Elstow Tractor Discovered in Palestine

Bedfordshire Regiment men with Saunderson tractor

Monday 20th May 1918: A group of Bedfordshire Regiment soldiers serving in Palestine found a surprising link with home in a village recently captured from the Turks. Corporals Fred Kendall of Wilstead and R. E. Shadrake of Bedford, Private Edward Doughty and some other Bedford boys, found a Model V Saunderson tractor on a farm in the village. Corporal Shadrake wrote to Mr. Saunderson and enclosed a photograph of the machine:

“A few weeks ago we took a village from the Turks, which was found to be a German Colony, called Wilhelma. One of the first things we saw was a ‘Saunderson’ Tractor made at Elstow Works. I thought it would interest you to know that a few Bedford boys have had memories of her native place brought before them by the sight of this tractor so many miles from home.”

It appears that Corporal Kendall had helped to make the machine, and the mark of Private Doughty’s father was on the spokes of the wheel. Private Doughty writes that the tractor, which was sent out to Palestine eighteen months before the War, was in fairly good order except that the cylinders had been removed.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 24th May 1918

Fruitless Enquiries

Private Arthur Emmerton 

Wednesday 29th December 1915: The family of missing soldier Percy Gambriel are continuing to make enquiries in their efforts to trace him but this are still proving fruitless. They have contacted the British Red Cross, the Bureau Zuricois pour la Recherche des Disparus at Zurich, and now the Prisoners of War Help Committee in the hope that he may be a prisoner of war. Unfortunately from their reply it seems unlikely that this is the case: “The Committee beg to say that they regret they are not at present in possession of any information in regard to the person about whom you enquire, as being a prisoner of war, but should any news be received, it will immediately be communicated to you”.

For another family the news of their missing son is grim. Private Arthur Emmerton of the 2nd Bedfords, aged 23, was last heard from by his parents on 23rd October 1914. It was thought that during the hard fighting which took place at that time he was separated from his comrades and taken prisoner. However, nothing was heard of him and on November 11th 1914 he was officially reported missing. Mr and Mrs Emmerton of Bedford Road, Kempston, have continued to make enquiries to no news of their eldest son has been received. The War Office have no written to them stating that “the Army Council have been regretfully constrained to conclude that Private Arthur Emmerton, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment, is dead”.

Source: Z1270/7-9; Bedfordshire Standard, 10th December 1915

Missing Soldiers

 
Corporal James Richard Ellison

Thursday 4th November 1915: The family of Wilstead soldier Percy Gambriel have not heard from him since the letter he wrote to his mother on 23rd/24th September and have now received worrying news. A report from the War Office stating that he had been wounded in action on 25th September has now been followed by a notice that he was posted as “missing” after the engagement which took place on that date. In response to their enquiries an adjutant of the 2nd Bedfords writes:

“The following is all I can find out about Private P.W. Gambriel. He was wounded in the foot, as soon as the Company came under fire, in the advance against the German Gun Trench on 25th September. He took off his boot, but the wound was very slight and he came on again – this I got from Private Stevens. He was then wounded in the head, again slightly – he was able to speak, and said he could get back easily. Soon afterwards he was badly hit in the arm, and was bound up and sent back to Ambulance by Sergeant Curtis, being then able to walk. No one in the Company has since heard of or from him. I sincerely hope he is getting on all right in hospital, as he fought so splendidly. Very likely he cannot write home because of his arm.”

Mr. J. Ellison of Bunyan Road, Kempston is also appealing for news of his son Corporal James Richard Ellison of the 1st/5th Bedfords who was reported as “missing, believed killed” by the War Office on September 8th. He was a member of the 5th Bedfords when they were mobilised in August 1914 and went out with the Battalion to Gallipoli on 26th July. It is hoped that his comrades in the trenches may be able to provide some information.

