Thankful Villages are settlements in both England and Wales from which all their then members of the armed forces survived World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. The term Thankful Village was popularised by the writer Arthur Mee

Arthur Mee

Arthur Henry Mee was a British writer, journalist and educator. He is best known for The Harmsworth Self-Educator, The Children's Encyclopaedia, The Children's Newspaper, and The King's England...

 in the 1930s. In Enchanted Land (1936), the introductory volume to The King’s England series of guides, he wrote that a Thankful Village was one which had lost no men in the Great War because all those who left to serve came home again. His initial list identified 32 villages.

In a November 2010 update, researchers identified 52 civil parishes in England and Wales from which all soldiers returned. There are no settlements in Scotland or Northern Ireland that did not lose a member of the community in World War I.

14 of the English and Welsh villages are considered "doubly thankful", in that they also lost no service personnel during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. These are marked with a (D) in the list below.
Buckinghamshire

• Stoke Hammond
  Stoke Hammond
  Stoke Hammond is a village and also a civil parish within Aylesbury Valedistrict in north Buckinghamshire, England, about two and a half miles south of Fenny Stratford ....
  
  

Cardiganshire

• Llanfihangel y Creuddyn
  Llanfihangel y Creuddyn
  Llanfihangel-y-Creuddyn, |hundred]] of Ilar, Ceredigion, West Wales, 7 miles south east from Aberystwyth, on the road to Rhayader, comprising the chapelry of Eglwys Newydd, or Llanfihangel y Creuddyn Uchaf, and the township of Llanfihangel y Creuddyn Isaf. It was also known as Lower Llanfihangel y...
  
  

Cornwall

• Herodsfoot
  Herodsfoot
  Herodsfoot is a village in southeast Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately four miles southwest of Liskeard and five miles north of Looe at a point where two tributaries of the West Looe river join....
  
   (D)

Cumberland

• Ousby
  Ousby
  Ousby is a village and civil parish in Eden District, in the English county of Cumbria. It is a Thankful Village, one of 52 parishes in England and Wales that suffered no casualties during World War I...
  
  

Derbyshire

• Bradbourne
  Bradbourne
  Bradbourne is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. The village is just outside the Peak District National Park, and is 5 miles north of Ashbourne....
  
  

Dorset

• Langton Herring
  Langton Herring
  Langton Herring is a village in west Dorset, England, situated beside The Fleet Lagoon , four miles north east of the town of Weymouth....
  
   (D)

Durham

• Hunstanworth
  Hunstanworth
  Hunstanworth is a small village in County Durham, in England. It is situated approximately 10 miles to the west of Consett, south-west of the village of Blanchland.The village was designed and built around the original 1781 parish church...
  
  

Essex

• Strethall
  Strethall
  Strethall is a village and a civil parish in the Uttlesford District, in the English county of Essex, near the town of Saffron Walden.Having received no losses in World War one it is known as one of the thankful villages....
  
  

Glamorgan

• Colwinston
  Colwinston
  Colwinston is a village in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.Colwinston is known for the medieval parish church of St. Michael and All Angels, subject of a major restoration project to celebrate the millennium. The church is a Grade 1 listed building...
  
  

Gloucestershire

• Coln Rogers
  Coln Rogers
  Coln Rogers is a village in the Cotswold district of the English county of Gloucestershire.Coln Rogers lies on the River Coln and is one of the "Thankful Villages". There is a bridge over the river.- External links :*...
  
  
• Little Sodbury
  Little Sodbury
  Little Sodbury is an English village in South Gloucestershire, located between Chipping Sodbury, to the West, Old Sodbury to the South, Badminton, and the A46 road to the East and Horton and Hawkesbury Upton, to the north....
  
  
• Upper Slaughter
  Upper Slaughter
  Upper Slaughter is a village in the English county of Gloucestershire located in the Cotswold district located south west of the town of Stow-on-the-Wold. Nearby places include Lower Slaughter, Bourton-on-the-Water and Daylesford....
  
