I've reopened my #WipersTimes case files (not that they were ever actually closed!). I am very honoured to have been asked by Talbot House to contribute to the commentary for the upcoming 2026 reprints. Make sure to get your copies! 1/2 #HistBookChat #PhotoFriday #FWW

Something I have been chipping away at recently

A new addition to my collection, from 1900: Thankful Tommy. While Pictures of Little Englanders and ABC for Patriots are reasonably known, this is from the same publisher.If it were satire, it would be brilliant-ish, but alas, it was intended to be serious. #HistBookChat #BoerWar #CartoonHistory

Adding further to my claim that 1900 is a vintage year for Political cartoons, this gem from Midland Reporter and Westmeath Nationalist (8 March 1900, p. 5) #PoliticalCartoons #CartoonHistory #SouthAfricanWar #BoerWar #BNA

We've updated our three BlueSky starter packs for historians. Our principal list now includes details of 130+ societies and networks, based in the UK and Ireland, that advance the study, research and promotion of history go.bsky.app/AZaYQDd Please let us know if there are gaps. #Skystorians 1/2

Just come across this absolutely cracking illustration – one of those you can hear – of the 'Brixton's Patriotic Carnival' by G. Glover in the South London Press (17 March 1900, p.5 via British Newspaper Archives). #Illustration #Victorians #BoerWar

New to my collection are some #FWW sketches by a German soldier, part of a Licht-Messtrupp unit. Light measuring AKA flash spotting artillery. A fairly competent degree of skill in the drawings, a bit at a loss on how to start researching the chap behind them.

While #Ypres and its ramparts have become synonymous with the #WipersTimes, the 6th DCLI were there a year earlier with their publication Red Feather. This is an introduction to their story, but one crucial piece of the puzzle is missing. robertstjohnsmith.com/post/2025-09... #FWW #WW1

I have been after a copy of this for some time. Written in 1917, it offers a unique satirical take on the Poilu. Time to find out if all those hours on Duolingo have paid off. #histBookChat #PhotoFriday #poilu #fww

A few shots from Fort Douaumont #verdun #fww

Off the beaten path, the concrete bastion of Camp Marguerre #verdun #fww

Boots on the ground this weekend. I have to say, this museum is superb . #verdun

Seventeen-year-old Émilienne Moreau. The deadly teenage heroine who earned military honours from two nations: robertstjohnsmith.com/post/2025-09... #FirstWorldWar #Loos #FWW #ww1 #Heroine

Exploring the North Coast with the dog. There are some dramatic skies in this neck of the woods

Reform UK, which has a grand total of four MPs, was just given an uninterrupted platform for an hour and a half on the BBC and Sky News channels, in order to talk about its plans for mass deportations When was the last time the Greens (with four MPs) or the Lib Dems (with 72) were given the same?

Rather than continue to spam you all with my Operation Hush game development—especially now that I’m getting into the nuts and bolts—I’ll be posting updates over on my gamedev account, @doginatank.bsky.social , if you fancy following along. Especially if you’re a fan of spreadsheets and constants

Continuing with my Operation Hush game, I've reached the point in development where one needs to crack open the spreadsheet.

Getting to the micromanagement stage of my Operation Hush game. Can switching the assignment of the 17th Cyclist Battalion swing the operation's success? Watch this space

A bit of a tidy up on the UI (well, work in progress) for my Operation Hush game

I need a palate cleanser, so I am throwing together a quick alternative history game based on Operation Hush in 1917. As you can see, I am going for accuracy here.

Why is it that papers writing about how wonderful Digital Humanities will be tend to have half a dozen authors attributed? It’s certainly not making my footnoting any easier. ;-) #PhdLife

Much has been written on tanks and trench warfare, but I am still waiting to read the paper: Doctrine and Dogpower: A Reappraisal of Tactical Dog-Cart Deployments in the Evolution of Combined Operations within the British Expeditionary Force, 1914–1918. (source: Western Mail, 16 October 1914, p.17)

This may well be the first example of a Soldier's Alphabet — a blend of satire, nationalism, and wit — dating to 1804, well before their common appearance in #FWW trench journals. Anyone got an earlier example? #MilitaryHistory #SoldierSongs #BlueskyStorians robertstjohnsmith.com/post/2025-08...

Successfully passed my MPhil viva voce and now have a seven-hour train journey back to Leeds. No academic reading needs to be done, so I’m finally enjoying the chance—which I’ve been looking forward to—to get stuck into James Clavell’s Shōgun. #PhDlife

What with the PhD and all. It's been a while since I updated my website. I'm hoping to fix that with a series of short articles celebrating the trivial in history. Here's the first. #FWW #TRENCHCULTURE #TRENCHJOURNALS robertstjohnsmith.com/post/2025-07...

