“Not a Credit to the Territorial Force”

Two charabanc parties outside the Panama in Waller Street, c.1920 [Z1306/75/10/60/5]

Saturday 14th November: Private Albert Warrilow of the 5th Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment was tried today at the Luton Borough Court on a charge of theft. He was alleged to have stolen a kitbag containing two razors, a knife, a fork and a spoon and a holdall from Staff-Sergeant Bishop of the Army Service Corps. Until last Saturday Sergeant Bishop had been billeted at the Panama in Waller Street. His kitbag hung in a room through which anyone could pass. Sergeant Thomas Boardman had been at the Panama with Private Warrilow on the previous night, when Warrilow had shown the stolen items to Sergeant Boardman, claiming they had been given to him by a young lady from a school. Warrilow also sold a razor to Lance-Corporal Albert Hill for one shilling. Major Newbold, the Assistant Provost Marshal, saw Warrilow at his billet in Frederic Street; finding some of the stolen articles among his kit he handed Warrilow over to the police.

Private Warrilow pleaded not guilty. He stated that he had been at the Panama with Sergeant Boardman and others but had left alone. Outside the Panama he chatted to a young lady and they agreed to go for a walk. She told him her name was Maisie Griffiths, that she was a school teacher at Round Green, and that she “wanted to get in with a soldier bloke”. She then gave him the items. He made no attempt to keep them secret and did not realise until Monday night that they had been stolen. He asked the sergeant what to do and was advised to take them back. It was too late to do so on Monday, on Tuesday he was sick, and on Wednesday he was on guard at People’s Park. When Major Newbold came he told him how he got the items. He did not see his commanding officer about them as he thought it would be all right if he took the things back. However, Warrilow admitted he sold he razor after he knew it was stolen, and that he had since discovered there was no school at Round Green. After the Bench decided to convict Private Warrilow, Major Newbold disclosed that he had already been up for a military offence since he came to Luton, that his conduct was generally unsatisfactory, and that he was “certainly not a credit to the Territorial Force”. Warrilow was sentenced to a month’s hard labour.

Source: Luton News 19th November 1914