New exhibition at the London Canal Museum from 10 October

Canals were a vital lifeline on the Western Front during the First World War, saving millions from starvation, carrying tens of thousands of wounded to safety and even taking injured war horses in the holds of barges for hospital treatment.

This untold story of human endeavour on a vast scale on the waterways of France and Belgium will unfold in a fascinating new exhibition opening at the London Canal Museum near King’s Cross on 10 October.

Using unseen archive film and photos, first hand testimonies and rare objects, the exhibition charts how the vital part played by canals in contributing to the war effort. The scale is hard to grasp. Many hundreds of barges took five million tons of food to the flour mills of Belgium and transported thousands of tons of munitions each day to Ypres.

The exhibition also highlights the unexpected – how troops were billeted in empty lock chambers, how barges were used as hospitals for horses, and how canal water was served up to troops to drink on the front line.

Personal stories will also be told, including that of Henrick Geeraert, a tug boat owner who stopped the Germans taking the channel ports and Millicent Peterkin, one of two nursing sisters who worked tirelessly on a hospital barge carrying the wounded to safety.

The great grandfather of Celia Halsey, the Museum’s Volunteering and Training Manager will also feature. He was responsible for some of the 100,000 Chinese labourers working in Franceduring the war to release men to fight. Many were based at grain depots on the canal at Fontinettes outside Calais.

The exhibition also highlights the importance of the Royal Engineers who blew up bridges behind British retreats and built the bridges that took tanks into the final offensive.

‘Waterways on the Western Front’ runs from Friday 10 October 2014 until 12 April 2015. Admission is £4 for adults, £3 concessions and £2 for children. Open Tuesdays to Sundays 10am to 4.30pm. Admission to the exhibition only is free on the first Thursday of the month between 4.30pm and 7pm.

WHERE: The London Canal Museum is on New Wharf Road, close to King’s Cross station, London. For more information, visit www.canalmuseum.org.uk.