Red Cross Day at Bedford

S. H. Whitbread Esq. inspecting munition workers

[Bedfordshire Standard 26th October 1917]

Saturday 20th October 1917: Today Bedford is holding a fundraising day in aid of the Red Cross Society. House-to –house collections have already been made, and are said to have gone well. The Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, Mr. S. H. Whitbread, will be visiting all the Red Cross Depots in the town, beginning with the Shire Hall Depot at 10 a.m. At the various depots he will also inspect guards of honour from the following organisations: No.3 Bedford Detachment of the Red Cross Society; the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment; the Bedford Boy Scout Troop; the Church Lads’ Brigade; the wounded from the Ampthill Road School Hospital; munition girls from the Queen’s Engineering Works; and the County Special Constabulary. The Band of the Royal Engineers will play during the morning at St. Peter’s and in the afternoon on the Embankmant. A grand concert is also to be given on Thursday 22nd November in aid of the Red Cross Day fund. The weather this morning is perfect, and a successful day is predicted.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 19th and 26th October 1917

Wedding at Bedford

Banksia Roses (Wikimedia, Creative Commons)

Wednesday 25^th April 1917: A wedding of considerable local interest took place today at St Mary’s Church, Bedford. The bride was Edith Florence Killick, youngest daughter of Caleb Killick of Bedford. The bridegroom was Captain Ernest James Howard of the Royal Flying Corps, eldest son of Mr and Mrs Howard of Essex. Miss Killick was a member of the Bedford branch of the Red Cross Society and did valuable work for the Society over a considerable period of time. She also assisted the Clerk of the Borough Tribunal ably.

The bride was given away by her father and was simply attired in a dress of ivory crepe de chine and serge, with hand embroideries in cream and silver. She carried a bouquet of pink carnations and white heather. The bridesmaid looked pretty in pink crepe de chine with a wreath of Banksia roses. The mother of the bridegroom wore a dress of black silk and carried a bouquet of Parma violets. Following the reception, the happy couple left for Bournemouth. The presents included a framed engraving from the Chairman of the Bedford Tribunal (the Mayor), a silver cream jug and sugar basin from the Town Clerk and a canteen of cutlery from the bridegroom’s fellow officers at Farnborough.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 4/5/1917

Edith Killick attended Bedford Modern School for Girls. Her wedding is recorded in the Old Girls' Association Newsletter of January 1918, held at Bedfordshire Archives (see under 'Personalia' below)

DAH9/1/7/6, Old Girls' Association Newsletter, January 1918 (Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service)

Beds Farmer's Red Cross Sale

Auctioneer at the Red Cross Sale.
Also pictured; top left, the V.C. Cockerel, bottom left, Mr. Walter Harter - the chairman of the committee, bottom right, Lady Ampthill and friend.

Saturday 25th November 1916 The second annual Bedford Farmer’s Red Cross Sale was held in the Harper Trust Elementary School Grounds. As with last year the event was rousing success, with proceeds far exceeding the £1,050 raised in 1915. With donations and sales the total came to £1,366 with more donations expected.

Lady Ampthill was invited to open the sale for the second year in a row. She stated that it was a great honour, and in her speech addressed that Bedfordshire has always been among the most impressive of counties contributing to the British Farmer’s Fund. She stressed that the people of Bedfordshire were doing their share for the glory of their sons. Those left behind must do all they can to help their men at the front.

Along with livestock and other various items, a few special items were sold. The honour of presenting Lady Ampthill with a bouquet of red and white carnations sold for £15 15s. Her ladyship then stood in a trough and proceeded to sell off the bouquet bloom by bloom, ultimately raising £84. Other items included a bottle of ale brewed at Buxton in 1902 by King Edward VII, sign posts taken from German trenches and the V.C. Cockerel. This completely tame bird has been taken to forty sales and has been sold and returned over 2,000 times, adding approximately £2,400 to war funds. The repeated sales of the Cockerel at this event raised £29 13s for the British Farmer's Red Cross Fund.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 01/09/1916

Hospital at Eaton Socon to Close

V.A.D. Recruitment Poster [Wikimedia]

