Six Weeks as a Farm Labourer

Farm labourers at Prebendal Farm, Bedford c.1910 [PU246/90]

Saturday 30th September 1916: Mr S. A. Kahn, a member of the Inner Temple and form master at Balham Grammar School spent six weeks of his summer vacation working as a labourer on a Bedfordshire farm, intending to study the conditions of work at first hand. He shares some of his observations:

“The first thing that struck me was the bonhomie of the farm-hand. The natural heartiness of disposition so characteristic of the agricultural labourer was evident in every sphere of his activity. Another thing that was a constant matter of surprise to me was his powers of endurance. Probably, none but one who has been bred up to it from his infancy, could stick it. The length of hours, the duration of the cold season, the absence of holidays, and, in some cases, the insecurity of his service, tend to make agricultural work one of the most unpleasant occupations.
 After an experience of six weeks’ actual work on the farm, I have come to the conclusion that the hours are too long, and that there are too few intervals for rest, in hoeing, and twitching. I go even so far as to say that if the hours were shortened, the same amount of work would be done. It is no secret to the farmers that the men are obliged to ‘take it easy’ at times. I cannot blame them … Much nonsense has been talked about the women on the farm. I think that the life on the farm is not so easy as some of them think. The woman is not suited for it, simply because she has not the stamina and the strength to sustain a work of that nature. The experiences of some of the women working on the farm have not left a pleasant impression upon my mind, and the testimony of the farm hands upon this topic is conclusive.
 The third thing that struck me was the economic value of the agricultural labourer’s wages. I had heard so much of the agricultural labourer’s hard lot, that I determined to investigate the point upon the spot. After much inquiry, I have come to the conclusion that the £1 a week which the labourer receives at the present time is equivalent to 35s in London. I need not go into details. Suffice it to say that the labourer is free from some of the most burdensome privileges of town life. I mean the rent, the taxes and th high cost of living. For one of the Duke of Bedford’s excellent cottages he pays only 2s 6d a week. The amount includes rates, etc. A Londoner will pay 10s 6d a week for a small house, with dirty walls, smoky chimneys and crazy structure. Again, the farm hand gets vegetables free; he can pick up as much wood as he requires; and the cost of certain articles is not so high as in London. But the most important advantage of all is the comparative immunity from certain disease that he enjoys. He is not haunted by the spectre of disease, and his vitality and hardiness enable him to resist the onset of many diseases to which a town dweller is heir.”

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 3rd October 1916

Request to Farmers

Milkmaids at Biddenham, 1916 [WW1/WA5/2/4]

Monday 19th June 1916: Rowland E. Prothero, the Charirman of the War Agricultural Committee for Bedfordshire has requested that Bedfordshire farmers consider the scheme for instructing women and girls in milking which has been drawn up by the Agricultural Education Sub-Committee of the County Council. He writes:

“Milkers are already difficult to find; in the near future they will become still scarcer. It is proposed that pupils should be taught on the farms by practical teachers, chosen by the farmers, and paid by the Education Committee. It is hoped that farmers who own cows will help the movement by giving local women and girls the opportunity of learning to milk, and so increasing the number of milkers in the county.”

 Any farm willing to help is asked to send his name to the Director of Education at Shire Hall, or to Mr. Trustram Eve, Secretary to the War Agricultural Committee. The latter committee also reminds all “starred” men, and all those who have not attested voluntarily, that if they wish to be exempted from military service they must apply for a certificate of exemption before June 24th. 

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 20th June 1916

National Union of Women Workers

George Kent Ltd Munitions Workers, 1916 [Z1306/75/17/21]

Thursday 4th May 1916: The Bedfordshire branch of the National Union of Women Workers has now been formally established. The rules drafted by the Executive Committee were agreed at a meeting held yesterday evening at Mrs. H.T. Eve’s home, “Rushmoor”, Shakespeare Road. The branch is to meet at least four times a year, although it was decided that for a trial period meetings would take place on the first Monday of every month. Membership of the branch now stands at 55; when a total of 80 is reached the branch will become entitled to a representative on the Executive of the Central Council.

Mrs. Eve gave a report on the recent conference of the National Council of Women Workers. This dealt with the new employments which women have undertaken because of the war.  These included: women on the land; women in railway employment, and as omnibus and tram conductors and taxi-cab drivers; women clerks and those in secretarial work; munitions work; and women as mechanical workers. One of the greatest difficulties so far has been the prejudice of farmers against employing women in agriculture. Girls and women who wished to take up men’s work should be warned that they should hold out for good conditions and a living wage; to do otherwise would be to exploit their own sex.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 5th May 1916

Bedfordshire Lace

Lacemaker who made handkerchiefs for Queen Alexandra, the Queen of the Belgians, and Queen Amélie of Portugal (by Arthur Augustus Carnes, 1866-1932)

Thursday 20th April 1916: Mr A. A. Carnes of Shaftesbury Avenue, Bedford has secured various royal honours for Bedfordshire’s famous lace industry. He has been granted permission to name handkerchief designs after HM Queen Amélie of Portugal, and also after the Queen of the Belgians, the Princess Royal, Princess Christian, Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice, Princess Maud, Princess Victoria, and Princess Marie Louise. Other handkerchief designs have also been named after Viscountess French and Madame Sarah Bernhardt. These lace designs are all of fine thread work known locally as “12 slip”. It is hoped that local lace workers will realise that this gives them the opportunity to specialise in this fine work instead of continuing to use coarse threads, and will rediscover and pass on their skills in working traditional patterns.

