Munitions Worker Charged with Stealing Firewood

Morgan’s aeroplane works, Leighton Road, Linslade 1917 [Z50/72/195]

Monday 9th September 1918: Henry John Hutton, of 27 Old Road, Linslade, has been remanded at the Linslade Police Court for stealing firewood blocks valued at five shillings from his employers, Messrs. Morgan and Company Limited. The works director stated that although the company appreciated the efficiency of the police in detecting the theft they did not wish to press the case, as Henry Hutton had been in other respects a good worker and was a discharged soldier. The wood was scrap and would sooner or later have been given away to deserving people at the works or sold as firewood.

Police Constable Matthews said that early in the morning on Thursday 5th September he had found a bag of block firewood hidden in a hedge near the Linslade Pumping Station. He had watched the bag until 11.50 a.m., when the prisoner’s ten year old son came with a perambulator and took it home. The next morning, while watching the works, he had seen Hutton come to a large heap of firewood, fill a bag, and carry it across the meadow to the same place. When challenged he admitted stealing the wood.

Hutton pleaded guilty and said he was very sorry. He had been discharged from the Army in March and his wife and children had been ill. There was a lot of wood lying about and he took some as it was difficult to get fuel. The works director said Hutton was a very good workman and of real value to the company, but as a matter of principle they could not keep him on. Taking into account that he had lost both his character and a good job, Hutton was fined ten shillings with fifteen shillings costs.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 17th September 1918

Bakers Selling Bread to German Prisoners

Chalgrave Church [Z1130/26/2]

Friday 16th August 1918: Another case involving the passing of food to German prisoners of war was heard today at the Woburn Police Court. This time Hockliffe bakers Walter Harris, aged 28, and his brother John Harris, aged 17, were charged with selling bread on June 17th to a prisoner of war at Chalgrave. John Harris was also summoned for a second offence which took place the following day. Evidence was given by Police Sergeant Dennis of Toddington, that on June 18th, as a result of something he had heard, he hid near a field where the prisoners were working at Lord’s Hill, Chalgrave. He saw John Harris drive past. Some of the prisoners whistled; Harris then turned back and served the prisoners with four half-quartern loaves. He challenged Harris, who admitted he had done wrong, but said he had sold the prisoners only four loaves although they asked for six. He also admitted serving the prisoners with bread on the previous day, when his brother Walter had been with him.

When interviewed Walter denied selling any bread, saying “I have never served a prisoner with bread and I have repeatedly cautioned my brother not to do so”. He admitted being with his brother, but said he had only held the reins of the cart and did not know whether his brother had served the guard or the prisoners. The prosecuting solicitor pointed out that if Walter had been aware of the sale it was a ‘contemptible wriggle’ to blame his brother. Such actions showed a ‘gross want of patriotism’, with the men seeming to care nothing for their country provided they could get a bit of extra money in their pockets. William Garner, a postman from Dunstable said he saw the baker’s cart on June 17th standing opposite a field gate with several German prisoners round it. They had a bag with them which he assumed contained bread, although he did not actually see any bread change hands. As Harris drove on he called out “You ought to get six months for serving German prisoners!” 

Sergeant-Major Richard Malone of the prisoner of war camp at Leighton Buzzard said there were forty prisoners in the camp at this time, who were being sent out in gangs of six with one soldier in charge. The prisoners had breakfast at 6 a.m. of biscuit, bread, jam, cheese and coffee. When they came back from work they had potatoes, meat or fish, and there was no need for them to buy bread except out of greed or for other purposes. He had received no complaints that they did not have enough food from the prisoners.

John Harris gave evidence that on June 17th the guard in charge of the prisoners had asked for the loaf of bread, had paid for it, and then went back into the field with the prisoners. The next day the prisoners had come out of the field with a bag and asked for six loaves, but he only sold them four as this was all he had in the cart. He had told the policeman he was very sorry if he had done wrong, but the guard had told him that he could supply the prisoners – Sergeant Dennis however denied that Harris had said this. Unfortunately the prisoners’ guard, Private Rumble, could not be called as he was in hospital with double pneumonia and was given little chance of recovery. The element of doubt over whether the guard had neglected his duty and told John Harris that he could sell bread to the prisoners made it impossible for the magistrates to decide on the case without his evidence. Due to Private Rumble’s illness the hearing was adjourned indefinitely.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 20th August 1918

