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

Closure of Elstow School Announced

Elstow School, 1912 [Z1130/9/2/8/14]

Tuesday 7th March 1916:  An unlooked for effect of the war has come in the announcement that Elstow School is to close at the end of this term. This well known public institution has done splendid work under its headmaster Revd. C. F. Farrar, but it has been hit hard by the recent conditions. Many of its boys have always come from abroad, and the class of families from which it drew its pupils has been forced into stringent economies. Pupil numbers have fallen, expenses have increased, and it has become impossible to fill gaps in the staff.

The County School was founded in 1866 by a number of landowners and others, and a Limited Company was formed in which the Duke of Bedford took shares to the value of £10,000. The school opened on August 16th, 1869, with 70 boys, under its first headmaster Revd. William Groome. By the end of its second year numbers had risen to 330 boys. Revd. Farrar was appointed the fifth headmaster in 1893 and was an assistant master at the School for some time before. In 1898 ownership of the school passed from the Company to Revd. Farrar. During these five years the number of boys at the school had nearly doubled and a number of improvements to the premises and equipment had been made, including the installation of electric light. During his time as headmaster the name was changed to Elstow School. In 1914 it was estimated that over 4000 boys had been educated there. It will be greatly missed, especially by the boys of Bedford Modern School who enjoyed a keen sporting rivalry with the Elstonians.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 10th March 1916

Funeral Held for Samuel Whitbread

Samuel Whitbread (Wikimedia, from Vanity Fair 1895)

Thursday 30th December 1915: The funeral took place at 1pm today of Mr. Samuel Whitbread, D.L., J.P., who died at his residence at Southill Park early on Christmas morning at the age of 85. The church at Southill was filled to capacity for his funeral. Mr. Whitbread was associated with the brewery which bears the family name from 1867 and in 1889 became chairman of the company. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Bedford for forty-three years from 1852 until his retirement in 1895. Locally he served as Chairman of the Governors of the Harpur Trust and of the Bedford County Hospital, to which he was a great benefactor. He took a great part in administrative affairs in the county and was at one time an Alderman of Bedfordshire County Council. Of great importance to the county was his role as Chairman of the Biggleswade Water Board in providing an excellent water supply for Biggleswade and the surrounding parishes by sinking a well in the greensand from which supplies are piped as far afield as Kempston.  He continued to be active in local affairs until a few years ago when advanced age and deafness forced him to retire.

Samuel Whitbread maintained his estates in excellent order, building a number of model cottages, restoring the churches of Elstow and Cardington, and carefully preserving the two villages. Large numbers of his tenants have attended a memorial service for Mr. Whitbread at Elstow where the flag flew at half mast. During his career he spent over £50,000 building and improving cottages on his estate. He helped to draft the Local Government Board Act which established Parish Councils and until his death was the first and only Chairman of Southill Parish Council. Thanks to his generosity Southill possesses a splendid cricket ground. It is said that, “He was one of the kindest and most sympathetic of men, always ready to help any good cause, and to relieve any necessitous case, his right hand not knowing what his left hand did; he never, I believe, said a harsh word to any person of humble estate, and was most careful not to hurt anyone’s feelings.”

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 31st December 1915

Accident at Elstow Brickworks

Steam crane excavating clay at brickworks, 1920s [X306/78]

Saturday 27th November 1915: A tragic and shocking accident took place yesterday evening at Messrs B. and J. Forder’s Brickworks at Elstow Hardwick. Eighteen year old Thomas Clarke went on duty for the night shift at 6pm. He was helping to start the machinery and checking that it was running properly when his coat caught in the shafting. He was flung against the wall, caught in the chain wheel and suffered terrible injuries. Dr. Roberts and the police were called and he was pronounced dead at 6.30. His injuries were such that there can be no doubt his death must have been instantaneous.

William Watts of Houghton Conquest was on duty in the shaft house with Clarke. He states that they had put the belt on the fast pulley which drove the main shafting and that Clarke was aware the belt was moving. The fast and loose pulleys were outside the door of the building. The foreman says that Clarke and Watts should have gone round the outside to check the belts were working but instead they went into a tunnel to check the belts above. This tunnel was only intended to be used to oil the equipment during the day when the machinery was not running but the men had no orders not to use it. Watts stated at the inquest that both the foreman and manager had seen him going in the tunnel and had never warned him against it. A verdict of accidental death was passed and the jury gave instructions that the doorway of the tunnel should be bricked up and the shafting guarded.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 3rd December 1915

In the Event of Invasion

Church Road, Wilstead 1914 [Z1306/134/6/1]

Saturday 8th May 1915:  A meeting has been held at which plans were made for an emergency scheme covering the villages of Cople, Willington, Cardington, Eastcotts, Wilstead and Elstow, to be put into effect in the event of German invasion. In each village a deputy has been appointed to the head of the Emergency Committee, Mr John Arnold Whitworth. Each deputy is to be sworn in as a Special Constable and to take complete charge of his village, appointing four men under him to take charge of live stock, tools, transport and food stuffs. Each will be required to carry out the following duties:

Live Stock – cattle, sheep and horses not required for transport are to be driven to Wilstead, enroute for Haynes, Millbrook and Woburn Sands. The man in charge should select a staff capable of driving and also destroying and rendering unfit for human food any animals the military requires to be destroyed. Horses fit for transport should be collected at the village centre.

Tools – the man in charge will require a staff with axes, ropes, saws, picks and spades for felling trees, making roads, filling ditches, collecting and fixing barbed wire or such other duties as the military may require. He will need to work closely with the man responsible for transport; together they should load up tools and wire and take them to the nearest centre.

Transport – all transport material should be collected at the nearest centre. Where required this should be loaded with items collected by the man in charge of tools.

Food Stuffs – a staff must be found to burn and destroy any supplies which are ordered to be destroyed, or to load such supplies as may be required to be moved.

Owners of motor cars and motor cycles should be asked to bring them to the nearest County Police Station, with as much petrol as they can carry. Mr Whitchurch wishes to be advised of the number of Boy Scouts or Special Constables required in addition to the local staff, who should be used as much as possible. The village deputies have been asked to impress upon the farmers the need to brand their stock for identification purposes.

Source: Notes made by John Arnold Whitchurch [WW1/EC1/3]