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FROM THE CONTEMPORARY LOCAL NEWSPAPERS OF NORTH BUCKS (BUCKS STANDARD, NORTH BUCKS TIMES, WOLVERTON EXPRESS)
With today’s internet a wealth of official information is available regarding those who served.
In an age before local radio and television, families often allowed letters to be published in the local press from their loved ones on active service.
However, for their descendants the letters reveal a more personal aspect, graphically describing the experience of the people and providing an insight into their personalities.

NBT 1915 May 18th Tue.

From Sergeant Charles Blake, Machine Gun Section of the 1st Bedfordshire Regiment, to his wife, at 6, Chobham Street;

“You will be pleased to know that I earned for myself a name, and have been recommended for the D.C.M. for holding with a gun against the German attack a trench which they tried in vain to retake. I had my gun guarding a railway cutting, where they were coming along to counter attack and retake the hill, but they found me and one man with the gun, and we held them and drove them back - what few there were to get out of it. I don’t know how I came out of such a fight, and I’m glad I’m out of it to tell the tale.’

(A near neighbour, Private Albert Kempton, whose wife lives at 1, Chobham Street, was buried alive in a big house that was knocked down by a ‘Jack Johnson’ shell. He knew no more until he found himself in hospital.)


NBT 1915 May 25th Tue.

Captain Harold Green, who is serving with the 1st Bedfordshires, writes home about the asphyxiating gases used by the Germans;

“It is not fighting, it is wholesale murder. The buttons of my tunic were turned jet black, and I believe the inside of my stomach is the same. We lost a few men, but a trench a little beyond us lost 200 of the gallant Dorsets.”

(In a letter to his mother at Maulden, Lance Corporal Herbert Hill, of the same regiment, says; “We have lots of fine chaps in our regiment, and a nice captain too. His name is Green, and I believe he comes from Luton.”)


NBT 1915 June 29th Tue.

On June 8th, John Douglas Tearle, the son of John Tearle, of Beechhurst, Stockwood Crescent, writes from the Dardanelles;

“It would be hard to portray in writing the experiences of the last six days, part of them spent in the reserve and support trenches, and the last two in the firing line. So far, I am unscathed and in the best of health. The nervous strain has told upon each one of us, more or less, after having had only two or three hours of undisturbed sleep for five days. We are glad to get back for a few days’ rest at our base camp, and it seemed like getting back home to sleep in comparative safety in our own little dug-out once more. Our faces were all smothered in grit (no chance to wash all the time), and it took two hours for a man to go and come back to the firing line to the well for our drinking water. There is an enormous queue always waiting at the well, which is near a spot known by all as Piccadilly Circus. In fact, there is a signboard up giving it this name. Feeding us in the firing trenches has proved most difficult, and we learned what it meant to be ravenously hungry and thirsty. Add to this the continual strain of being on the watch, and the roar and din of guns and rifles, and you will quite understand us all hoping the war will soon be over. We were taken for a bathe in the sea yesterday. It was simply grand, and today I have had a really good wash.”


NBT 1915 June 29th Tue.

Private W. Ellingham, of the Northumberland Fusiliers, whose home is at 8, Jubilee Street, has been awarded the D.C.M., and writes home on June 15th;

“I am still getting along all right. I do not know if you have seen it in any of the papers yet, but I have been fortunate enough to get the Distinguished Conduct Medal for good work at Ypres. I had the ribbon pinned on yesterday by Major-General Haldane. I don’t know when the medal will be presented, but I shall send it home to you as soon as I get it. We are having a few days’ rest now, but by the time you get this letter we shall be having an exciting time, and you may hear some good news in a day ot two. At least, I hope so. In fact, we all do. The weather is fine, and we hope to be able to give a good account of ourselves before long. Things are turning out as well as can be expected under the circumstances.”


NBT 1915 July 13th Tue.

In a letter to Mr. G.F. Worboys, of High Town, Lance Corporal P. Lovell, of the 24th Londons, writes;

“I received the cigars quite safely, and am naturally doing the usual swanking with them. We have been in a respectable place now for five days, but I understand we shall be in the firing line again in a day or two. We have had two concerts, and generally have been doing ourselves very well during our stay here.”


NBT 1915 July 27th Tue.

The Town Clerk is hon. secretary of the local committee which, every fortnight, sends parcels to men from Luton and district who, from the Bedfordshire Regiment, are now prisoners of war. In this letter, the first from a Luton man, Private Joseph Good, 7729, 1st Bedfordshire Regiment, whose home is at 58, Burr Street, acknowledges the receipt of one of the parcels in Germany. On June 30th, from Gefangenenlager, 11, Minden 1, Westphalia, Germany, 4 Block, 3rd Batt., 14th Company, he writes;

“Your parcel, which I received on the 28th June, was very acceptable. The contents were in good order and not soiled. I must thank everybody in Luton borough for thinking of me at such a time as this.”


