Colmworth Man “As Happy as a King”

Colmworth c.1910 [Z466/1]

Friday 10th March 1916: Private Ernest Charles Thompson of the 9th Seaforth Pioneers has written a cheerful letter to his brother Albert at Colmworth.  Private Thompson and his comrades were fortunate to survived unscathed when their billet was knocked down by a shell, although all their rifles and equipment were blown to pieces. The demolition had worked to the Seaforths advantage as “we have a very comfortable place now, the remains of an old farm house, all sand-bagged inside, with a good floor, and we have a fire in it to make it better. We got some old chaff bags stuffed with straw for a bed, and we are as happy as kings. We have a gramophone in our company with about 100 records; our turn is on Sunday. We get plenty of good food.”

Private Thompson also described just how close the German and British front lines are to each other. “I was out the other day in the first line with a periscope. The Germans are only 70 yards off, and I could hear one playing a tin whistle, then split some wood. All the time I was waiting to have a go at him. Then he just had another look at our trench over the top and his view was short and sweet for a bullet was there in no time.”

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 17th March 1916

Ladies and Linotype

 Diagram of a linotype magazine c.1904 [Wikimedia]

Thursday 9th March 1916: Recruitment tribunals across the country have been meeting to consider applications for exemption from military service. A comment from a member of the Leighton Buzzard Tribunal considering an application from a linotype operator has made the national news, with the following letter appearing in the latest issue of Newspaper World:

"Many amusing and remarkable statements in regard to newspaper working have been made at the meetings of the local Tribunals, but surely the most surprising of all is the one recorded in last week's 'Tribunalities', in connection with the application of a linotype operator, a member of the Tribunal declaring that he had heard of a lady operator becoming skilled in two weeks. Evidently the Tribunal took a more common sense view, for the operator concerned was granted a postponement of four months".

The tribunal member must have an extremely limited understanding of the printing industry. It is generally accepted that men need three or four years to become skilled at operating complicated linotype machines. The extraordinary statement of this particular tribunal member that he had heard of a lady who learned to operate one in a fortnight, has caused indignation among linotype operators across the country, who know from experience just how unlikely this would be. The reality is rather different. A lady in Leighton Buzzard has indeed begun to operate a typesetting machine, but a typograph rather than a linotype. These German made machines are much simpler and considerably slower. After two weeks the lady had shown enough promise to suggest that continued tuition would enable her to work the machine.

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 14th March 1916

Bletsoe Man Suffers Severe Frostbite

St Mary's Church, Bletsoe c.1905 [Z1306/18/9]

Wednesday 8th March 1916: Private W. Wildman of Bletsoe [1]  has written to Miss B. Wildman from Lancashire where he is hospitalised with severely frostbitten feet sustained in Serbia. It seems the “active” part of his war lasted only two weeks and he is unlikely to return to the front. He says:

“I left England on November 6th, and it took us 12 days to go across, and I wasn’t sorry when we landed. I stayed at Salonika a week, and then marched off to Serbia. We lay out in the open every night, and the ground was covered with snow; Serbia is all mountains. On December 2nd I got frostbitten and had to be carried away on a stretcher, and they had to cut my boots off me. My feet were as black as coal. Then I went to Alexandria in Egypt. I landed there on Christmas Eve, and I had a jolly good time. I was there till January 22, then I set sail for England. It took us nine days to come home; I was laughing when I landed on English soil again. We had another night travelling on the hospital train, and went down to Lancashire. I am in a very nice hospital now. It is the biggest hospital in England; there are about 3,000 beds in it, and there is a large theatre, big enough to hold 1,000. It is better than going to town theatres; on Saturdays they have pictures I have to go on a wheel chair. I have lost one big toe already, the nurse cut it off with scissors last Wednesday. It feels a lot better off. I have seen a lot of young chaps with all their toes off, and some with their feet off. I shall be here for three months at the least, but I shall not go out to the front again. I think I have had my share of it.”

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 10th March 1916

[1] Probably William, son of John James and Martha Wildman of Bletsoe, born 1896.

Closure of Elstow School Announced

Elstow School, 1912 [Z1130/9/2/8/14]

Tuesday 7th March 1916:  An unlooked for effect of the war has come in the announcement that Elstow School is to close at the end of this term. This well known public institution has done splendid work under its headmaster Revd. C. F. Farrar, but it has been hit hard by the recent conditions. Many of its boys have always come from abroad, and the class of families from which it drew its pupils has been forced into stringent economies. Pupil numbers have fallen, expenses have increased, and it has become impossible to fill gaps in the staff.