Mr. Carnes has received a number of letters of gratitude and encouragement from the royal ladies. Princess Christian wrote that “it was most important to encourage and help this long established industry” and said she would be glad to bring it to others’ attention. HRH Princess Louise not only gratefully accepted the handkerchief sent her and was pleased to have it named after her, but chose a second and gave permission to have her name associated with both. Madame Sarah Bernhardt’s acknowledgment read “Je voue remercie pour votre mouchoir charmant et j’accepte avec plaisir que vous le donniez mon nom”.

In 1913 HM Queen Alexandra accepted a photograph of twelve old Bedfordshire lace workers, all over 80 years old and still engaged on lace making. The Queen had the photograph hung in her own room and sent a gracious message wishing “these clever, industrious old ladies every possible happiness in their declining years”. It is believed that lacemaking was introduced to Bedfordshire by Queen Katherine of Aragon during her time at Ampthill. After a prosperous time under the Stuarts the industry declined but was revived in the reign of Queen Victoria, with local work winning many honours at Exhibitions. In recent years poor designs and inferior quality lace has caused much harm, but there are now persistent efforts to revive the old designs. This art was kept alive mainly by village lace schools, where children began to learn the skill at the age of five. Bedfordshire lace is worked in one piece, both in the point and the designs connected by legs, which makes it particularly durable.  Source: Bedfordshire Times, 21st April 1916

A "Bedford Hut" for Soldiers

Friday 14th January 1916: The Bedford and District Federation of the Church of England  Men’s Society has raised £300 to provide the troops at the Front with a “Bedford Hut”. This will soon be built somewhere in France and will provide seating accommodation for 300 men. At one end there will be a chapel and adjoining the Hut there will be two quiet rooms for the use of the Chaplain and the men; the remaining space will be for ordinary social use. The Hut will be under the control of the Chaplains and will be for the use of troops of any denomination. It is hoped that a link can be kept between the Hut and Bedford by sending out newspapers, books and other gifts for the men using it.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 14th January 1916

New Vehicle Lighting Regulations

Marquis of Northampton's Car after accident at Dunstable, 1908 [Z1306/36/18/2]

Tuesday 11th January 1916: New regulations relating to lights on vehicles came into force in Bedfordshire yesterday. Under these rules the use of headlights on motor cars is prohibited. All vehicles must carry a lamp displaying a white light at the front. Unless the vehicle is a bicycle this must be displayed at the extreme right hand side of the vehicle; if a second lamp is carried this must be at the extreme left hand side. At the rear a red lamp must be displayed, again at the extreme right hand side of the vehicle. If electric lamps are used the bulb must not exceed 12 watts and the longer side or diameter of the front glass must not exceed six inches; other restrictions are in place for acetylene and oil lamps.

The difficulties likely to arise from the new regulations have already been demonstrated by Ronald Guy Larking, an officer of the Royal Engineers who appeared today at the Borough Court charged with assaulting a special constable in an argument over motor car headlamps. After being convicted and fined £1 he told the magistrates that the previous night four members of the mobile corps of signallers to which he belonged had been sent out from Baldock. There were seven accidents that night, two involving dispatch riders and the others civilians. He himself had travelled to Cambridge and estimated that even though he had a fairly bright light he had run on to the grass verge nearly fifty times. He suggested an exception should be made for officers and dispatch riders on duty; they could not possibly carry out their work safely, and it seemed ridiculous that men should be injured by falling off their bicycles in the dark. The police superintendent pointed out that Mr. Larking had not properly read his instructions. An order had been made some weeks ago that military motor cars on duty could use headlights, on condition that while doing so they must carry a green light on each side.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 28th December 1915 and 18th January 1916

Bedford Recruitment Figures

 

Derby Scheme Poster 1915 [Wikimedia]

Thursday 6th January 1916: Following the canvassing for recruits which took place late last year under Lord Derby’s recruitment scheme we are now able to report on the effect of the scheme in Bedford and North Bedfordshire. In the National Register the names of 3040 men of military age in Bedford were not starred as being engaged in essential occupations. Between November 1st and December 12th 533 single and 893 married men enlisted and attested; a further 78 single and 39 married men had already enlisted between August and October. The total number of new recruits was therefore 1543.

The remaining 1497 who had not either enlisted or attested were made up of 213 single and 556 married men who refused to enlist, 237 single and 269 married men who were medically unfit, 27 single and 56 married men who were engaged in munition work but not starred, and 47 single and 91 married men willing to enlist on conditions. If compulsion is to be applied to single men, then there are only about 213 (under 300 at the outside) who can be conscripted, and it is likely that only about 40% of these would be found to be fit. There is likely to be little opposition if these men are made to toe the line.

