Order for the Ploughing Up of Grassland

Walkers Farm, Billington c.1920s [Z1432/2]

Thursday 17th May 1917: Food shortages caused by German submarine blockades have made it urgently necessary for British farmers to produce more corn for bread production. Farmers across the county have been told by the Bedfordshire War Agricultural Committee that three million acres of grass land will need to be broken up and sown with corn for the 1918 harvest, of which 30,000 acres must come from Bedfordshire. A further 47,000 acres will be needed from Buckinghamshire. A survey is to be carried out to divide the land into three categories: land to be broken up immediately; land to be broken up shortly; and land which may be broken up at a later date. It was necessary to keep up the milk supply, but the numbers of other cattle must be reduced as grazing land is now required for corn production. Targets have been given to each Petty Session division: Leighton Buzzard is to plough up 1,000 acres, Linslade 4,250 acres, Woburn 3,250 acres and Ampthill 4,375 acres.

The biggest question is where the men and machinery are to be found to take on this work. Over the country as a whole it has been suggested that 250,000 men will be required. With the Army still requiring more recruits it is hard to see where this labour can be found. The plan has been roundly condemned by the Bedford Branch of the Farmers’ Union which passed the following resolution unanimously: “That this meeting considers that the suggestion in regard to the ploughing up of three million acres of land in the country, and 30,000 to 35,000 acres in this county, is not a business proposition or a practical possibility, and will not tend to increase the food production. The meeting, however, pledges itself to produce all the food possible.”

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 8th, 15th and 22nd May 1917.

Join the Army? I'd Rather Crack Stones!

Men's Ward, Biggleswade Workhouse c.1910-20 [Z1306/16/14/11/3]

Thursday 13th April 1916: At today’s meeting of the Ampthill Board of Guardians it was suggested that if there were any men in the Ampthill Workhouse who were capable of earning their own living, they should be sent out to work to help the labour shortage. Unfortunately the Master reported that there was only one able-bodied man among the residents, and he had been ill, and was leaving next week. Instructions had been received from the Local Government Board for dealing with vagrants of military age. The workhouse officials were to inform the police and the recruiting officer if any such men applied for admission to the tramp wards. The Master mentioned that a tramp aged about 30 had recently had to be locked up for refusing his task. When asked why he was not in the Army, he had replied that he did not intend to be a soldier and would rather crack stones, but was “not very anxious for that”.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 18th April 1916

Ampthill Training Camp

Training camp at Ampthill Park [Z1306/1/34/3]

Tuesday 4th April 1916: There has been a case of measles at the Ampthill Training Camp, as a result of which passes for weekend leave were not given. On Thursday the soldiers at the camp enjoyed an excellent concert given by a party from Bedford. Performers included: Tom Swan, a clever comedian who was wounded in France; Signor Bellizzi, a veteran of 21 years in the British Navy and a talented singer; elocutionist Private Densley; and Mrs Hawkins Pearey as accompanist. There has been work as well as play, with the trainees taking part on several route marches, including one on Saturday through the villages of Maulden, Flitton and Flitwick. On the same day the draft ready for the Front was inspected by the Duke of Bedford in his role as Colonel.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 4th April 1916

Salvationist in Court for Lighting Offence

Salvation Army group at Ampthill, 1906 [Z1306/1/35/1]

Saturday 18th March 1916: A Salvation Army officer from Cheddington has appeared in court and pleaded guilty to allowing lights to shine from the windows of the Salvation Army Barracks at Eaton Bray on 4th March. Police Constable Storr noticed a bright light at 9.25 p.m., entered the building and found three lamps alight. Wesley Kitto expressed his regret at the offence, explaining that there had been boards against the windows, but that evening one had been removed to make an improvised table for a tea party. He was fined 10 shillings and 6 pence, including costs.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 21st March 1916

More Conscientious Objectors

Christadelphian Lecture Hall, St. Loyes St, Bedford c.1910

[Z1306/10/56/1]

Thursday 16th March 1916: The tribunals which sat this week at both Bedford and Ampthill heard a number of applications from conscientious objectors.