Soldier Gaoled for Supplying Food to German Prisoners

Aspley Guise Woods 1921 [Z1130/3a/62h]

Friday 2nd August 1918: Private Frederick William Brock of the 383rd Motor Transport Company, Bedford has appeared at the Leighton Buzzard Police Court charged with supplying Quaker Oats to German prisoners of war from the camp at Woburn. Private Thomas Patrick Dasey of the Canadian Forestry Corps gave evidence that while he was working in the woods between Aspley Heath and Woburn on 16th July he saw Private Brock, who was driving one of the timber supply motor lorries, take a parcel from his van, carry it about 150 yards into the wood and place it behind some brushwood. Five minutes later he saw a German prisoner, who had been working nearby, fetch the parcel and take it away to where the prisoners were cutting pit props.

Private Walter Croft of the Royal Defence Corps said he was on sentry duty over the prisoners when Brock took the parcel into the wood. He saw the German prisoner drop the parcel behind a heap of pit props; he was 150 yards away, and thought the defendant could not see him. Private Croft reported the incident to Corporal Frederick Smith, who was in charge of the prisoner escort that day. Corporal Smith went to the prisoner and asked through an interpreter what he had received. He said it was bread. When asked to show it he produced a small linen bag with about one pound of Quaker Oats in it. Corporal Smith also found three full two pound packets of Quaker Oats under the prisoner’s cape. He claimed Private Brock had admitted to him having given these to the prisoner, but Private Brock said this was not true – he had said he put the parcel behind the brushwood, not that he gave it to the prisoner.  

Private Brock said he had bought the oats at Thirsk in Yorkshire in May due to a problem with rations. He had got tired of carrying them about with him so decided to pack them up and send them away, but found the postage too expensive. He had therefore simply walked out into the wood and dropped them where he expected they would be burnt with the brushwood. There were no German prisoners within 100 yards of the spot, and he did not know what had happened to the oats until the Corporal came and asked about them. When pressed Private Brock admitted that prisoners had asked him to procure things for them, but said he had refused. When asked why he did not give the oats away while he was billeted in Bedford he said it was because he knew no one there. When it was pointed out to him that throwing the food away was as serious an offence as to give it to the prisoners, he claimed he did not know what else to do with it.

An officer from the prisoners of war camp said there was reason to fear that this kind of thing was happening more often than it should, and that it tended to make the prisoners get out of hand. The Chairman of the Bench took into account Private Brock’s previous good character and sentenced him to three weeks imprisonment.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 6th August 1918

Assault at Tilsworth

Tilsworth, 1905 [Z1306/124/6]

Saturday 22nd June 1918: Bertie Royal Gutteridge, a 17 year old labourer from Dunstable, was charged at Woburn Police Court yesterday with maliciously wounding Private Arthur James Sanford at Tilsworth on 8th June. Private Sanford had been lent by the Army Service Corps to a Dunstable contractor, Mr. J. W. Ridgway of Skimpot, to drive a steam cultivator. Gutteridge had been hired to steer the cultivator, but on 6th June while working at Billington he refused to do any more work. On Saturday they moved on to Tilsworth and Gutteridge came and asked for his money. Mr. Ridgeway refused to pay him without compensation for the time the engines had been idle through his neglect. Gutteridge then threatened to bash Mr. Ridgway’s brains out and struck him with a shovel. Mr. Ridgway took an iron pin to defend himself  and went to Hockliffe for the police. Private Sanford was bending down washing himself in a bucket of water when Gutteridge came up behind him and hit him on the back of the head with the shovel, saying he would murder him. He was hit a second time while lying on the ground; Gutteridge then ran away.

