WHEN the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie were assassinated on June 28, hardly anyone in Southampton saw this as anything more than just another politically-driven assassination.

Britain in 1914 was instead gripped by matters closer to home, such as the Votes for Women campaign being staged by the Suffragettes, industrial strikes and the long-running issue of Irish Home Rule.

The country was fascinated by the continued advances of modern technologies – in particular the strides being made in aviation, something regularly documented in the pages of the Southern Daily Echo of the time.

On Saturday, June 27, 1914, the day before the fateful events in Sarajevo, the Daily Echo’s main headline came from London where a serious rail collision on the South- Eastern line between London Bridge and Cannon Street stations had resulted in one passenger being killed and many injured.

In local news, the attention was drawn to Salisbury Plain where a military aeroplane had crashed while engaged in manoeuvres. The pilot, Captain Shephard, and his passenger, Lieutenant Morgan, had a narrow escape from the machine, which was left a total wreck.

The Southampton Amateur Dramatic Society’s matinee at the Grand Theatre, in aid of the disaster fund set up in response to the recent Empress of Ireland tragedy, was also the focus of much attention for Southampton’s townsfolk.

The RMS Empress of Ireland was an ocean liner that sank in the St Lawrence River following a collision with the Norwegian collier SS Storstad in the early hours of May 29, 1914, with the loss of 1,012 lives.

Around the other theatres and picture house in the town that week, the Japanese acrobatic troupe Yamagata and the “bright and breezy comedian” George D’Albert were the star turns at the Palace Theatre.

At the Hippodrome the Irish Protean actor, Owen Mcgiveney, was the star attraction, while at the Portswood Palladium film reels of the recent Tudor Southampton pageant and the opening of the new Southampton University College were being re-shown.

In sport, the Hampshire cricket team was facing quite a task away at Worcestershire. The report detailed the command that Worcester had on the game with their batsman Bowley hitting a century before lunch.

While the gentlemen followed the cricket, the ladies of Southampton were showing much interest in the annual summer sale at the Plummer Roddis’ department store in the town.

A general topic of conversation in and around the town at the time was the desire for a new Town Hall.

The following edition of the Echo, on Monday, June 29, delivered the news of Sarajevo shootings.

Despite leading with the news account of events that would become a catalyst for war, the modest coverage at the time remained rather insular to the events in Europe as nearly double the amount of column space in the Echo that day was dedicated to a detailed account of the Hampshire Football Association’s annual general meeting.