At Ampthill a provision merchant claimed exemption on dual grounds, both as a conscientious objector and as the sole support of his parents. He also had a sister, who was due to be married at Easter, who looked after the business while he was out getting orders and carried on the drapery department. He also had a lad to help him. His conscience had troubled him from boyhood and he did not think killing was right, though he would be willing to go with the ambulance. He was a Wesleyan, not a Quaker. Another man applied for total objection as a believer in the sacredness of human life and the brotherhood of man. He would not send men abroad and would not have a Navy; he did not think men ought to go and fight. Both these applications were refused, as was that of another man who stated that if he had the option of killing or being killed he would be killed, and that if he had to go into the trenches he would rather go without a rifle than with one.

At Bedford a Christadelphian applied on grounds of conscientious objection. This man was an engineer engaged in shell manufacture. Although he would rather “suffer the extreme penalty” that affirm or swear to support any institution in the taking of human life, he was compelled to make whatever his employer undertook to manufacture. He was granted conditional exemption so long as he continued to be employed in munitions work. A 19 year old student at the Royal College of Science said he objected to taking part in the war, but recognised that he must make a concession and so would be willing to take part in work such as mine-sweeping which was destroying instruments of war. He stated “I cannot see any point in the war. It seems to me pure destruction for no end. I do not believe the ownership of land is of sufficient importance”. He believed that at this time the nation was wrong to take up arms and he could not imagine a war in which it would be legitimate to take part. His application was refused. Another applicant who objected on similar grounds was passed for non-combatant service after stating he was willing to work in the Army Service Corps but not to swear an oath.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 17th March 1916

Ampthill Rural Tribunal

Sheep at Biscot Mill 1915 [Z1306/75/11/1]

Monday 13th March 1916: The first Ampthill Rural Tribunal sat today and heard fifty applications for exemption from military service. Six of these were from conscientious objectors. The others came from a variety of occupations, although being a rural area the majority related to farm employees.

• A doctor applied for his chauffeur, stating he was absolutely necessary if he was to continue his practice as Medical Officer of Health for 31 parishes. He himself was unable to drive due to his eyesight and the lighting restrictions. Despite advertising in several papers he could not find a replacement. Again, a temporary exemption was granted until June 13th.
• A railway labourer applied to be exempted on the ground of domestic hardship as he supported his widowed mother. He was refused as there was insufficient evidence of hardship.
• A grocer and tax-collector applied for both his son and a labourer. The son managed the business and helped with the collecting. He had two other married sons, one working on munitions and one in the Post Office, a daughter who was not capable of working, and his wife was an invalid. The labourer was his only employee and could not be substituted; he delivered goods and worked on 4 acres of land. This man at attested but had been passed for home service only. Although the father stated he would have to give up the business without his son’s help the application on the son’s behalf was refused, but the labourer was conditionally exempted while in his current employment.
• A farmer of 310 acres applied on behalf of one of his seven sons, who was his horsekeeper and engineer. Two of the other sons had attested but none were actually serviing; an appeal to a higher court for another son had already been refused. The farmer was asked if he was not ashamed to appeal for this young man when he had all those other sons, but said he was not as he could not manage without him. The application was refused.
• A shepherd on a 436 acre farm was needed because the farm had 105 in-lamb ewes and he also helped with milking, building and thatching ricks. Other men had already left the farm to join the army. The shepherd was granted a conditional exemption.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 17th March 1916

Death of Antarctic Explorer's Father

Frank Wild [Wikimedia]

Friday 20th August 1915: The funeral has been held today at Eversholt Church of Mr. Benjamin Wild, father of the well-known Antarctic explorer Frank Wild. Mr. Wild served as the village schoolmaster at Eversholt for 23 years. He was a great enthusiast for amateur theatricals and together with his large family of eight sons and three daughters the schoolchildren were trained to take part in many social entertainments. Mr. Wild also served as Clerk to the Eversholt Parochial Charity for many years. He retired from his post as schoolmaster several years ago due to ill health and moved to Flitwick before taking over a newsagent’s business at the Clockhouse at Ampthill. On his retirement from the school every pupil was given an illuminated card inscribed with a Biblical quotation from Proverbs.

