Death of an Old Lutonian

London Regiment Badge [Wikimedia]

Friday 7th May 1915: In December we heard how Ernest Allin, an old boy of Luton Modern School, was enjoying life at training camp with the 24th Battalion of the County of London Regiment. http://bedshomefront.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/training-camp-life.html  News has now reached Luton that he has become the first Old Lutonian to be killed in the present conflict. He died of wounds received near Ypres on 1st May, two days after being hit by a stray bullet while leaving the trenches to draw the day’s rations. He has been buried along with many other British soldiers at Béthune. The following obituary is to be included in the next edition of the school magazine:

“Ernest Allin has fallen in the paths of glory in France. He will be greatly missed by the members of the Old Lutonians Club, with whom he was deservedly popular. He joined the school in September, 1907, and left in July, 1909, to become an engineer. He worked hard at his profession and was a regular student at the Evening Classes; when he entered the army he left a good position at the Vauxhall Motor Works. His ready wit and unfailing good-humour made him a general favourite; he was indispensable at the Old Lutonian entertainments; and when in happier times the club comes together again his absence will be severely felt. While however we extend to all his relatives and friends our deepest sympathy, we would also add the words of Milton – “Nothing is here for tears.” He died for his country.”

Source: Luton Modern School Magazine No.9 [SDLutonSFC2/9]

Excitement at Ridgmont and Lidlington

The Lane, Lidlington, 1912 [Z1130/73/23]

Thursday 6th May 1915: The villagers of Ridgmont and Lidlington have enjoyed great excitement this week. The Engineers Signalling Company established their headquarters at the Parish Room in Lidlington on Monday and about sixty men were billeted in the village overnight. Ridgmont has been turned into a signalling station, with motorists coming and going all day and through the night. Yesterday evening nearly forty motor transport wagons passed through the village and were given tea by the inhabitants. An unfortunate collision took place between an officer’s car and Mr L. Humphreys’ motor cycle but there were no injuries, although the motorcycle was a casualty.

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

Aviator Hero Killed

William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse [Wikimedia]

Wednesday 5th May 1915: The funeral was held in Dorset yesterday for a frequent visitor to Bedford who was a well-known figure in the town. Lieutenant William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse met a  hero’s death last week after successfully completing an aerial mission during which he was fatally wounded. In earlier years he was an enthusiastic motorist, often seen with his racing machine. Once flying became a possibility he took up aviation. In 1909-10 he took part in monoplane experiments at Huntingdon with Mr. James Radley of Bedford, and gained his pilot’s license in October 1911 after flying 1,000 in a monoplane. He frequently flew over Bedfordshire on flights from Huntingdon to his home at Spratton Grange in Northamptonshire. Flying became his favoured mode of travel and he would use his aeroplane for any journey of more than a short distance, for instance flying from Hendon to the Northants Agricultural Show at Kettering with a stop at Spratton on the way. He began a “boots by air” service, taking parcels of boots from Northampton to London by plane. He suffered innumerable mishaps but seemed to bear a charmed life as he was never injured.

In June 1912 he married Linda Beatrice Morrit, another flying enthusiast. Two months after their marriage she joined him, along with a journalist, for the first flight across the English Channel in an aeroplane with three passengers; this succeeded despite hail and rainstorms, and more than once becoming lost in cloud. Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse  also flew competitively, with his best performace being third place in the Aerial Derby of 1912. At this time he was working with James Radley manufacturing aeroplanes at the Huntingdon Aerodrome, with a sideline in the production of motor bodies.

