The contents on this page remain on our website for informational purposes only.
Content on this page will not be reviewed or updated.

Having secured Nurse Barnes, of Bedford, to give lectures and demonstrations, in August 1914 the Duchess of Bedford organised Red Cross classes for Woburn. There were so many applicants that the services of two extra nurses had to be obtained, with classes being held three times a week - those in the afternoon for women, and those in the evening for men.

In August 1916 work had begun on making an encampment at Husborne Crawley to accommodate German prisoners of war. They would be used to cut up and clear the trees uprooted in the recent gales.

In November 1917 Miss E. Livesay, the matron of Woburn Military Hospital, was decorated with the first class Royal Red Cross decoration by King George V.

Held on Monday, May 6th 1918, at a meeting of the Ampthill Rural Food Committee a curious point was raised by Mr. C.P. Hall, the agent to the Duke of Bedford. Writing from Park Farm, Woburn, he said that up to the present time the Base Hospital at Woburn Abbey had been entirely supplied with butter from the Duke of Bedford’s private dairy, which had been considerably increased for this purpose. Therefore the butter ration of 4oz per head per week had not been observed. The hospital patients were guests of the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, and his Grace supposed that he was entitled to provide them with butter under the ‘Self Supplies Memorandum.’ However, this limited the allowance to 6oz per head, but due to the immense ‘proved value’ of the ample supplies of dairy produce, in hastening the recovery of these men, the Duke wished to continue providing butter without limitation, and would be glad to know whether the Ampthill Food Control Committee could approve this course (under Paragraph 27) by making a special rule to cover the case. The Committee had no power to do this, but it was agreed that the facts should be presented to the Food Controller, in the hope that special permission could be obtained.

With one or two exceptions, the Duchess of Bedford had never failed to attend the Cottage Hospital at Woburn every morning between 6 and 7 o’clock a.m. She usually stayed until about 10a.m., or into the afternoon if there were serious cases, and carried out the duties of an ordinary Sister in all the routine duties of hospital work. Yet despite these responsibilities, since the five chauffeurs from Woburn Abbey had joined up in August 1918 she began taking lessons in driving a car.

The funeral took place on the afternoon of Friday, December 6th 1918 of Nurse Constance Annie Whittaker Dean, who had died at Woburn Abbey from the effects of influenza. Aged 37, she had been one of the nurses at the Abbey Hospital for over two years and was very popular. Many of the patients in uniform attended the ceremony, and amongst the many wreaths were those from the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, the Offices of the High Commissioner for New Zealand, and the household staff, ambulance drivers and stretcher bearers of the Abbey Hospital.

THE WOBURN INTERNMENT CAMP

Around August 1916 a camp to house German prisoners of war was set up in Crawley Road, at or near Husborne Crawley, ‘outside the park,’ and from here under the control of a guard the inmates worked in the local woodlands, felling and cutting timber. This was then drawn on small trolleys, running on rails, to the engine and saw bench for cutting up. However, just before dusk on Monday, December 4th 1916 when the men were marched back to the camp it became apparent that two had escaped, and the guard was swiftly turned out. Together with the special constables they remained on duty all night and up to mid day Tuesday, when a message came through that the two fugitives - Carl Schwartz and Paul Hubner - had been taken into custody at Luton to where, having been apparently seen at Eversholt and near Tingrith soon after their escape, they had walked during the night. Special constables were sent from Leighton Buzzard to relieve the tired Woburn men, but in the event they were not required. The following year the two recaptured prisoners were respectively sentenced to 129 days and 168 days, and were taken to Aldershot in late May. During that month Major Beecher, the Commandant of the camp, asked farmers in the district to send him their names if they required prisoners for agricultural work or the harvest, but there was some disharmony at a meeting at Woburn one Wednesday in June 1917, which had been called to discuss potato spraying. One of those attending said that he understood Major Beecher would let some of the German P.O.W.s undertake this work, but the Major swiftly interposed that he had no knowledge of this. As for those who had previously employed prisoners for gardening and agricultural work, they had been thoroughly satisfied, and, if proper application was made to him in good time, no doubt he could obtain the sanction of the War Office to provide a supply. Mr. Negus then said that he had employed one in his garden, to which came Major Beecher’s riposte “And he didn’t assassinate you, eh?” During the meeting the Major said that people had asked him for their services, but after he had been to a lot of trouble they then said that they didn’t want them. In any case the prisoners couldn’t be spared at a moment’s notice, as they were all allocated for lumber work, and quite frankly he was ‘sick of the labour question.’ In fact he may well have been the ‘Commandant’ whose letter, which proved interesting reading for farmers in the Woburn district, appeared in the Times on July 5th 1917;