When Gutteridge was arrested at Dunstable he told the police constable “I did it to get a bit of my own back”. Police Inspector Vincent said that when he was brought to Woburn Police Station Gutteridge said  “He did me one and I meant doing him one; I meant having my own back on him”. Dr. H. Stones Walsh of Toddington told the court that Sanford had a severe lacerated wound on the back of his head two inches long, which exposed the bone, and a bruise on his left shoulder blade. It should heal quickly, but the injury could have been serious. Gutteridge said that the reason he had refused to work was that the piece of ground they were ploughing was rough, and the drivers were pulling too fast and likely to break his arms on the cultivator. He had warned them on the Wednesday but they did not take any notice, so on Thursday morning he jumped off the cultivator and left it in the field. The magistrates decided to reduce the charge to causing bodily harm and committed Gutteridge to trial at the Quarter Sessions.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 25th June 1918

A Conspiracy Theory

Noel Pemberton Billing 1916 [Wikipedia]

Thursday 6th June 1918: During the recent libel trial of Noel Pemberton Billing M.P.,  it was suggested that the deaths in battle of Major Evelyn de Rothschild of Ascott (near Linslade) and the Honorable Neil Primrose last year (the son of Lord Rosebery of Mentmore Towers) were in fact murder. This crime was supposedly carried out because the two men knew of the so-called German “Black Book”, which is said to list the names of 47,000 men who are being blackmailed by the German High Command because of their homosexuality. Mr Pemberton Billing is the publisher of The Vigilante magazine (formerly The Imperialist), which is well known for its anti-Semitism and regularly claims that Britain is the victim of a Jewish and homosexual conspiracy.[1]

Lieutenant-Colonel the Honorable F. H. Cripps, D.S.O., the commanding officer of Major de Rothschild and the Honorable Neil Primrose, writes:

“In the recent trial a statement was made that two officers in the regiment were murdered from the rear in the Palestine campaign. I desire to give an absolute and unqualified denial to this foul suggestion against the honour of the regiment and of two of my brother officers, who fell under Turkish fire while leading their men with great gallantry on two different occasions. Both Major Evelyn de Rothschild and Captain the Hon. Neil Primrose were near me when they fell, and in tribute to their memory I wish to make the most positive statement in contradiction of the abominable suggestion made at the recent trial. I hope that for the honour of the regiment you will make my statement as widely known as possible.”

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 11th June 1918

[1] Pemberton Billing was sued by American actress Maud Allen, who played the lead role in a private performance of Oscar Wilde’s play Salome, after Pemberton Billing suggested she was a lesbian. Oscar Wilde’s former lover Lord Alfred Douglas was called as a witness to the danger posed by Wilde and his works. Pemberton Billing won the case.

Farmer Fined for Wasting Food

Swedes (from Wikimedia)

Tuesday 28th May 1918: Farmer John Dancer of Leighton Buzzard has appeared today at the Petty Sessions charged with permitting foodstuffs to be wasted. Proceedings were taken at the direction of the Ministry of Food. The Beds War Agricultural Executive Committee arranged a routine inspection of Mr Dancer’s farm at Heath and Reach on March 12th, and found a very large quantity of swede turnips lying about in fifteen small heaps, each containing about 1½ cwt of the vegetables. Mr. Dancer stated that he had pulled the turnips last November and covered them with leaves, but had not put any earth on them. Many were found to be frost bitten, and at least half were useless as food for either man or beast. Two other witnesses confirmed the poor state of the turnips, with one in no doubt that it was “simply the result of sheer carelessness”.

Mr. Dancer said he took the farm ten years ago and it was managed by his son William. He had heard that turnips kept better in small quantities and were not affected by cold or wet. Both he and his son thought the best way to preserve them was to cover them with leaves. However, another farmer, John Hopkins, stated that the best way to keep swedes was to cover them with dirt. Two other witnesses spoke on Mr. Dancer’s behalf. Walter Mills said he had bought some of Dancer’s turnips to feed to his pigs and none were bad. Another farmer, Arthur Syres, had also bought some of the swedes and their condition was “very fair for the time of the year”. After some consideration the Bench found Mr. Dancer guilty and imposed a £5 fine.  