In North Bedfordshire 4,973 men were canvassed. Of these 775 single and 886 married men either enlisted or promised to enlist. Current figures suggest that after allowing for those who were unfit or unable to enlist for other reasons 927 single and 1378 married men refused to enlist. These figures should be treated with caution as it is thought that many more may have enlisted during the final days of the scheme. It seems likely, however, that conscription of single men would be more effective in the area around Bedford than in the town itself.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 7th January 1916

Harvest Time

Wednesday 25th August 1915: The harvest in the east of the county has been hampered by the extremely wet weather of the first half of the month. Over the past week the weather has changed for the better and it has been possible to bring in some of the wheat. If the good spell lasts until the end of the week almost all the wheat and oats should be harvested. The heavy rains of the weekend of 14th and 15th August caused a blight on the potato crop. Whole fields are now black, withered and malodorous, instead of a healthy green. The root crops have thrived in the rain and are now looking splendid.

Market gardeners and smallholders are finding it difficult to sell their produce for a reasonable price. Bean pickers are being sent home because the price of kidney beans does not cover the cost of picking them, and marrows are unsaleable with some growers have been offered only one penny per dozen. The effect of the war on rail transport has meant that many have been thrown away because the Railway Companies were not able to get them to the destination at which they were required.  There has also been a big drop in the price of wheat.

Source: Biggleswade Chronicle 27 August 1915; Bedfordshire Times 3 September 1915

Munitions Meeting at Bedford

Shire Hall, Bedford c.1915 [Z1306/10/58/8]

Wednesday 28th July 1915: A meeting was held this afternoon at the Shire Hall, Bedford of engineering firms from the five counties Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire to discuss the production of munitions. The meeting was called by Mr Samuel Whitbread in response to a letter he received recently from the Minister of Munitions. Bedford was chosen as the location as Bedford and Luton were probably two of the largest centres for engineering work and Bedford had good railway facilities. A general committee of twenty two representatives was elected and a decision was taken to call the area the South-East Midlands Munitions Area. An executive committee was also appointed which subsequently elected a Borad of Management.

The meeting was informed that the government’s greatest need is for big shells. Those firms with facilities to do so were told they should concentrate on these, leaving the manufacture of smaller shells to those unable to make the larger ones. However, Sir Charles Wilson pointed out that the works in this locality were mostly suited for three inch shells and as the counties involved were primarily agricultural they were unlikely to be able to produced large numbers. A production figure for the five counties of 1,000 shells a week was thought to be reasonable. One of the men nominated for the committee said he was a paper maker and knew nothing about engineering; although he wanted to do all he could for the country he was not sure he was the right man for the job! A representative of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, a town renowned for chair making, suggested that local firms in his area would be best employed producing wooden boxes to hold ammunition.

Source: Luton News 29th July 1915

Hospital Evacuation Arrangements

Men with recruiting poster outside Sandy Town Hall [Z50/142/478]

Thursday 8th July 1915: 

After much negotiation arrangements have finally been agreed for the removal of sick and wounded from V.A.D. and private hospitals in Suffolk to Bedfordshire in the event of invasion. Should it become necessary the following emergency hospitals will be set up in Bedfordshire (numbers of beds are shown in brackets):

Turvey Schools (50) – to take patients from Elvesden Hall Hospital (8), Halesworth Patrick Stead Hospital (26) and Beccles Red Cross Hospital (20)

Bedford: Kempston Schools (100), Dunstable Yeomanry Drill Hall (80) – to take patients from Ampton Hall Suffolk Hospital (150) and Sudbury Red Cross Hospital (30)

Sandy Town Hall (60) – to take patients from Henham Hall Hospital (50) and Hengrave Hall Hospital (10)

Biggleswade Masonic Hall (30) – to take patients from Aldeburgh Red Cross Hospital (21)

Marston Moretaine Schools (50) – to take patients from Newmarket Rous Hospital (8), Sudbury St Leonards Hospital (6), Saxmundham R.A.M.C. Hospital (20) and Tostock Place Hospital (4)

Ampthill British Schools (100) – to take patients from Easton Park Hospital (50) and Bury St Edmunds West Suffolk General Hospital (45)

Woburn Town Hall (30) – to take patients from Melton Red Cross Hospital (30)

Toddington Wesleyan Schools (40) – to take patients from Bury St Edmunds Northgate Street (40)

Luton Union Infirmary (30) – to take patients from Newmarket Red Cross Hospital (35)

Luton, Coutts and Co, Bedford Road (30) – to take patients from Shrubland Park Hospital (25) and Woolpit Hospital (6)

Luton, Tennyson Road Schools (90) – to take patients from Sproughton Maryland (18), Ipswich Broadwater (40), Whepstead Plumton House (15) and Brettenham Park (23)

Source: WW1 Nursing Records [WW1/NU4]