Source: Z1270/1/3-4; Z1270/2/21-22; Bedfordshire Standard, 5th November 1915

Letter from a Wilstead Soldier

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

Friday 1st October 1915: Percy Gambriel, who is serving in France with the 2nd Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment, has recovered from a wound and is back in the trenches. Writing to his mother on 23rd and 24th September he said:

[Thursday] “I could not write before because we have been in the trenches nearly all the time since I came out of hospital … I am pleased to tell you I am going on as well as you may expect hoping you and all at home are quite well. I received the contents of the parcels quite safe … it took it 10 days to come as it went down to the hospital. Now we are hoping to get relieved very shortly. … I would like for you to be here now and see our aeroplanes flying over the German lines, and they’re not half banging away at them. I can tell you we are having it a bit stiff at present. This morning 5 of us had to go down to a village on ammunition carry and they shelled us like Hell but not one of us happened to get hit, but I thought my number was up as the shells were dropping around us like hailstones. … I would like for you to see us now, just 7 days since I had a wash and shave. You would have a job to see us for dirt. I look like someone about 50 but I am like old Frank said rough and ready. I was sorry to hear about Charlie’s brother but I suppose he’s alright for Blighty. Here sits my mate ticking out. We have a tick out everyday. I put the clean shirt on that you sent but that was soon as bad. I think I will cage a few for when I come home. They are some decent chums.”

[Friday] “I am pleased to say we got relieved last night, and it was a rough night too … The last three hours it poured with rain. It ran down the trenches just the same as it does the brooks in Wilstead when there has been a heavy rain, about a foot deep in places but it was fine as soon as we got out and we had a very long march to the billets, just about done up when we got to them. Now I suppose we are having a day or two’s rest. … I shall be glad when the d--- war is over but that won’t be yet … we must cheer up and look on the best side.”

Source: Correspondence relating to Percy William Gambriel Z1270/2

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]

Dead or Alive?

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

Tuesday 29th September 1914, Wilstead: A letter received from a French Hospital indicates that the notification of the death of Private Timothy Cambers sent to his young, pregnant wife at Wilstead was premature. There is no addressee so it is not known when Mrs Cambers heard that her husband was still alive. It is to be hoped that she received this letter soon after it was sent and did not have to wait for it to filter through the War Office machine. 

St Quentin the 26th of September 1914
 This is to certify that private Timothy Cambers No.8213 of the Bedfordshire Regiment company C has been in treatment in our hospital from the 27th of August 1914 on to the 26th of September owing to injuries sustained on the battlefield.
 From: Union des Femmes de France
           Hopital Auxiliaire
          15 Salle Vauban – St.Quentin

 Source: X550/2/59

Private Timothy Cambers

Army Form D.436 [X550/2/56]

Thursday 17th September 1914 (Wilstead): Mrs Cambers of Littleworth, Wilstead has received the following letter notifying her of the death of her husband Timothy [1]:

Infantry Record Office
9 District
Warley Essex Station
16th September 1914
 Sir,
 It is my painful duty to inform you that a report has this day been received from the War Office notifying the death of (No.) …8213… (Rank) …Pte… (Name) …T. Cambers… (Regiment) …1st Bn Bedford Regt… which occurred in …France… on the …(not stated)…, and I am to express to you the sympathy and regret of the Army Council at your loss. The cause of death was …Killed in action… .
 Any application you may wish to make regarding the late soldier’s effects should be addressed to “The Secretary, War Office, Whitehall, London, S.W.,” and marked on the outside, “Deceased Soldiers’ Effects.”
 I am, Madam
Your obedient Servant,
G FitzGerald, Captain
For Officer in charge of Records
9 District

Source: Army Form B 104-82 [X550/2/57]

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[1] Timothy Cambers was born at Cardington and joined the 1st Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment in February 1905 when his age was given as 18 years and one month. In fact his birth was registered in 1889, suggesting he had lied about his age to join up. He was transferred to the Army Reserve on 14 July 1911. His conduct and character had been exemplary and he was described as “a thoroughly steady and reliable man”. Most of his army service had been spent in the UK, apart from two years in India from 1907-1908. His service record shows that he was mobilised as part of the reserve on 5 August 1914 and arrived in France on 14 August. He had married Lillian A Dixon from Willington, Kent at Woolwich in 1910 and by 1914 they had two children, William (born 1911) and Rose (born 1913). The birth of a third child, Lilian, was registered at Dartford, Kent in the spring of 1915, so Private Cambers’ wife must have been in the early stages of pregnancy when she received this letter. [X550/2/56 and online sources]