News from the Villages

Statue of George I by Carl Rangenier, Hanover [Wikimedia]

Sunday 4th April 1915:

Barton-le-Clay

A Barton mother remembers using the now rather outdated phrase “go to Hanover with you” to her children when irritated by them. Ironically her words have come true as one of her sons is now a prisoner of war at Hanover. The saying is a hangover from the time of the early King Georges, who preferred their original kingdom of Hanover to their newly acquired British realms and would return there at any opportunity. The contemptuous English view of this habit was reflected in the use of the term “go to Hanover” as an expression of annoyance.

Gravenhurst

Mr and Mrs Charles Fisher of Gravenhurst now have four sons serving in the Forces: John, Albert, Robert and Herbert. There is considerable sympathy for Mr and Mrs George Redman who have been notified by the War Office that their son Walter is missing. There is great hope that he is still alive and will turn up, maybe as a prisoner in Germany.[1]

Flitton and Greenfield

The Flitton Roll of Honour now includes seven men:

• Lance Corporal Herbert Thompson, H Company, Beds Regiment
• Wilfrid Summerfield, Duke of Bedford’s Camp (Ampthill)
• David Weston, 5th Battalion, Beds Regiment
• Ernest C. Odell, National Reserve, re-enlisted (10 years Indian Service)
• Arthur J. Hyde, Duke of Bedford’s Camp
• Henry G. Jones, Royal Field Artillery
• George Northwood, National Reserve, re-enlisted

Silsoe

A concert is to be given at Silsoe Church on the evening of Friday 9th April by a group of ladies and gentlemen from Bedford to raise funds for the relief of the Belgians.

Source: Monthly Magazine for the parishes of Barton-le-Cley, Clophill, Flitton and Greenfield, Gravenhurst, Silsoe, Westoning, April 1915 [P21/30/17]

---

[1] Sadly this hope was misplaced. Private Walter Redman of the 2nd Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment had been killed in action on February 14th and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. None of the Fisher brothers appear on the Gravenhurst war memorial so it may be that they all survived the war.