Bedfordshire Motor Volunteer Corps

Officers of the Bedfordshire Motor Volunteer Corps

Sunday 7th April 1918: This weekend has seen the Bedfordshire Motor Volunteer Corps taking part in a highly successful camp. The Corps was formed about three months ago, and this is the first time they have paraded as a whole. The Corps is divided into four local sections under the overall command of Captain Frederick Ray: Bedford; Luton; Biggleswade and Sandy; Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard.

The camp has been held in the west end of Kempston at Rushey Ford Farm, which was purchased by Captain Ray last September. The units reached the camp on Friday evening and enjoyed a fine, but cold, night sheltering in either covered vans or a large barn. In the morning hot cocoa and a biscuit were served at 6 a.m. before the Corps paraded for a short march and physical exercise. After a day of parades an excellent evening concert was held in a barn. A toast was given to “The Officer Commanding” who congratulated the Corps on their excellent attendance, despite the camp causing many of them to give up their most profitable day’s work of the week. He particularly commended the Biggleswade section, from which 43 out of 45 members were present.

After settling down for the night a successful emergency mobilisation was staged. Within three minutes of the alarm sounding the men were on parade, and in a few more minutes the transport vehicles were on the move through the darkness. This morning the Corps attended a church parade in front of the house. Training carried on over the weekend has included mechanical training and lectures in map reading for dispatch readers.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 12th April 1918

Dishonesty of an Ex-Soldier

Falcon Public House, Stanbridge Road c.1910 [Z1432/2/2/26]

Wednesday 21st November 1917: Frederick Chadwick, an ex-soldier living at Kempston, has appeared in court at Leighton Buzzard charged with obtaining money by false pretences. Thomas Page, a labourer who lodges at 17 Stanbridge Road told the court he first met Chadwick about two years ago when he was a corporal in the Monmouth Regiment lodging at Page’s daughter’s house in Queen’s Park, Bedford. Earlier this month Chadwick called on Page and borrowed four shillings, saying he was short of money. They went to the Falcon for a drink and to buy a postcard to send to Chadwick’s wife. After tea, Chadwick said he heard that Page had been drinking recently. Page took him upstairs and showed him some paper money as proof that he had not. They spoke about Chadwick’s work – he said he was a special constable looking for deserters, and implied he had his eye on two men working at Morgan’s.

Lodgings were found for Chadwick at the house of Mrs. Florence Lawson at 44 Stanbridge Road. Chadwick joined Page for breakfast and accompanied him to work. On the way he produced a document which he said entitled him to draw £2.15s, but said he could not cash it until Monday and asked to borrow 30 shillings. Page agreed and told Chadwick to go to his lodgings for the money. On Monday Chadwick showed Page an official paper, which appeared to be a bank form for £6 10s. He got Page to sign the form, telling him he was going to draw the money on Thursday, and said that if he did not come back Page could draw it. That night Chadwick again slept again at Mrs. Lawson’s. The next morning he asked her to provide dinner for himself and his wife, but did not return.

Page’s story was corroborated by his landlady, Tamor Field. She said that when Chadwick returned to collect the 30 shillings he claimed Page had agreed to lend more to cover the expense of taking a “deserter” to Cumberland. She had therefore let him have £4. On the Monday Chadwick left a paper he said was a £5 cheque with her for Page, and also asked Page to sign a form which he said would mean £20 in his pocket. Mrs. Lawson said she also believed Chadwick’s story that he was a detective hunting for army deserters. The morning after he first lodged with her he left a man at her house while he went to Miss Field’s. When Chadwick returned the next Monday he said the man he had brought in on Saturday was “one of the biggest scoundrels” he had ever known and was now serving six months in Cumberland. On Monday night Chadwick said he was short of money, and feeling it her duty to help him she lent him 3s 6d. She prepared dinner for Chadwick and his wife on the Tuesday, but he did not return. He had not paid for his lodging.