Source: Luton News, 30th May 1918

Fare Dodging by Munitions Workers

Dunstable Town Railway Station, c.1928 [Z1306/36/14/2]

Wednesday 8th May 1918: Three young women have been fined for fare dodging on the London and North-Western Railway. Linslade Police Court heard that on 27th February Elizabeth Maud Vincent, of 52 Wing Road, Linslade, and Daisy Sutton of 10, Summer Street, Leighton Buzzard arrived at Leighton Buzzard Station from Dunstable. When asked for their tickets as they were leaving the station both young women said they had lost them. They claimed to have walked from Chaul End, where they work in a munitions factory, to Dunstable, and to have booked their tickets there. When inquiries showed this was not true, Vincent admitted she had used her brother’s weekly ticket while he was on night work, and had not paid the fare either way. Sutton said she went to Chaul End with her sister Mabel; when she returned  she had borrowed her sister’s weekly ticket and had also not paid the fare. Daisy Sutton and Elizabeth Vincent were fined £1 5s.6d. and £1.15s.6d. respectively for travelling without tickets, and Mabel Sutton was fined £1.0s.6d for transferring her weekly ticket to her sister. Vincent told the court “I know this sort of thing is being done by other girls”.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 14th May 1918

Shopkeepers Fined for Selling Overpriced Sweets

Leighton Buzzard High Street c.1900 (Wood and Company cooks, caterers and confectioners at number 44) [Z1432/3/1/2/13]

Tuesday 9th April 1918: An unusual case was heard today at the Leighton Buzzard Petty Sessions court, where four defendants were charged with selling sweets at prices exceeding those allowed under the Sugar (Confectionery) Order 1917. Joseph Wood of Messrs Garner, Wood and Company, Leighton Buzzard, was said to have overcharged Superintendent Matthews for fruit bonbons on March 28th, Susan Parsons and Mary Read for toffee on March 30th, and Oliver Osborn for sugared almonds, also on March 30th. All four pleaded guilty. Superintendent Matthews said that while the Order had at first been strictly observed, a number of shopkeepers had raised prices and overcharging had now become widespread. Mrs Osborn [sic] said she had put her prices up because the wholesalers had charged more. Joseph Wood was fined £1 and the other three defendants ten shillings each.

Source: Luton News, 11th April 1918

Fare Dodger on the Midland Railway

Luton Midland Railway Station c.1905 Z1306/75/13/6

Wednesday 27th March 1918: Stanley Scales, a 35 year old munition worker of 4 Alma Street, Luton, has appeared at the Luton Borough Police Court charged with travelling on the Midland Railway without having paid his fare and with giving a false name and address. He denied the first charge but admitted the second.

Mr. Scales had travelled from Harpenden to Luton but only had a ticket for the journey from Luton to Harpenden. Arthur George Miller, a porter at Luton Midland Station said he was on duty on January 29th when the 11.27 train from St. Pancras was due, but the train did not arrive until 2 a.m. due to an air raid. He spotted that the ticket Scales produced was wrong and Scales offered him one shilling. Miller refused and Scales gave him the name H. Brown and a false address. The next day Scales gave him the name Friday and a Collingdon Street address. Scales said this was true and his nickname was “Friday”.

Harry Jayes told the court he was on duty at Harpenden on the the night of the 29th January. Scales was the only passenger and had plenty of time to book but did not attempt to do so. Scales said he had a sleep in Jayes’ room and had mentioned the matter to Jayes; the ticket office was never open. Jayes denied this. Scales also claimed that the air raid being on had unnerved him. He was fined twenty shillings in each case.

Source: Luton News 28th March 1918

Pistol Confiscated from Leighton Buzzard Boy

South Street, Leighton Buzzard c.1900 [Z1432/2/1/34/1]

Monday 4th March 1918: Herbert Olden, a sixteen year old labourer from Leighton Buzzard has been summoned to the Police Court for unlawfully using a pistol while under the age of eighteen years. Police Constable Cheshire saw the boy on the footpath in South Street on February 11th, apparently showing something to another lad. As he approached he saw smoke and heard the sound of a pistol being fired; Olden then put something into his pocket. When P.C. Cheshire asked for the gun the boy gave it to him, claiming he had a licence for it at home. When challenged over this he told the policeman the licence had expired and said “I suppose I can do as I like with my own property”. Police Superintendent Matthews said that Olden had never held a gun licence, and could have been summoned for not having one. The Chairman of the Bench spoke sharply to Olden for “telling a lot of lies” about the licence; he was fined ten shillings and the gun was to be confiscated.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 5th March 1918

Drunk Man Chases German PoWs

Peacock Inn, Lake Street c.1910 [Z1432/3/1/8/5]

Thursday 28th February 1918: William Dickins, a 60 year old labourer from Chalk Hill, Houghton Regis, has been charged with being drunk and disorderly on the highway at Leighton Buzzard on Tuesday. Police Sergeant Dennis said that Dickins was throwing his arms about in Market Square and a crowd of children had collected around him. Dickins was advised to behave himself and leave, but he went round to the back of the Peacock Inn where he said he had a gun. He was told he would not be allowed to have the gun and was asked to leave the premises, but he eventually had to be arrested and locked up. Earlier in the evening he had been seen running after German prisoners in Bridge Street; his conduct towards them had been very bad. Dickins said he remembered nothing about it and was sorry for what he had done. He had three sons serving the country and had got rather excited as one had just gone back to the front. The Chairman of the Bench noted that it had been five years since Dickins had last appeared in Court and fined him five shillings.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 5th March 1918

Court Martial at Biscot

Biscot Camp 1917 [Z1306/75/16/20]

Friday 25th January 1918: A court-martial has been held today at Biscot to investigate charges against Captain Charles Lane of the Royal Field Artillery of conduct prejudicial to good order and military discipline. It was said that on July 20th he sent a chicken, ham and other foodstuffs, and on August 11th a ham, from the Officers’ Mess to his billet. Evidence was given by his commanding officer that Captain Lane had been appointed as mess caterer on 8th April 1917, and by Gunner Percy Walter Beale, formerly chef of the mess, that he had taken food to Captain Lane’s billed at his request. Two other men stated that he had taken food, and Lieutenant Clyde T. Wilson told the court martial that Captain Lane admitted to him that he had sent hampers of food to his billet.

Captain Lane pleaded guilty, admitting that the food was sent, but claiming that as mess caterer he was entitled to it. He stated that the mess was in a very unsatisfactory state when he took over, and within two months had produced a bank balance of £40 on the messing accounts, given better food, and reduced the mess subscription from two shillings and sixpence to two shillings per day. As he had been appointed with “a free hand” he regarded the food and money as his own, and held that he was in the same position as a civilian caterer to a mess. Other officers and Colonel C. H. Alexander, the Commandant at Biscot, gave Captain Lane the very highest character and did not believe him capable of the conduct alleged in the charge.[1]

Source: Luton News, 31st January 1918

[1]  A number of mess assistants and storekeepers at Biscot were prosecuted at Luton Police Court on charges of theft and conspiracy to steal provisions in December 1917; the outcome of the prosecution is not known.

Leighton Buzzard Boys Cause Damage at Timber Yard

Leighton Buzzard police station and magistrate’s court c.2000 [Z1432/2/1/20/47]

Friday 21st December 1917: Three boys from Chapel Path, Leighton Buzzard have been summoned for committing wilful damage to hay and boards belonging to Henry George Brown, timber merchant of Mill Road. He had complained at the last Court sitting that he found Horace Major (aged 16), Frank Kempster (aged 15) and Alfred Mills (15) and others in his yard on the afternoon of Sunday 25th November, throwing wood and hay about. However, as none of the boys attended the hearing it had been adjourned. When asked why they had failed to appear but had sent their mothers instead, Superintendent Matthews said he supposed the boys were busy earning too much money. He now had witnesses - two boys who had heard Major threaten to set fire to Mr. Brown’s stacks if he had to pay much that morning. Major said he had been earning fourteen shillings a week but was now out of work; Kempster had done four days’ work last week for which he was paid ten shillings. Each of the boys were fined £1.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 25th December 1917

A Quarrel Between Munitions Girls

Munitions workers at Leighton Buzzard, 1914-18 [Z1432/2/12/2/5]

Tuesday 18th December 1917: At the Leighton Buzzard Police Court today Annie Underwood, aged 22 and a munition worker from Vandyke Road, Leighton Buzzard, was summoned for assault by Kate Pratt, also of Vandyke Road. The smartly dressed Miss Pratt complained that on December 4th, as she was coming home from night work at about 7.30 am, Miss Underwood met her and knocked her across the head and face with her hands, accusing her of saying things about herself and her mother in the railway carriage. Miss Underwood had also claimed that other girls had stopped Miss Pratt calling her names out of the carriage window. Miss Pratt said both claims were a lie.

Miss Underwood said she was on her way to work when the girls told her what Miss Pratt had said. When she asked for an explanation Miss Pratt had pushed her gently off the path, saying “Don’t insult me”; she therefore claimed that Miss Pratt had struck her first. Miss Pratt told the court “I pushed her off the path and said I shouldn’t be insulted by a girl like her – nor I shan’t sir!”  Dorothy “Dolly” Short, also of Vandyke Road, was called as a witness for Miss Pratt. She said that Underwood came up to Kate Pratt accusing her of having said things in the railway carriage, which Kate did not know anything about – Miss Underwood then struck her on the face. She agreed that Miss Pratt had gently pushed her off the path.

The defendant claimed she had asked Miss Pratt civilly why she had been “telling girls my character” but that she refused to answer. “It isn’t the first time she has insulted people; you can’t go out without they’re poking fun at girls”, she told the Chairman. She simply pushed Miss Pratt back after she pushed her off the path. Another witness, Dorothy Kempster, said that as she was going to meet her friend Annie Underwood she saw her talking to Kate Pratt, who pushed Annie off the path. Asked what happened she replied “Of course, Annie struck her back”. The Chairman told Miss Underwood she really must not smack other people’s faces, and ordered her to pay a fine and costs of fifteen shillings and sixpence.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 25th December 1917

Theft of Provisions at Biscot Camp

Soldiers at Biscot Camp c.1917 [Z1306/75/16/14]

Friday 7th December 1917: At a hearing lasting four and a half hours at Luton Court House four men charged with theft and conspiracy to steal provisions from Biscot Camp have been sent for trial. Bombadier Frederick Thomas Cocksidge was charged only with theft; Bombadier John James McGrath, Walter John Baxter (assistant storekeeper at the Canteen) and Thomas Charles Mortimer (storekeeper) were charged with theft and conspiracy; and Mortimer was also charged with receiving stolen goods. The prosecution took place following management changes at the Regimental Institute at Biscot and the appointment of a new President, Lieutenant Clyde Wilson, who discovered the alleged offences.

The main witness, Percy Walter Beale, had been reduced  from the rank of mess sergeant to gunner after four charges against him were heard by the Messing Committee. He admitted giving away items that did not belong to him, and said he later acted as decoy to catch the prisoners. He had also made accusations against Captain Lane (the former President of the Institute) and Lieutenant Baker, but did not know what had happened to them. He admitted giving presents to Baxter and receiving from him pickles, cigarettes and chocolate; and said he had also received money from Mortimer.

McGrath had signed a confession, and the other three prisoners had admitted the offences. Baxter and Mortimer were also prosecuted by the Navy and Army Canteen board for receiving stolen hams, and Mortimer was also charged with attempting to steal five cases of salmon. The defending solicitor described some of the evidence for the prosecution as “a combination of Jonathan Wild and Judas Iscariot”, but agreed the prisoners should be sent for trial. All were allowed bail except Mortimer.

Source: Luton News 13th December 1917

Misdemeanours on the Railway

Leighton Buzzard Station c.1915 [Z1306/74/1/4]

Monday 3rd December 1917: Two cases relating to the railway were heard at Leighton Buzzard police court today. In the first Henry Maze Jenks of Haverstock Hill in London pleaded guilty to travelling in a luggage van on the London and North Western Railway, contravening the Company’s bye-laws. Mr. Jenks travelled by the 4.15 train from Wolverhampton to Euston on 12th September. Between Northampton and Leighton Buzzard he was found first in the guard’s van at the front of the train, and later in the van at the rear; the communicating doors between the carriages had all been unlocked and left open. Mr. Maze was said to have caused a “good deal of trouble”, claiming to be a friend of the Chairman of the line and telling staff he would do as he liked. It was pointed out that this sort of behaviour put the safety of the train at risk, as there was a valve in the guard’s van which would automatically divide the train if it was touched when approaching a signal. In Mr. Maze’s defence his solicitor stated his client was a large manufacturer and a season ticket holder, and like many other people at this time was overworked. When he got into the train he was extremely tired and as all the carriages were very crowded he went through into the guard’s van to have a sleep – the matter should be seen as merely a technical offence. The Chairman of the Bench told Mr. Maze he should have left the van when he was told to do so and that interfering with railway employees was a serious matter. He was fined £2 with £2 5s costs.

In the second case two local boys, William Cornish, aged 17 of 1 Albany Road, and Harry Stroud, aged 16 of 3 Billington Road, pleaded guilty to trespassing on the railway platforms at Leighton Buzzard and refusing to leave when asked to do so. Frank Buckingham, a vanman at Leighton Buzzard Station, said that he had found the two boys and another lad named Rickets on the station without tickets at 6.45 on November 20th. He told them they were trespassing but they did not leave. Ten minutes later a railway detective took their names and told them they would be reported. One of the boys said he was not doing any harm and there were plenty of others there. The Court was told that gangs of youths had been a “continual source of annoyance” to the Stationmaster for the past year, hanging around on the platforms pretending to wait for munition trains from Luton and refusing to leave. The two boys were fined six shillings each, and warned that in future offences of this type would be severely dealt with.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 11th December 1917

Dishonesty of an Ex-Soldier

Falcon Public House, Stanbridge Road c.1910 [Z1432/2/2/26]

Wednesday 21st November 1917: Frederick Chadwick, an ex-soldier living at Kempston, has appeared in court at Leighton Buzzard charged with obtaining money by false pretences. Thomas Page, a labourer who lodges at 17 Stanbridge Road told the court he first met Chadwick about two years ago when he was a corporal in the Monmouth Regiment lodging at Page’s daughter’s house in Queen’s Park, Bedford. Earlier this month Chadwick called on Page and borrowed four shillings, saying he was short of money. They went to the Falcon for a drink and to buy a postcard to send to Chadwick’s wife. After tea, Chadwick said he heard that Page had been drinking recently. Page took him upstairs and showed him some paper money as proof that he had not. They spoke about Chadwick’s work – he said he was a special constable looking for deserters, and implied he had his eye on two men working at Morgan’s.

Lodgings were found for Chadwick at the house of Mrs. Florence Lawson at 44 Stanbridge Road. Chadwick joined Page for breakfast and accompanied him to work. On the way he produced a document which he said entitled him to draw £2.15s, but said he could not cash it until Monday and asked to borrow 30 shillings. Page agreed and told Chadwick to go to his lodgings for the money. On Monday Chadwick showed Page an official paper, which appeared to be a bank form for £6 10s. He got Page to sign the form, telling him he was going to draw the money on Thursday, and said that if he did not come back Page could draw it. That night Chadwick again slept again at Mrs. Lawson’s. The next morning he asked her to provide dinner for himself and his wife, but did not return.

Page’s story was corroborated by his landlady, Tamor Field. She said that when Chadwick returned to collect the 30 shillings he claimed Page had agreed to lend more to cover the expense of taking a “deserter” to Cumberland. She had therefore let him have £4. On the Monday Chadwick left a paper he said was a £5 cheque with her for Page, and also asked Page to sign a form which he said would mean £20 in his pocket. Mrs. Lawson said she also believed Chadwick’s story that he was a detective hunting for army deserters. The morning after he first lodged with her he left a man at her house while he went to Miss Field’s. When Chadwick returned the next Monday he said the man he had brought in on Saturday was “one of the biggest scoundrels” he had ever known and was now serving six months in Cumberland. On Monday night Chadwick said he was short of money, and feeling it her duty to help him she lent him 3s 6d. She prepared dinner for Chadwick and his wife on the Tuesday, but he did not return. He had not paid for his lodging.

P.C. Cheshire said that when Chadwick was arrested at Bedford he said he had a pension of 6 shillings a week and would repay all the money at 5 shillings a week. He claimed to have borrowed the money, not stolen it, and to have left security with Mr. Page. P.C. Jeffrey of Clapham said he had known Chadwick for four or five months. He lived in a little cottage, and the only work he had done was a fortnight’s night watching at Cardington aerodrome. He had never had anything to do with the constabulary. Chadwick said he had no intention of getting the money by false pretences, but had been drinking at the time. However, faced with the evidence and other examples of Chadwick’s dishonesty set out in a police letter, the magistrates sentenced him to two months imprisonment with hard labour. 

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 27th November 1917

Fraudulent Claim for Separation Allowance

Men working at Balmforth factory, c.1910-20 [Z1411/1/3G]

Saturday 21st July 1917: William Saunders of Wood Street, Luton has appeared today at the Luton Police Court on a charge of illegally obtaining an allowance from the Bedfordshire Territorial Association. The proceedings were brought on the instructions of the War Office, who had decided that these cases were becoming too frequent and should therefore be heard in open Court. William Saunders son was called up at the beginning of the war, having previously worked for Messrs Balmforth’s engineering firm at Luton. No claim for a separation allowance had been made until last April, when the father declared to the Territorial Force Association that the son had paid him 17 shillings a week. The son’s former employers said it was “absolutely untrue” that his average weekly earnings were 22 shillings; they were only 10 shillings and 9 pence as he was only a labourer. The prosecution claimed it was “a barefaced attempt” to obtain an allowance to which Mr. Saunders knew he was not entitled.

In Mr. Saunders’ defence it was stated that although his wages were only 10 shillings and 9 pence, the son was able to earn a good deal more by helping the gang with whom he was working – these men would each given him a shilling, so that his total earnings came to at least 22 shillings. Mr. Saunders had only written on the application form the amount that his son paid him at home. The Bench were not convinced by this explanation. The Chairman said they considered it a serious attempt to defraud. However, as it was the first case of the kind brought before the Court they would treat it with a degree of leniency. William Saunders was fined 40 shillings with the alternative of a month’s imprisonment.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer 31st July 1917

Attempted Burglary at Clapham Park Lodge

Z50/29/9, View of West Lodge, c.1930 (Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service)

Saturday 2^nd June 1917:  The Bedford Division Bench is told how a plucky Beatrice Hart chased off a midnight intruder at Clapham Park Lodge. Private Thomas Pyle Porthouse was charged with breaking and entering West Lodge on 27^th May. Mrs Hart, whose husband is at war, testified that Porthouse called at her Lodge gate asking for a drink of water. She gave him some water and the soldier then went away, disappearing into the bushes. Before going to bed, she made sure the doors and windows were securely fastened. At 11.30, she heard someone moving around at the back and a window being rattled and forced open. Mrs Hart dressed herself and the children and heard the door from the scullery to the hallway being opened. She shouted: “Clear out, or I will shoot your brains out”. She had an air gun and fired it at the door. She then sent her boy and girl to the coachman’s house and Mr Plumber came within ten minutes. Together, they examined the house and found nobody there. However, the scullery window had been opened and Mrs Hart’s bicycle light had been taken and used as a lamp on the scullery shelf. The dog kennel had been placed underneath the window. Footprints led to the window from the rose borders, from which the police were able to take a plaster cast and identify Porthouse. That evening, Porthouse had been round for supper at East Lodge with Rose Broughton and had obviously used the opportunity to make an attempt on West Lodge.

Porthouse had nothing to say at the Bedford Bench and was committed to the approaching Assizes. Porthouse was also committed to trial for stealing a razor belonging to a fellow soldier, Henry Forrester, whom he was billeted with in Milton Ernest.

Source: Bedford Record 5/6/1917

Biscot Soldier Wants to Go to Prison

Soldiers at Biscot Camp c.1916 [Z1306/75/16/18]

Thursday 22nd February 1917: Private Francis Merritt, a soldier stationed at Biscot, has been remanded in custody at the Luton Borough Sessions after smashing a plate glass window at the shop of Robert Fuller in Waller Street and stealing five shillings worth of chocolate which he did not want. After his arrest Private Merritt told Police Sergeant Janes “I have done it for a purpose, and if I don’t get my purpose I shall do something worse afterwards.”  When asked by the Clerk of the Court whether he had done it to get out of the Army, the soldier replied: “I gave up a very good position when I enlisted, but so far as the Army is concerned it has absolutely ruined me. I have been in France and done my share. I was wounded on the Somme, and then I got sent to prison for nothing. I said the next time I went to prison I would go for something.” The Court was informed that Private Merritt had just been released from prison after three weeks. The Clerk told him “It looks as though in a fit of temper you have blasted your career.” When asked if he wanted the chocolates Private Merritt replied “No, I did not want the chocolates. I don’t eat chocolate, I am an athlete.”

Source: Luton News, 22nd February 1917