Russian Medal for a Luton Soldier

Star of Order of St. Anne [Wikimedia]

Friday 9th March 1917: Bombadier Frederick Barrett of 22 Jubilee Street, Luton, is enjoying a rest after returning home from Russia where he was awarded the Order of St. Anne for services rendered to the Russian Government. Before the war he worked for manufacturer Roland Brown in High Town Road, and was well known locally as a cricketer and footballer. He enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery on the 14th August 1914 and was drafted to France in March 1915, fighting at Neuve Chapelle, Hooge and Loos. He was wounded in the arm during the Battle of the Somme, resulting in four months in a Bristol hospital. He returned to France but was recalled to England three months later before being sent to Russia.

Source: Luton News, 8th March 1917

Luton Men in Russia

    

Petty Officers Robert Starke and Harry Sell

Tuesday 20th June 1916: Two Luton men are now in Russia as part of the “complete and fully-armed British unit” of the naval air service which has been despatched to serve with our Russian allies. On their arrival in the port of Archangel the men marched through the town and were given a great reception by the authorities of the town. Each man was presented with an ikon of Michael the Archangel, they were entertained in the Summer Garden, and the whole city was decorated with flags. At every town they passed through on their journey across Russia the British detachment was met at stations bedecked with flags by crowds of cheering locals throwing flowers, cigarettes and other gifts to the men.

On its arrival in Moscow the British detachment of sixty armoured cars destined for service with the Russian Army was greeted with great enthusiasm. As they marched through the city behind a Russian band to the English church for a short service the men were cheered by large crowds and pelted with flowers. Lunch followed at the British Club, and Commander Locker-Lampson and several others were received by the Grand Duchess Elizabeth. A number of officers attended a performance in the Moscow Art Theatre at which they were cheered for over five minutes. During a march through the town escorted by a Cossack squadron a Cossack officer dismounted and offered his horse to the British Major. The detachment has now left for the Russian front.

Before arriving in Russia Petty Officers Robert Starke and Harry Sell had spent five months in the Arctic , where their experiences must have been similar to those described in March by Petty Officer Albert Hartwell of Bedford. Petty Officer Starke joined up in November 1915 and must be finding life as a driver of an armoured car in Russia very different to his previous life as assistant to the Secretary of the Education Authority. Petty Officer Sell is the son of the Luton schools attendance officer, and also worked at the Town Hall before the war, where he was in the Town Clerk’s office.

Source: Luton News, 22nd June 1916

Bedford Aviator in Lapland

Albert Hartwell

Monday 27th March 1916: Interesting news has been received of Petty Officer Albert G. Hartwell of 14, Maitland Street, Bedford, a former pupil at Ampthill Road School. He comes from a notable local aquatic family. His father was coach of Bedford Rowing Club for more than twenty years, his brothers won many prizes, and his sisters are also expert swimmers and rowers. Albert himself was cox of the Bedford Rowing Club and winner of three cups at a single Town Regatta. After leaving school he also gained flying experience, first with Mr. James Radley of Huntingdon (formerly of Bedford), and then under the tuition of Mr. Moorhouse and Mr. England, both men well known in the flying world.

Petty Officer Hartwell volunteered in September 1914 and saw action in several of the large battles of 1915. In September last year he moved to a different theatre of war, sailing for Russia with the Armoured Car Squadron under Commander Locker-Lampson, and is now with a British Naval Air Service Squadron in Lapland. In a letter to his mother he says:

“It is very cold here, but very healthy. We have some very rare appetites in this climate; we can’t half eat. I think this will suit me down to the ground … You ought to see us pulling sleighs loaded with provisions. We are on our heads nearly as much as our feet. I am quite well, and have a lot of my old pals still with jme, so am all right. We get a fair amount of hard work, and get some fun also. We are getting a football match up again today; we play in show sometimes nearly up to our knees. You never saw such a mess-up. You need not worry about the war, as far as I am concerned. I hear the Russians are doing well. These people seem a funny lot, but we are getting on with them somehow or other. The language is a proper twister. I don’t think I shall try to learn this manner of speech. French was easy compared with it. I suppose everywhere is mud in France; well, we have not any of that here, it is too cold. A ship came in with provisions yesterday; you ought to have seen the rush on the little shops after chocolate.”

The King himself has written a message of appreciation to the Armoured Car Squadrons, and Her Highness Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein has given a specially designed waistcoat to every officer and man. The Squadrons’ Commander, Oliver Locker-Lampson has written a gracious reply. Despite his absence on active service Commander Locker-Lampson continues as Member of Parliament for the Ramsey Division in Huntingdonshire, where he was elected in 1910.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 31st March 1916

The Russians are Coming!

A Russian Hussar, 1914. Image: Wikipedia

4th September 1914, Bedford: Rumours about the Russians abound. It has been said that Lord Kitchener has an “unknown factor” up his sleeve – surely this must indicate he knows the Russian army will soon strike heavily at the Germans. Trains have been seen speeding from north to south with their blinds drawn. These are supposed to be carrying Russian soldiers who have been transported by sea from Archangel to Leith in Scotland, from where they are being sent to France and Belgium. More evidence that Russians are being sent across the Channel from England came from a marine who returned to Bedford from Belgium and told his friends they had been ordered to leave Ostend when the Russians arrived. On Tuesday news came that the Kaiser and his HQ staff had retired to Metz because an army of Russians was advancing against them from the coast. This rumour has not been confirmed but almost everyone believes it to be true.

Source: Beds Times 11/9/1914

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Note: In fact there was no truth to the rumours of Russian involvement on the Western Front in the early stages of the war. At the end of August the Germans had defeated the Russian 2nd army in the East at the Battle of Tannenberg and during the early part of September the 3rd and 8th Russian armies were advancing against the Austrians. The French requested in December 1915 that Russian troops should be sent to the Western Front in exchange for munitions and the first Russian soldiers arrived in France in April 1916.