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In May 1915 Private Frederick Charles Smith writes to friends and relatives in the district;

“Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well; but it is a marvel. We have been in trenches six days and six nights. For the first four days the Bosch trenches and ours were bombarded very heavily, and on the fifth morning, about 3a.m., artillery opened very heavy fire for about half an hour, and then the attack was made. About 7a.m. a party was warned for digging, and I was one of them. We had about a mile of open ground to advance over before we started digging, and the enemy must have caught sight of us, for they started putting Jack Johnsons and shrapnel over at us by the dozen. I am sure those of us who came out safely were very lucky, if I tell the truth about it was like hell let loose. We were begging and praying for the night to come, because the guns generally cease fire a bit at night. Well, the night went on, and the guns began to quieten, but every now and then a Bosch shell would come over, so we could not get any sleep. The morning came, and about 3 we were relieved, which was quite a Godsend to us all. My friends who are wondering why I have not written to them will know the reason after they have read this.”

(Private Smith, serving with the 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, would be killed in action on Monday, September 25th, 1916. He was born and bred in Aspley Guise.)

Private Ernest Daniels, of the Berkshire Regiment, who is a nephew of Mr. John Fleet, of Duke Street, and a former employee at the village Printing Works, is in hospital with wounds. Replying to his uncle’s request for some account of his experiences, in October 1915 he writes;

“In the first place I was at the base in France two days before we had another two days’ march to take up our positions for going into the trenches. I was in the trenches on and off for a matter of six weeks. During that time I took part in three glorious charges. I may as well tell you at once that those charges were devilish in the extreme. At a signal from your officer you charge the enemy trenches, which in some cases are only 40 yards from ours. Then it is up to you to do your bit like a man, and to show the bally Germans how to fight like Englishmen. The Germans are frightened at shining cold steel. Mine didn’t remain bright for long, as I went for those in the opposite trenches hell for leather. No, I am not bragging, Jack. You get worked up to such a pitch and know that it is either yourself or your enemy that is going under. I accounted for two men before I got a nasty rip in my arm. I was able to keep on running with the others until we had captured two lines of trenches and made many prisoners. After that I went to the field dressing base and had my arm attended to, which proved to be little more than a flea bite. Then about my third and last charge. It was on the afternoon of a bright sunny day. The enemy were shelling our trenches from a shattered village about 300 yards from our line. They had been at the game all the morning with but little damage. As near as I can tell it was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon when we had orders to charge. There were the Berks, Warwicks and Gloucesters in that charge. We were in the centre. Of course there were other regiments on the right and left and also at the rear, but I don’t know what they were. There seemed to be all manner of guns raining shot and shell into us as we charged, and it was there that a shell burst in the midst of a group of us as we were running. It killed several of our chaps and wounded others. One piece of shell caught me in the hip and down I went. As I was falling another shot must have hit me and caught my hip bone, for when I reached Versailles Hospital they found the bullet flattened up against my hip bone. The piece of shell that did me in was in small pieces when they got it away from me. So they only gave me the bullet which I am sending to you as a souvenir.”

Having recently sent presents to the men at the Front, in January 1916 scholars at the Council Schools received a letter from Private T. King, of the 2nd Beds. Regiment;

“Just a few lines in answer to your letter and parcel, which I received quite safe, thanking you very much for the same. I have been out here since the war began, and yours was the first present I have received, but I am very pleased to think that someone thinks of us during our fight for freedom, and I live in hope of being among you in the near future.”

A letter from Lieutenant Colonel Brighten was received in February 1916 by Mr. G. Maynard, whose son, William Jesse Maynard, of the 5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, had been killed in the Dardanelles last September;

“Egypt, Jan. 22nd, 1916. Dear Mr. Maynard, Your letter just to hand, and I have tried to get together some information about your son’s death. He was wounded in the trenches on the 12th September, at Anzac. Another man - I think it was Private Mann - had just been hit, and I think your son went to help him, thereby getting into the line of fire. He was only hit in the arm - his right elbow being fractured, and it was not thought serious; and as he died the next day I fear he must have died of shock, or some other complication, immediately following the wound. He died at the 16th Casualty Clearing Station, and was buried at Anzac by the R.A.M.C. You will see from the above that your son really lost his life through helping a comrade, so that while mourning your loss you have the consolation of knowing that he met his death doing his duty. You will, I am sure, accept too my sincerest sympathy, and if there is anything I can do for you further, please let me know. Yours very truly, Edgar W. Brighten, Lieut. Col., Commanding 1/5th Beds. Regiment.”

(Aged 20, William Maynard died on Monday, September 13th 1915. He was the son of George and Sarah Maynard, of West Hill, Aspley Guise.)

