Lacemaking Revival

  

Lacemaking class at Maulden School, 1915 

Thursday 16th December 1915: Efforts are being made to revive the traditional Bedfordshire industry of lacemaking in line with the suggestion of Mrs. W. P. Gordon. At Maulden classes are being held both in the Day Schools and the Evening School, an innovation which is appreciated not just by the girls, but also by the teachers and parents.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 17th December 1915

A Mountie from Maulden

Mountie Reginald Brown 

Saturday 30th October 1915: Before the War Corporal Reginald Brown was following an unusual career for a man from Maulden, as a member of the Royal North-West Mounted Police in Canada. When the War began he returned home to England and rejoined his former regiment, the Grenadier Guards. Earlier this year he was seriously wounded at Laventie; after a lengthy convalescence in hospital he returned to the Front. Unfortunately news has not reached Maulden that he is in hospital at Rouen, having been wounded for a second time. It is understood that he is making a good recovery from a shrapnel wound over the right eye. His younger brother, Sam, is also on active service with the Army Service Corps.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 29th October 1915

From Maulden to Maastricht

Maastricht [Wikimedia]

Sunday 13th June 1915:  We heard in January that Monsieur Joseph Schwartz, a Belgian refugee who had been the guest at Maulden of the Great Barford subscribers to the Great Barford and Maulden Refugees’ Fund, had returned to Belgium to search for his wife and and seven children. The following letter has been received by Mr. W. P. Gordon, J.P.:

“To Mr. and Mrs. Gordon. You will please pardon me for not writing sooner, but since I left Maulden I have been overburdened with grief, for I have not yet recovered my wife and children, and this is a great unhappiness for me. I thank you for the great kindness you have shown me so many times, and I wish you every happiness, and also all those who were so kind to me in Bedfordshire. Kindly give my regards to M. and Mdm. Van Huffell, and Mdm. Rombaux.[1]  Again accept my most sincere thanks and good wishes. Joseph Schwartz, refugee, Maastricht.”

M. Van Huffell has also had a letter from his brother who was fighting with the Belgian Army and is now in hospital near Calais suffering from gas poisoning.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 11th June 1915

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[1] The other refugees who had been accommodated at Maulden.

Maulden’s Belgian Refugees

Maulden Schools, 1916 [Z1306/77/17]

Monday 25th January 1915: Five Belgian refugees are living in a comfortable cottage in Maulden which has been lent and furnished with good antique furniture by Mr W. P. Gordon. They are being maintained by the people of Great Barford and Maulden, and by gifts given by other friends. The two boys have settled happily at Maulden School and are fast learning English.

Monsieur Charles Van Huffel, his wife and two boys, aged 10 and 7, come from Ghent and their friend Madame Rombaux from Bruges. Monsieur Van Huffel is the general agent at Bruges for all the French newspapers. He was in the city with his wife and Monsieur and Madame Rombaux, when they heard that the Germans were approaching Ghent. They decided to walk the 27 miles there, collect the boys and bring them to Bruges, but on the journey the Germans arrived at Bruges making it impossible for the men to rejoin their wives. They left Bruges on a crowded train for Ostend, from where they travelled first to Dunkirk, then to Calais, and from there to the refugee centre at Earls Court.

After staying at Earls Court for 17 days the men went to Dulwich and Monsieur Van Huffel managed to obtain the passports needed to return to Ghent via Holland to search for his family and Madame Rombaux. He discovered the two women had gone to Bruges where they were bravely trying to carry on his business as newsagent. On the day he found them there three young priests were shot for looking at an enemy aeroplane through binoculars, and a young man for being on the streets after curfew. They went back to Ghent on foot, collected the children from friends who were caring from them and left for England where they found Monsieur Rombaux, a soldier, had left for Belgium to attempt to rejoin the Army. After ten days at Dulwich Baths the refugees left for their new home in Maulden, which they greatly appreciate.

A sixth refugee, Monsieur Joseph Schwartz, also came to Maulden but has gone in search of his family as he has not been able to get any news of them. Monsieur Schwarz had a general stores, coal and flour business in the village of Tintigny, where he lived with his wife, their seven children, including twins just eight months old, his own parents and his wife’s parents. He belonged to the Reserve Artillery and was called up on 1st August. A few days later his home, along with almost the entire village, was burnt by the Germans. He was wounded at Aerschot and treated in an Antwerp hospital for a week before he was forced to leave when the Germans entered the city. Friends managed to get him to England three days before the Germans entered Ostend and he was treated at a Military Hospital in Folkestone. After time in Sussex, Dulwich and Maulden Monsieur Schwarz left last week to try to find his family, having been unable to get information from any of the Consuls in Holland, France, Belgium or England.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 29th January 1915