Five Year Old Boy Killed At Leighton Buzzard

Beaudesert Council Infants School, 1913 [Z50/72/21]

Wednesday 7th April 1915: The funeral has been held today for five year old Leighton Buzzard boy Hubert Michael Hyde, who was run over on Good Friday morning (April 2nd) while following the band of the West Yorkshire Regiment along Vandyke Road. Young Hubert was walking slowly backwards watching the bandsmen, when he was knocked down and run over by one of Mr. Arnold’s sand carts. Despite a plucky attempt by Drummer Johnson to snatch the boy from under the wheel it passed over the lower part of his body and caused injuries to his back from which he died a few hours later. This is the second tragedy to strike Hubert’s parents, Benjamin and Helen Hyde of 26 Regent Street, in the course of just three months. Their elder son, Private Richard James Hyde, died on January 9th while in training with the 1st/5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment at Newmarket.

Around forty of little Hubert’s playmates and school friends attended the funeral, many laying little bunches of flowers on the grave in which the boy was interred next to his brother. Six members of the West Yorkshire Regiment band, including Drummer Johnson, carried the boys remains to his resting place. The mourners includes Hubert’s parents, his sister Constance, and his three surviving brothers, Benjamin, Frank and Reggie. Among the wreaths placed on the grave were flowers from the staff of Beaudesert Infants’ School and from the officers, N.C.O’s and men of C Company of the 12th West Yorkshire Regiment.

An inquest into the boy’s death was held yesterday. Drummer Johnson described how Hubert was turning sideways to look at the band, walked into the horse and was knocked down; despite his best efforts he was unable to pull the boy out of the way. He felt the driver had proper command of the horse and was unable to see the boy. Another bandsman said that he had warned the children several times because of the narrowness of the road; he did not think the horse was disturbed by the noise of the band. However the driver, 15 year old Albert Osbern of Evans Hill, stated that the mare started running when he met the band and he could not hold it back. He saw some children in front and “hollered” to them; they all ran out of the way except Hubert Hyde. Although he pulled right into the gutter to avoid him he could not get clear of the boy. He had driven the mare before and had never had any trouble with her. The Coroner stated that no blame could be attached to Albert Osbern. The child was listening to the band without paying attention to anything else, and did not realise he was in danger. The jury passed a verdict of accidental death and asked the Coroner to commend Drummer Johnson’s action and to bring it to the notice of his Commanding Officer.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 6th and 13th April 1915

Do Your Bit!

1909 Commer Bus (Wikimedia)

Tuesday 6th April 1915:  The industrial unrest which affected Britain before the outbreak of war has continued despite the state of emergency. There has been talk that the government will try to outlaw strikes but no action has so far been taken. A former employee of Commercial Cars Ltd. in Luton who is now fighting with the 1st Bedfords has written to his brother, who still works for the company, expressing his concern that strikes will damage the war effort:

Just a line in answer to your letter. I was sorry to hear of the trouble you are having in England with labour. I know as well as you that the skilled working man in England is paid none too well at ordinary times, and now the prices of food have gone up it makes it harder for him to make both ends meet. But, believe me, Fred, you are playing in the enemies’ hands by strking. Nothing would suit Germany better than to see England in a labour war. My sympathies are with you in your endeavour to get more money, but if you can get enough to pay your way, for God’s sake, DO YOUR BIT.

Don’t take notice of agitators. Remember that by keeping the ball rolling you are helping us out here one way or another. I am working out here for a pittance that I have earned in half a week. I drew 29s since I left England. I don’t mind. I am doing it for one end. When we come home victorious then people can agitate. But, Fred, from me, DO YOUR BIT. Stick to your work. I see in the paper that up North they can’t get the men to work. I know what it means to continually stick at work night and day, but I think they are lucky to get the work to do.

Remember, it is our little boys out here that is giving them that privilege. If the Germans could only get Calais there would be some trouble for England. We have lost thousands of good men in keeping them back. We know what it means if they beat us here. But they won’t. We know what we are fighting for. It has been a terrific struggle. You in England don’t know. Our Navy is doing their utmost to keep the seas open, and we are doing our best to keep England out of danger.

If you only realised what a close one it has been … You never will. You have got to be here to see. This is funny talk, Fred, but I feel deeply on this point. Those men who have not enlisted, it’s up to them to keep the flag flying – not to squabble over a paltry shilling or two, while men are dying every day so that they should have the privilege to work at home.

 Source: Luton News 1st April 1915

Highland Games at Bedford

Tossing the caber, from Souvenir of the Highland Division at Bedford [X414/162]

Easter Monday, 5th April 1915: Another great Highland tradition has made its way to Bedford today, where a full programme of Highland Games has been in progress in the grounds of Bedford Grammar School. Competitions have included piping, dancing of sword dances, Highland flings and reels, tossing the caber and the hammer, long and high jumping, bayonet fighting, tug-o-war and various running races.

