More Casualties for Henlow

Henlow War Memorial, 1930s [Z1130/58/10]

Thursday 16th September 1915: Since our update in March another six Henlow men have lost their lives, making a total of ten over this past year of war:

• Private Edward Vine RNVR, age 34, died at the Dardenelles fighting with the Deal Division of the Royal Marine Light Infanty. His death was reported here in July. He leaves a widow, Ethel Dorothy Vine, of Merton, London.
• Private Wilfred Field of the 1st Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment was killed in action with the 1st Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment on 6th April 1915.
• Private Wilfred Vine, age 19, was killed serving with the Bedfords on 20th April 1915. He was the son of Mrs W Vine of Henlow.
• Lance-Corporal Horace John Taylor, age 18, was killed on 3rd May 1915 while serving with the 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment. A native of Henlow, his parents Edward and Mary Ellen Taylor now live at Letchworth.
• Private John Turner appears on the Henlow War Memorial, but nothing more is known of his war service or where he died.
• Private Jesse Wilfred Vine RNVR of the Chatham Division of the R.N. Division Royal Marine Light Infantry, age 26, died in Turkey on the 13th July 1915. He was the son of Ellen Vine of “Thenioux”, Arlesey Road, Henlow, and the late Frank Vine. He leaves a widow, Valentine Vine of Thenioux, Cher, France.

The two Belgian refugees who have been dependant on the parish have now found work at the munitions factory at Letchworth. As they are now in a position to provide for their own families subscriptions for their support are no longer being collected. Any balance left in the fund will be given to help the Belgians begin new lives when they are able to return home.

An appeal has been made through the parish magazine for people to exercise thrift, as by spending less they will help to keep prices down. Also by saving they will be able to lend to the Country and support the war effort. War Stock Certificates and Vouchers can be bought at the local Post Office. The Certificates are available in £5 units, and the Vouchers are five shillings.

Source: Henlow Parish Magazine, September 1915 [X381/3]

Death of a Henlow Soldier

Coronation Day at Henlow, 1911 [Z263/2]

Friday 30th July 1915: A telegram was received this morning notifying his parents that Private Wilfred Jesse Vine has become the tenth Henlow man to be killed since the outbreak of the war. He was serving in the Chatham Battalion with the Royal Marine Brigade of the Royal Naval Division when he was killed in action near the Dardanelles on 13th July. Twenty six year old Private Vine was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Vine of the Crown Inn at Henlow. He had bought himself out of the Royal Marine Light Infantry in 1913 and became valet to General Hillyard, the former commander of the British forces in South Africa. When the war began he offered himself for service and took part in the successful retirement of the marines from Antwerp. After his return from Antwerp he married Valentine Farriere, the French maid of Lady Hillyard. He was subsequently sent to the Dardanelles, from there to Port Said in Egypt, and then back to the Dardanelles. He was expected home on leave in the middle of this month, making today’s tragic news even more poignant. Mr and Mrs Vine also have two other sons, Edgar Francis and Bertram, serving in France with the Bedfordshire Yeomanry.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 6th August 1915

Vegetables for the Navy

Collectors of fruit and vegetables for the Navy, 1915 [Z50/115/51]

Friday 16th July 1915: Henlow has been asked to join Arlesey and Stotfold in collecting fruit and vegetables for the sailors of the North Sea Fleet. Gifts of fruit and vegetables can be taken to the Vicarage on Wednesday morning, from where it will be taken to the Three Counties Asylum at Stotfold for packing. Produce from Arlesey and Stotfold is already reaching the Fleet and a number of letters have been received from grateful sailors. The skipper of a trawler-minesweeper has thanked Miss Helen Barnes of the Three Counties Asylum for a bag of gooseberries on behalf of his officers and crew. Lettuces sent by two Arlesey girls, Sylvia Allen and her sister, were enjoyed by the happy recipients for tea on the day they were received, and Master Cyril Pinnock of Avondale Terrace has received the following interesting letter from a member of the crew of H.M.T. Gucca:

“Dear Master Cyril, I am writing on behalf of myself and crew of this ship to give you many thanks for the nice cabbage you were kind enough to send us. We have often received vegetables when we have returned to our base, but up to the present have not been able to give the kind friends our thanks, because we have not known where to write, but the steward found your address among the cabbages today so was able to write. We have often talked it over and said we should like to be able to write and thank the kind friends who send us nice vegetables. Well, we are sweeping in the North Sea under very favourable conditions, different to what we had a few months ago. We are not getting a lot of mines at present, only keeping Channel clear by sweeping them daily for the passage of merchant ships going up and down into different ports, but at present we do 12 days out sweeping then have to go back to our base for coal and stores etc. We are eight days out today and are due to go in about the 6th inst. I must say again how grateful we are to you. We had some of the vegetables for dinner today. I must tell you this is my thirty-second year in the navy, and I have never had to write a letter that has given me greater pleasure than this. Trusting this will find you in good health. I remain, yours sincerely, Fred Hand”

Source: Biggleswade Chronicle, 16th July 1915

Bedfordshire Regiment Recruiting March

The Recruiting Band, 2/5th Bedfords, 1915 [Bedfordshire Standard]

Thursday 20th May 1915:  Six officers and 144 men of the 2/5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, led by Major Richard Rouse Boughton Orlebar [1], have begin a three week recruiting march through the county. This battalion consists of Imperial Service men who are unable to go to the Front, in most cases because they have not reached the qualifying age of 19.The aim of the march is to recruit 500 men and raise a new battalion which will become the 3/5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment; this Battalion will be used to reinforce the 1/5th Battalion when it gets into the firing line. The marchers travelled by train from Newmarket, where they are billeted, to Baldock. From there they began their march accompanied by both the bugle and brass bands of the battalion; they will be stopping today at Stotfold, Arlesey, Henlow, Upper Stondon and Shillington. The recruiting party is expected to arrive at Luton on Sunday and will spend the Whitsun Bank Holiday there. The Lord Lieutenant Mr. Samuel Whitbread has issued this appeal to the public:

MEN, JOHN THE NEW BATTALION.

MOTHERS, LET YOUR SONS GO.

SWEETHEARTS, PERSUADE YOUR BOYS.

ALL JOIN IN AND HELP.

The march is scheduled to take 22 days and to cover a distance of 226 miles; the soldiers will be billeted in the towns and larger villages and will visit the smaller villages en route. It is scheduled to end at Bedford on Friday 11th June. Those wishing to enlist need not wait for the recruiters to arrive. They can sign up at any time either at the Luton Corn Exchange, where recruiting officers have been located, or at the battalion’s headquarters at 46 Gwyn Street, Bedford.

Sources: Luton News 20th May 1915; Bedfordshire Standard 4 June 1915

[1] The husband of Faith Orlebar, commandant of Hinwick House Hospital

Henlow and the War

Henlow War Memorial, 1930s [Z1130/58/10]

Sunday 14th March 1915: The parish of Henlow has already lost four men in the service of their country:

• Private Edwin John Bywaters, age 21, son of Harry and Emma Bywaters of High Street, Henlow, killed on 23rd August 1914 serving with the 1st Bedfords (our war correspondent posted an obituary for Private Bywaters at the time) [1] 
• Leading Stoker William Thomas Page, age 33, who died when the HMS Aboukir was sunk by a German submarine on 22nd September 1914
• Private William Flack Brandram of the 17th Lancers (Duke of Cambridge’s Own), who was killed at Ypres on 30th October 1914
• Private Archer Sidney Fisher, aged 21, who was also killed at Ypres on 16th November 1914 serving with the 1st Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. His parents Clarence Sidney and Rosa Fisher now live at Hurstpierpoint in Sussex.

A further sixty-one Henlow men are currently serving in the armed forces.

There are now three families of Belgians resident in the village. The most recent arrivals are Monsieur and Madame Lanwers and their little boy Henri. M. Lanwers fought at Antwerp, was wounded and has now been discharged from Service as disabled. Monsieur Desir­è de Grande has left Henlow to join relatives at Leicester, having received the good news that his wife is alive and living with her parents in a village on the Yser.

Source: Henlow Parish Magazine [X381/3]

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[1] Harry and Emma Bywaters lost two more sons, Ernest and Horace, later in the war.