Armistice Day 1918
Unsurprisingly, Armistice Day in Cambridge in November 1918 was as raucous an affair as elsewhere. The Cambridge Chronicle reported:
The news reached Cambridge about 11 o’clock, and spread like wildfire. The first signal was given by the hoisting of the Union Jack at the Town Hall [now the Guildhall], and the churches and colleges quickly followed suit in setting joy-bunting floating. In a few moments youngsters were shrilly cheering in the streets … With feverish speed all Cambridge hung out bunting, and women and children bedecked themselves with miniatures flags or trappings of red, white and blue.
An effigy of the Kaiser was paraded around the town. Unfortunately the bells of Great St. Mary’s failed to ring because a group of over-enthusiastic youths damaged them, but there was no such problem in Haslingfield. The bells there rang for two hours from noon.