ON a July afternoon in a small market town in rural south Shropshire men, women and children stood in silence to remember.

It was children from Ludlow that read out the names of the fallen from the town in the two world wars of the 20th century and the Korean War.

These were not the only conflicts of the past century and a bit but they were the biggest in terms of national commitment and loss of life.

It is no accident that July 14 was chosen for the unveiling of the names at the Memorial in Ludlow but because this was, to the day, the 100th anniversary of when three men from Ludlow lost their lives in the Battle of the Somme.

All wars are terrible but there was no war in what might be termed ‘modern history’ to match the Great War 1914-1919 for killing on an industrial scale and in that terrible conflict The Battle of the Somme is perhaps the one that was unmatched for the ferocity and futility of the fighting.

The First World War has shaped the century that followed. Historians can make the case that without the Great War there might have been no Russian Revolution, no Second World War, no Cold War and no Man on the Moon as there is no doubt that it was military ambition not science that fired the Space Race.

'What if' is an interesting if perhaps rather pointless game?

But the Great War changed the lives of ordinary people in a massive way and rural areas were affected just as much if not more than the towns and cities.

It sparked what might be thought of as the second great agricultural revolution.

Before the Great War, farming was essentially a task for manual labour and horse power and it was men who did most of the work.

With men away at war, the role of women was changed forever and, in truth, the realities of war did more for the emancipation of women than the suffragettes.

Horses were also requisitioned in huge numbers and this led to the mechanisation of farming and really brought the tractor and other machinery on to the scene.

It is certain that mechanisation would have come anyway and so it would be stretching a point to suggest that the Great War is to blame for the fact that once numerous and wonderful shire horses are now rare breeds.

But the mechanisation of farming and the use of chemicals and other techniques was, without question, accelerated by the conflict.

The industrialisation of the countryside, with machines taking over from people, also resulted in the migration of people from the countryside to cities and towns.

It is more than 100 years ago since the First World War started and no-one who fought in it is now alive. There is still a dwindling number of very old people who may have a hazy memory from their childhood of life in the second decade of the 20th century and they will all soon be gone.

But that does not make it odd that we still remember people who gave so much in a conflict that has shaped, and indirectly continues to shape, our lives.