   (D)

Herefordshire

• Knill
  Knill
  Knill is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. Recorded in the Domesday Book as Chenille the little village of Knill sits just inside the Herefordshire side of the border with Wales, south west of Presteigne and very much in 'The Marches' as these borderlands are known...
  
  
• Middleton-on-the-Hill (D)
• Pipe Aston (D)

Hertfordshire

• Puttenham
  Puttenham, Hertfordshire
  Puttenham is a small village in north west Hertfordshire, England. It is in the Tring Rural parish. Until April 1, 1964 Puttenham was a Civil Parish in its own right. At the time of the merger with Tring Rural it had a population of 107 ....
  
  

Kent

• Knowlton
  Knowlton, Kent
  Knowlton was an eccesiastical and civil parish; the former was abolished in 1940 , the latter in 1935 , and the hamlet is now part of Goodnestone civil parish. It is located about 10 miles north of Dover in Kent, England. Knowlton Hall, set in of parkland, is located here.The Church of St Clement...
  
  

Lancashire

• Arkholme (D)
• Nether Kellet
  Nether Kellet
  Nether Kellet is a village and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, a few miles south of Carnforth. It had a population of 646 recorded in the 2001 census. The parish includes the small hamlet of Addington, to the east.-Community:...
  
   (D)

Leicestershire

• Saxby
• East Norton
  East Norton
  East Norton is a small village and parish located in the east of Leicestershire, adjoining the A47 Leicester to Uppingham road. According to the 2001 Census, it had a population of 94 in 37 households. East Norton is situated in the Tilton Ward in the Rural East area of the Harborough District ,...
  
  

Lincolnshire

• Bigby
  Bigby, Lincolnshire
  Bigby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies about ten miles south of the Humber Bridge, and four miles east of the town of Brigg. The village lies in the Lincolnshire Wolds, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and lies close to the...
  
  
• Flixborough
  Flixborough
  Flixborough is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated near to the River Trent, about 3 miles north-west of Scunthorpe. The village is noted for the 1974 Flixborough disaster....
  
   (D)
• High Toynton
  High Toynton
  High Toynton is a village and civil parish about east of the town of Horncastle, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies in the Lincolnshire Wolds, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
  
   (D)
• Minting
  Minting
  Minting is a small village and civil parish just off the A158 road, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.Minting is one of the Thankful Villages that suffered no fatalities during the Great War of 1914 to 1918....
  
  

Northamptonshire

• East Carlton
  East Carlton
  East Carlton is a village and civil parish located in the county of Northamptonshire, on the beautiful Welland valley. It is only a few miles west of the town of Corby and is administered as part of the Corby Borough...
  
  
• Woodend
  Woodend, Northamptonshire
  Woodend is a small village in the district of South Northamptonshire in the English county of Northamptonshire.It is west of the town of Towcester and was a hamlet in the parish of Blakesley until 1866, when it became a parish in its own right...
  
  

Northumberland

• Meldon
  Meldon, Northumberland
  Meldon, Northumberland is a village in Northumberland, England. It lies to the west of Morpeth. The village is one of the 51 Thankful Villages in the United Kingdom that suffered no fatalities during the Great War of 1914-1918.-External links:...
  
  

Nottinghamshire

• Cromwell
  Cromwell, Nottinghamshire
  Cromwell is a village in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located 5 miles north of Newark. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 188.St. Giles' Church, Cromwell is 13th century, with a tower built c. 1427....
  
  
• Maplebeck
  Maplebeck
  Maplebeck is a village in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located 6 miles north of Southwell, and is part of the civil parish of Winkburn. It is one of only five villages in England to have a church dedicated to St Radegund and it is also one of only fifty one Thankful Villages in England and Wales...
  
  
• Wigsley
  Wigsley
  Wigsley is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located 10 miles west of Lincoln. To the south-west of the village are the remains of R.A.F. Wigsley airfield. Wigsley is one of the Thankful Villages - those rare places that were spared fatalities in the Great War of 1914...
  
  
• Wysall
  Wysall
  Wysall is a village in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located 11 miles south of Nottingham. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 321. Holy Trinity Church, Wysall is Norman, with a 13th century tower with spire and a 14th century chancel...
  
  

Pembrokeshire

• Herbrandston
  Herbrandston
  Herbrandston is a large coastal village on the north side of the River Cleddau, in southern Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated to the west of Milford Haven and Hakin, and lies to the east of St Ishmael's. The village has a population of 1,523, 15% of which is Welsh speaking. Before 1960 and the...
  
   (D)

Rutland

• Teigh
  Teigh
  Teigh is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is notable for its parish church, almost unaltered since a 1782 rebuild, that features pews that face one another rather than the altar....
  
  

Shropshire

• Harley
  Harley, Shropshire
  Harley is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire.-Location:The village lies at the foot of Wenlock Edge about 9.5 miles to the south-east of Shrewsbury. The A458 road Shrewsbury to Bridgnorth road goes around the village on a bypass...
  
  

Somerset

• Aisholt
• Chantry
• Chelwood
  Chelwood
  Chelwood is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in North Somerset about from Bristol and Bath. The parish has a population of 153.- History :...
  
  
• Holywell Lake
• Rodney Stoke
  Rodney Stoke
  Rodney Stoke is a small village and civil parish, located at , 5 miles north-west of Wells, in the English county of Somerset. The village is on the A371 between Draycott and Westbury-sub-Mendip....
  
  
• Shapwick
  Shapwick, Somerset
  Shapwick is a village on the Somerset Levels, in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, England. It is situated to the west of Glastonbury.-History:Shapwick is the site of one end of the Sweet Track, an ancient causeway dating from the 39th century BC....
  
  
• Stocklinch
  Stocklinch
  Stocklinch is a village and civil parish north-east of Ilminster in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England.-History:The village is one Somerset's nine Thankful Villages , in which all the men who served in World War I came home, and one of only 14 doubly-thankful villages in the country...
  
   (D)
• Tellisford
  Tellisford
  Tellisford is a village and civil parish north-east of Frome in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Woolverton.-History:...
  
  
• Woolley (D)

Suffolk

• Culpho
  Culpho
  Culpho is a hamlet of about 40 people standing just outside Grundisburgh, Suffolk, about four miles west of Woodbridge. Its nearest villages are Great Bealings and Playford...
  
  
• South Elmham St. Michael
  The Saints, Suffolk
  The Saints are a group of villages in Suffolk, England, between the rivers Blyth and Waveney near to the border with Norfolk. The villages are all named after a saint , and either South Elmham or Ilketshall named after the 'hall of Alfkethill'...
  
   (D)

Sussex

• East Wittering
  East Wittering
  East Wittering is a coastal village in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. The eastern half of the village lies within the civil parish of East Wittering and Bracklesham, while the western half lies within the boundary of West Wittering civil parish...
  
  

Yorkshire

• Catwick
  Catwick
  Catwick is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately north east of Beverley town centre and west of Hornsea town centre. It lies on the B1244 road from Leven to Hornsea....
  
   (D)
• Cundall
• Helperthorpe
  Helperthorpe
  Helperthorpe is a village in Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It is one of the Thankful Villages that suffered no fatalities during the Great War of 1914 to 1918....
  
  
• Norton-le-Clay
  Norton-le-Clay
  Norton-le-Clay is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated near the A1 motorway and north west of Boroughbridge. It is one of the Thankful Villages that suffered no fatalities during the Great War of 1914 to 1918....
  
  
• Scruton
  Scruton
  Scruton is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It is five miles west of Northallerton. According to the 2001 census the village had a population of 442.-History:...
  
  

In France, where the human cost of war was higher than in Britain, Thierville

Thierville

Thierville is a commune in the Eure department in Haute-Normandie in northern France.Thierville is remarkable as the only village in all of France with no men lost from World War I, nor any memorials constructed in the subsequent period. Amazingly, Thierville also suffered no losses in the...

 was remarkable as the only village in all of France with no men lost from World War I, nor any memorials constructed in the subsequent period. Thierville also suffered no losses in the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

and World War II, France's other bloody wars of the modern era.