“Sir. - I am commandant of a prisoners of war camp (not for agriculture). As I feel it my duty to do what little I can to help food production, I have for a long time past been trying to get any farmers who may be in want of labour to apply to me for prisoners of war, fully under the impression that I should obtain enough applications to justify me asking the authorities to enlarge my camp. Till the last few days I have not had a single application, and now I have only been asked for about 20. I attended two potato spraying meetings in order to inform the meetings that I would do all I could to provide the necessary labour. At one meeting I was informed by the Chairman - the agent of a very large estate - that the farmers were prejudiced against them, and that their labourers would leave if German prisoners were employed. At the other village where I attended the meeting, the villagers, headed by the Vicar, declined to avail themselves of German labour on any account, from prejudice. This is in Bedfordshire. If other counties produce the same class of unpatriotic and narrowminded inhabitants, the prisoners of war cannot be utilised to the extent they should

Yours faithfully
COMMANDANT”

Beds.

There were other matters of concern on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 29th 1917, when ‘a robust young German’ escaped from the Woburn camp. The guard was turned out and later the special constables, of whom a sergeant, Mr. F. Mossman, was working near the Watling Street, to the north of Hockliffe, when police constable Allen went to find him. Just as they met they then saw the prisoner coming out of Copse Spinney, in the parish of Battlesden, and since he was making for the Watling Street it appeared that he intended to cross the fields to Leighton Buzzard. However, this ambition was thwarted by the two policemen, and on being conveyed to Woburn he was met in Bedford Street by an armed guard, which marched him back to camp. Not that this deterred other would be escapers, for at an occasional court on Friday, July 6th 1917 Gustav Koschnicke was charged with having escaped at 5.30p.m. from the prison camp on July 4th. Giving evidence, Inspector Walker said that having received a communication from the Bedfordshire police he began a search, and overtook the prisoner halfway between Soulbury and Linslade. The man was in conversation with special constable Tearle, who was travelling to work at Linslade, and in limited English was asking the way to another camp in Surrey. At the arrival of Inspector Walker he said ‘Are you police? I go quietly,’ and was then handcuffed. Following the arrival of a military escort from Woburn his adventure came to an end with a walk back to the camp. By now a number of prisoners from the camp were working on farms in the neighbourhood, but with the increasing need for timber at the Front, required for trench supports, duck boards etc., timber felling in the local woods assumed the greatest priority. However, there were local concerns, especially when in July 1917 Mr. C.P. Hall, agent to the Duke of Bedford, stated that a large area of pine woods in the Aspley Heath, Millbrook and Ampthill areas had been effectively commandeered by the Government for ‘national purposes.’ In fact he had received a letter from the Ampthill Urban Council asking if there was any truth in the rumour that the Firs, the pine woods extending from Station Road to Woburn Road, was to be cut down, and in reply he wrote;

“I regret to say that the report which you have heard as to the Government proposing to acquire and fell this wood is quite true. The Duke of Bedford has been very much pressed to supply extremely large quantities of timber on the on the ground of national necessity. The Government have selected this, with several other areas in the Ampthill and Millbrook district, and in addition a large area near Aspley Heath, altogether amounting to about 500 acres. His Grace has parted with these woods with very great reluctance, and has only consented to do so after very great pressure; in fact these woods have been to all intents and purposes commandeered by the Government. His Grace is fully aware of the enjoyment afforded the residents of Ampthill by this wood and shares regret at the prospect of its being cut down. I am afraid that any protest from your Council or the people of Ampthill would not meet with much success, as I feel sure they would be told exactly the same as His Grace, that the national necessity makes the step inevitable.”

