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]

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.