After Mrs. Wild’s death five years ago Mr. Wild retired for a second time and went to live with a married daughter at Wood Green. His son Frank has visited the Antarctic three times and is now there as part of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic expedition. A second son, Eustace Wild, went out to South Africa with the Army Service Corps and died there of enteric fever. Three other sons – Laurance, Percy, and Stanley - are serving in the Forces. All three attended the funeral along with a fourth brother and their three sisters. Laurance Wild wore a sling on a wounded arm; his brother Stanley has also been wounded. 

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 27th August 1915

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[1] Wild was second-in-command on Shackleton's epic Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1916. At the time of Wild's father's death in August 1915 the party's ship Endurance was trapped in pack ice. It subsequently sank, stranding the explorers. The group reached remote Elephant Island in April 1916 where Wild was left in charge while Shackleton and a handful of men sailed to South Georgia to raise the alarm. Wild and his men were finally rescued on 30 August 1916. 

Hospital Arrangements

Men with recruiting poster outside Sandy Town Hall, c.1916 [Z50/142/478]

Tuesday 30th March 1915: The County Director for the Bedfordshire Voluntary Aid Detachments has written to Eastern Command explaining that a number of hospitals which were said in September 1914 to be available for casualties from overseas can no longer be used for that purpose. The list and the reasons for the withdrawal of these buildings from the list are as follows:

Cardington Parish Room: A present occupied as billets for the Irish Horse.

Eaton Socon Hospital: At present filled up with convalescents from Cambridge.

Grafton Rooms, Bedford: At present used as an Officers’ Mess for one of the Battalions stationed in this town.

Kent House, Bedford: Not available now.

Biggleswade Hospital: This hospital has done excellent work for six months; but work had to cease as the masons required the buildings for their dinners. The A.D.M.S. (Colonel Murray) states that another V.A.D. Hospital is not necessary.

Ampthill Hospital: This V.A.D. has formed a hospital for the troops stationed in Ampthill Park.

Dunstable Hospital: This hospital is full of sick from the neighbouring troops.

Wardown House, Luton: This hospital has troops from the neighbourhood.

Town Hall, Sandy: This building is occupied as billets by the National Reserve.

Corn Exchange, Leighton Buzzard: This building has been used as a hospital, but is now being used as a Government factory.

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

The Wheeler Brothers of Ampthill

Stonhill, Billington Road, Leighton Buzzard 1949 [BML10/42/254]

Tuesday 9th February 1915: More news has been received from Lance-Corporal DickWheeler of Ampthill.  He has written describing conditions at the Front to his aunt, Miss Mary Meacham, the lady’s maid of Miss Mary Ann Bassett of Stonhill House, Leighton Buzzard: [1]

“I have left my regiment and am working at my trade again for the Royal Engineers.[2]  It is quite a change for me after what I have been doing for the last five months. We are having snow as a change from rain, but it is quite as bad as rain in the trenches. But it cannot be helped, and it’s no worse for us than it is for the Germans and others engaged in the war. I see by the papers that the Germans are running short of money. I only wish they would run short of ammunition; I don’t think it will last out at the rate I have seen them using it. They have got to supply a greater number than we have; and we use enough each day. I really begin to think that the Germans are beaten. They are only driven on us by their own officers after they have had a good drink of the wine that they never pay for. They are stealing all the brass and copper from the poor Belgians for making new shells. A lot of their shells have come flying over us at different places, but they rarely burst; they go straight into the ground. I am now so near our artillery that I can hear them all day and night. I hope they are doing good work. We have got all the flying machines near the timber yard where I am working, and they are scouting all day”.

He also thanks his aunt for some knitted items she had sent him:

“The last parcel came in the hour of need; I was working out of doors and was very cold and rather hungry. I don’t know how I should have got on had it not been for the kindness I have received from all at Leighton. I shall never know how to repay you. The scarf and the cap comforter I always wear these cold nights. We have plenty of work to do I am pleased to say, and I think we shall be here a long time. The Germans come flying over us most days, and we generally expect a bomb to drop. All night the heavy artillery are firing, and the roar of the guns keeps us awake. I shall be very thankful when it is all over, though I am really in a safe place unless the Germans break through.”

