The first day of the Battle of the Somme, on July 1 1916, caused more than 70,000 casualties. A century on, these are some of the exhibits and projects remembering those who took part
William Maxwell’s trench biscuit home

© Leeds City Museum
Before he died, William turned a trench biscuit into a note and sent it back to his family in the Leeds suburb of Meanwood. In Their Footsteps is at Leeds City Museum until January 8 2017.
Field Marshall Haig's diary

© NLS
Haig’s aggressive tactics earned him the title, 'the Butcher of the Somme' yet following his death in 1928, crowds lined the streets of London. His account of events is so important that UNESCO has added it to the international register of the Memory of the World Programme. Visit the National Library of Scotland's Experiences of the Great War for more.
Vivienne Westwood's Fashion and Freedom dress

© Joel Fildes
The clothing worn by women, suggests the Fashion and Freedom exhibition, changed significantly after more than a million women joined the industrial wartime workforce in Britain, serving in offices and factories and as bus conductors, ambulance drivers and window cleaners. The exhibition runs until November 27 2016. See www.fashionandfreedom.org for more.
A regimental drum for recruiting
A chalk-carved tribute to the fallen

© Leeds City Museum
The full title of the regiment took the Princess of Wales’s name. This memorial plaque to Thomas Atkins, of the 20th battalion, was created from chalk.
The Green Howards Museum is marking the centenary of The Battle of the Somme with a special exhibition, and free film screenings.
A diary of disaster

© Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service
His diary of the day, written from his position in a cellar in the nearby village of Foncquevillers, starts at 6.25am. “Bombardment begins”, it reads, before a tragic, minute-by-minute picture of the day unfolds.
At 4.34pm, after 10 hours of battle, Meynell reports the “first absolute silence of 20 seconds since 6.50am.” His final entry, just after 9.52pm, reads only: “The proposed attack was not successful.” Visit staffordshiregreatwar.com to read it and follow @archandhert on Twitter for live tweets of the diary.
A death in the family

Viscount Percy Clive, the eldest son and heir of the 4th Earl of Powis, who was mortally wounded at the Battle of the Somme© National Trust
In one letter written by the sister of Percy Clive’s mother, Violet, she describes the moment the family were told that Percy wouldn’t recover from his wounds: "Violet and I were called up about 12 o’clock (midnight) and Violet ran down the street in a thin dressing gown… Our darling was unconscious and dying. My poor sister knelt by his side, his hand in hers, her head on his pillow… Dearest Clive never rallied."
The installation at Powis Castle runs until 30 September. See www.nationaltrust.org.uk/powis-castle-and-garden for more.
The AVRO 504 biplane

© Yorkshire Air Museum
It is flying to the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy, northern France for an international commemoration of the war today. A conservation team at the Yorkshire Air Museum has spent weeks repainting and refurbishing the plane. An exhibition, Battle of the Somme, is at the museum from July 13 - November 18 2016. See yorkshireairmuseum.org for more details
Armoured pram for Derry

© PressEye
It’s part of a centenary exhibition at Belfast’s Ulster Museum also featuring diaries and drawings by Newry nurse Olive Swanzy, who cared for soldiers on the Western Front, and Jim Maultsaid, who served with the 14th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and was seriously wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The #MakingHistory 1916 exhibition is at the Ulster Museum until September 18 2016.
A metal leg

© Science Museum
One of the fundamental shifts for amputees came from the move from wood to metal limbs. These lighter metal designs were issued throughout the 1920s.
The leg is one of many poignant objects on show at the Science Museum who are currently exploring the medicine behind the tragedy of the Somme battle in Wounded: Conflict Casualties and Care until September 15 2016.
The big push
Scottish poet and Ted Hughes Prize winner John Glenday has created a new poem in response to The Eve of the Battle of the Somme – a haunting painting by Herbert James Gunn in 1916.
The accompanying film, commissioned by the Poetry Society and Mosaic Flims was made by artist and animator Xin Li, and repeated Gunn’s laborious paint-on-glass method. “I thought about when people read a book they can imagine something in their mind,” says Li. Find out more at poetrysociety.org.uk
- Visit Culture24's listings for events and exhibitions commemorating the Battle of the Somme this weekend and beyond.
- For full listings on the Battle of the Somme and First World War Centenary see the First World War Centenary website 1914.org
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