In July 1916, at the Woburn Police Court a 63 year old boarding house keeper, of Aspley Guise, was summoned for selling wine by retail without a license. The offence had occurred on June 17th & 18th, and with a solicitor from Custom House as the prosecution, the defendant pleaded guilty. The man had been a boarding house keeper at The Holt for some years, and ‘in consequence of information received’ Mr. Henson, an officer of Customs and Excise in London, wrote to him on June 11th enquiring about the terms for a weekend stay. The following day he received the details, and, with another officer by the name of Baker, went on Saturday, June 17th to stay for the weekend. That evening at dinner they asked the waitress if they could have a bottle of wine, and 15 minutes later the defendant brought the bottle, apologising, as he poured it into the glasses, for the quality, saying that if he had known they were coming he could have got a better variety, from the brewery at Woburn. On the following evening the two undercover guests went for dinner at the same time, and found the same bottle of wine on the table. Mr. Henson then ordered another bottle of the same - Claret Chateau Lodere, labelled 1905 - and this was duly served by the waitress. During this period another officer had kept watch outside the premises, to see if any wine was brought in from another public house, but all he observed was beer. On the Monday morning Mr. Henson asked for the bill, and when this was brought by the waitress he found the handwriting to be the same as on the letter containing the weekend terms. Purporting to show that the claret was obtained from The Bell, a local licensed house, the wording included ‘Bell account, claret, 3s. 3d.,’ but since the boarding house had been kept under observation, this was blatantly incorrect. In consequence, on June 24th Mr. Alfred Hall, the Surveyor of Customs and Excise, called on the defendant, and asked if he had any explanation as to why the wine had been sold without licence. In reply the man said that if any guests wanted wine, he obtained it from a neighbouring pub, and Mr. Hall then asked if there was any intoxicating liquor on the premises. After an initial denial the man - when told that a search of the premises would be made - said that there were one or two bottles for his own use, but when Mr. Hall went into the cellars he found 16 bottles of champagne, 27 of sherry, 23 of claret, 2 of marsala (sic), 26 of port, and 35 of whisky. In addition there were bottles of beer, empty wine bottles, and bottles of the wine that had been served to Mr. Henson and Mr. Baker. On further investigation it was revealed that since January 1915 the defendant, who had previously been the licensee of the Bedford Arms, at Woburn, had obtained 720 bottles of whisky, and 9 dozen of claret, from Thompson and Sons, of Leith. It then transpired that he had deliberately put The Bell on the bills to fool guests, and at the prosecution the licensee of The Bell was not surprisingly prepared to swear that he did not stock that type of claret. In fact the complaints to Customs and Excise had been made from local Excise Officers and licensed victuallers in the district, and a fine of £15 in each case was imposed, a total of £30.

News arrived in September 1916 that Second Lieutenant John Croxton Walker, of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, had been killed in action. He was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. James Croxton Walker, of “The Holt,” Aspley Guise, and formerly of Newport Pagnell, and after an education at Bedford Modern School, spent several years with a Stock Exchange firm in London. He then joined the London and River Plate Bank in South America, and being granted leave in September, 1915, left Buenos Aires at once. Having obtained a commission in the Cambridgeshire Regiment, he had only been at the front for five weeks when he was killed by a shell on September 3rd. His commanding officer wrote;

“Although he had only been with us a comparatively short time he had made himself very popular, not only with his brother officers, but amongst his platoon, who would have done anything for him. He was a keen soldier, and helped me immensely.”

From the French front, in January 1917 Private E. J. Boxford (Bedfordshire Regiment), of Maulden, wrote to Mr. Minter, of Aspley Guise;

“I have by now got accustomed to the sound of guns, and can even sleep when the shells are flying overhead and machine guns are chattering. I shall never forget the sensation the first time I entered the trenches or, when, in the evening I had my first glimpse of No man’s land - a veritable devil’s playground. Those feelings, however, soon pass away, and one settles down to the serious business in hand. I have on several occasions since been over the top at night with working parties, wiring, etc., but must say I feel greatly relieved when back once again behind our own parapet. Lights, or flares, are used freely by both sides at night as a safeguard against a surprise etc., and they can be seen several miles behind the firing line. The dug-outs we rest in when not on duty are not elaborate ones, such as we read the Germans make, and we are glad to make use of our ground sheets. As for rats we find them wherever we go - be it in the trenches or in our billets behind the firing line. I am sure the Pied Piper of Hamelin’s historic round-up of rats was not altogether a success, or they would not be so plentiful; even when on the firestep at night, one turns suddenly at times only to find that it is a rat nibbling away at something or scurrying past you bent on some important business, but they are a pest, nevertheless, for one night recently, when in my billet (an empty barn), a rat ate the greater part of my next day’s bread ration. Before leaving England we were advised not to drink any water which had not been boiled or otherwise purified, and that was good advice too. The farmhouses and buildings are built in the form of a square, with a kind of courtyard in the centre, and in the centre of this yard is a large sunken pit into which all the stable manure is dumped, and as this without doubt is not emptied more than once or twice a year the smell is none too pleasant. Aeroplanes are very much to the fore out here, and that is one branch of the service where we more than hold our own! When Fritz’s machines do make an appearance I have noticed they are usually up at an immense altitude - too high, in fact, to make good observations: ours on the other hand, to me, appear to be a bit too venturesome at times when flying over the enemy’s lines, and there follows behind the machines, both of our own and those of the enemy a long line of small round balls of smoke - either snowy white or black - the result of shelling by anti-aircraft guns. So far I have not seen a single machine winged. The Military Authorities have done all they possibly can do under the circumstances to keep us warm so far as clothing is concerned, and to prevent us having trench feet. When in the trenches we rub our feet freely with whale oil, and we can change our socks for clean ones practically every day. Again, on leaving the trenches we indulge in a hot shower bath and change our underclothing.”