Friday 25th February 1916: The County Director of the Red Cross for Bedfordshire has informed the Assistant Director of Medical Service at Bedford that the hospital at Eaton Socon which has been run as a convalescent home by the No. 8 Bedfordshire V.A.D. since November 1914 is to close at the end of next month, though it is hoped it will soon be possible to reopen it in alternative premises:

I regret to inform you that the Relief Hospital at Eaton Socon which has been financed privately will be closed on the 31st of March. The Commandant has however got the promise of two other buildings. She would however like you to inspect them on either March 1st or March 3rd. If you pass them she will have the necessary cleaning done. When the Hospital re-opens it will be necessary to obtain the 3/- grant would you please communicate direct with the Commandant, Mrs Brackenbury, Eaton Socon, St Neots, and settle which date is convenient to you.

 Source: WW1/NU4, letter dated 26 February 1916

The Men of the Voluntary Aid Detachment

Hayward-Tyler section of the V.A.D. [Luton Times]

Thursday 9th December 1915: We often hear of the ladies of the Voluntary Aid Detachments but should remember that a number of men are also doing their part. The men of the 1st section of Luton’s Red Cross are doing active work, attached for night duty to Wardown Hospital. One of the men attends the hospital every night ready to help as required. Messrs. Hayward-Tyler’s works formed this V.A.D. section some ten years ago. All the men are thoroughly experienced, with many holding merit medallions. Their training has been carried out by Arthur Dines, the first section leader appointed in Bedfordshire. Hayward-Tyler have taken a keen interest in the men’s work and they are trained to proper military standard, as they demonstrated in the ambulance operations at the Territorial recruiting demonstration held at Luton Hoo. Much credit is due both to their leader and to the men who are prepared to give up much of their leisure time to carry out this important work.

Source: Luton Times, 10th December 1915

Red Cross Work at Wardown Hospital

Wardown House, 1914 [Z1306/75/8/2]

Monday 15th November 1915: It is encouraging to hear of the sterling work being carried out by the volunteer nurses of the Luton Voluntary Aid Detachments at Wardown House Hospital. Early in the war the mansion was placed at the disposal of the military authorities. Gifts of furnishings and equipment were sent from all over Luton and in October 1914 it was opened as a clearing hospital. As such it was used to nurse any cases of sickness among the troops training in the Luton area, and was also used as a training school for men of the Royal Army Medical Corps. At its busiest as many as 90 patients at a time were in residence, in the wards, in the annexe, or even accommodated in tents outside the house. Nurses provided by the V.A.D. have provided vital services from the time the hospital opened.

New arrangements are now being made for Wardown. Last week the hospital was transferred from the military authorities to the control of the V.A.D. Committee. At the present time there are only a few patients, but preparations are being made to receive about 70 wounded men who will be transferred from Aylesbury Hospital. These will be nursed entirely by the women of Red Cross V.A.D.s 12 and 14, under the command of Mrs. J. W. Green and Mrs. R. Durler. The Voluntary Aid Detachments were founded in 1905 at a meeting presided over by Queen Alexandra, and function under the auspices of the British Red Cross. By 31st March 1915 there were 2,207 V.A.D.s in Britain, with 66,059 members.  The Red Cross ladies of Luton include two quartermasters, 44 nurses and seven cooks. These volunteers are all now leading a life very different to the one they enjoyed before the war. Three of the nurses are on “active service” in France, and the remainder have been notified that they will now be called upon for both day and night nursing duties. They will be under the direction of a matron-in-charge and assisted by two professional nurses from London.

