Trenches to Trams

Trenches to Trams Synopsis

Trenches to Trams is a vivid social and military history bringing to life the story of an ordinary Bristolian who experienced extraordinary times. George Pine was one of four brothers from Easton who all fought in the First World War. George was awarded the DCM for gallantry and was injured three times while serving with the Gloucestershire Regiment.

He experienced the horrors of the Somme and Passchendaele. With gunshot wounds to the head and shoulder George was left for dead on the battlefield but miraculously found his way back to the British Lines. With his army career over, he partially recovered from his injuries at Beaufort War Hospital in Bristol and in 1920 managed to get a job as a conductor on Bristol's Trams.

He experienced the changeover from trams to buses in the 1930s and survived several close shaves during the Blitz. He retired in 1956. At the request of his grandson, George jotted down 44,000 words of memories in the eight months before he died in 1972.

George's story has been painstakingly researched by Clive Burlton who has uncovered hundreds of photographs and objects from family, public and private sources and added extensive Author's Notes. Trenches to Trams is an invaluable social history of a working class Bristolian who lived through two World Wars. It contains more than 200 archive images most of them never previously published.