NBT 1915 Aug. 10th Tue.

Lance Corporal E. Lawrence, a Luton man, is serving with the 1st Bedfords, and writes from France;

“I have been through every engagement, and so far there is only one hit to the Huns, across my eye, although I have had many a near shave. My cap was knocked off by a bullet at Mons, and whilst we were in a trench a shell came over and killed one man. I know that every Beds man is doing his bit for his country out here, but what we do ask is for some more men - some of those who are staying at home. While I was visiting my people at Luton, I saw several who could join, but who are still hanging back. Surely we don’t want a savage race to rule us. Be Britons!”


NBT 1915 Aug. 24th Tue.

Serving with the Sherwood Foresters, a man who was billeted in Luton writes to his landlady;

“We have just come out of the trenches after 25 days, so you can understand we are ready for a rest. We have been in some hard fighting this time. The Germans have started using liquid fire, which comes over our trenches and sets everything on fire. But, after all, they won’t win, with all their foul ways. British pluck will beat them. The other day one of our aviators brought down a German machine. It burst into flames and came down just behind our trench. Before the machine got to earth one of the airmen fell out, and, my word, we were startled, for he came crashing down and it looked as though he were going to drop on the top of our dug-out but he dropped a few yards away.”


NBT 1915 Aug. 24th Tue.

In a letter, Gunner Alfred Firmin, the son of Mr. and Mrs. A.W. Firmin, of ‘Pendennis’, Dunstable Road, describes the German ‘habit’ of spraying vitriol into the British trenches. He is serving at the front with the 3rd Battery of the Lincoln Artillery (1st North Midland Division) and says that although the wounded were ‘a pitiful sight’, the fortitude displayed was marvellous, especially inspiring being the ‘wonderful spirit’ of one soldier who, although his arm was shot off up to the elbow, was strutting along to the casualty station smoking a Woodbine;

“The wounded were coming by in a continual stream until late at night. I did not receive a scratch, nor did the gunner who was with me, although we were working in a trench where about 90 men had been wounded during the night by ‘Whizz-bangs.’”


NBT 1915 Aug. 24th Tue.

Percy Stratford, an officer’s steward on H.M.S. Safeguard, had appealed for someone to send a clarinet, ‘to enliven the monotony of life on the high seas.’ His request was soon answered, and he subsequently replies;

“It gives me great pleasure to write to you on behalf of my fellow shipmates and myself to thank you for the sacrifice you have made, by sending us such a useful instrument. I received it this morning and was rather surprised to hear anything more about it as soon as this. That just shows you what the working classes can do. We appreciate your gift all the more as it is from a working man. As you are living in the neighbourhood of my home, I hope before very long to call and see you in person and to have the pleasure of thanking you for your gift. Well done, Luton! Now I feel that our musical evenings will take a lot of beating.”


NBT 1915 Oct. 5th Tue.

Serving with the machine gun section of the Bedfordshires, Lance Corporal Frederick Dudley, 3890, the son of Mr. Dudley, of the Red Lion Tap, Church Street, has been seriously wounded in Gallipoli. He is in the 15th General Hospital at Alexandria, and in a letter to his brother, Mr. Cyril Dudley, of 41, Collingdon Street, Luton, writes;

“I have been wounded in the chest, but am getting on nicely at present. We have had it a bit rough out here, but I am getting well looked after in this hospital. I daresay it will be a long time before I shall be able to get about again. I was filling sandbags to make cover in the trenches and I was going to fill the last bag when I caught it.”

Before the war he was employed at Hubbard’s dye works at Luton.


NBT 1915 Oct. 5th Tue.

Lieutenant Colonel Brighten, the Commanding Officer of the 1/5th Beds. Regiment, has written to the Mayor of Luton;

