An Aeroplanist Visits Luton

Claude Grahame-White at Bromham with his mono-plane, 1912 [Z1306/21/10]

Sunday 18th March 1917: A sensation was caused this afternoon by two visits of Captain Ball, hero of many aerial encounters with the Germans, to Luton. He first landed a one-seater in Crawley’s field, behind the Red Rails allotments near Ashburnham Road; then reappeared in a two-seater in which he offered to take the Mayor for a flight. As the Mayor was not present, Police Inspector Duncombe took the opportunity, thoroughly enjoying the experience. It transpired that Captain Ball was billeted in Ashburnham Road when stationed at Luton with the 1st North Midlands, and wanted to revisit the town in which he had spent may happy hours. A large crowd gathered, but the police had no difficulty keeping order. Inspector Duncombe described his experience enthusiastically:

 “I would not have missed it for £5. It was beautiful. We ascended to a great height, but there was nothing alarming in the experience. Asked if he would take a lady up into the clouds, the brave officer said he should like to, but he had certain regulations to conform to. I am very glad to have had the opportunity of feeling what it is like to skim at a tremendous rate through the air. It took my breath away at first, and once or twice I thought we should crash into haystacks and the like. It was a little creepy to see these obstacles pass like a flash under the machine. The Captain has wonderful control and guided the aeroplane with the ease of a practised motorman. I felt as safe as being in a motor car.

Source: Luton News, 22nd March 1917

Landlord’s Son Wounded for a Second Time

Corporal Jim Quenby

Monday 13th December 1915: The son of the landlord of the Swan at Bromham has been wounded for a second time. Corporal Jim Quenby was in a communication trench waste deep in mud so had to get on top to reach the firing line; while doing so he was shot through both thighs. Corporal Quenby was one of eight Bedford lands who joined the 6th Gordon Highlanders while they were billeted in Bedford. Within a couple of weeks of arriving in France they took part in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle where one of the Bedford lads was killed and four others wounded including Quenby. After eight weeks recuperating in hospital at Rouen he returned to the Front where he was the only Bedford boy left in the firing line. As an expert bomb thrower he has on occasion been in trenches only 15 yards from the enemy. Before he enlisted in October last year Corporal Quenby was a clerk in the finance department of Bedford Corporation. He is now being treated at the Lahore British General Hospital. His father has received a letter from the Chaplain stating that there has been a slight improvement in his condition.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 10th December 1915

Landlord's Son at Neuve Chapelle

The Swan, Bromham (George Quenby, proprietor) 1902-1906 [Z1306/12/5/1]

Monday 12th April 1915: Jim Quenby, the son of the landlord of the Swan at Bromham is recovering well in hospital at Rouen from wounds received at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, where he was fighting with the 6th Gordons. He has described in a letter home how he came to be wounded:

“At four o’clock on the fourth morning we advanced to the trenches the Germans originally occupied, and about eight o’clock the order came to fix bayonets and be prepared to charge. We were shelled something terrible in this trench, and it was so wide, a lot of our chaps got wiped out there. About 8.30 we had the order to charge; well, I started off, the bullets were flying in every direction, and the shrapnel was laying them out in dozens. I hardly realised what I was doing. I had not got far before I felt a bullet go through my left thigh; I threw down my rifle and fell down; I had not been down a minute before I was shot through the right leg, so then I scrambled into a trench about eight yards away. I rolled in this trench on top of two 2nd Gordons, one of whom was kind enough to put on my field dressing and lend me his coat to lie on. I had to lie there until nine o’clock Sunday night (about 36 hours), when the stretcher-bearers fetched me. After a rough journey on the stretcher to the dressing station, I was thankful to have a cup of Bovril, as I had had only a few biscuits and a bit of bread and jam for two days.”

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 16th April 1915

Bromham and the Battle of Neuve Chapelle

Bromham Garage c.1925-1930 [Z50/21/11]

Saturday 27th March 1915:  The village of Bromham has suffered a blow with the death of Private Charles Vintner of the Grenadier Guards during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle earlier this month. Private Vintner is the second Bromham man to be killed in the war. He was the brother of P.C. Vintner, the Bromham constable, and leaves a widow and young children.[1] A veteran of the Boer War, he had worked before the war for Mr F. Collins of Bromham Garage.

The son of the Bromham vicar, Canon Browning, writes from the Front where he is serving with the 19th Alberta Dragoons (Canadian Contingent). He describes the battle, during which his unit was part of the mobile reserve:

“The gun-firing was very heavy; there were some big naval guns, very big ones indeed. We watched the aeroplanes being shelled; I don’t know whether they were British or German, as we could not see the guns which were doing the shooting. None of them succeeded in hitting the mark; one of our aeroplanes was brought down, but that was through getting into the line of fire of one of our own ‘Big Lizzies’. We watched the Germans shelling a church about a mile from us the other day: they fired four shots, but none of them hit; they always seem to shell churches. Some of them around are full of shell-holes; one time they scored a bull’s-eye by landing one plum in the middle of a big church clock. This afternoon we are going to play the Yorkshire Hussars, if we can find a football. We have not yet experienced any of the very acute discomforts of war, like the poor fellows in the trenches.”

Souce: Bedfordshire Standard 26th March 1915

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[1] It appears that Charles had married Ethel Hardy in 1911. She gave birth to a son, Charles in the summer of 1915, so must have been pregnant at the time of her husband’s death.

[2] Naval guns mounted on railway trucks were located at Croix Blanche