The County School was founded in 1866 by a number of landowners and others, and a Limited Company was formed in which the Duke of Bedford took shares to the value of £10,000. The school opened on August 16th, 1869, with 70 boys, under its first headmaster Revd. William Groome. By the end of its second year numbers had risen to 330 boys. Revd. Farrar was appointed the fifth headmaster in 1893 and was an assistant master at the School for some time before. In 1898 ownership of the school passed from the Company to Revd. Farrar. During these five years the number of boys at the school had nearly doubled and a number of improvements to the premises and equipment had been made, including the installation of electric light. During his time as headmaster the name was changed to Elstow School. In 1914 it was estimated that over 4000 boys had been educated there. It will be greatly missed, especially by the boys of Bedford Modern School who enjoyed a keen sporting rivalry with the Elstonians.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 10th March 1916

Bute Hospital Annual Report

Architectural drawing of Bute Hospital frontage, c.1902 [Z1306/75/5/1]

Monday 6th March 1916: Since the war began the number of doctors in Luton has fallen from twenty four to twelve, with the military authorities are still trying to recruit more medical men. The remaining doctors in the town are not only having to cope with their own vastly increased workload, but are also making time to carry out more work at the Bute Hospital. The annual report presented to the Hospital Governors last night shows the following figures for 1915:

• Total number of patients – 573
• Children under 13 – 194
• Military cases – 101
• Cases the result of accidents – 112
• Serious operations performed – 283
• Patients treated wholly without payment (others were partially excused) – 69

The number of patients treated fell from 760 in 1914 due to a reduction in military cases from 256 in that year to 101. These were all serious cases of illness or injury which could not be treated at the V.A.D. Hospital. The soldiers currently in the hospital included one with a fractured spine, one with a broken leg, one with a serious spinal disease, and one with very serious heart disease.

During 1915 the average cost per week per bed increased by 1s 9d to 20s 5d, and would have been higher without the help of Pound Day, the Ladies’ Work Guild and presents of game from Lady Wernher. Last year £300 had been ear-marked for purchasing X-ray apparatus, but this had not been possible due to the demand by military hospitals.

The remaining doctors were aware that their lack of numbers meant they were not doing the work of the hospital as well as they would like, but they were doing their best under difficult circumstances. Their difficulties had been increased by the death of the hospital’s consultant surgeon, Mr Stanley Boyd. He had come to the hospital frequently and at all hours, often arriving by the midnight train to perform an urgent operation before returning to London in the early morning. He was one of the greatest surgeons in London and it did not seem possible that the hospital would be able to replace him with another of similar standing.

Source: Luton News, 9th March 1916

Bedford Soldier Enjoying Life in Egypt

1/1st Signal Company, East Anglian Royal Engineers in Egypt (Beds Times 10/3/16)

Sunday 5th March 1916: Private C. W. Chettle of the 1/1st Eastern Mounted Brigade, Field Ambulance, has written home to Bedford describing life in Egypt:

“I am having a most enjoyable time. Our camp is about 5 or 6 miles from Alexandria, which can easily be reached by taking a tram which is only about 10 minutes’ walk from our tents. The journey is a magnificent one, and only costs ½ piaster (in English 1¼d), much cheaper than the Bedford buses! There are some very beautiful houses and buildings, all of which are white, and flat roofs, where clothes are dried. The gardens, which surround them, are full of orange trees, tomatoes, and palm trees. The latter grow dates in season, and dead and dried ones can be found lodging in the branches. Alighting from the car at the terminus you are immediately accosted by a number of natives, wanting to black your boots, and to sell their wares, and after telling them to “imshe” (go away), you wend your way then to the Y.M.C.A., where a good meal of ham and eggs, tea cake and fruit can be obtained. A visit to the reading and writing room kills the best part of two hours. The remainder of the evening is spent by visiting the picture palace or theatre. There are one or two English Churches, where we can go to on Sunday, but, of course, I would much rather it be Bunyan.”

 Source: Bedfordshire Times, 10th March 1916

Boys Damage Telephone Lines at Potton

Gamlingay Road, Potton [Z1306/91/9]

Saturday 4th March 1916: Reuben Yerrill and Edward Hutchinson, two errand boys from Potton, were summoned to the Children’s Court in Biggleswade for attempting to break insulators on telegraph poles on January 9th. Special Constable Ernest Jones was on duty in the Gamlingay Road at 3.45 p.m. when he saw the boys throwing stones at a broken insulator and in the direction of the telegraph wires and poles. Florry Tear said she was walking along the road at the same time and saw the boys throwing the stones.

A Post Office official said that during the last six months 21 insulators had been broken between Wrestlingworth Cross Roads and Gamlingay on a newly erected line. Each cost 5½d and replacing them caused considerable expense. The damage also often stopped communication along the line. The case was brought as a warning and the lads were discharged with a caution.

Source: Biggleswade Chronicle, 3rd March 1916