No Troops for Dunstable

Novelty Postcard 1914-1918 [Z1130/36/1]

Tuesday 1st February 1916: Dunstable appears to be no closer to the elusive goal of having more troops billeted in the town that it was over a year ago. At the January meeting of Dunstable Town Council the Mayor was asked “Do you know if there is any reason why troops are not billeted in Dunstable?” He replied that he had no idea as the military authorities always spoke to the police rather than to himself. Asked whether he could try to find out, the Mayor suggested it would be better to wait until the weather was better so that the camp would be available. At this time of year it could not be expected that the army would want to put men under canvas, and he did not imagine they would want to incur the expense of building huts. Mr. J.T. Dales pointed out that the public’s concern was with billeting. The Mayor thought public needed to be aware that the amount paid for billeting had reduced considerably since troops were last billeted in the town: in that case, said Mr. Dales “I imagine the diet will be considerably reduced as well”. The Mayor hoped they did not want to starve the soldiers!

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 1st February 1916