The 8th Argylls proved the champions of the games, with their star performers including winning piper Pipe-Major W. Laurie, famous throughout Scotland as one of the best pipers in the world, dancer Sergeant Logan, who won the sword dance and the Highland fling, and an invincible heavyweight tug-o-war team. The programme was arranged by the Bedford Borough Recreation Committee for the Troops, who also provided stewards, time-keepers and other officials. Prizes were presented by His Grace the Duke of Bedford.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 9th April 1915; 

News from the Villages

Statue of George I by Carl Rangenier, Hanover [Wikimedia]

Sunday 4th April 1915:

Barton-le-Clay

A Barton mother remembers using the now rather outdated phrase “go to Hanover with you” to her children when irritated by them. Ironically her words have come true as one of her sons is now a prisoner of war at Hanover. The saying is a hangover from the time of the early King Georges, who preferred their original kingdom of Hanover to their newly acquired British realms and would return there at any opportunity. The contemptuous English view of this habit was reflected in the use of the term “go to Hanover” as an expression of annoyance.

Gravenhurst

Mr and Mrs Charles Fisher of Gravenhurst now have four sons serving in the Forces: John, Albert, Robert and Herbert. There is considerable sympathy for Mr and Mrs George Redman who have been notified by the War Office that their son Walter is missing. There is great hope that he is still alive and will turn up, maybe as a prisoner in Germany.[1]

Flitton and Greenfield

The Flitton Roll of Honour now includes seven men:

• Lance Corporal Herbert Thompson, H Company, Beds Regiment
• Wilfrid Summerfield, Duke of Bedford’s Camp (Ampthill)
• David Weston, 5th Battalion, Beds Regiment
• Ernest C. Odell, National Reserve, re-enlisted (10 years Indian Service)
• Arthur J. Hyde, Duke of Bedford’s Camp
• Henry G. Jones, Royal Field Artillery
• George Northwood, National Reserve, re-enlisted

Silsoe

A concert is to be given at Silsoe Church on the evening of Friday 9th April by a group of ladies and gentlemen from Bedford to raise funds for the relief of the Belgians.

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

---

[1] Sadly this hope was misplaced. Private Walter Redman of the 2nd Battalion of the East Surrey Regiment had been killed in action on February 14th and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. None of the Fisher brothers appear on the Gravenhurst war memorial so it may be that they all survived the war.

Wounded Sailor Unconscious For Nine Weeks

Able-Seaman Albert Lane (Bedfordshire Times)

Saturday 3rd April 1915: Able-Seaman Albert Lane, wounded in the earliest days of the war, has finally returned home to Bedford, where he is staying with his mother at 31 Howbury Street. He was serving on HMS Kennet, a destroyer which was in action in an “insignificant” little fight in Tsing-Tau bay on August 22nd. During the fight the ship came within range of the heavy guns of the land forts, one of which hit the Kennet’s upper deck with a highly explosive shell, killing four men and wounding six. Seaman Lane was the most severely wounded; a piece of shell entered his skull, two more tore through his right arm, another two entered his chest, and he had five other wounds including a serious injury to the ribs.

He remained unconscious for nine weeks until October 22nd, during which time an operation had been performed to remove the piece of shell and some bone which was pressing on his brain. The Naval doctors at the Wei-Hai-Wei Hospital told him that he should have died. He survived, and was sent to Hong Kong in the hospital ship Delta where he remained in hospital until 9th Januaryl . He then left Hong Kong on the P and O liner Nanking, arriving in England on 8th March. After some time at Woolwich he has finally returned to Bedford. All his wound have healed remarkably, although he has been left with slight paralysis in his right hand. When he is fit he will report for duty again, but believes he may get his discharge as his service was completed in February. Seaman Lane also has an older brother serving in the Royal Navy, as Chief Petty Officer on board HMS Dominion in the North Sea.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 2nd April 1915

Bedford Man's Son Lost on the Falaba

Lieutenant William Nicholas

Friday 2nd April 1915: The news has reached Bedford that Lieutenant William J W Nicholas, the second son of Mr William Nicholas of Park Avenue, Bedford, is among the passengers missing from the civilian ship Falaba which was torpedoed by a German submarine last Sunday. The Falaba left the port of Liverpool on Saturday evening bound for West Africa, carrying 147 passengers and 95 crew. She was torpedoed by a submarine, which first whistled three times for the Falaba’s  boats to be launched.[1] The first boat was sunk, either by a torpedo or a shell, the second and third capsized, and only one boat, carrying fourteen men, got away. The trawler Eileen Emma of Lowestoft was close to the submarine when the torpedo was fired and saw it strike the Falaba in the engine room. The ship sank quickly, throwing the passengers into the water. Witnesses stated the submarine circled the sinking vessel, with her crew laughing and jeering at the drowning men. Eileen Emma picked up 116, including eight dead – among them Captain Davis. Another steam drifter, the Wenlock picked up six alive and two dead and a third, the Orient II picked up the fourteen men from the lifeboat.