An updated take (well, for 1899) on James Gillray's famous The Plumb-pudding in Danger cartoon—featuring Uncle Sam, John Bull, and Wilhelm. Source: Dundee Courier, 21 December 1899. #CartoonHistory #Gilray #PoliticalCartoons #JohnBull #UncleSam #Wilhelm

Part 1/3 Here’s something I haven’t seen before while browsing the British Newspaper Archive: a colouring-in competition from the Dundee Evening Post, dated 21st April 1904. What’s unusual about that, you ask? Well…

Both a #PhD and #MillHist win today. I've come across some primary sources that provide a concrete date for the origin of #TommyAtkins, along with a strong lead on who the first Tommy Atkins was. Looks like a trip to Scotland is on the cards to confirm #fww

Way too hot in the den, so have decamped to the garden to tackle some of the to be finished pile #HistBookChat

Obviously you’ve all bought our EP by now (legends). But seeing as it’s just gone 4pm on a Sunday and most of you are probably three glasses deep already, why not stick it on Spotify while you revel in your boozy afternoon? open.spotify.com/album/7coi6B...

You're cordially invited to Lunch with Chance & The Lucky Aces! 🥪🍀 Set aside just 15 minutes in your calendar and tune in! 🎧✨ ditto.fm/lunch-with-c...

Continuing with #history, the second track on the EP is a nod to the infamous and much-maligned executioner John “Jack” Ketch — a man so notorious for botching beheadings that his name became slang for Death itself. #JackKetch #DarkHistory #HistoricalHorror #Executioner #EPDrop

This Sunday at 12 PM BST, my band's second EP, Lunch with the Lucky Aces, lands (links in pinned post). There’s a #History connection — our lead track is a song titled "The National Anthem of the Ancient Britons" 1/3

One for the #HistBookChat crowd, @alexmayhew.bsky.social thesis was most useful in my master's thesis, and looking forward to reading the book at leisure.

Nothing to see here. Just someone powering a canoe along the canal with a #dewalt drill

Our EP drops this Sunday — and we know you'll be picking up a copy like the legends you are. But just in case you need a little reminder (or a backup for your Sunday swagger), here are the streaming links to save now and have ready: ditto.fm/lunch-with-c...

Just 7 days left to pre-order my band’s EP Lunch with the Lucky Aces — chancetheluckyaces.bandcamp.com/album/lunch-... It promises to be… well, some noise at least.

Some lighter reading—and lighter history—on one of England’s greatest bands, #TenpoleTudor, before getting back to the PhD cliff face of tomes. #HistBookChat

Situation is: Injured my back over a month ago. Medical advice is I'm still only allowed to be up & about (at desk) for 45 mins max before needing to rest. So... with almost no money coming in over the last month I need non-urgent commissions. Posters. Covers. Etc (Soz no family or pet portraits)

chancetheluckyaces.bandcamp.com/album/lunch-... Good news: after 8 (or 9?) years, Lunch with The Lucky Aces—the long-awaited follow-up to Breakfast—is up for pre-order! Special price… probably the same as the real one.

This weeks DIY project. After being in the garage all day, I think I have lost about half a stone, and a shower is definetly in order.

stained and planted up - next job on the list, is to add the gravel underneath

First attempt at making some planters: #ExpextayionVsReality

A little gardening project: full out blitzkrieg on the bindweed

So, back in the old days, I had a Top 500 chart hit in Finland with I Shot a Frenchman at Agincourt. Coming very soon is Lunch with the Lucky Aces, a follow-up to our 2016 EP Breakfast with the Lucky Aces. It promises to be... well, something!

I've been in full-on writing mode for the last few weeks, preparing for my upgrade, so I haven’t posted to #HistoryBookChat in a while. This recently arrived, and I'm hoping it contains a sentence that might clear up a matter from the 1830s. #PhotoFriday

A new addition to my collection. 'Taps' seems to have originated in the Spanish-American War of 1898, inspiring a song that was later adapted after the #BoerWar, shifting the setting to the Transvaal. Curiously, there are several photoset variations out there - it seems like a popular grim topic!

One of my favourite ways to start an academic sentence is with the phrase, ‘beyond the scope of this paper. #Phdlife

I've said it before, and I will say it again, 1900 is a vintage year for #PoliticalCartoons . This example from the Daily Record 30 May #CartoonHistory

I don't have many PhD tips, but this one is a game-changer. I've just bought a stream deck, which, along with the app Keyboard Maestro, is making life a lot easier - and saving my hands from excessive mouseclicking in the process! #PhdLife #StreamDeck #KeyboardMaestro