On January 30th 1917 an Army aeroplane came down in one of the Glebe Farm fields near the brickyard. It had passed very low over Ridgmont and Crawley, and on reaching the Common swooped round, faced the wind, and landed safely. The pilot and the other occupant seemed very cold, and gladly accepted warmth and refreshments at the farm. A guard of soldiers soon arrived from Bletchley, and during the evening large numbers of villagers came to view the machine from a distance. The soldiers remained for the night, and the plane resumed its journey the next day soon after noon.

On the afternoon of Sunday, February 18th 1917 the War Shrine in the Parish Church was dedicated by the rector. After the Litany and an address the choir filed through the west door and formed a semi circle round the shrine, which was fixed to the tower wall on the north side of the door. While the congregation filed out the choir sang the hymn ‘The King of Love,’ and this was followed by the dedicatory prayers, and those for all those engaged in the war, and for the fallen. The hymn ‘Glory be to Jesus’ was then sung and a verse of the National Anthem, with the ceremony ending with the Nunc Dimittis. An opportunity was then given for people to subscribe to the cost of the shrine, and with the churchwardens holding out bags 18s 5d was realised. The shrine, of oak, was the work of Mr. Walter Day.

In February 1917 Jack Levitch, a tailor, aged 37, and Bernard Oderberg, a hairdresser, aged 27, were summoned for having failed to notify the registration officer of their London district of their intended change of address. The former had lived at 33, East Road, City Road, and the latter at 161, Mayer Street, Hackney. The cases were heard together, with a Russian compatriot acting as interpreter. It was stated that they had been sent from London to the Sanatorium at Aspley Heath, and were under the impression that they only had to register on arrival, and not in London. This was accepted, with no conviction recorded.

On Wednesday, February 28th 1917 among the war heroes attending the Investiture held by the King was Major James Walker, of the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. J.C. Walker, formerly of Newport Pagnell, but now of The Holt, Aspley Guise, and the award of the Military Cross was for a particularly brave deed on the Ancre front. Despite being under fire for 3½ hours, he and his men rescued an officer and troops from the trenches, when they had been buried by the earth thrown up by German shells. Major Walker was now Officer Commanding the 317th Siege Battery at Aldershot, and left for Lydd on Monday for firing practice. He then returned to the Front with his new Battery.

In March 1918 Mrs. Villiers Downes, of Aspley House, received a letter from her nephew, Lieutenant P. Carthew, who had been a prisoner of war in Germany for 3½ years. He writes;

“I am now in Holland; I can hardly realise it. After 3½ years to suddenly find oneself again in civilisation, with all its advantages of comfortable rooms, freedom, and good food, is like being stunned; I am, however, after two days, gradually commencing to see through the mists. We had been warned at Aachen that with the two preceding batches demonstrations had taken place by the prisoners that were not pleasant for the escort, and that there was to be no demonstration, under the penalty of being sent back to Germany. Of course, it was hardly to be expected that the men would control themselves. They only cheered and sang a few songs, but the Germans were very much annoyed. You can imagine our feeling on first arriving in this country, after all the treatment and insults we received in Germany. In the first eight months of the war we were hooted and kicked by mobs, spat at, and had studied insults paid us by all the German people, both the better and lower classes. The men at the various lagers have undoubtedly had a very bad time; there are, of course, many exaggerations, but there is a great deal of truthful evidence.”

In April 1918 the rector of Aspley Guise organised a ‘Labour Battalion’ in his parish, to dig the allotments of absent soldiers and sailors.

One Saturday in July 1918, at the Parish Hall Lance Corporal George Wilson, who had been awarded the Military Medal and two bars, was publicly presented with the medal by Mrs. Villiers Downes. Mr. W. Wells, Chairman of the Parish Council, presided, and read the reports received from the Commanding Officer. These placed on record the gallantry of Lance Corporal Wilson at Flers, when attending the wounded on September 15th, 1916, and also as a stretcher bearer under heavy fire in a raid on the enemy lines near Vierstraat, on February 24th, 1917. Further, for his devotion to duty on August 5th, 1917, near Klein Zillebeeke, in dressing wounds and digging out men who had been buried during a heavy bombardment.