First reports stated that the crew and passengers of the Falaba were safe, so Mr. Nicholas was not too alarmed about his son, but as further details came through he has been unable to find out what has happened to him and his name now appears among those missing. Lieutenant Nicholas is 29 years old and was born at Plymouth, where he was educated at Plymouth Hoe Grammar School. After leaving school he joined the Eastern Telegraph Company. He worked first in Madeira, then in Rio de Janeiro, Santos and the Malay Straits. Last year he was home on leave, before returning to the Straits in June 1914. When war broke out he returned home, arriving at Bedford in December. He obtained a commission in the 3rd Battalion (Notts and Derbys) of the Sherwood Foresters and was stationed at Plymouth. He had just paid a short visit to his parents at Bedford and was leaving to take a duties on secondment to the Expeditionary Force in West Africa. [2]

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 1st, 9th and 30th April 1915

---

[1] British merchant vessels had been ordered to paint over their names and fly a neutral flag. In response Germany had declared the waters surrounding the United Kingdom a war zone in which any merchant ship could be immediately destroyed. One of the passengers who died was American mining engineer Leon Chester Thrasher. The “Thrasher incident” and the death of so many civilians led to an outcry which came close to bringing the USA into the war. However witness statements to the effect that the submarine, U-Boat U-28, had given Falaba sufficient warning to allow it to offload passengers but that the Falaba had used the time to radio the position of the submarine to British patrol ships, averted the diplomatic incident.

[2] Lieutenant Nicholas’s death was subsequently confirmed, and on Monday 26th April his father received news that his son’s body had been washed ashore at Lelant near St. Ives, Cornwall. An inquest was held at Lelant and Lt. Nicholas was buried at his father’s birthplace, Calstock in Cornwall, alongside his mother and younger brother, who ironically had also died by drowning. 

Luton Soldiers Write Home

Troops boarding train at Bedford 1914 [Z1306/12/5/38]

Thursday 1st April 1915: A Luton man, Acting Bombardier A. A. Harris of 2nd Lincoln Battery, 1st North Midland Division, has written describing his arrival in France:

It was a fine journey over, living on biscuits and bully beef which does not look very tempting when every moment you expect to find your heart in your mouth, this being the first long journey most of us had ever taken by boat, but after all there was not much illness, the sea taking a liking to us. We arrived at our destination in the early morn and proceeded to a rest camp, where we were treated A1, being served out with fine warm coats and body belts, the gift of the women of England – a most acceptable gift, too. We also took our first lesson in “Parle vous Francais”. Leaving the camp we proceeded up country, being two days entrained in horse boxes. This seems a strange way of travelling, but it is fine; we being able to lay down and sleep, where with the ordinary carriages it would mean our sitting upright and not getting much rest.

The experiences of those already serving in the Front Line give some idea of what may await Bombadier Harris. Private R Watson of King’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards writing to his brother Mr. C. Watson of William Street, Luton tells him he has had some “near shaves”:

You are right in what you said about our having a very warm time of it, and losing a good lot of men, but I got through without a scratch. I consider myself a lucky man, as I had three bullets put through my pack and one right below my belt: it hit the piece of brass on my water-bottle strap and cut through my great coat and jacket … We did not do any charging, but had to advance in daylight and had a cross-fire on us almost all the first day and had a good mile and a half of ground to get over.

Bombadier C. H. Clarke of the 56th Battery, Royal Field Artillery has described in a letter to his sister Mrs A. Coles of High Street, Toddington some of the difficulties facing the infantry:

It is a nasty job for them to try and gain trenches when they have to scramble through barbed wire, with which the ground is covered. It takes a big gun to shift it, and while they are trying their utmost to overcome barbed wire entanglements they are met with a storm of bullets from the enemy’s machine guns. It is awful work, but the boys stick it and die like men. Some experience a more difficult task than others. One of the boys was telling me how his mate was fixed in the barbed wire, with two wounds in his legs, and he dare not flinch an inch, only hang there and make believe he was dead, until it got dark and then, bit by bit, he loosed himself and crawled back into his own trenches.

 Source: Luton News, 25th March 1915