Wardown will make a perfect setting for wounded soldiers to begin their road to recovery. The dining-room, library, billiard and drawing rooms with their panelled ceilings have been turned into wards; upstairs rooms have been allocated for use as an officers’ ward, nurses’ quarters and the quartermaster’s stores. Considerable improvements were made to the property while the North Midland Division were based in Luton and it now meets high standards of cleanliness, ventilation and sanitation

Source: Luton Times, 12th November 1915

Grovebury Red Cross Hospital

Inspection of Voluntary Aid Detachment 1915 [Z1306/12/10/1]

Friday 12th November 1915: The Red Cross Hospital which opened at Grovebury Road, Leighton Buzzard on 23rd August has temporarily closed following the departure of the Royal Field Artillery for Ripon. In the two and a half months it was in operation it treated fifty four patients. These include both cases of sickness and those hurt in riding accidents at the Artillery School in Page’s Park. For much of this time the hospital operated with only a small number of nurses from the 18th Bedfordshire Voluntary Aid Detachment.  Fortunately by kind permission of Mrs. Leopold de Rothschild they were assisted by members of the 12th Buckinghamshire Voluntary Aid Detachment, the Linslade and Wing Branch of the St. John Ambulance Association. The Leighton Buzzard Red Cross detachment has now been asked to accommodate fifty wounded soldiers. They are hoping to be able to accept at least part of this number if they can get local help.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 2nd and 16th November 1915

Major Stevens is Disheartened

George Herbert Fowler [Z50/141/65]

Tuesday 12th October 1915: Major Stevens, the Chairman of the Bedfordshire Territorial Force Association and County Director of the Voluntary Aid Detachments for the county has written to Eastern Command expressing his frustration with confusing and contradictory correspondence he has received, pointing out that “a number of letters addressed to your office on Red Cross work have never been answered, and it makes it most difficult to carry on under these conditions”. It appears that Eastern Command have confused hospitals intended for use only in the event of invasion with others which have been, or still are, in use for sick and wounded soldiers.

An example of the difficulties caused by dilatory and inconsistent War Office actions is the “hospital” at Aspley Guise. A private house was fitted up as a hospital ready for occupation by Dr Fowler [1] at considerable expense. This was offered to the War Office on 14th April. On the 18th April Eastern Command replied to say the offer could not be accepted and that they were unable to issue mobilisation orders for the Voluntary Aid Detachment. After two further letters stating that the place was ready for use and a doctor had placed himself at the hospital’s disposal Eastern Command replied that “The War Office orders are that no more V.A.D. Hospitals are to be taken”. By October Eastern Command appeared to be under the impression that the Aspley Guise hospital was in operation, however Dr Fowler’s offer of the property is no longer open. Understandably Major Stevens is now reluctant to find and staff new hospitals without an assurance that if they are got ready for use he will not subsequently be told they are not required.

Major Stevens has made repeated applications to mobilise the Sandy V.A.D., to which he has had no response; nor have his letters concering the issue of brassards and identity certificates to members of mobilised V.A.Ds. On 16th September he wrote asking permission to mobilise the Goldington V.A.D. which was working as a convalescent home, but never received a reply. The hospital has now been turned into a relief hospital attached to the Eastern General Hospital at Cambridge. He concludes “I can only end up this rather long letter by saying that the Military Authorities have given us so very little help and encouragement that many of our best members have gone to France. We still wish to help in every possible way, and if in your turn you will help us, I am sure that Red Cross work in this County can be made a success, but at present things are most disheartening.”

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

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[1] Dr George Herbert Fowler was a member of Bedfordshire County Council and the founder of the Bedfordshire Record Office (now Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Record Service, the authors of this blog)

No Strikes in France

St. John's Street, Biggleswade with church on left, c.1905 [Z1306/16/17/2]

Sunday 5th September 1915: The Reverend Edmund Gatty, a former curate at St. John’s Church, Biggleswade[1], has been out in France for three months driving his car for the Red Cross. He has described the work he has been doing and given some of his impressions of the country to the Bedfordshire Express:

“The mothers and wives and daughters with amazing ability, have assumed full charge of the men’s work in the background. You see them everywhere – working the farms and the factories, doing heavy manual labour, most of them stricken with grief and anxiety, sparing nothing, shirking nothing, to keep things goings. It is their pride to be able to send their men-folk money at the front, and gifts, for there is only nominal pay – for the men in the trenches a halfpenny a day and a totally inadequate separation allowance. There are no strikes in France, and no desire to strike. I never felt so ashamed as when Frenchmen asked me how they were possible in England. All are trying as hard as they can to do their very best possible for their beloved country.”