“I expect by the time this reaches you, you will have had news of us - not altogether good, as our casualties have been very heavy, and we have lost many that we could ill afford to lose, both in officers and men. But they have done splendidly, and I am prouder than ever of them, and particularly those who have fallen. All went down like men, with their faces to the enemy. It is giving no secrets away to say that we were in one of the new landings. We did not take part in the original landing, but we were in one of the first big pushes, two or three days after we landed. This country is a particularly wicked one to fight in - very hilly, with deep dongas and covered with thick scrub. By reason of this one cannot see the enemy, whereas they are able to pepper attacking troops with shrapnel from positions away on the further hills, and even very often, as in our case, absolutely to enfilade us with shell fire. About the action there is not a lot to be said except that we were told to take a certain hill, and we did it. For the next few days we held it and consolidated our position in the face of some opposition until relieved and drawn out of the firing line for a bit of a rest. But in this country one soon learns that casualties have got to be faced if we are going to do anything at all. I have now got only seven officers, including myself, so you can see that we are pretty short-handed. Since the action we have been moving round into another part of the line, and have been in the first line trenches for the past six days. We are expecting relief (though only into the second line trenches) this afternoon. You will be glad to hear that the men are in good spirits and full of fight. Their digging, which counts as much as anything, is extremely good, and they do a tremendous amount of work. The rations are wonderful. How it is done I don’t know, but we had, among other things, an issue of eggs the other day, and with the excellent bacon we got they were able to make a splendid breakfast this morning. We do not get much bread at present, but that cannot be helped. We had it for two days a little time ago, though. We get Maconochie’s meat and vegetable ration a good deal, and that, as you no doubt know, is wonderfully good either hot or cold. We also get a certain amount of rice, dried potatoes, onions, and such like things, so that we do not often have to fall back on plain ‘bully’ and biscuit. Above all, we got a small ration of cigarettes or tobacco. I think the men like that the best of all. If they can get their smoke, it makes a wonderful difference in their spirits. Of course, the ration is only a small one and does not go far, but still it is something, and no doubt their friends at home will be sending something to supplement it soon.”


NBT 1915 Nov. 23rd Tue.

In a letter to the foreman of Messrs. Kent’s, Ltd., where he was formerly employed, Sapper L. T. Harris writes;

“I was clumsy enough to get near a bomb just as it was exploding, so am now taking a rest cure at a hospital. The trench in which I was working was only about thirty yards from the Turks’ lines, so the chap who threw the bomb hasn’t got much to swank about. My hurts consisted of cuts on my right arm, body, shoulders, head and both legs, but I am nearly right again now. There are still a few pieces of metal in me, but they do not give me much trouble, and are only very small pieces - splinters, in fact. We had a fairly good time on the Peninsula. There was a lot of work to do, but it was not as bad as I expected. The food was very good - not as good as they get in France, of course, as it is so difficult to get out here. And we had no billets as they do on the French front. The flies are a devil of a nuisance, and lots of the men are laid up with dysentery. I have no idea how long the job will last in the Peninsula, but our men have been doing exceedingly well. What we want, though, is several thousand more men to push the thing along a bit.”


NBT 1915 Nov. 23rd Tue.

An interesting letter from her nephew has been received by Miss Clarke. He is serving with the Australian R.A.M.C. in the Base Hospital at Cairo, and, from the 2nd General Hospital, Guezireh Palace, Cairo, writes;

“This building was formerly the residence of the Khodive, who spent all the revenue on his many palaces and pleasures. The material taken out of this place after it was bought was valued at £8,000,000. The syndicate have sold enough land and chattels to see the return on their original outlay and have over for themselves the palace standing in very large grounds. The present Khodive has a reputation for justice. A story is told that a man stole a buffalo from a poor widow and got a butcher to kill and sell it. She complained to the Khodive who caused all the sheiks of the neighbouring village to meet. He made the butcher kill the thief as he had done the buffalo, and each sheik was caused to buy 1 lb. worth of meat for £1 in cash. Thus he got sufficient money to repay the widow, and the moral effect was very good, for since the event similar thefts have been uncommon. The Arab is very crafty, and on occasion shows much prowess. At a village near Mena a thief watched a house until he knew the woman was there alone, when he entered and demanded her valuables. She said: ‘All right, but first let me get you something to eat.’ He said that as he was hungry, he would. The woman went into the kitchen and fried some eggs in a quantity of butter, which she brought in to him in the pan, as is the general custom, and as his eyes were wide open in anticipation she dashed the whole lot in his face. The man is still alive, but quite blind. The Arab is, as a rule, a great rascal, the more oaths he takes as to the genuineness of his antiques, the more tightly is it necessary to hold your money, and thus escape being swindled. … This hospital was originally at Mena House, about nine miles from Cairo, just near the Pyramid of Cheops. I am told it was built together with the road to Cairo, by Napoleon in order that Princess Eugenie could visit near the Pyramids. The work was carried out by forced labour, and many who fell exhausted were buried where they fell. The whole work was finished in three months, but Princess Eugenie was only at Mena House a few minutes on one occasion. The Great Pyramid covers 13 acres. It contains 85,000,000 feet of stone. That is what now remains of it after being used for many ages as a stone quarry. The whole of the outer covering of granite, 10 ft. thick, has been used in buildings, mostly Mosques. The Sphinx near by is cut from the solid rock. The head is 30 feet long and the face 14 feet wide. Sakkara is about nine miles away, and is reached in two hours on a donkey. Here there are many tombs which are older than the Great Pyramid. These consist of various rooms about 10 feet high, the walls of which are beautifully decorated in relief made of a fine hard plaster. The sarcophagus containing the mummies was put in a pit 60 to 80 feet below the tombs in the vain hope of remaining unmolested, but antiquarians have rifled nearly all of note, and are now eagerly seeking a few more which as yet have defied their detection. In one tomb are 29 sarcophagi which contained bulls. You can imagine what labour was required to form a box in a block of black granite, 15 feet by 8 feet, polish and square it outside, cut away and polish the inside to a depth of four feet, and prepare a cover three feet thick and join it with the top, using only bronze tools in the process. Yet this is a fair example of a sarcophagus.”


