SIR – I have been researching my grandfather who went over the top with the Bradford Pals and my grandmother who was on war work. I have come to the conclusion that the war, with its horrendous losses, was a catalyst for change and the outcome was virtually a revolution.

The Edwardian era before the war was a cosy world of the establishment having balls and house parties at thousands of country houses. The working class were virtually invisible. They could not vote, millions worked in service. The rest, even those working, were one step away, if not in, the workhouse.

The 1911 National Insurance Act only gave limited benefits because of the war. Look at the changes that occurred after thousands of aristocrats and their heirs were killed and their estates had to pay death duties to pay for the war.

Within ten years 1,200 country houses were demolished, the whole system of service began to break down as people found other jobs.

But the biggest change was when working men and some middle class women got the vote (working class women got the vote in 1928). That cosy world of 1914 had gone.

There was more reform instigated for working people by victory in World War One than in the previous 2,000 years. It would take another war to bring more changes Britain needed to become a modern democracy but without the sacrifices made in World War One it may have never happened.

Alan Hough, Midland Road, Baildon