“Of our own work, 30 cars and 55 men carried 18,000 wounded and sick in three months. The highest number in twenty-four hours was 1,001. We carried them direct from the field ambulance stations, which are about half a mile behind the trenches, to the distributing stations about eight miles back, and thence to different hospitals. One lived in an uproar of traffic and guns, which practically never ceased, but one became entirely accustomed to it, as one did to ghastly sights and risks of infection from nearly every known disease. We were incorporated for the time in the French Army, drawing their rations and pay, and under their discipline.”

Source: Biggleswade Chronicle, 10 September 1915

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[1] The Reverend Percival Edmund Gatty (1866-1937) was the vicar of Offley (Herts) from 1900-1925. He was also known as Edmund Percival.

A New Red Cross Hospital at Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard Workhouse c.1915

Sunday 29th August 1915: Since the previous Red Cross Hospital at the Corn Exchange in Leighton Buzzard closed last December the town has not had accommodation for troops requiring treatment due to illness or accident. A new Red Cross Hospital has now been set up in the Board Room of the Workhouse in Grovebury Road and is already providing treatment for soldiers at the Artillery Training School. Like its predecessor it is under the direction of the local Voluntary Aid Detachment, with Miss Blewitt as Commandant. The Board Room is light and airy and perfectly suited as a hospital ward. Any gifts of fruit, flowers, vegetables, rabbits, jam and so on would be gratefully received, at would the loan of bed rests and bed tables.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer 31 August 1915

Bedford’s Slipper Day

 Group of nurses of the Voluntary Aid Detachment Bedford No.2, c.1914-1916 

[Z1306/12/10/3]

Saturday 31st July 1915: Today is Slipper Day in Bedford, with everyone asked to slip a penny into a collection box to raise funds which will be used to provide wounded soldiers with soft slippers. The collection has been organised by the Bedford Centre of the St. John Ambulance Association; the Centre has already sent out 6,984 pairs of slippers to hospitals in England and France. Gifts of carpet, felt and cloth remnants have been sent by firms all over England, and even from as far as Boston in the United States of America. The collection is being carried out by members of the St. John Ambulance Association and by the British Red Cross V.A.D. Materials are given out to those wishing to help by making slippers at the Harpur Street Depot every Monday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 6th August 1915

Hospital Evacuation Arrangements

Tuesday 18th May 1915: The Director of the Voluntary Aid Detachments for Bedfordshire is becoming increasingly exasperated over the demands made by Eastern Command and the Suffolk Red Cross that he make definite arrangements for the accommodation of sick and wounded soldiers from Suffolk in the event of an evacuation becoming necessary. Today he has sent the following somewhat sarcastic letter to his Suffolk counterpart:

Dear Sir With reference to your letter of May 9th. You are in a very happy position if you have been told that any suitable buildings can be taken if the existing Hospital accommodation is insufficient. I may at once point out that there is no existing hospital accommodation in this County and what we have to do is to extemporise some. Practically every suitable building is in occupation of the troops. The fact of being told that the troops may vacate these buildings is not quite good enough for me to give you any definite undertaking. The following buildings may be used and you can send your wounded there. I suppose you will be able to give us at least 48 hours notice. 

Luton: The Infirmary at the Union House, Dunstable Rd; Tennyson Road, County School; Coutts and Co’s Factory.

Biggleswade: Masonic Hall

Sandy: Sandy Town Hall

Bedford: Kempston School 

Ampthill: British School 

Clophill: The Schools

We would as far as possible have beds etc., but the accommodation would be and must be rough. We cannot fit up these buildings now in anticipation of what may happen and what if it does happen will come very suddenly. I will in due course directly I hear from the various Commandants give you approximately the numbers that can be placed in each of these buildings.
 Yours very truly,
Major F.A.D.Stevens

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]

Red Cross Cars for the Front

A Red Cross Train, France (H. Septimus Power)

(Imperial War Museum, available under IWM Non Commercial Licence)

Monday 19th April 1915: Mr. Arthur Brown, Mr. C. R. Clay and Mr Rupert Plummer left Luton today to drive three new Red Cross cars to the battlefield. The cars will be used to convey wounded soldiers to hospital trains from as near to the firing line as it is possible for them to reach. The number of Red Cross vehicles in use in France now amounts to 400 cars, 78 touring cars, 32 motor lorries, 21 motorcycles, 8 travelling kitchens and 5 travelling workshops. There are around 560 drivers, with 430 being paid and the others volunteers. The military authorities supply the Red Cross with petrol and tyre, and provide billeting for the men.

