Keep the Home Fires Burning - detailing wartime life in the towns and villages mentioned.

NBT 1916 Aug. 22nd Tue.

Mr. and Mrs. Harper, late of Buttermilk Farm, but now of Hoo Farm Cottages, Offley, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, have been officially informed that their son, Private Harry Edward Harper, of the 6th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on July 23rd, in the fight for Pozieres. His sister, Mrs. Appleby, of Sheep Lane, has recently received a letter from a Sergeant in an Australian Regiment, who enclosed a letter addressed to her; “I found this letter in a shell crater on the battlefield at Pozieres. A good many Bedford lads were lying around in the shell craters, so I presume it belonged to one of them. It was addressed to you, so I am sending it to that address. We gave the Bedfords a decent burial with their rifles and bayonets for a cross. Sincerely yours, Sergt. W. Lambert. (Australian Imperial Forces).”

(Born at Preston, Hertfordshire, and a resident of Leighton Buzzard, Private Harper was 21 years of age, and had enlisted at Ampthill Camp in March 1915. He went to France last February, and served for much of the time as a sniper. Before the war he had worked for a while for the Duke of Bedford, but on enlisting was employed as a gamekeeper in Sussex. An elder brother, Private William Harper, has been wounded in action for a second time, and is now in hospital at Orpington, Kent.)

NBT 1916 Aug. 22nd Tue.

Private Charles Yates, of the 1st Battalion London Regiment, died on July 3rd, 1916, of wounds received in France. Having made several enquiries, his mother has now received the following reply from a Sister at Havre Hospital;

“Like so many other brave men who have come here wounded, I think he scarcely realised how bad he was. His death was really due to septic poisoning, which set in rapidly while he was here and necessitated an operation, after which he never rallied.”

(Born at Little Woolstone, Private Yates was the second son of Esther Yates and her late husband, Samuel, and being a resident of St. Pancras he was employed on the tube railway when the war broke out. As a member of the London City Territorials, he was called up at the outbreak of war and sent firstly to Portsmouth and then Malta, returning to England some four months later. He was then transferred to France as a signaller, and during one of his many narrow escapes a piece of shell grazed his coat sleeve. On June 25th he was wounded in the leg near Albert, and in a letter dated June 28th wrote to his mother saying that he soon hoped to be in England. Then a telegram later arrived saying that he was critically ill, followed by another in the evening which stated that he had passed away. Aged 23, he had been recommended for the D.C.M. for bravery on the field, and on Sunday a memorial service was held at the parish church, where he had once been a member of the choir. A younger brother was with the Bedfords in France, and an older brother had been discharged from the Army after four months’ service, three of which had been spent in hospital.)

NBT 1917 Sep. 11th Tue.

Frederick and Sarah Eversden, of Little Brickhill, heard on Wednesday that their son, Private Joe Eversden, Lewis Gun Section, Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry, had been killed in action on August 22nd. He was aged 21, and in a letter his close pal, Private P. Trendwell, of the same battalion, writes;

“He was killed instantaneously by a bullet which went clean through his head and one consolation is he suffered no pain. It was at dawn when the attack started and I must say everyone went over splendidly, especially Joe, who was always known to be one of the coolest in the platoon under fire. Everything went well until we reached our final objective and it was here that we had most of our casualties, due mostly to the snipers and machine guns. At this time Joe was the only one in his team, the corporal was badly wounded, and Joe was standing by his gun for any counter attack when he got killed. He could not have died a more noble death, doing as he did at his post. Our casualties were very heavy and we could only muster about sixty men all told in our company, so you can tell we had a very rough time of it. I have known Joe since he came to the battalion, he was one of the best pals I had, and one of many who will miss his cheerful company. All his friends wish with me to join with you in your sad bereavement.”

(Private Eversden was resident of Bletchley, the town of his birth.)

By the same post, a postcard was received by the Little Brickhill relatives of Private Arthur Capp, of the same regiment, saying that he had been seriously wounded in the head and shoulders during the same action.