THE new special edition of the book “History Maker” will be available to the public from November 20.

The extraordinary story of Witheridge farm worker John Roberts and his 30 grandsons who served in the Great War captured the public imagination.

The tragedies he endured – and the heroism shown by so many of his offspring on the front line – were revealed in the first edition of “History Maker”, published in February 2018.

John was heralded as the most unlikely record breaker, having more grandsons serving in the war than anyone else in Devon and beyond.

More than 50 members of his family were in the Army and Navy between 1914 and 1918. Eleven – seven of his grandsons, three great nephews and a grandson-in-law – never made it home.

The special edition of “History Maker” reveals:

How author Paul Roberts came face-to-face with “lost” descendants of men who fought on the Western Front, Gallipoli and in the Middle East;

The extraordinary breakthroughs that helped to unearth a wealth of new detail about John and his family;

New stories of those who went to war, including four grandsons who served in the Machine Gun Corps, the Royal Marine Light Infantry and Devonshire Regiment;

How two members of John’s family fought with the Canadian and Australian Armies in France;

And how a great-grandson-in-law had four remarkable escapes from death at sea in the First and Second World Wars.

The book includes 64 pages of pictures and three family trees showing the grandsons who went to war, the 15 children of John Roberts and his ancestors dating back to 1603.

The special edition of “History Maker”, with a new artist-designed cover, will be available at £20 from Crediton Community Bookshop and by post (with a cost of £4 for postage and packing).