P.C. Cheshire said that when Chadwick was arrested at Bedford he said he had a pension of 6 shillings a week and would repay all the money at 5 shillings a week. He claimed to have borrowed the money, not stolen it, and to have left security with Mr. Page. P.C. Jeffrey of Clapham said he had known Chadwick for four or five months. He lived in a little cottage, and the only work he had done was a fortnight’s night watching at Cardington aerodrome. He had never had anything to do with the constabulary. Chadwick said he had no intention of getting the money by false pretences, but had been drinking at the time. However, faced with the evidence and other examples of Chadwick’s dishonesty set out in a police letter, the magistrates sentenced him to two months imprisonment with hard labour. 

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 27th November 1917

Waste Paper to be Recycled

Bedford Road, Kempston c.1920 [Z1306/67/12/2]

Saturday 29th September 1917: Kempston Urban District Council has considered a letter from the Paper Commission urging for the more economical use of paper and the collection of waste paper so that it can be sent to a depot for re-pulping. The Chairman suggested that this could best be carried out by school children and that the matter should be handed over to the head teachers of schools. Children have already successfully collected eggs for hospitals, and collections of horse chestnuts and blackberries are going well. It was considered a good thing for children to “do their little bit”, but with the reservation that boys should not be allowed to tout for paper, but only to call at houses when asked to do so.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 28th September 1917

Private Christopher Cox VC Visits Kempston Barracks

Kempston Barracks, c.1915 [Z1130/67/31]

Saturday 18th August 1917: Private Christopher Augustus Cox of the 7th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment has spent this week at the regimental depot at Kempston after returning from home leave at Kings Langley (Herts). Two weeks ago he was invested with the Victoria Cross by the King, as a reward for his courageous actions at Achiet-le-Grand in March; these were described by our war correspondent https://bedsatwar.blogspot.com/2017/03/great-bravery-and-successful-attack.html at the time. At breakfast in the central mess room Private Cox was introduced to all the men in the depot and was given an enthusiastic ovation. A tall and well-built man, wearing the VC ribbon and three gold wound stripes, he looked the picture of health. He told his colleagues that he was recommended for the Victoria Cross for bringing in a party of men under heavy fire on the battle field, but was too modest to go into detail. He reported that when the King pinned the Cross on his tunic His Majesty extended his hand to him in a friendly manner and said “Cox, you are a brave man and I am glad to shake hands with you. I hope you will have a long and happy life” [1].

 

Christopher Augustus Cox [Wikimedia]

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 17th August 1917

[1] Christopher Augustus Cox died in 1959 at the age of 69. He was wounded in the foot in May 1917 and was not fit enough to return to the Front; he spent the remainder of the war training recruits. 

Empire Day in Kempston

Z1306/67/72, Procession down Bedford Road, featuring Kempston Primitive Band of Hope, postmarked 1906
(Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service)

Thursday 24^th May 1917: Kempston marked Empire Day in a more unusual way this year. Rather than the customary morning celebration at schools, followed by a half-day holiday, celebrations involved the whole town over the course of the day. A parade involving approximately 900 children took place through the main streets of Kempston, led by the Boy Scouts Band. Most of the girls were in white and nearly every child had a flag. Many carried coloured posters encouraging food savings. Following the march, a gathering took place in Bedford Road school grounds, the children in front and the parents behind. The children sacrificed their usual half-day holiday to attend the ceremony. A Royal Proclamation on food saving was read out and parents were encouraged to sign a pledge to economise. The boys were then called upon to salute the flag and cheers rang out for the Royal Family, the Empire and soldiers and sailors. The gathering was then asked to salute the dead. There were many women in the audience who had lost husbands and sons and who had tears in their eyes.

The boys and girls were told by one of the chairs, Mr Carruthers, that they were the most important audience members because they were the men and women of days to come, who would inherit the Empire. He reiterated that those at home could do a great deal to bring about the end of the war by economising on food – if the people of Kempston could leave the table a little bit hungry they would be the better in health for it. Not to appear hypocritical, Mr Carruthers declared that he himself was eating a third less than he used to do and did not think he looked the worse for it!

The day was deemed a great credit to the War Savings’ Association, schools, and the urban & parish councils.

Source: Bedford Record 29/5/1917

Soldier's Wife Drowned at Kempston

River and Mill at Kempston, c.1930 [Z205-56]

Tuesday 27th June 1916: An inquest has been held at the Kempston Council Room into the death of Mrs. Alice Maud Edginton, who was drowned at Kempston on Friday evening. Her husband Private John Edginton, a driver in the Motor Transport of the Army Service Corps billeted at Station Road, Bedford, gave evidence that he, another soldier, Private W. Forbes, and his wife had gone for a row to Kempston. As they started back between 8 and 8.30 p.m. Forbes got his oar caught in the weeds; as he leaned over to free it the boat capsized and Mrs. Edginton sank. When the two men got out on the Kempston side of the river the boat was upside down on the other side. A police constable said he had been called to Hill Grounds at about 10.30 p.m. The two soldiers were there wet through and told him what had happened. He informed Police Sergeant Church. and the river was dragged. The body was found at 1.30 a.m.  Sergeant Church told the court the boat was in order and trustworthy. The oars were found the next morning; Mrs. Edginton’s hand bag, a little black dog that was with the party, and Forbes’s tunic were still missing. The Coroner said there was no doubt that the men had done their best to recover Mrs. Edginton, which was no doubt why there was a lapse in time before the police were called. The jury found that the soldier’s wife was accidentally drowned, and great sympathy was expressed for her husband.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 30th June 1916

More News of the Great Storm

Children collecting wood from fallen trees 

Wednesday 29th March 1916: News is coming in of the damage caused by yesterday’s great storm. In the town centre of Bedford a gable end blew in over Messrs Golding and Company’s shop in the High Street. The Bull clock and the Town Clock were blocked up with snow and both stopped at quarter past three. At the Modern School a flagstaff was blown over, smashing one of the battlements of the turret, and in Midland Road a window, complete with its frame, was blown out of the Co-operative Society’s Hall. Along with the gale came flooding as Monday night’s snow melted; many houses were flooded out at Biddenham and at Goldington the green was largely underwater and a number of cottages were surrounded.

Soldiers billeted in the Bedford area have begun clearing the many fallen trees from the roads and removing others which had been uprooted and toppled into the river at Bedford. In Newnham Lane no less than 39 large trees were blown down. The Town Council has permitted householders to fill their wood sheds by taking branches of no more than six inches diameter from the fallen trees, a task likely to take several days. In Kempston the famous walnut orchard of  Mr. Walter Harter, J.P. has been wrecked by the great gale. Three hundred and sixty five trees had been planted in 1815 to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo. These had since been thinned, leaving about half the original number, and others have occasionally blown down; of the 160 remaining trees, only 40 survived yesterday’s storm.

At Luton the roof blew off a stand at the football ground, with part being flung onto the Great Northern railway line behind where it hit a standing railway carriage. The Club secretary estimates that the damage will cost £150. Some of the huts at Biscot Camp suffered badly and the men were housed for the night at the Corn Exchange, St. Mary’s Hall and the Fire Station. Many trees were blown down in Wardown Park and elsewhere, and a number of motor cars had to be abandoned by their drivers. An employee at the Vauxhall Motors works in Kimpton Road was badly injured by a falling bough on Tuesday evening as she was entering the mess-room.

During the initial snow fall on Monday evening a motor car collided with a footstone of the Market Cross at Leighton Buzzard due to snow obscuring the windscreen and covering the headlamps. On Tuesday afternoon farmer had great difficulty getting home from Leighton market, and a number of tradesmen were stranded during their delivery rounds. The Postmaster at Leighton reports that he has never seen or heard of such a “hopeless tangle of wires”, with all telegraphic communication interrupted and almost all telephone wires broken. Soulbury Road in Linslade was almost blocked by snow drifts three to four feet deep. At Husborne Crawley a large chimney stack was blown on to the roof of a public house where it crashed through the roof and through the bedroom floor into the room below; fortunately nobody was nearby and there were no injuries. Motor cars sent to meet the Duke of Bedford at Bletchley Station were unable to get there, and the Duke was forced to sleep on a couch at the Station Hotel, which was already full of stranded passengers. The next day he set out for Woburn in the hotel motor car but was stopped by fallen trees across the road; he then decided to walk to Woburn, leaving his valet and luggage to return to the station.

Sources: Luton News 30th March 1916; Leighton Buzzard Observer 4th April 1916; Bedfordshire Times 31st March & 7th April 1916; Bedfordshire Standard 7th April 1916

Death of a Kempston Teacher

Elstow Moot Hall c.1920 [Z49/54]

Tuesday 14th March 1916: Corporal Arthur Ford of Kempston has died of wounds received fighting with the 5th Northamptonshire Regiment. After his school days at Mr. Bates’s School in Bedford he joined the teaching staff at Mr. Owen’s School in Kempston; after this he went to Training College at Peterborough, from where he volunteered for the army. Arthur Ford was well known at both Kempston and Elstow, where he attended Sunday School at the Moot Hall and taught at the Memorial Hall. On Sundays he regularly visited his uncle, Mr. William Cirket, and always stayed for the evening service at the Memorial Hall where he became a member of the Bunyan Church. In a letter of sympathy to the young man’s father Captain F. W. Butler wrote:

 “He had endeared himself to all the men in the Company, especially the officers, and we are all greatly grieved. The operation on the 2nd and 3rd of March was a minor one, but the casualties in my Company were the greatest we have had since we came out; all my officers were either killed or wounded, and when I got up on to the platoon on the right I found your son had taken command of his platoon, his officer and sergeant having been both wounded. I reported his gallant conduct to the Colonel. Your son was a most efficient soldier, and one who was marked down for promotion. … The last I saw of him was when he was being carried down the communication trench, and he was quite collected then. I understand he was shot in the back near to the spine, and he died in the hospital yesterday.”

 A letter from a fellow soldier describes the circumstances in which Corporal Ford was shot:

 “Last night our people blew up some mines, and after occupying the craters, it fell to No. 1 Platoon to connect the craters with our old front line, by digging a communication trench. Out on top, digging for all they were worth, they hd no cover, so could not all escape. Among the wounded was Arthur. I have seen the stretcher bearer who attended to him, and he tells me that the bullet, coming from one side, struck him close to the back. Arthur himself was very cheerful, realising, I suppose, that he was still in God’s good hands.”

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 17th March 1916

Funerals of Two Crimea Veterans

Funeral Cortege of Joseph Harding [Bedfordshire Times]

Thursday 20th January 1916: The number of Bedfordshire’s surviving veterans of the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny has now dwindled to a tiny remnant, following the funerals this week of two of their number. Joseph Harding of Lansdowne Cottages, Bedford Road, Kempston, died on Thursday 13th at the age of 79 and was buried with full military honours on Tuesday. He was carried to his last resting place by men of the Bedfordshire Regiment who had been wounded in France, with the Band of the 2nd Bedfords at the head of the procession. He was known as a “cheerful, entertaining, and genial old man”. About twenty years he was badly injured falling from a tree and had been unable to work since. Mr. Harding enlisted in the 38th South Staffordshires at the age of 17 and was sent to the front almost immediately, serving through the Indian Mutiny and and Crimean war, and being present at the taking of Lucknow. He served in the same regiment as another Bedfordshire veteran, George Smith of Sun Street, Biggleswade, who also fought in the Crimean campaign and the Indian Mutiny. Both men, with other veterans from the county, had the privilege of attending the Coronation of King George V.

When it was recently mentioned to Mr. Harding that the boys at the front were having a rough time he replied: “They’ll never have worse times than we did in the Crimea. They have never had their hair cut away from the ground before they could get up in the morning, but we have”. He recalled spending time in hospital, saying “Florence Nightingale was an angel. I remember recovering consciousness, and the first thing I knew was that Florence Nightingale was putting a teaspoonful of brandy to my lips”. He was discharged from the army due to heart disease and was granted a pension of five pence a day. Of his fourteen children only six now survive. Two of his four sons served in South Africa, another has been in the trenches, and the fourth has been attested under Lord Derby’s scheme; two of his grandsons have also fought in the trenches.

Another veteran, Mr. Samuel Cooper of 84, Iddesleigh Road, Bedford, died the day after Mr. Harding at the age of 82. Mr Cooper was born at Cotton End in 1833 and enlisted in the 3rd Buffs in his 19th year. When war broke out with Russia he volunteered for service and was transferred to the 42nd Royal Highlanders (The Black Watch). He went East in 1843 and remained for some time at Scutari before becoming one of the first to arrive in the Crimea, where he took part in the battles of Alma and Balaklava. In the trenches before Sebastopol he was wounded by a piece of shell and saved from death only by the purse he was wearing. While engaged in quarrying at Camp Kamara a large stone fell on his big toe, causing an injury from which he suffered off and on for the rest of his life. He returned from the Crimea in 1856 and was sent out to India the following year where he took part in the suppression of the Mutiny and was present at the capture of Cawnpore and Lucknow. After nearly 11 years in the Army he was discharged in 1862. After 12 months in the Bedfordshire Police he served for over twenty years in the Metropolitan Police. After his retirement from the police he opened the West End General Stores in Iddesleigh. His funeral took place yesterday, also with full military honours.

Sources: Bedfordshire Times, 21st January 1916; Biggleswade Chronicle, 28th January 1916.

Fruitless Enquiries

Private Arthur Emmerton 

Wednesday 29th December 1915: The family of missing soldier Percy Gambriel are continuing to make enquiries in their efforts to trace him but this are still proving fruitless. They have contacted the British Red Cross, the Bureau Zuricois pour la Recherche des Disparus at Zurich, and now the Prisoners of War Help Committee in the hope that he may be a prisoner of war. Unfortunately from their reply it seems unlikely that this is the case: “The Committee beg to say that they regret they are not at present in possession of any information in regard to the person about whom you enquire, as being a prisoner of war, but should any news be received, it will immediately be communicated to you”.

For another family the news of their missing son is grim. Private Arthur Emmerton of the 2nd Bedfords, aged 23, was last heard from by his parents on 23rd October 1914. It was thought that during the hard fighting which took place at that time he was separated from his comrades and taken prisoner. However, nothing was heard of him and on November 11th 1914 he was officially reported missing. Mr and Mrs Emmerton of Bedford Road, Kempston, have continued to make enquiries to no news of their eldest son has been received. The War Office have no written to them stating that “the Army Council have been regretfully constrained to conclude that Private Arthur Emmerton, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment, is dead”.

Source: Z1270/7-9; Bedfordshire Standard, 10th December 1915

Missing Soldiers

 
Corporal James Richard Ellison

Thursday 4th November 1915: The family of Wilstead soldier Percy Gambriel have not heard from him since the letter he wrote to his mother on 23rd/24th September and have now received worrying news. A report from the War Office stating that he had been wounded in action on 25th September has now been followed by a notice that he was posted as “missing” after the engagement which took place on that date. In response to their enquiries an adjutant of the 2nd Bedfords writes:

“The following is all I can find out about Private P.W. Gambriel. He was wounded in the foot, as soon as the Company came under fire, in the advance against the German Gun Trench on 25th September. He took off his boot, but the wound was very slight and he came on again – this I got from Private Stevens. He was then wounded in the head, again slightly – he was able to speak, and said he could get back easily. Soon afterwards he was badly hit in the arm, and was bound up and sent back to Ambulance by Sergeant Curtis, being then able to walk. No one in the Company has since heard of or from him. I sincerely hope he is getting on all right in hospital, as he fought so splendidly. Very likely he cannot write home because of his arm.”

Mr. J. Ellison of Bunyan Road, Kempston is also appealing for news of his son Corporal James Richard Ellison of the 1st/5th Bedfords who was reported as “missing, believed killed” by the War Office on September 8th. He was a member of the 5th Bedfords when they were mobilised in August 1914 and went out with the Battalion to Gallipoli on 26th July. It is hoped that his comrades in the trenches may be able to provide some information.

Source: Z1270/1/3-4; Z1270/2/21-22; Bedfordshire Standard, 5th November 1915

Former Kempston Rovers Player Commissioned

Kempston Rovers F.C. 1908-9 [Z50/142/786]

Wednesday 18th August 1915: Frank Crowsley, the son of Mr. James Crowsley of Tempsford Street, Kempston has written from India to say that he has been commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Somerset Light Infantry, making him the first Kempston boy to receive this honour. Before joining the Army he was well known as outside-left for Kempston Rovers F.C. He writes that when he first left home in 1908 he was a lance-corporal and hopeful that he would soon be promoted to corporal. However, a new draft from the 1st Battalion joined his unit in Malta bringing with it a number of more senior lance-corporals; as a result his promotion did not come through until 1910. After three years in Malta he was sent to China where he was posted throughout the Chinese Revolution of 1911-12, though without ever being called upon for a ‘scrap’. He was promoted to Lance-Sergeant shortly before leaving China for India in October 1913, then to Sergeant in February 1914, and last June he heard that he was to be a Second-Lieutenant.

Lieutenant Crowsley has kept up his football, playing regularly for the regimental team. He is stationed at Quetta where there are four cups for soccer - one for company teams, one for double-company teams, one for half-battalion teams and one for battalion teams. He has played in a number of finals but has won only two medals. He has been fortunate with injuries, only suffering one sprained ankle while in Malta. He wonders how the rest of the old Kempston Rovers are faring, and imagines that most must now be in the Forces. Although his station is Quetta he is temporarily in Hyderabad which he finds “fearfully hot”. He says “it was 116 degrees in the shade more than once during last month and the first two weeks of this month, so you can bet that it is not too comfortable. I am writing this now with the perspiration running off me, and a big sheet of blotting paper under my hand so as not to soak the paper, and I am covered with prickly heat … One does not suffer much from that in Quetta, so you can guess that I shall not be sorry to get back there again.”

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 20th August 1915

On The Menu

Kempston Barracks [X550/1/112/18]

Friday 30th April 1915: The menu of meals to be served at the Bedfordshire Regiment depot over the next week has just been published. With bread served three times daily the number of loaves required by the depot must be extremely large! On the other hand, the army provides only a few vegetables and no fruit for its soldiers.

Sunday

Breakfast: Coffee, bread, butter and sausages

Dinner:  Roast beef, baked potatoes and plum pudding

Tea: Tea, bread, butter, cake and jam

Supper: Bread and cheese, tomato soup

Monday

Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter and boiled bacon

Dinner: Sea pies, potatoes, and haricot beans

Tea: Tea, bread and dripping

Supper: Bread and cheese, pea soup

Tuesday

Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter and potted meat

Dinner: Brown curry stew, potatoes and carrots

Tea: Tea, bread, butter and marmalade

Supper: Bread and lentil soup

Wednesday

Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter and corned mutton

Dinner: Meat pies, potatoes and peas

Tea: Tea, bread and dripping

Supper: Bread and cheese, barley soup

Thursday

Breakfast: Coffee, bread, butter and tinned salmon

Dinner: Toad in the hole, potatoes and butter beans

Tea: Tea, bread, butter, cake and jam

Supper: Bread and tomato soup

Friday

Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter and boiled bacon

Dinner: Tomato stew, potatoes and plain pudding

Tea: Tea, bread and dripping

Supper: Bread and cheese, pea soup

Saturday

Breakfast: Tea, bread, butter, sausages and tomatoes

Dinner: Roast meat stuffed, peas and potatoes

Tea: Tea, bread, butter and marmalade

Supper: Bread and lentil soup

Coffee and biscuits are also available before early morning parades.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 30th April 1915

Funeral of a Kempston Soldier

Sapper Herbert Bitchiner

Saturday 17th April 1915: A funeral has been held at Kempston Cemetery today for Sapper Herbert Bichener of the Royal Engineers, son of the landlord of the Black Horse Inn in Bunyan Road, Kempston. Before the war Sapper Bitchener worked for the Engineering Department at Bedford Post Office. As a reservist he returned to his Regiment at the beginning of the war and was sent to the Front in November. He was wounded in the side by a piece of shrapnel at Neuve Chapelle on 11th March. He underwent two operations at the Military Hospital at Brighton, but died on Wednesday aged 23. A large crowd attended the funeral to show their respects to a gallant soldier who died in the defence of his country. The mourners included Sapper Bitchener’s parents, sisters Violet and Grace and brother Philip.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 23rd April 1915

Arrangements for Possible Hospital Evacuation

Aspley Guise School c.1916 [Z1306/3a/20/1]

Monday 22nd March 1915: This month there has been considerable correspondence between Major Stevens, the County Director of Bedfordshire Voluntary Aid Detachments, and the Commander-in-Chief of Eastern Command at Whitehall concerning arrangements to be made in the event of it becoming necessary to evacuate Suffolk hospitals to Bedfordshire due to invasion or bombardment. One proposal is to use school buildings as hospitals should the need arise. A report on the impact this would have on specific schools has been issued today:

Cardington: It would, I think, be possible to transfer the elder scholars to Willington School and the younger ones to Cople School. But this could possibly be avoided by the use of the Howard Reading Room for hospital purposes. I understand that it has been used by the local branch of the British Red Cross Society for their drills, etc.

Aspley Guise: Arrangements might be made to transfer the scholars temporarily to Aspley Heath School, but this would be a very long journey for some of the scholars, particularly the younger ones, and it is probably that some of them would be found to reside outside the bye-law distance of 2½ miles from Aspley Heath School. There is however at Aspley Guise a Parish Hall capable of seating 250 persons and there are good Institute premises at Aspley Heath; possibly these might be of use as Hospitals.

Biggleswade: In view of the present demand on the school accommodation it is doubtful whether any school premises could be granted for use as a hospital without entirely disorganising attendance at school. It is suggested that the Masonic Rooms should be utilised as before for hospital purposes.

Sharnbrook: It is very difficult to make arrangements for the transfer of scholars to other suitable premises. No other schools are available. There is, however, a large room which it is believed will be quite suitable for hospital purposes.

Goldington: Cannot transfer scholars to other schools. There is a good Reading Room which might be large enough for a hospital though it is not large enough to accommodate the scholars in attendance at the school.

Melchbourne: No other school premises available for transfer of scholars. The school is very small and would accommodate but few patients.

Kempston: Arrangements might be made to place the Rural School for use as a Hospital.

It seems clear from this report that any major scheme to locate hospitals in school buildings would create serious difficulties for educational arrangements in the county.

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

Music at the Front

Drawing room interior with piano, The Lodge, Bedford 1920 [Z50/9/831a]

Saturday 6th March 1915:  Mr Thomas Brightman of 17 Park Road, Kempston has received a letter from his son George, who together with his brother Arthur is serving with the 1st Field Company of the East Anglian Royal Engineers [1]:

“Dear Dad, We have got a decent billet, and that counts for a good lot. We are in a house with shell holes through the roof, some of which have been done since we have been here, but luckily they did no damage to any of us. We all have to sleep on the ground floor, but we have got used to that. During our spare time we often have a wander round the empty houses, which are very plentiful, and in our house now we have tables and chairs, and last, but not least, a piano, which has been on the go until 9 o’clock to-night, and as most of the chaps have now gone out to work I have settled down to write these few lines. I suppose if I told some people that we had had a piano on the go and singing only about a 1,000 yards from the firing line they wouldn’t believe me, but it is true though. When our Company does come back, dad, they will be able to hold their heads up knowing they have done their bit. Last Saturday some of the Company went out to do a ticklish job, and although a shell burst wounding some, and they were under a severe rifle fire at the time, they did the job they set out to do … I wasn’t there myself, but Arthur was, and he says it was a sight he will never forget. But still we’re here in the best of health, and you can’t wish for more, can you? And we are looking forward to the time when with the best of luck we shall be back home again with you all.” [2]

Source: Bedfordshire Times

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[1] 1st Field Company of the East Anglian Royal Engineers were serving in France with 2nd Division near Béthune.

The Officers' Mess

HMS St Vincent (Wikipedia)

Wednesday 18th November 1914 (Kempston): The following letter of thanks has been received by Mr Thomas Barnard of Kempston Hoo: 

H.M.S. St.Vincent [1] 
First Battle Squadron
13th Nov 1914 

Dear Mr Barnard 

On behalf of the Gun Room Officers I wish to thank you for your great kindness and consideration in sending parcels of game. I need hardly tell you how very much we all appreciate this welcome addition to our messing which you can guess is neither so plentiful or varied as in Peace time. All the birds have arrived in splendid condition and seemed to feel perfectly well after their long and fatiguing journey.

We have struck a really bad patch of weather I am sorry to say, as cold as an ice-house and accompanied by heavy hail storms and sleet.

Things seem to be looking up a bit on the Continent – the enemy have got up against a regular brick wall in Flanders. It must be very unpleasant fighting there in rain and mud and I expect that like their forerunners our Army in Flanders “sweare terribly”!

With best thanks and all good wishes.
Sincerely yours  Leslie G [Grans?]

Source: BD1423

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[1] H.M.S. St.Vincent was a St.Vincent class dreadnought battleship commissioned in 1910 and decommissioned in 1921. From April 1914 she was flagship of the second-in-command 1st Battle Squadron Home Fleet. 

A Baker's Boy

H. Mortimer's Bakery at 104 Spring Road, Kempston, c.1900 [Z50/67/133]

Saturday 7th November 1914 (Kempston): A letter has been received by Henry Mortimer and his wife Ethel from their son Harry who is training on the East Coast with the 3rd Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment. Before the war Harry worked at his father's bakery in Spring Road, Kempston.

From 3^rd Batt. Beds Regt. No 1 Coy

Address reply to: Beach Road, Felixtowe

November 3^rd 1914

Dear Father and Mother,

The weather is lovely now, and we are again on ordinary drill. Another lot of our men were picked out for Belgium today; I was talking to Agg Perkins last night, and he tells me I am a fool to stop in this company with a lot of Reserve men, so I intend seeing the company officer as soon as I get a chance, and explain things to him. It appears my name has been confused with another chaps of the same name, so I may be able to get in the ninth with all my old chums after all. I hope so anyway. I was reading in a Bedfordshire newspaper last night, at the Picture Playhouse with my chum, that the ninth is to [be] trained at Ampthill Park. Yesterday I had a fine hot bath and a change at a barber’s shop in Felixstowe, it cost ninepence but I should have been sorry to have missed it at double the price. How is the motor-car going, I expect it will be a bit of bother at first the same as the gas-engine was, until you get used to its tricks. Well I will close now, hoping to be able to say that I am in the ninth next time I write. Good-bye. Tell Eric no fag cards yet. [1] 

Your aff. Son Harry

 Source: FAC139

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[1] Eric was Harry's five year old brother