Miss Meacham has also heard from Dick’s brother John Charles Wheeler (Jack), who is at the front serving with the 2nd Bedfords. Jack tells her that some of the men who were wounded on the same day as Captain Bassett have returned to the trenches. [3] The weather has turned frosty which makes it much drier in the trenches although there is still about two feet of water in some places. The country is very flat and clayey and wherever they walk great lumps of clay stick to their boots. Of the Ampthill men who went out with him only three are left. [4]

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 9th February 1915

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[1]  Mary Meacham, the sister of the Wheeler brothers’ mother Rosa, appears as lady’s maid to Mary Ann Bassett in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses. More information about Miss Bassett (after whom the current Mary Bassett Lower School was named) and her house Stonhill in Billington Road can be found in the community archives section of the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives website.

[2] His service papers show that before joining the army in 1908 he was employed as a carpenter.

[3] Captain Francis Marshall Bassett, nephew of Mary Ann, was seriously wounded on 18th October taking part in an advance by the 2nd Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment on the Menin Road near Ypres. [Source: X550/3/WD/1410]

[4] Jack’s service record shows that he joined the army in 1908 and before the First World War had served in Gibraltar, Bermuda, Sudan and South Africa. His character reference describes him as “sober, honest, willing, trustworthy, clean and smart in appearance”. He suffered gunshot wounds to the neck and leg in November 1916, but like his brother Dick he survived the War. 

Steppingley Isolation Hospital

Steppingley Isolation Hospital c.1909

Saturday 23rd January 1915: The Hospital Committee of Ampthill Rural District Council has reported on the question of admitting fever cases from Ampthill training camp to the Isolation Hospital. It has recommended that the Clerk of the Council should write to Colonel Murray stating that the Council would be prepared to accept scarlet fever cases from the camp at a charge of £2 2s per week per patient. This would be subject to there being room at the Hospital, and with Dr Garner having sole control over the number of cases to be admitted. Colonel Murray has assured the Committee that the military authorities would be willing to pay liberally for this service. There are currently eight patients in the Isolation Hospital suffering from scarlet fever and while there are no cases at the camp at present it is realised that this is a possibility and the Council wishes to assist the War Office in any way it can. However, the offer would not be open to any other troops quartered in the Council’s District. In view of this the Medical Officer asked what would happen in the case of a man from Marston Moretaine who enlisted and was billeted at Haynes. Would he then be eligible for the Hospital? The Chairman of the Council agreed that he would, but said that the Council would not be obliged to accept any other soldiers whose homes were outside the District.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 26th January 1915

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Note: In February 1915 a soldier was admitted from the training camp suffering from typhoid or cerebro-spinal fever and the Hospital Committee agreed to recommend admission of diphtheria and typhoid fever cases on the same basis as that agreed for scarlet fever. Source: Minutes of Steppingley Isolation Hospital Committee, 18th February 1915 [RDAM2/3]

Bombing of the East Coast

Image: Enlistment poster [Wikipedia] 

Thursday 17th December 1914: Mr R. W. Whittington has written from Scarborough to his parents at Ampthill describing the terrible events that took place there yesterday morning, when the town was bombarded by German ships:

“At 8 o’clock this morning I was in bed and I heard an awful noise out at sea. I thought it was a naval battle, but soon found that Scarboro’ was being bombarded. I dressed as quickly as possible and went outside to find the streets crowded with half-dressed people. We were shelled for about half an hour and houses all round us have been blown down, so I think we are very lucky to have escaped. The way some of the poor people were blown to pieces made me creep. You remember the “Grand Hotel”? Three shells went right through it, into a house at the back. Our manager’s wife was ill in bed at the time, but he managed to get a motor car and got her moved and it cost him £10. I have a piece of shell which I picked up, and I hope to bring it home at Christmas to show it to you. A large shell that killed a woman in her shop passed right over our house, and the butcher two doors off got one in the back of his house, so we were right in the think of it. Only we up here know what that half-hour was like; it was a terrible affair and I shall never forget it as long as ever I live.”

Source: Bedfordshire Times 25th December 1914

It May Not Be Over By Christmas

Dunstable Street, Ampthill [Z1306/1/9/5]

(Dick Wheeler lived in Dunstable St both as a child and after his marriage)

Friday 20th November 1914:  Lance-Corporal Dick Wheeler of the 1st Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment has written again to his family in Ampthill describing conditions at the Front:

“It’s nothing but terrible. Wet, cold, and up to your neck in mud. Now we are getting a change, and that is snow. We have been in the trenches 22 days now. As we finished one big battle we were supposed to get a rest, but the Germans were pressing our lines so we had to march 14 miles and get into some more trenches, where our 2nd Battalion had been in for 22 days. They came out, and we went in. I saw a lot of my chums. We don’t know where we shall spend our Christmas. It may be over and it may not. … To look at us now you would hardly know us. We are afraid to walk 10 yards expecting a shell to burst into us every minute. When the rifle fire begins it’s terrible.”

Source:Ampthill and District News 12th December 1914

“Home from Home” at Ampthill

The Camp, Ampthill Park c.1914 [Z1306/1/34/2]

Thursday 19th November 1914, Ampthill: The first soldiers have now arrived at the Bedfordshire Training Depot set up by the Duke of Bedford at Ampthill. Herbert Bennett of Biggleswade, who signed up with the Bedfordshire Regiment last week and was among the first soldiers to arrive there, has given us some more detail about the camp.[1] He says that there were about eighty men in the first draft to arrive from Kempston Barracks. Of the six huts so far completed one is being used as the Sergeants Mess, the sergeants being mostly former police officers or ex-Army along with Regimental Sergeant Major Roper Bass. He reports that the facilities are much better than those at Kempston Barracks, with new spring single beds with mattresses and blankets in the huts, and with food that promises to be good. If it continues as it has begun it will be quite a “home from home”. The trainees are to go to the woods to learn trench digging and have been told that the Duke himself will be coming to take Company drill twice a week.

Source: Memoir of H (Bert) Bennett [AU41/3/4]

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[1] Herbert (“Bert”) Bennett remained at Ampthill until he was sent overseas on 9th June 1915. His service papers show that he served in France until October 1916, was posted home until March 1918, then saw out the war back in France. 

News from the Front

Image: Dick Wheeler, back left, with his parents, brothers and sister [X291/77/311]

Tuesday 3rd November 1914: Mr and Mrs Wheeler of Ampthill have received a letter home from their son Dick, who is serving as a private with the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment. He complains that it is “jolly rough and cold out here at nights” but they have had plenty of socks and shirts sent out to them. He had received from a “kind English lady” a new guernsey sweater and a woollen cap comforter which covers his face and neck. The people of Enniskillen in Ireland had held a collection to provide cigarettes and tobacco for the battalion, raising £30 so they have plenty to smoke. He had also received a letter and some cigarettes from a young Irish lady who had seen him smoke a pipe and wondered if he had enough tobacco.[1] Len Aspin of Ampthill had sent him three ounces of tobacco and two packets of Players.[2] 

Private Wheeler says that the armies are now all mixed up, with the British fighting alongside the French and the Indians. They have to walk long distances at night to find supplies as the roads are too full of shell holes to get anything over them and there are many dead bodies lying around, both Germans and others. They took a lot of Germans prisoner the other night and he believes they want the war to be over even more than the British do. He finishes by saying “don’t trouble to send me anything out, because we get plenty of everything at present, except drinks – and we don’t want any out on this job”.[3]

Source: Ampthill and District News, 14 November 1914; British Army World War I Service Record; Edinburgh Gazette 15 March 1920

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[1] The 1st Bedfordshires had been serving in Ireland in 1914 and at the outbreak of the war were based in Mullingar, Ireland. 

[2] Leonard Aspin was the landlord of the Old George in Woburn Street, Ampthill in 1911, and by 1916 was the landlord of the Crown and Sceptre.

[3] Richard Henry Wheeler had enlisted in 1908 aged 18. He served overseas for the duration of the war, from 14th August 1914 to 5th February 1919, earning the Distinguished Conduct Medal. The citation published in the Edinburgh Gazette of 15 March 1920 reads: “9284 Sjt. R .Wheeler, 1st Bn., Bedf. R. (Ampthill). He has served with the Battalion through the War. He has taken every opportunity in volunteering for and carrying out tasks under fire. On one occasion in Italy he personally constructed a raft, crossed the River Piave at night under heavy enemy machine-gun fire and successfully laid a cable for use in subsequent operations.” His service record also records that he was mentioned in dispatches.