NBT 1915 Dec. 7th Tue.

How the men of the E.A.R.E. live at the Dardanelles is described by a Luton member of the Signals Company. He reports;

“The Turks hold a big ridge which overlooks all the ground we possess. It is wonderful, though, the ground we have taken - miles of it, and well inland, too. Our Navy has done wonders here; they have supported the Army in all its movements. Every day their shells go whistling over us. Water is a great luxury here. We have to go a long way to get it, and get sniped every day. We worked hard in making our dug-outs, and we are living four in each. We do eight or nine hours at a stretch and fatigues when we are off duty, such as fetching water etc. Bully beef, hard biscuits, rice, jam, and tea are our almost invariable foods. We try and vary it by pounding up the biscuit into flour and making porridge. One can make very nice porridge, with the addition of a little sugar and milk. I have also made some very nice puddings. We now have our rations of milk, sugar and jam served out to us so that with care we can make some dainty dishes. A Turk who gave himself up a few days ago was covered with weals he had received from a German officer. It just shows what to expect if you fall into their clutches.”


NBT 1915 Dec. 14th Tue.

In a letter to Mr. F.W. Plummer, Private S. Coote, of the 1/5th Bedfords, describes dysentery “as an awful scourge.” He has just been invalided home from the Dardanelles, and from the Military Hospital at Nottingham writes;

“When I left the Peninsula our boys were each doing two men’s work with the determination to drop before they gave in.”

Private Coote, whose home address is 16, Windmill Street, Luton, adds that he was in the late Captain Brian Cumberland’s Company, and when the first draft of officers arrived Mr. Plummer’s son took command with Lieutenant New.


NBT 1915 Dec. 14th Tue.

The scenes on the ill-fated hospital ship Anglia, just before she sank, are described in a letter to Mr. James Haylock, of Barber’s Lane, Luton. The sender is Private T. Edwards who was wounded in France whilst serving with the 2nd East Surrey Regiment. From hospital in Leicester he writes;

“When the Anglia went down, I just escaped being drowned. It was a terrible experience. I was in the water about a quarter of an hour, and was picked up by a torpedo boat. The sailors behaved splendidly towards us, doing their best to cheer us up. There was no panic on board, but the cries of the bed patients below were terrible. Those within reach were saved. The matron was very brave indeed, trying to calm those who could not swim, and she refused to leave the ship until almost the last. Many of the patients jumped overboard and were drowned.”

Before the war, Private Edwards had kept a newsagent’s shop in Hastings Street, and afterwards lived with his mother at 27, Norman Road.


NBT 1916 Jan. 18th Tue.

Jock Jarvie, the well known Luton Town Football professional, who has been serving in France with the 2nd Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders, is reported missing. Stuart Clark, of 14, Union Street, Luton, has just received this letter;

“2nd Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. To Stuart, writer of a letter to Pte. Jarvie. Please inform the relatives of No. 11278, Pte. Jarvie, that he was reported missing on 2nd January. He and thirteen others were blown up by an enemy mine explosion, and we could only report him missing, as we never saw the body. Please accept and convey to his people my deepest sympathy. Yours sincerely, A. Sinclair Thomson, Lt., O.C., B Coy.”


B.S. Feb. 19th

Trooper Reggie Looker, of the 1st Bedfordshire Yeomanry, has been killed in action in France. The second son of Mr. and Mrs. William Looker, of Osborne Road, and the Exchange Roller Mills, Luton, he was well know to agriculturists in the Newport Pagnell district, and for two years before the war had been with Mr. Ben Whiting, of Willen, to learn farming. Following the outbreak of war he enlisted in the Bedfordshire Yeomanry, under the command of Colonel W. Selby Lowndes, Master of the Whaddon Hounds, and had been in France since last April. He had joined the regiment with his brother Richard, who had a terrible shock when, not receiving a response from a comrade, who he saw run out of a gap, went to the spot and found his brother lying dead, having been shot through the head.


NBT 1916 May 2nd Tue.

Sapper H. Newman, Royal Engineers, of 208, Park Street, