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

Leighton Buzzard Gas Company

Billington Road showing damage caused by sand traffic 1917-18 [Hi/CRM/1/3/3]

Thursday 21st February 1918: At the annual meeting of the Leighton Buzzard Gas Company, held yesterday at the Gasworks, it was reported that extensive repairs to both pipes and equipment will need to be made this year. The heavy tractors used for sand traffic in the town have caused considerable damage to the mains and service pipes, increasing the amount of gas lost during the year to around two million cubic feet, valued at £250. Due to the expected cost of repairs the Directors had already increased the price of gas by four pence per 1,000 cubic feet with effect from January 1st.

The Company hopes that the authorities will decide to build a tramway or light railway for the sand traffic before much more damage is done to the roads and the gas mains. It has also become necessary to increase capacity at the gasworks as demand continues to increase, both for industry – especially the munition works – and for eating and cooking. This is not proving easy due to wartime conditions, and it is hoped that permission will be granted to build a water gas plant in the summer in order to meet expected demand for next winter.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 26th February 1918

The State of the Roads in Leighton Buzzard

Steam engine belonging to Joseph Arnold, sand merchant c.1915 [Z1432/2]

Friday 30th March 1917: At last night’s meeting of the Leighton Buzzard Urban District Council the District Surveyor reported that state of the roads in the town has become a major concern. A combination of frosts and rain over the past month and heavy traffic from the sand industry has caused a considerable amount of damage. Repairs have been carried out where possible, but there are difficulties in obtaining sufficient materials. Part of Billington Road has been resurfaced, and in Lake Street “Rocmac” bound granite has been put down from Dudley Street towards the bridge. Further repairs have been made to Heath Road, North Street, and Church Street.  Traffic in Leighton Buzzard is now of a kind that the roads were never built to withstand. Surfaces have been worn away to the point where the foundations are now being eroded. The estimated cost of necessary repairs to roads and paths in the town during the year from 1917 to 1918 has been calculated at £1,948. Even this will only put the roads into an adequate condition, by patching them where possible and resurfacing only where this is essential.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 3rd April 1917

Icy Weather

Ice skating on the River Ouse at Bedford, 1891 [BP28/10]

  

Wednesday 14th February 1917: The recent spell of cold weather has completely stopped traffic on the Grand Junction Canal at Linslade. Ice between four and seven inches thick has prevented passage for boats since the last week of January. A dozen boats carrying sand for munitions and agricultural implements are frozen in near Linslade bridge. An ice boat drawn by eighteen horses has been at work breaking the ice between Grovebury sand pits and Fenny Stratford, but the large lumps of floating ice were a danger to the cargo boats and made the work too hard for the horse. Even steamers, with their advantage of greater power than the horse drawn boats, have been unable to travel on the canal. The delays are proving expensive to the boatmen. They have to feed their horses, with fodder costing about £1 per week, and many have to pay sixteen shillings a week for boat hire.  

The icy weather has at least allowed for some sport, which has in turn contributed towards the war effort. The Leighton Buzzard War Hospital Depot has received a total of £2 2s 9d raised from skating on Mr. George Garside’s sandpits. The activity was organised by Mr. Herbert Turner, the landlord of the Plume of Feathers public house in Lake Street. Skating has its dangers, and two small boys had to be rescued from Rushmere pond last week when thin ice gave way underneath them. Fortunately two discharged soldiers, Mr. A. Lansbury and Mr. P. Neal, were skating nearby and managed to rescue them from the water. Mr. Lansbury lay flat on the ice while Mr. Neal held his feet, and managed to grab the boys’ hands and pull them to safety.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 6th and 20th February 1917

Tram Crash at Luton

Crashed tram at Luton, 27 December 1916 [Z1306/75/18/34]

Wednesday 27th December 1916: A serious tram crash took place in Luton at 11.30am this morning. The accident occurred at the junction of Midland Road and Old Bedford Road, where a steep downward slope ends in a sharp bend. Eye-witnesses say there can be no doubt that the tram car was travelling too fast, but the cause of its undue speed is not known. As the tram approached the bottom of the hill it was clear that an accident was unavoidable. The car failed to take the curve, overran the rails, went up the kerb, hit an electricity standard and crashed through a wooden fence into an earth bank next to the Midland Railway bridge. The tram car was wrecked with the front smashed in, seats torn out of their bracings, and windows splintered like matchwood with debris scattered to the sides and behind the car.

Seven or eight passengers were on board, including Luton’s Acting Chief Constable Walter Hagley. He suffered a dislocated shoulder and minor injuries to his face, but despite being obviously in pain he took charge of the crowd and directed the rescue of the driver and the other passengers. The driver, Alfred Lloyd, was trapped and some of the wreckage had to be removed with a crowbar to release him. Although he was unconscious his rescuers found that his hand was still holding the brake. He is being treated at the Bute Hospital for concussion and internal injuries, along with two of the passengers: Mrs. J.J. Wooding has severe scalp and face wounds, and four year old Charles Gregory of 19 Brache Street suffered leg and arm injuries. When the tram car was moved a large amount of money was found underneath; this belonged to Mrs. Wooding, who was on her way to the bank. The other passengers and the conductor, Arthur Eaton, suffered from cuts and shock and have all been discharged.

Mr. A. E. Wray, the Tramways Manager, says that he has no idea how the accident could have happened. The car had four brakes, two mechanical and two electrical, and had been recently overhauled. The driver has been working for the Company for twelve months and is known to be reliable and careful. Not only was he still gripping the brake, but the emergency electrical brake was switched right over. Until Mr. Lloyd is well enough to answer questions nothing more is likely to be learned about the cause of the crash. The chairman of the Tramways Committee of the Town Council has promised that there will be a thorough investigation. It is fortunate that the tram did not swerved more to the left as if it had struck the bridge wall the damage would have been much worse. It is hoped that the driver and his passengers will all make a full recovery.  

Source: Luton News, 28th December 1916

Fatal Motor Accident at Turvey

Turvey Bridge, c.1905-1910 [X396/266]

Thursday 13th January 1916: An inquest has heard that Private Isaac Nelms, a 19 year old soldier from Stockport serving with the 2/6th Cheshires died following and accident with a motor-bus at Turvey on Sunday night. The driver of the bus, Frank Thomas James Edwards, told the inquest that he was passing over Turvey bridge at about 9.45pm when he saw a soldier on a cycle approaching from the opposite direction. The cyclist was going fairly straight until he was within a yard or so of the bus when he seemed to lose control of his machine and swerve. He missed the front of the bus, but he then heard a noise at the side and at the same time hit the bridge in trying to avoid him. The driver and conductor went back and found Private Nelms lying on the road about a yard from the wall on his proper side of the road. He could not see any marks to suggest he had run over the soldier. The man was got onto the bus and taken to hospital. Mr. Edwards stated that there was plenty of room for Private Nelms to pass and that his bus was lit by two paraffin lights at the front.

Police Constable Bradshaw of Turvey was informed of the accident and saw Private Nelms in the motorbus. He spoke to the soldier who said he was going to Bedford. His clothing was dirty as though he had rolled over, but there was no mark to show if the bus had run over him. The wheel marks of the bus were well onto the left side of the road and the bicycle was not damaged. Dr. Spence, a house surgeon at the County Hospital carried out a post mortem and found serious internal injuries which could only have been caused by great pressure. The Coroner said that although there was no evidence to account for these injuries, it seemed almost certain that the hind wheel of the bus must have run over him. It appeared a pure accident for which nobody was to blame. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 14th January 1916

Runaway Wagon at Biggleswade

Shortmead Street, Biggleswade 1913 [Z1306/16/18/1]

Monday 2nd August 1915: An accident which could easily have had tragic consquences occurred in Shortmead Street, Biggleswade this morning. The horses pulling a transport wagon belonging to the Signal Section Royal Engineers ran away from elsewhere in the town and bolted down Shortmead Street.  A cart belonging to Mr. Humphreys, a carrier from Northill, was standing outside Messrs. Woodall and Co.’s premises with Mr. Humphreys’ son inside. As the wagon passed the cart the horses and pole separated from it. The wagon caught the cart, totally wrecking it; the boy inside was extremely fortunate to escaping injury.

After hitting the cart the wagon ran on a few more yards, wheeled round and crashed into the bay window and glass door of Mr. W. Marsh’s house. Damage estimated at £6.10s was caused both to the window and door and to a quantity of antique china. Two little boys who were sitting on the doorstep had a miraculous escape. One suffered a slight injury to his foot and the other a grazed face. The horses ran on down the street until one fell near the Bridge, after which they were both secured. The wagon was only slightly damaged.

This was the second incident in the same area in three days. On Saturday an army van was being turned nearby at such a speed that the horses ran into the iron fence and hedge of Mrs. Pope’s house. The horses’ heads and legs together with the van pole were shot up into the air above the hedge and fence. It took about a dozen men to rescue the horses and get them and the van back into position. They went on their way apparently none the worse for the escapade.

Source: Biggleswade Chronicle, 6 August 1915

Tragic Death of a Young Officer at Houghton Regis

Houghton Hall, c.1905 [Z1130/63/49]

Tuesday 13th July 1915:  An inquest opened this morning into the death of Lieutenant Hugh Anthony Bertlin in a terrible motor accident at Houghton Regis on Saturday. Second-Lieutenant Berlin was riding a motorcycle to Luton but just outside the village he collided with a motor car driven by Mr. P. Jones of Dunstable. Second-Lieutenant J. R. Smith who was riding pillion on the motorcycle was seriously injured. After the crash the two officers were taken to Wardown Military Hospital. Lieutenant Bertlin was diagnosed as a hopeless case and his parents were summoned to come at once; he died at 2 a.m. yesterday morning without ever recovering consciousness. He had suffered a fracture of the base of the skull, severe scalp wounds, and cuts and bruises to the face and body. Lieutenant Smith suffered a fractured wrist, cuts and bruises, but is making good progress. Mr. Jones was not hurt in the accident.

The dead officer’s father gave evidence of identification at the officer. Anthony Bertlin, a civil engineer living at Ealing Green, said that his son was aged 24 and had been living in Canada at the outbreak of the war. He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in October and came to Britain in March. He was gazetted lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 10th April and had been stationed at Houghton Regis for ten days. He reported that his son’s sight was good - he was able to read flag-signalling at a distance of two miles - and he was used to riding a motorcycle. The Coroner adjourned the inquest for two weeks, by which time he expected Lieutenant Smith to be sufficiently recovered to give evidence. Lieutenant Bertlin’s funeral is to take place tomorrow afternoon. He will be buried in the village churchyard at Houghton Regis with full military honours. 

Source: Luton News, 15th July 1915

Motor Car and Lorry Drivers Needed

Trade postcard of Woodall and Co. motor lorry builders, Biggleswade, c.1915 [Z1306/16/32/7]

Friday 25th June 1915: An advertisement has appeared in today’s Bedfordshire Times offering motor car and petrol lorry drivers a chance to serve their country by joining the Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport Branch, which urgently requires experienced drivers of these vehicles in large numbers. Men aged 19 to 45 are eligible and will be paid a minimum of six shillings per day with separation allowance payable in addition. Application can be made at any local recruiting office, and applicants will be tested tomorrow at the recruiting office in High Street Bedford by Second Lieutenant F. J. Keith Ellison, Mechanical Transport Officer. Experience is essential – men with motor school training only need not apply.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 25th June 1915

Airship Over Leighton Buzzard

Parseval PL18 Airship, built 1913 for the British Navy [Wikimedia]

Tuesday 4th May 1915: At six-thirty this morning many people in Leighton Buzzard were alarmed to see a large airship travelling over the town heading north. Initially there were fears of an air raid, but the clear air allowed those watching the great vehicle to see that it was not a cylindrical Zeppelin but a cigar-shaped airship of the type used by the German and British Governments. Its height made it impossible to identify the flag fluttering from the car or to count the crew. By the time it reached Bletchley it had lost height and observers were able to see that it was flying the Union Jack. The airship hovered over Bletchley station for a few minutes, apparently deciding on its course, before again heading north. It appeared to be following the London and North West main land which is often used as a guide by airmen heading for northern England.

Our sources suggest that the airship was one of the British Army’s dirigible balloons. The army uses four types: the Astras Torres, the Beta, the Eta and the Parseval, all of which are the shape of a short, fat cigar with pointed ends.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Citizen, 11th May 1915

Incident on a Train

The Three Counties Asylum at Arlesey, 1913 [Z1306/2/19/4]

Friday 16th April 1915: An incident on the 9.08 westbound train from Bedford this morning serves as a sad example of the effect that the war is having on the mental state of some of the fighting men taking part in it. When the train arrived at Lidlington a man was handed over to the stationmaster by other men in the carriage. It appears he had tried to commit suicide by jumping from the train between Millbrook and Lidlington. A discharged soldier, he was driven to this extreme by the belief that he had killed his own wife and children. The man was detained while the police were sent for, but he escaped, ran down the line and into a field. After a two mile chase he was caught by P.C.Arnold and Mr. Boddington, the stationmaster. His state of exhaustion was such that he spent five minutes unconscious. On medical examination at Ampthill he was found to be insane and was taken to the Arlesey Asylum.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 20th April 1915

Tram Scandal

Luton open-topped tram No.7, c.1910-1920 [Z1306/75/18/22]

Tuesday 13th April 1915: The standard of Luton’s tram service has been criticized at a meeting of Luton Town Council. Necessary repairs to the track have not been made, and the Tramway Lessees’ district manager is to be summoned by the chairman of the Council and the Borough Engineer to impress on him the need to carry out the repairs as soon as possible. He has told the Borough Engineer that due to a shortage of men he would only be able to improve the London Road to Wardown service is the Dunstable Road service was reduced. One of the Aldermen has suggested that “we should be better with a dozen smart girls as conductors on the tramcars”. Another town councillor believed the problem was not scarcity of men but the low wages being paid. A conductor was earning only 4d an hour, and a driver only 5d. When any labourer could earn 5½d it was not likely that the tram company would be able to find men prepared to take jobs. Councillor Impey believed that “there are plenty of middle-aged men who, if paid decently, would be glad to take a job like that on.”

Councillor Bone condemned the service between Wardown and London Road as “most abominable” and wanted to know how many of the dozen tram cars purchased by the Council at a cost of £500 each were running. He suspected that four or five of them must be standing in the depot all day doing nothing. Alderman Staddon stated that the trams had become a public scandal, into which there should be a full investigation.

Source: Luton News, 15th April 1915

Queen’s Engineering Works of Bedford

Members of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry from the Queen's Engineering Works [Z791/9]

Saturday 26th December 1914: The Chairman of Queen’s Engineering Works in Bedford has been looking back at an extraordinary year.[1] No less than 304 employees from the Works have joined the Colours, a source of great pride for the Company. Despite this considerable progress has been made in the Company’s manufacturing work. Steam turbines completed during the year include two built to drive dynamos on one of His Majesty’s ships. Due to internal reorganisation of the premises extra space for a new Dynamo Shop has been found without reducing the area of the Iron Foundry, where many more high quality castings are being produced. The company has been developing machinery to use in connection with its condensing plants, and installations have been made at the Corporation Electricity Works in Rochdale, the London Underground power station at Lots Road, Chelsea, and in South Wales. Orders for large condensing sets have also been received from India, Japan, Australia, and South Africa. Due to the unusually small rise in the Nile in 1914 the Company has been asked to supply a correspondingly large number of pumps for use with artesian wells in Egypt. These are used to raise the water lying below the desert without interfering with the Nile itself. Other work carried out by the Company included the main drainage system at Cairo, pumping machinery for a new dock at Hull, another dock pumping plant in Japan, and machinery for a floating dock for Holland. The Works has also been called upon to meet urgent orders for machinery it makes for the British Navy.

On the outbreak of war the Company Directors announced that until further notice the wives of men employed at the Works who were called upon to serve with the Colours would receive 7 shillings per week while they were away, with staff members being paid half their salary. Letters have been received from a number of  those employees now serving their country, of which these extracts from a letter from Private Harry E. W. Auger, a member of the Test Bay staff now in France with the 74th Motor Transport Company, are a sample: [2] 

Private H.E.W. Auger (right) [Z791/9]

“When I left the Works in September to join the Colours, I was successful in getting into the 74th M.T.Coy., and was soon after put on the first aid lorry, which is a kind of travelling workshop for roadside repairs, a very good job. Our machine was a fine new Leyland lorry of 64 H.P., with a tarpaulin cover. This we found much more comfortable to sleep under than a canvas tent, with no bottom, such as we had the first few weeks.”

“After making all preparations, we had to wait about three weeks for orders to move abroad, during which time we received many false alarms. I have been out here about a fortnight now, and we are getting well into our work of taking food up for the troops every day. We load our lorries at rai-head and ten take them to a point some distance from the firing line, where we are met by the Horse Transport, who take the food practically into the firing line.”

“We are up about 5.30 in the morning; no “quarters” over here. I am still sleeping on my lorry, so I am pretty handy for getting at it first thing. It is jolly cold, so we run our engines all night to keep the radiators from freezing. This saves a lot of “winding” in the morning.”

“The towns about here are very badly knocked about. This morning we were in a village which had been shelled the night before, only 1½ miles from the firing line. Some of the roads are fearful, especially those which have been shelled; also you can see shells stuck in the trees and unexploded as you go along.”

“The food we get is quite good; plenty of bully beef and biscuits, of course. We get English papers distributed to us free the day after issue, also letters get through easily … Our chief difficulty is getting a bath and washing our clothes, and it would amuse you to see me washing out my socks and shirts.”

“I think the most remarkable feature for this war is the multitudinous uses the petrol engine is put to in ambulances, motor lorries, light cars for officers, aeroplanes, motor cycles, and armoured cars. We have had several German aeroplanes round us, but they get a pretty warm reception from the anti-aircraft section, and they soon leave.”

“I do not think much of the French cigarettes, and have to get from home all I require in this direction, as we cannot buy English ones here. Our chief amusement, when not working, is making tea in the lorry with a blow lamp, which we find very useful for the purpose. Please remember me to all the chaps at the Works. My Parisian accent is becoming most pronounced.”

Source: The Queen’s Engineering Works Magazine, January 1915 [Z791/9]

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[1] The company Chairman was Mr W.H.Allen. The Works magazine carries an obituary for his sixth and youngest son, John Francis Allen of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, age 33, who died of wounds in hospital at Ypres on November 5th 1014. Captain Allen received his wounds while rescuing two men who had been buried by the bursting of a shell.

[2] Harry Edmund Warren Auger was born in Lower Heyford, Oxfordshire c.1892 and appears in the 1911 as an engineering apprentice at Bedford. He appears to have survived the War. The 74th Motor Transport Company was serving in the 8th Division Supply Column of the 4th Army Corps.