A little bit about myself

My career path to military history has been long and varied. Previous jobs include commercial diver, civil engineer and, more recently, five years in investment banking. In 1998 I was presented with a chance to accompany a party of First World War veterans aged between 98 and 103 on a pilgrimage back to Ypres. This trip changed my life, firmly igniting a deep-rooted interest in military history.

Speaking with 100-year old London Scottish veteran, Harold Judd, at Ypres in 1998

In 2000, whilst still working full-time in the city, I graduated from Birkbeck College, University of London with an MA in Modern History. Two years later I became a full-time researcher and historian, specialising in the First World War.

Books & TV Credits

I work closely with my friend Peter Barton. Together, we have collaborated on a series of books produced in association with the Imperial War Museum:

The Battlefields of the First World War by Peter Barton with Jeremy Banning

• The Somme – A New Panoramic Perspective ( Constable, 2006)
• Passchendaele – Unseen Panoramas of the Third Battle of Ypres (Constable, 2007)
• The Battlefields of the First World War (revised ed. of 2005 original) (Constable, 2008)
• Arras – The Spring 1917 Offensive in Panoramas including Vimy Ridge and Bullecourt (Constable, June 2010)

I have also conducted detailed research with bestselling author Richard van Emden for titles including:

• Boy Soldiers of the Great War (Headline, 2005)
• The Last Fighting Tommy – The Life of Harry Patch, the Only Surviving Veteran of the Trenches (Bloomsbury, 2007)
• The Soldier’s War – The Great War Through Veteran’s Eyes (Bloomsbury, 2008)
• Tommy’s Ark: Soldiers and their Animals in the Great War (Bloomsbury, 2010)

I have acted as researcher for a number of First World War radio and television programmes, notably Cream Productions’ The Dugout, about Vampir Dugout in Belgium and the Time Team Special (The Lost WW1 Bunker) on the same subject, broadcast in November 2008. I have appeared on the BBC’s The Last Tommy and a BBC Inside Out West special Private Harry Patch as well as advising for various BBC radio programmes. My most recent project has been the Time Team Special ‘The Somme’s Secret Weapon’ detailing our successful search for parts of a Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector on the Somme in May 2010. Full details can be found on my blog HERE.

Standing 40 ft beneath the fields of Zonnebeke in the 90-year old structure of Vampir Dugout, February 2008

I am a frequent visitor to the former battlefields of Belgian Flanders and Northern France and had the great pleasure of meeting and looking after the last few Great War veterans on their battlefield trips. I was lucky enough to be good friends with Harry Patch, the last Great War Tommy who went ‘over the top’ and always looked after Harry on his annual trips to Ypres.

With Harry Patch, the 'Last Fighting Tommy' at the unveiling of a Memorial Stone to his battalion, the 7th Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry at Langemark in September 2008. The stone is at the exact spot where Harry crossed the Steenbeek for his part of the attack on 16 August 1917

Along with Peter Barton I arranged for a stone memorial to the 7th Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, Harry Patch’s battalion, to be placed on the banks of the Steenbeek outside Langemark. This was unveiled by Harry himself in September 2008 on his final pilgrimage back to Flanders and has now become one of the ‘must see’ sites on an Ypres Salient battlefield tour.

Jeremy Banning speaking to the BBC at a service of commemoration to Harry Patch organised by the Ypres Branch of the Royal British Legion. The service, held on 22 September 2009, was at the very spot where Harry Patch went into action on 16 August 1917 in his attack on Langemark.

Research Projects

As well as researching individual soldiers for clients I also undertake large research projects including conducting historical studies into sites awaiting development to determine any potential impact of the war history on modern building work. Past clients of note include the Machine Gun Corps History Project, the Australian Army (for the Pheasant Wood, Fromelles mass grave) and industrial contractors including Belgian construction company, Braet nv.

I am part of team behind the Tunnellers Memorial Fund www.tunnellersmemorial.com and, using BBC and local media, tracked down descendants of Private Thomas Collins, 14th Battalion Welsh Regiment who still lies 40 feet under the fields of Givenchy with Sapper William Hackett VC. These descendants attended the unveiling ceremony in June 2010. See the updated Tunnellers Memorial website and my blog for details.