But perhaps all was not lost, for the local M.P.s and the Commons and Footpaths Protection Association would be asked to use their influence to prevent the felling, with a petition being opened for signatures by the ratepayers. Nevertheless, in September 1917 a temporary canteen was started for the benefit of the Canadian Forestry Corps, by the Woburn Sands branch of the C.E.T.S. Ladies. In fact the Canadians were now heavily engaged in pine felling in the woods, and in the last week of September 1917 hundreds of people visited the woods to watch the up to date machinery being installed, and the men at work. Complete with a photo, much information on this aspect is to be found on the internet under ‘The Canadian Forestry Corp in Woburn Sands. 1917 - 1918. (On a poignant note, in Ampthill churchyard is the grave of Private Avard Dimock, of the 126th Company Canadian Forestry Corps, who died aged 24 in 1918.) On Saturday, November 29th 1917 more German prisoners came to the internment camp to work in the woods, and a small party could also be seen at work in the brickyards at Woburn Sands. However, at about dusk one Friday afternoon in late December 1917 two German prisoners escaped, when engaged as part of a party felling trees in the Woburn Sands district. The police and special constables were immediately called out, and at about 9.30p.m. special constables E.F. Dant and A.G. Ellingham, who were on duty as a picket at Cannon Corner, Newport Pagnell, saw two strange looking men turning the corner from Silver Street. Captain C.M. Wilford happened to be with the constables, and the men were arrested and taken to the police station, where it was discovered that they were the two wanted men, Johann Pietzik, and Ernst Schneider. The pair were detained to await the arrival of an escort, whilst as for the reason for their escape it had been said, in some quarters, that one motive was to be removed from prisoners with whom they had differences, since escapees were often transferred to another camp. As for Mr. E.F. Dant, one of the special constables involved in the arrest, in May 1915 he had also suffered differences, when, as a prominent tradesman of Newport Pagnell, carrying on a large business as a wholesale and retail confectioner, fruiterer, and greengrocer in the High Street, he had been the subject of a malicious rumour that he was of alien extraction. At first this was claimed to be German, but then as Austrian, and one Saturday night there had been common talk that a raid was going to be made on his shop. Fortunately this did not materialise, and with the matter coming to the attention of the police Mr. Dant took prompt measures to deal with any further gossip. In fact he was British born of British parents. Apart from the minority who harboured desires to escape, most of the inmates of the Woburn Internment Camp were happy to be out of the war, and, if not of a troublesome nature, were, apart from their work in the woodlands, allowed out under escort on errands. Such was the case on December 25th 1917, when under the guard of Private Browning, of the Royal Defence Corps, two were detailed to fetch some meat from Woburn Sands. This they duly placed in a barrow to wheel back to camp, but near the Birchmoor Arms the man wheeling the barrow, Franz Sievens, who had been laughing and talking with the other man, suddenly collapsed. First aid was immediately rendered, and he was placed in the barrow and taken to Dr. Smith’s surgery, only to be pronounced dead on arrival. At the inquest held at the camp Major Beecher, the commandant, said that the deceased had been aged about 40 and was admitted to the camp in August 1916. The funeral took place on Saturday, January 5th 1918, with the procession from the camp led by a firing party of men from the Royal Defence Corps, with arms reversed. Borne on a gun carriage, drawn by two horses, the coffin was covered with the German flag, and with six comrades of the deceased detailed as the bearers, seven others walked behind. They were followed by about 75 of the prisoners, with Major Beecher bringing up the rear. Since the man had been a Roman Catholic the service was conducted by Father John Freeland, Priest of the Catholic Presbytery, Bedford, and after the ceremony the firing party fired three volleys, with a bugler sounding the Last Post. The man’s comrades then sang a German hymn at the graveside, before marching back to camp. On Tuesday, April 23rd 1918 a German prisoner made an escape, but on being caught in the afternoon near Hockliffe he was escorted back by an armed guard to the camp, where about 40 more German prisoners arrived on Thursday, May 2nd 1918, to be employed on agricultural work. There seemed little enmity between the prisoners and their guards, and indeed a 50 year old private of the 373rd M.T. Company, Bedford, would be charged with having on July 15th 1918 supplied Quaker Oats to certain prisoners at the camp, the case having been taken at the request of the Army authorities, who viewed the matter as a serious offence. In evidence, a private of the Canadian Forestry Corps said that on the day in question while working in the woods between Aspley Heath and Woburn he had seen the man, who was driving one of the timber supply lorries, take a parcel from the vehicle and, having carried it for some 150 yards into the wood, place it behind a pile of brushwood. Then some five minutes after he had returned to his lorry a German prisoner, who had been working some 25 feet away, fetched the parcel and took it to the location where the prisoners were cutting pit props. Confirming the story, a private of the Royal Defence Corps, who had been on sentry duty over the prisoners, said that he reported the incident to the corporal in charge of the prisoner escort, who, through an interpreter, asked the prisoner who had retrieved the parcel what was in it. The man said it was bread, but on being told to show the contents he produced a small linen bag containing about 1lb. of Quaker Oats. The corporal then looked around the brushwood, and under the prisoner’s cape found three more bags, each containing 2lbs. of Quaker Oats. The corporal then spoke to the lorry driver who, admitting that he had deposited the parcel, said that he had the Quaker Oats since last May, when he was being rationed. With the rations sometimes going astray he had purchased the oats at Thirsk, Yorks., but getting tired of carrying them about he decided to package them up and send them away. However, the postage was too much, and he therefore simply walked into the wood and dropped them behind the brushwood. Seemingly there were no German prisoners with 100 yards, and he knew nothing about the incident until the corporal came to see him. Unfamiliar with the surroundings he had only been driving in that district for a few days. Nevertheless, an officer from the camp said that this kind of thing was more prevalent than it should be, and tended to make the prisoners get out of hand. Thus, despite taking into account the good record of the accused in the Army, in which he had served since 1916, a sentence of three months in prison was imposed. By the time he came out the war was nearly over, and following the end of hostilities on Tuesday May 27th 1919 the canteen at the prisoner of war camp closed, with the manager, Mr. F. Caterill, of Bedford, who had been there since the last October, being shortly destined to leave Woburn.