The cars taken out by our Luton men are 20 h.p. Colonial type Napiers with a specially high clearance; each car is able to carry the driver and six passengers. Including equipment and spares the outlay amounts to £700 per car. The car driven by Arthur Brown is the gift of his family, Mr. Clay bought his own car, and the car driven by Rupert Plummer was purchased by his father, Mr. Matthew Plummer. The cars remain their own property, but it is unlikely there will be much left of them to bring back. Cars in the fighting area have a short life as they are constantly driven over extensively damaged roads and within the fire zone. The three drivers are all giving their services voluntarily, and will be expected to remain with the Red Cross for at least six months. Mr. Brown volunteered for this work early in the war, and as an expert motorist has already been providing the military authorities with valuable service.

It is expected that the drivers’ work in France will be directed by the officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps. The hoods fitted to the cars enable them to be closed right in, and when necessary they will have to live and sleep in their cars. They will form part of 25 vehicle convoys which typically have three or four cars of this type for patients who are able to sit up, with the rest of the convoy made up of stretcher ambulances. 

Source: Luton News, April 22nd 1915

British Red Cross Bedfordshire Detachment No. 3

No. 3 Bedfordshire Detachment

Tuesday 9th March 1915: A report received on the No. 3 Bedfordshire Detachment of the British Red Cross gives an insight into what the work of a Red Cross Detachment entails. The Company was enrolled in August 1914 thanks to the efforts of Colonel W. M. Dawes, and under his command has held three drills or practices every week. The Company now has 56 members, with Lieutenant-Colonel H. A. F. Nailer acting as Medical Officer and Mr. F. Perkins as Pharmacist. Thanks to the hard work of its Instructor Quartermaster S. W. Adams it has achieved a high level of efficiency. The Company has three Section Leaders, each controlling a complete section of stretcher squads. It has now been suggested that these should be at the disposal of the Commandants of the Red Cross nursing stations in Bedford if needed to transport the sick and wounded between the railway and the hospitals.  

All the men have been trained in first aid work and in methods of carefully handling and conveying patients; many are also skilled in ambulance work. The Detachment still has vacancies for recruits, and it is hoped that if there are enough volunteers a fourth section can be added to the Company. Most of the members are business men who, due to age or other reasons, are not permitted to enlist in the Regular or Territorial Forces. As they are only expected to serve in the Bedford area the Company provides an opportunity for men who would like to be trained and ready as part of an organisation available for use in time of emergency, but who are unable to leave home. This is particularly interesting work, and new volunteers will be gladly welcomed.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 5th March 1915

News from Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard Railway Station c.1910 [Z50/72/174]

Sunday 27th December 1914: The Red Cross hospital at Leighton Buzzard has now been closed. Since military hospitals opened at Aylesbury and Tring demand has reduced, and the ten remaining patients have been transferred to Tring. Since opening in August the hospital has  treated about 300 cases. Although many of these were serious only two patients died. The hospital also treated many out patients.

Leighton Buzzard railway station has been extremely busy over the Christmas period. The usual heavy number of passengers at this season has been increased by the almost 200 troops billeted in the area, most of whom have been given home leave for Christmas. By Boxing Day 4,000 passes had been filled in, counterfoiled and duplicated. On Wednesday troop movements caused considerable delay and staff were forced to delay ordinary traffic in order to cope with the Christmas rush.

