This September marks 100 years to the month that Birkenhead war poet Wilfred Owen enlisted for active duty in World War One.

In 1915 Owen had been working in France as a teacher when he became aware of the suffering that was being inflicted on the soldiers.

Wirral Globe:

Owen's regiment the Artists’ Rifles later became the modern day SAS

Although Wilfred had misgivings, and was not obliged to join, he could no longer turn a blind eye to the situation.

He joined the Artists’ Rifles regiment as an officer, and proclaimed he was, “going out in order to help the boys directly, by leading them as best an officer could, and by watching their sufferings, to speak for them as best he can.”

His decision set in motion the count down to the end of his short life.

He died four years later leading his men.

 Owen wrote of the day he left England for the front line in his poem The Send Off, with the words, “Down the close darkening lanes they sang their way to the siding-shed, and lined the train with faces grimly gay.

"Shall they return to beating of great bells, in wild train-loads? A few, a few, too few for drums and yells.”

The Artist Rifles later became the modern day SAS.

To mark the centenary of his enlistment, The Wilfred Owen Story in Birkenhead will be mounting a display of the regiment’s memorabilia.

This includes emblems, buttons and badges identical to the ones Owen would have been issued with. Most poignant of all is a company spoon that would have stirred many a welcome cup of tea.

Wirral Globe:

Owen's company spoon

The Wilfred Owen Story is the UK's first and only permanent exhibition dedicated to the iconic WW1 poet.

The museum was established in 2011 and celebrates Wilfred Owen's formative years spent in Birkenhead.

The display opens on Tuesday, September 1.

 Re-read Mike Simpson's moving accounts of Wirral's roll in the Great War.

When the Kaiser growled, Birkenhead roared back. From Oliver Street to the Persian Gulf; from Westbank Road to Messines, Abbot Street to Jutland, the town's young men needed no call to arms. They volunteered in droves for their county regiment and fought - and died - on battlefields that were just names on the map to the majority.

Sad secrets of Birkenhead's Golden Book Shaftesbury Boys’ Club played a crucial role in the Great War. After the war came peace and remembrance: Shaftesbury commemorated its lost heroes in a remarkable ‘Golden Book.' Mike Simpson turns the pages of history in this meticulously-researched and extraordinarily moving article for the Globe.