The Blind Helping the Blind

Friday 17th March 1916: Concerts were given yesterday at the Bedford Corn Exchange by blind musicians on behalf of the National Institute for the Blind. The first performance was for civilians and a second performance took place in the evening for a military audience. Since the war began a number of blinded soldiers and sailors have been added to the Institute’s membership. Locally these include Mr. Guy Pym’s footman [1] who was blinded at Anzac, and Captain Owen, an Old Modernian and Bedford Rugby three-quarter. During the interval Captain Owen was led on to the platform by Mr. Machin and introduced as a “very gallant gentleman” who would tell them not “of sitting against a rock whilst lead was spattering all round him, so that he had 42 pieces of it in his body; but of the magnificent work being done by the Institute”.

Captain Owen said he “was not such an old crock as Mr. Machin would make him out to be” and was feeling very fit. He told the audience about St. Dunstan’s [2], where he had spent six months. At the beginning of the war the president of the National Institute, Sir Arthur Pearson, had borrowed a house of that name in Regent’s Park, with beautiful grounds of 14 acres. Here soldiers and sailors who had been deprived of their sight were taken after their convalescence and trained for six months. Mr. Pearson and his Committee also supervised their after-care. Since the beginning of the war 281 soldiers and sailors had lost their sight, with some also losing limbs and speech. At St. Dunstan’s they were trained in a variety of trades, ranging from poultry keeping and market gardening to typewriting, ensuring that they would not be dependent on charity. The Institution cost £200 a week and depended entirely on donations.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 17th March 1916

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[1] Charles Guy Pym was Conservative Member of Parliament for Bedford from 1895 to 1906 and High Sheriff of London in 1911.

[2] Now Blind Veterans UK http://www.blindveterans.org.uk/  

More Conscientious Objectors

Christadelphian Lecture Hall, St. Loyes St, Bedford c.1910

[Z1306/10/56/1]

Thursday 16th March 1916: The tribunals which sat this week at both Bedford and Ampthill heard a number of applications from conscientious objectors.

At Ampthill a provision merchant claimed exemption on dual grounds, both as a conscientious objector and as the sole support of his parents. He also had a sister, who was due to be married at Easter, who looked after the business while he was out getting orders and carried on the drapery department. He also had a lad to help him. His conscience had troubled him from boyhood and he did not think killing was right, though he would be willing to go with the ambulance. He was a Wesleyan, not a Quaker. Another man applied for total objection as a believer in the sacredness of human life and the brotherhood of man. He would not send men abroad and would not have a Navy; he did not think men ought to go and fight. Both these applications were refused, as was that of another man who stated that if he had the option of killing or being killed he would be killed, and that if he had to go into the trenches he would rather go without a rifle than with one.

At Bedford a Christadelphian applied on grounds of conscientious objection. This man was an engineer engaged in shell manufacture. Although he would rather “suffer the extreme penalty” that affirm or swear to support any institution in the taking of human life, he was compelled to make whatever his employer undertook to manufacture. He was granted conditional exemption so long as he continued to be employed in munitions work. A 19 year old student at the Royal College of Science said he objected to taking part in the war, but recognised that he must make a concession and so would be willing to take part in work such as mine-sweeping which was destroying instruments of war. He stated “I cannot see any point in the war. It seems to me pure destruction for no end. I do not believe the ownership of land is of sufficient importance”. He believed that at this time the nation was wrong to take up arms and he could not imagine a war in which it would be legitimate to take part. His application was refused. Another applicant who objected on similar grounds was passed for non-combatant service after stating he was willing to work in the Army Service Corps but not to swear an oath.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 17th March 1916

Luton Casuals Football Club

Luton Casuals Football Club [Luton News]

Wednesday 15th March 1916: The Luton Casuals Football Club, which is closely linked to the King Street Congregational Church, is persistently failing to turn up for its fixtures. This is because every member of the team has swapped his black and white striped jersey for khaki. The team list now reads:

Goalkeeper

P. Burnet (King’s Liverpool Regiment) – wounded, in hospital in England

Backs

H. Sharp (24th London Regiment, The Queen’s) – discharged from Army unfit for further service owing to wounds

Leslie Hart (Middlesex Regiment, Public Schools Battalion) – wounded, in hospital in England

Half-Backs

W. Coggins (3/1st North Midland A.S.C.) – training at Nottingham

F. Webb (Vice-Captain) (9th London Regiment) – “somewhere in France”

P. Darby (24th London Regiment, The Queen’s) – killed in action in France

S. Burnet (Inns of Court O.T.C.) – recently gazetted

Forwards

George Hart (24th London Regiment, The Queen’s) – “somewhere in France”

F. Biggs (Despatch Rider, 1/1st North Midland Division) – “somewhere in France”

H. Webb (Captain) (24th London Regiment, The Queen’s) – “somewhere in France”

S. White (R.A.M.C.) – “somewhere in France”

Alec Webdale (9th London Regiment) – “somewhere in France”

F. Facer (Lieutenant, Army Veterinary Corps) – training

Secretary

A. Mahon (London Rifle Brigade) – “somewhere in France”

Source: Luton News, 16th March 1916

Death of a Kempston Teacher

Elstow Moot Hall c.1920 [Z49/54]