Source: Luton News 31st December 1914

A Red Cross Hospital for Luton

 A float by the Davis Gas Stove Co. Ltd., Diamond Foundry, taking part in the Luton Peace Day parade on 19th July 1919 [Z1306/75/19/19]

Tuesday 17th November 1914: A meeting took place in the Council Chamber  yesterday evening to consider the possibility of establishing a hospital for wounded soldiers in Luton. Dr Lloyd proposed the scheme, emphasising that in choosing a building considerations of cleanliness were most important. At the beginning of the war Mr H. N. Davis had offered the Davis Institute to the Red Cross Society and the men at the company’s works were ready to forego their club facilities if it was needed for a hospital.[1] Lady Wernher had generously offered to bear the expense of equipping the building.

Dr Lloyd estimated that the cost of the upkeep for a hospital with twenty beds, including a staff of two trained sisters and a ward maid, would be £25 per week. The town was fortunate to have two detachments of Red Cross nurses who had passed their examinations in first aid and home nursing, and who had been able to acquire experience at the Bute Hospital and at the Territorial Hospital at Wardown. As a result they would be well able to provide voluntary help for the hospital. To guarantee the hospital could run for a minimum period of six months would therefore cost £650, a figure which would reduce to £300 once grants from the Red Cross and the War Office were taken into account.

There was some argument for a larger institution, but it was felt that this would not enjoy such favourable conditions as the scheme proposed. Once £50 that Lady Wernher had previously donated to the local Red Cross Society was deducted from the cost, the town would have to find only £10 a week for upkeep. The meeting agreed that steps should be taken to establish the proposed hospital and that it would guarantee the funds needed to run it for six months.[2]

Source: Luton News 19th November 1914 and 17th December 1914

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[1] H. N. Davis appears to be Harold Newsom Davis of the Davis Gas Stove Company Ltd, owner of the Diamond Foundry in Dallow Road, Luton.  

[2] In December 1914 the War Office decided no further hospital accommodation was required in Luton for the time being.

The Red Cross at Work

Crofton Rooms, St Cuthbert’s Street, Bedford

Friday 13th November 1914: A report has been received on the work of the Red Cross in Bedfordshire since the outbreak of the war. Five of the Voluntary Aid Detachments operating under the Red Cross in the county have been called up and are working as follows:

• No.2 VAD has started six dressing stations in Bedford and the surrounding area
• No.4 VAD is working at the military hospital in Kempston. The hospital has 50 beds and 134 men have so far been admitted, with an average stay of three weeks.
• Twenty members of No.6 VAD have been working with the Highland Division in Bedford since 22nd August, and since 31st August has also been working at the Field Hospital. This has 36 beds and over 100 soldiers are treated each week.
• No.18 VAD equipped a temporary hospital for troops in Leighton Buzzard on 15th August.
• Another Detachment has been working at the Masonic Hall, Biggleswade, where 27 in-patients and 531 surgery cases have been treated.

The Red Cross depot at Crofton House, Bedford, has received 1,726 garments since the start of the war. Day shirts and socks were sent to the British Territorials, and pillow cases, nightshirts, nightingales and sleeping suits have been sent to local Territorial hospitals. Any surplus has been sent to the Red Cross stores department in London.

Major Carpenter, honorary secretary of the Bedfordshire Branch has passed on a request from the Committee in London for items to replenish hospitals in France and elsewhere. Especially needed are: slippers, vests, woollen caps, woollen pants, warm mufflers, dressing gowns, thick woollen blankets, absobent cotton wool, gauze and bandages. These can be handed in at the Crofton Rooms in Bedford from where they will be sent to the Red Cross Depot in Pall Mall.

Source: Ampthill and District News 14 November 1914

Wounded Soldiers at Bedford Station

 Group of nurses of the Voluntary Aid Detachment Bedford No.2, c.1914-1916 [Z1306/12/10/3]#

Thursday 1st October 1914: A train carrying soldiers wounded during the Battle of the Aisne has just passed through Bedford. It stopped at the Midland Railway station for half an hour, during which time nurses from the Bedford and Ampthill Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments supplied them with refreshments. One of the men in particular was lucky to be alive – a bullet had passed through a button on his tunic, through the top of his trousers, and out through the bottom of his tunic. The soldiers were all in good spirits and anxious to recover quickly so they could return to the front.

Source: Beds Times 9/10/1914