When the war began Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse was joined the Royal Flying Corps Special Reserve and was soon commissioned. Five weeks ago he left for the front. On 26th April he was sent on a special mission to bomb a railway junction at Courtrai. After dropping the plane to a height of 300 feet and releasing a large bomb he became the target of a battery of rifles, machine guns, and anti-aircraft guns. Although severely wounded in the thigh he was determined to save his aeroplane at all costs and made for the British lines, descending to 100 feet in order to increase his speed. Despite being wounded for a second time, this time mortally, he managed to return 35 miles to his own base where he executed a perfect landing and filed his report. He died in hospital the next day and is to be buried at his family home, Parnham House at Beaminster in Dorset.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 7th May 1915

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[1] Lieutenant Rhodes-Moorhouse was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross “for most conscpicuous bravery”. His son William Henry Rhodes-Moorhouse, who was less than a year old when his father died, joined the RAF and was killed during the Battle of Britain after winning the Distinguished Flying Cross. For more about William Barnard Rhodes-Moorhouse and his background see Wikipedia.

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

Strike at Skefco Works

Skefco Works, Luton 1912 [Z764/6]

Monday 3rd May 1915: This morning most of the employees of the Skefco Ball-Bearing Company in Leagrave Road, Luton, came out on strike, claiming that one of their colleagues was being victimised. The man applied for an interview with one of the directors but this was refused as he had not pursued his grievance through the proper channels. An urgent appeal has been made to the men to return to work on patriotic grounds, but they have refused to do so. The resident director Mr. T. H. Dryden was in London on business, but following a telephone call he hurried back to Luton and had an interview with a deputation this evening. The meeting was attended by eight men, including the man claiming victimisation, two foremen in that department, the shop foreman, the works manager, and Mr. Dryden. The men not only demanded the reinstatement of their colleague but also an increase in wages, despite a previous increase not becoming due for renegotiation for another couple of weeks. After hearing the man’s case it was felt that far from being victimised he had been treated quite leniently, and the management suspect that the real aim of the strikers was higher pay. Rather than have the output of the works further delayed an increase of ¼d per hour for married men and ¾d for single men was conceded. The man at the centre of the dispute has been invited to see the works’ manager tomorrow morning.

Mr. Dryden has issued a statement in which he declares that the men have acted unreasonably. The company has provided the works athletic club with a well-equipped rifle range at its own expense, and originated the scheme now adopted by other engineering firms in Luton to provide for the wives and dependents of employees serving in the Forces. All the works’ output is being produced for the Government, so the strike is directly affecting the war effort. The accusation of victimisation was groundless, and an increase in hourly wages of ½d had been agreed for married men just ten weeks ago which was to remain in force for three months. On March 31st an offer of ½d to all employees had been made on condition that it was to be a special bonus for regular time-keeping and for remaining with the company until peace was declared. This would have been accumulated and paid at the end of the war. The men had refused this offer. The average pay for all employees, including women, girls and boys, is over 30 shillings a week which compares very favourably with the wages offered by other works.

Source: Luton News, 6th May 1915

News from the Villages

Water Mill, Barton-le-Clay [Z1130/7/6]

Sunday 2nd May 1915

Barton-le-Clay

The most recent concert held in aid of the starving poor of Bruges contributed the sum of £7 towards the £500 total so far raised by the Bedford concert party who are devoting their efforts to this cause. The promoter writes: “Please accept my best thanks for the cheque enclosed, it is just great, and Barton has surpassed all villages of similar size. Will you please also thank the kind people who got the Schoolroom ready, lit fire etc., and charged us nothing for doing so. We all enjoyed coming to Barton very much, you were all such a nice audience.”

Gravenhurst

More bad news has reached the village with the mother and sister of Lionel Grant Miller in suspense over his fate. An L. G. Miller of the East Surreys has been killed in action, but this man appears to have a different number to Gravenhurst’s Lionel Miller. The same Regiment also has a Lionel George Miller and an L. Miller so it is hoped that Lionel Grant is one of the fifty East Surreys taken prisoner at Neuve Chapelle.[1]

Flitton

For the first time soldiers were billeted at Flitton on Monday evening 19th April. Despite the short notice and inconvenience the village did its best to make them welcome. Unfortunately the event was marred by the dreadful accident which resulted in the death of five year old Ralph Catlin.

Silsoe

The concert announced last month, given by the same Bedford party as the one held at Barton, went off extremely well. The audience was not very large but was extremely enthusiastic. The total amount raised for the starving Belgians was £5 8s 10d. Three more Silsoe men have volunteered to serve their Country: Charles Pratt, Frederick Bunker and Harry Bunker.

Clophill

Last Tuesday War Badges were distributed to those Scouts who have earned them; however, only a few were present to receive their badges as no less than two Assistant Scoutmasters and six Scouts have enlisted and are with their battalions. The soldiers who had been billeted in the village have now left to camp under canvas for the summer. It is hoped that they will have time to visit on occasions.

Source: Monthly Magazine for the parishes of Barton-le-Cley, Clophill, Flitton and Greenfield, Gravenhurst, Silsoe, Westoning, May 1915 [P21/30/17]

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[1] As with Walter Redman last month this hope proved to be misplaced. Lionel Grant Miller had been killed in action on 12th March 1915. Like Redman, his comrade  in the 2nd Battalion of the East Surreys, he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. An obituary was published in the August magazine which states that he was engaged in ambulance work when he was shot and killed by a sniper. 

Leighton Buzzard Men in France

The Second Battle of Ypres, by Richard Jack (Wikimedia)

Saturday 1st May 1915: Private Charles Winmill of Leighton Buzzard, who is serving with the Canadian Division, has written to his mother at Church Street from a hospital in a small seaside town in France:

“Well, I am pulling along ‘fine right’ now; with the aid of crutches, I am able to take a walk along the sea beach, and I thank my lucky stars I’m able to be away from the firing line. If I had lost a limb I wouldn’t have said a word, and you can’t wonder at it, because I have had three of the worst days a man could have. The fun kept on for four days, with intervals, but the hottest time of all was when we were called from Ypres to check the advance of the enemy. When the order came for us to extend and fix bayonets we could see whole bunches of French retiring on account of the gases that were used with such good, or bad, effect by the Huns”. [1]

The Canadians also retired in some confusion and dug in until the order came to advance again. “That second advance was just ‘plain hell’, and yet at times it was laughable, for a man would fall over a stone or a big clod of earth with the result that his bayonet would stick in the ground and maybe his gun muzzle would be full of dirt and then you could hear a ‘good round curse’.“  Private Winmill’s battalion held the trenches through Friday night and into Saturday morning when reinforcements arrived, by which time “not many of our boys were left; indeed the honours’ list must be heavy, but we did just what we were told and got what was wanted. About five o’clock on Saturday night I got my souvenir. I could have sung a song after I got it, because I wanted to get away from the slaughter house for a while and forget the things that had happened.” His wound is progressing well and he expects to be going back to the front line soon, but hopes that his next wound will take him to England or Canada for good.

Corporal H. Guess, serving with the Bedfordshire Regiment, has also written to his parents with news of a poison gas attack:

“We have just come out of the trenches for a rest, after five days and six nights forty yards from the Germans – a bit close for a start. They are a rotten lot of cowards, for they tried to poison a lot of us the other day with those gases they send over. There were fourteen of us in the trench I was in, and only four of us are left, and when the gas was coming the Germans rushed another trench and killed and wounded about 150 of our men, but they lost 500 in doing it. The gas did not upset me much. It is a shame to see the way the Germans are treating the poor Belgians. I have seen them homeless, and the towns are in ruins with the houses and Churches blown up. I think, however, that the Germans have had about enough of it. I have come across several Leighton fellows since I have been out here. Will Sewell is all right. I hear Harry Bierton has had his thumb blown off.”

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

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[1] At the Second Battle of Ypres between 22nd and 25th April the Canadians attempted to defend a position left exposed by the effect of a chlorine gas attack on the French Algerian Division. The Canadians themselves faced a direct gas attack on the 24th. Their efforts stalled the German attack and bought time for the British to advance, but at the cost of 6,000 casualties.