Tuesday 14th March 1916: Corporal Arthur Ford of Kempston has died of wounds received fighting with the 5th Northamptonshire Regiment. After his school days at Mr. Bates’s School in Bedford he joined the teaching staff at Mr. Owen’s School in Kempston; after this he went to Training College at Peterborough, from where he volunteered for the army. Arthur Ford was well known at both Kempston and Elstow, where he attended Sunday School at the Moot Hall and taught at the Memorial Hall. On Sundays he regularly visited his uncle, Mr. William Cirket, and always stayed for the evening service at the Memorial Hall where he became a member of the Bunyan Church. In a letter of sympathy to the young man’s father Captain F. W. Butler wrote:

 “He had endeared himself to all the men in the Company, especially the officers, and we are all greatly grieved. The operation on the 2nd and 3rd of March was a minor one, but the casualties in my Company were the greatest we have had since we came out; all my officers were either killed or wounded, and when I got up on to the platoon on the right I found your son had taken command of his platoon, his officer and sergeant having been both wounded. I reported his gallant conduct to the Colonel. Your son was a most efficient soldier, and one who was marked down for promotion. … The last I saw of him was when he was being carried down the communication trench, and he was quite collected then. I understand he was shot in the back near to the spine, and he died in the hospital yesterday.”

 A letter from a fellow soldier describes the circumstances in which Corporal Ford was shot:

 “Last night our people blew up some mines, and after occupying the craters, it fell to No. 1 Platoon to connect the craters with our old front line, by digging a communication trench. Out on top, digging for all they were worth, they hd no cover, so could not all escape. Among the wounded was Arthur. I have seen the stretcher bearer who attended to him, and he tells me that the bullet, coming from one side, struck him close to the back. Arthur himself was very cheerful, realising, I suppose, that he was still in God’s good hands.”

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 17th March 1916

Ampthill Rural Tribunal

Sheep at Biscot Mill 1915 [Z1306/75/11/1]

Monday 13th March 1916: The first Ampthill Rural Tribunal sat today and heard fifty applications for exemption from military service. Six of these were from conscientious objectors. The others came from a variety of occupations, although being a rural area the majority related to farm employees.

• A doctor applied for his chauffeur, stating he was absolutely necessary if he was to continue his practice as Medical Officer of Health for 31 parishes. He himself was unable to drive due to his eyesight and the lighting restrictions. Despite advertising in several papers he could not find a replacement. Again, a temporary exemption was granted until June 13th.
• A railway labourer applied to be exempted on the ground of domestic hardship as he supported his widowed mother. He was refused as there was insufficient evidence of hardship.
• A grocer and tax-collector applied for both his son and a labourer. The son managed the business and helped with the collecting. He had two other married sons, one working on munitions and one in the Post Office, a daughter who was not capable of working, and his wife was an invalid. The labourer was his only employee and could not be substituted; he delivered goods and worked on 4 acres of land. This man at attested but had been passed for home service only. Although the father stated he would have to give up the business without his son’s help the application on the son’s behalf was refused, but the labourer was conditionally exempted while in his current employment.
• A farmer of 310 acres applied on behalf of one of his seven sons, who was his horsekeeper and engineer. Two of the other sons had attested but none were actually serviing; an appeal to a higher court for another son had already been refused. The farmer was asked if he was not ashamed to appeal for this young man when he had all those other sons, but said he was not as he could not manage without him. The application was refused.
• A shepherd on a 436 acre farm was needed because the farm had 105 in-lamb ewes and he also helped with milking, building and thatching ricks. Other men had already left the farm to join the army. The shepherd was granted a conditional exemption.

Source: Bedfordshire Times 17th March 1916

Oranges for the Navy

Boys from Stotfold Council School with 

fruit and vegetables for the navy [Z1306/115/19/4] 

Sunday 12th March 1916: The village of Stotfold has responded admirably to an appeal to provide oranges for the Royal Navy, sending a grand total of 3,078 to the Fleet. The boys of the Council Schools gave nearly 500 oranges, while the girls and infants of the Day Schools gave five shillings and seven pence to the collection. The district as a whole has sent over 15,000 oranges.

Source: Stotfold Parish Magazine [P83/30/1]

A Plucky Ploughgirl

Women's Land Army Poster 1917 [Wikimedia]

Saturday 11th March 1916: The work of women on farms, a frequent topic of conversation in recent times, was mentioned in a couple of cases heard at the Luton Rural Tribunal this week. A farmer in the Dunstable area appealed for his son who has been discharged from the Bedfordshire Yeomanry as a time-expired man after serving at Ypres and Loos. When he returned there was no other man on the farm except the father, who was being helped by one of his daughters. This young lady had driven a five-horse double plough all through the autumn, and was out ploughing with five horses again yesterday. The chairman of the tribunal commended her as a “plucky girl”. After hearing these circumstances the military representative changed his mind and withdrew his opposition to the appeal and the son was given a conditional exemption.

Another farmer had a rather different attitude to women on farms. He applied for exemption for two employees. When asked if he could get women to do the work he said he had help from some of the village women in the hay season, but did not think women could stand farm work in the winter. He told the tribunal “If it comes to women working on the farm I shall clear out”. Asked if he was not fond of the ladies he replied, “I am fond of them to a certain extent, but not fond enough of them o put up with them as regards labour”. One of his worker also maintained his mother and was conditionally exempted while employed on the farm; the other application was refused.

Source: Luton News, 9th March 1916