Till the Boys Come Home 1918 - facts

 This book takes place in 1918. 

In January Edward has a meeting where the most distinguist and important men in the country are present: Lord Rhondda, Lloyd George, Field Marshall Haig, and Bonar Law

David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, (26 March 1856 – 3 July 1918), was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician. He was Member of Parliament from 1888 until 1910.  He later held office, notably as "Food Controller" in Lloyd George's wartime coalition government.

David Lloyd George (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was known for leading the United Kingdom during the First World War, for social-reform policies, for his role in the Paris Peace Conference, and for negotiating the establishment of the Irish Free State. 

Field Marshal Douglas Haig(19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928), was a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War he commanded the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of the war.

Andrew Bonar Law (16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.

In 1918 Russia signed a ceasefire with Germany. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, which followed months of negotiations after the armistice on the Eastern Front in December 1917, was signed at Brest-Litovsk (now Brest, Belarus).

In 1918 the Brits suffered severe rationing. Compulsory rationing was introduced in stages between December 1917 and February 1918 as Britain's supply of wheat decreased to just six weeks' consumption. To help the process, ration books were introduced in July 1918 for butter, margarine, lard, meat, and sugar. Each consumer was tied to a retailer. The basic ration of sugar, butter or margarine, tea, jam, bacon and meat came to about 1,680 calories. 

The King created the Order of the British Empire, a new honour for people who have done great things for the country. The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. The order was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V.

In 1918 women are finally given the vote, but it was only for a sector of women. In 1918, Parliament passed an act granting the vote to women over the age of 30 who were householders, the wives of householders, occupiers of property with an annual rent of £5, and graduates of British universities. About 8.4 million women gained the vote.

In the Somme the British suffer terrible attacks from the storm troops. The Second Battle of the Somme of 1918 was fought during the First World War on the Western Front from late August to early September, in the basin of the River Somme. It was part of a series of successful counter-offensives in response to the German Spring Offensive, after a pause for redeployment and supply. The most significant feature of the two 1918 Somme battles was that with the failure of the first 1918 Somme Battle  having halted what had begun as a large German offensive, the second formed the central part of the Allies' advance to the Armistice of 11 November.

Frank and Ethel go to see Cleopatra with Theda Bara and Fritz Leiber.. 

Theda Bara (July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the more popular actresses of the silent era and one of cinema's early sex symbols.

Fritz Reuter Leiber Sr. (January 31, 1882 – October 14, 1949) was an American actor. A Shakespearean actor on stage, he also had a successful career in film.

In 1918 the population starts suffering from the Spanish flu. The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic. The earliest documented case was March 1918 in the state of Kansas in the United States, with further cases recorded in France, Germany and the United Kingdom in April. 

Laura returns to France to drive another ambulance. She goes to Hazebrouk. 

Edward refers to the advance in medicine during this time. He tells David about plastic surgery in Sidcup which was developed by Gillies. Sir Harold Delf Gillies (17 June 1882 – 10 September 1960) was a New Zealand otolaryngologist and father of modern plastic surgery for the techniques he devised to repair the faces of soldiers coming back from the trenches.

To put up with pain David takes paregoric. Paregoric, or camphorated tincture of opium, is a traditional patent medicine known for its antidiarrheal, antitussive, and analgesic properties.

In 1918 the Metropolitan police go on strike. The 1918–19 British police strikes in the United Kingdom resulted in the British government putting before Parliament its proposals for a Police Act, which established the Police Federation of England and Wales and Scottish Police Federation as the representative bodies for the police.

Catherine, Beresford's sister, is with the FANYs. The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars.

On 9 November the Kaiser abdicated and Germany became a republic. The abdication of Wilhelm II as German Emperor and King of Prussia was declared unilaterally by Chancellor Max von Baden at the height of the German revolution on 9 November 1918, two days before the end of World War I.

On November 11 the Germans agree to an aristice. The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice s that ended fighting on land, at sea, and in the air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany.