Views on the Skefco Strike

Skefco Catalogue, 1915 [Z764/6]

Friday 14th May 1915: Reaction to last week’s strike at Skefco Ball-Bearing Co. has been strong on all sides. The Secretary of the Engineering Trades’ Joint Committee, one of the men involved in the strike, has written complaining about the comments made in the Luton News about their actions. He defended the man who and been dismissed and went on to say:

“With regard to the alleged agreement between the firm and workmen respecting their wages. You were not informed that they absolutely refused to observe the increased rate of wages, which took effect on February 29th last in the federated engineering firms of the town and several non-federated firms also. Naturally, the men employed at the Skefko expected to be treated on the same lines as the men working for the other Luton shops; they put in a demand for the same treatment, but met with a refusal. It is all very well for you in your comments, and the firm in their interview, bashing the patriotic drum for all it’s worth; the workers are having to pay dear for the war. The manipulators of the people’s food and other necessities are waxing fat out of the workers. Save your condemnation for those who deserve it.”

Other members of the workforce have also put their point of view:

“Much in your report is only half the truth, and to charge the men with bartering their duty for gain is not only offensive and misleading, but also absurd. Why, if we were so sordid and mercenary, did we reject the proffered war bonus, and why have we kept at our work from the beginning of the war without any advance in wages, save only the ½d an hour to married men, after a petition, while practically every other firm had granted an advance to ¾d months ago? The firm’s good works are manifold, but why omit to state the fact that week by week since war began the men have paid their contribution to the Soldiers Wives’ Maintenance Fund, or to leave out mention of the 5s each man pays to join the rifle club, which costs us nothing?”

Mr J. Horn, a cavalryman at the front with the 20th Hussars who was employed by Mr. R. H. Marks of George Street before the war takes a very different view:

“I read in the Luton News yesterday about the strike at the Skefko Works, and I think they should be sent out here and put in the first line of trenches, without ammunition, and the Germans ought to send their gases over them, to see how they go on then. They would never want to strike again. They cannot guess how things are out here. If they could see the poor refugees in this place flying from place to place for safety – old women being carried away on barrow, and babies in arms – they would understand what we are fighting for … If you could only hear what the boys say about the Germans out here you would say that we have hearts like lions. It doesn’t matter what we lose or what we gain, we go in for it, meaning to do better every time I wish you could hear what the boys said about the girls going on strike at Kent’s. They said they would like them out here for a week”.

Source: Luton News, 13th and 20th May 1915

Leighton Buzzard Woman Describes Southend Zeppelin Raid

Zeppelin recruitment poster [Wikimedia]

Thursday 13th May 1915: A Leighton woman has written home describing her experience at the Red Cross Hospital in Southend during the Zeppelin raid which hit the town early on Monday morning.[1]

“Daylight was just beginning to peep through the curtains; an orderly in soft shoes and white coat walked round the corridors, the nurses stole quietly round the wards, peeping at the sleeping patients, or putting on dressings. Two chatted quietly over the fire in the central hall, when someone came and said she thought she heard an aeroplane. They went to a side door, and on opening it were met by a rushing noise that was so loud that somebody said: ‘It is only a train.’  ‘Gee, whizz!’  Something flashed through the air just over their heads; then came a terrific explosion that shook the house violently. ‘Bombs! Are we hit? How near is it?’ ‘Out with the lights; to the wards,’ and ‘Are the patients all right?’  ‘Yes, and wide awake.’  ‘Don’t be frightened nurse, that’s fallen half-a-mile away.’  ‘Has it though; where is that fire?’  ‘So they are here at last; sounds like Jack Johnsons doesn’t it mate?’  were some of the remarks these wounded Tommies made, while the warning hooter still sounded its dismal note, and the noise of explosions continued, though not quite so near.”

“Then suspense … ‘We had better move the patients from the top wards to the basement,’ said the matron to the night sister. ‘Get rugs, hot water bottles and ten nurses.’ So everybody was busy for a while. Special police constables, Secretaries, R.A.M.C. men, and a doctor came flocking in. ‘All right here? We thought you had been hit. A bomb has fallen each side of you.’ … The telephone bell rings: ‘Any room for a casualty? We’re bringing a soldier injured in a fire.’ ‘Bring him along,’ was the reply. ‘We haven’t a single vacant bed, but we will put one up somewhere.’ So the day came … work went on with its usual routine … the tired night nurses anxiously wondering whether their own people were safe, went home through the crowded streets, where the people flocked to see the havoc wrought so suddenly in their peaceful seaside town.”

 Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 18th May 1915

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[1] Over 80 bombs were dropped on Southend by Zeppelin LZ38 resulting in many casualties and considerable damage to property, but only one death. [Source: Southend Timeline]

Regimental Postman Gaoled

British Postal Order, 1908 [Wikimedia]

Wednesday 12th May 1915: Lance-Corporal John James Halse of the 2/4th Leicesters, a soldier billeted in Luton has appeared at Luton Borough Court today charged with stealing a postal order of the value of two shillings. Lance-Corporal Halse has been employed as a regimental postman, whose duty was to collect letters from the General Post Office and distribute them. Complaints had been received that letters were going astray and Halse came under suspicion. When his belongings were searched an opened letter addressed to a man in the Lincolnshire Regiment was found. The letter contained a postal order marked Grimsby. Lance-Corporal Halse pleaded guilty and admitted stealing other postal orders. A Lieutenant appeared as a character witness, saying Halse was previously of good character.  The guilty man asked for leniency, explaining that he had previously fought in the Boer War and wanted to get to the Front. However, the Bench took the view that the breach of trust was of such a magnitude that prison was the only option. Halse was sentenced to one month in gaol with hard labour.

Source: Luton News, 13th May 1915

Food Parcels for Prisoners of War

British Red Cross Parcel, World War II [Wikimedia]

Tuesday 11th May 1915: The Prisoners’ of War Help Committee has sent out an appeal for help to meet the needs of British soldiers now in German prison camps. A local Committtee has been set up which now has a list of the names of all Bedfordshire men known to be prisoners of war. The Committee has asked for helpers to send food and clothing weekly or fortnightly. An incentive for donors is that no charge is made for delivery of these parcels, regardless of weight. Any packages weighing less than eleven pounds will be sent through the General Post Office, with heavier parcels being carried by the American Express Company. It is understood that when sent through the correct channels nearly 99 out of every 100 parcels sent are received by the addressees. It has also been suggested that food depots should be set up throughout the county to which gifts could be taken. Volunteer ladies would then package the goods ready for delivery, and where money was given rather than items they would use this purchase whatever was required.

There is no doubt that food parcels are very much appreciated by their recipients. Private William Housden from Biggleswade, who was taken prisoner while serving with the Suffolk Regiment, has written a letter of thanks for one sent to him by Messrs. Chew and Son of Biggleswade. He says that he is being well treated, but as the letter was subjected to heavy censorship it would have been difficult to say otherwise:

“I received your parcel quite safely, and I thank you very much indeed, as parcels are very acceptable. We are quite all right here, as we are treated very well. I am sure it is very kind of you to send such a nice parcel, and I feel very much indebted to you for your great kindness towards me. I hope you are having nice weather at Biggleswade, and wish I was there to help you enjoy it. … I am feeling a little lonely here, as I am the only one in this camp who comes from the dear old town of Biggleswade. The parcel was quite intact, with the exception of the sugar. The bag had burst, and the sugar, I was sorry to find, had disappeared through a little hole in the corner of the parcel, but I soon got some from the camp canteen, so all is well --- [CENSORED] --- I am writing by return of post, as all letters and postcards get a severe censorship before leaving here.”

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 14th May 1915 and 21st May 1915

Lost with the Lusitania

RMS Lusitania (Wikimedia)

Monday 10th May 1915:  After last week’s terrible news of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania off the coast of Ireland [1] it now appears that two Luton men are among those lost. Thomas Edward George Bodell, the son of Mr Thomas Bodell of Clarendon Road, Luton, emigrated to Canada ten years ago and was returning to Britian for the first time. He was travelling with his wife and their two year old son. None of their names have appeared on the lists of survivors and it must now be assumed that they are among the victims of the disaster. Mrs Bodell’s brother has travelled from Cardiff to Queenstown in Ireland to try to identify his sister and her family, but so far without success. Thomas Bodell attended Waller Street School in Luton. He then served an apprenticeship at Hayward, Tyler and Co. and worked in London for a time before leaving for Canada, where he went into business as a brass and electrical fittings maker in Toronto. He was a former secretary of the Luton Amateur Football Club. His father says his 33 year old son had disposed of his Canadian business and was returning to England with the intention of enlisting.

Mr Robert E. Dearbergh, who was travelling as a saloon passenger on the Lusitania, is also believed lost. His brothers carried on one of the leading plait businesses in Luton for many years, although he himself has lived in New York for some time. His brother, Fred Dearbergh of St. Albans, has also travelled to Queenstown but has found no trace of the missing man. Mr. Dearburgh, a bachelor aged 52, last lived in Luton some twenty-five years ago. A well travelled man, he was considered an accomplished linguist. He was returning to Britain to place his abilities and experience at his country’s disposal.

Source: Luton News, 13th May 1915; Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Citizen, 18th May 1915

[1] The Lusitania was torpedoed on 7th May 1915, with the loss of 1201 lives.

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[2] More about the sinking of the Lusitania and the Lutonians lost in the disaster can be found on the Luton WW1 website.

Death in the Dardanelles

Programme from Kenneth Longuet-Higgins' last school sports, 1913 [HG12/11/113]

Sunday 9th May 1915: The Longuet-Higgins family of Turvey have received the sad news of the death of their youngest son Kenneth, the Lieutenant in the Royal Marine Light Infantry we last heard of travelling out to the Dardanelles in March. Kenneth Aislabie Longuet-Higgins was killed on 2nd May 1915, aged just nineteen, and was buried at sea off Rhodes on 3rd May. One of his former school friends at St. Paul’s, London, has written the following poem in his memory:

Died of Wounds Received at the DardanellesWhere stern grey busts of gods and heroes oldFrown down upon the corridors’ chill stone,
On which the sunbeam’s amber pale is thrown
From leaf-fringed windows, one of quiet mouldGazed long at those white chronicles which toldOf honours that the stately School had known.
He read the names: and wondered if his own
Would ever grace the walls in letters bold.
He knew not that he for the School would gainA greater honour with a greater price –
That, no long years of work, but bitter painAnd his rich life, he was to sacrifice –
Not in a University’s grey peace,
But on the hilly sun-baked Chersonese.

Source: Higgins Archive [HG1/130, anonymous poem signed only O.P. (Old Pauline) reprinted from ‘The Pauline’, December 1915]

In the Event of Invasion

Church Road, Wilstead 1914 [Z1306/134/6/1]

Saturday 8th May 1915:  A meeting has been held at which plans were made for an emergency scheme covering the villages of Cople, Willington, Cardington, Eastcotts, Wilstead and Elstow, to be put into effect in the event of German invasion. In each village a deputy has been appointed to the head of the Emergency Committee, Mr John Arnold Whitworth. Each deputy is to be sworn in as a Special Constable and to take complete charge of his village, appointing four men under him to take charge of live stock, tools, transport and food stuffs. Each will be required to carry out the following duties:

Live Stock – cattle, sheep and horses not required for transport are to be driven to Wilstead, enroute for Haynes, Millbrook and Woburn Sands. The man in charge should select a staff capable of driving and also destroying and rendering unfit for human food any animals the military requires to be destroyed. Horses fit for transport should be collected at the village centre.

Tools – the man in charge will require a staff with axes, ropes, saws, picks and spades for felling trees, making roads, filling ditches, collecting and fixing barbed wire or such other duties as the military may require. He will need to work closely with the man responsible for transport; together they should load up tools and wire and take them to the nearest centre.

Transport – all transport material should be collected at the nearest centre. Where required this should be loaded with items collected by the man in charge of tools.

Food Stuffs – a staff must be found to burn and destroy any supplies which are ordered to be destroyed, or to load such supplies as may be required to be moved.

Owners of motor cars and motor cycles should be asked to bring them to the nearest County Police Station, with as much petrol as they can carry. Mr Whitchurch wishes to be advised of the number of Boy Scouts or Special Constables required in addition to the local staff, who should be used as much as possible. The village deputies have been asked to impress upon the farmers the need to brand their stock for identification purposes.

Source: Notes made by John Arnold Whitchurch [WW1/EC1/3]