than “lavatory” or
“necessary.”

Whitsun:
Also known as Whit Sunday, this nominally was the observance of the Christian holiday
of Pentecost in the late spring, but in practice was celebrated as a bank holiday
in Britain.

A note on currency:
Before British currency was decimalized in 1971—that is, before pounds and pence
were measured in divisions of one hundred—it was measured in pounds, shillings, and
pence. Twelve pence made up one shilling and twenty shillings made up one pound, with
a total of 240 pence in a pound. Written in numeric form, a pound was symbolized by
the term still in use, “£,” while a shilling was “s” and a penny was “d.” Other coins
were circulated: the farthing (worth a quarter of one penny); the halfpenny (pronounced
“ha’penny”), threepence (pronounced “thruppence”), and sixpence; the crown (worth
five shillings); and the half-crown (worth two shillings and sixpence). Less commonly
seen were the florin, worth two shillings, and the guinea, which actually referred
to a gold coin no longer in circulation, and was equal to the amount of one pound
and one shilling.

Reading Group Guide

1.
    
Although Charlotte is the Oxford-educated daughter of an upper-middle-class clergyman,
she seems certain that there is a huge gulf in status between her and Edward. Do you
feel that was truly the case? Or is this more a reflection of her own feelings of
inadequacy?

2.
    
Why do you think Charlotte is so devoted to her work? Do you admire her for her tenacity,
or do you pity her for neglecting her personal happiness?

3.
    
Do you agree with Charlotte’s decision to keep her friendship with John Ellis purely
platonic?

4.
    
How do you think you would have coped with the difficulties of the post-war period?
Would you have been able to set them aside, as does Norma? Or would you be more like
Meg and Rosie, and find it impossible to forget?

5.
    
What did you think of the inclusion of Eleanor Rathbone, a real-life historical figure,
in the novel? Do you like it when writers blend history with fiction in this manner?
Or do you prefer the characters in a novel to be entirely fictitious?

6.
    
Were you surprised that it takes so long for Edward’s friends and family to realize
that he needs help? Do you think this is typical of veterans who suffered from psychological
trauma at that time?

7.
    
Do you feel that the gains made by women during the war were entirely lost in the
post-war period? Do you think the war helped to accelerate change in any measurable
way?

8.
    
If you could choose to be poor and happy in the Britain of 1919, or wealthy and unhappy,
which would you choose? And why?

9.
    
Do you feel that Edward will be able to maintain his sobriety? Or will his experiences
during the war forever haunt him?

10.
  
Charlotte and Lilly each took action during the war in their roles as nurse and WAAC.
Which of the two women is most changed by her experiences? Which role do you think
you would have taken on if given the choice?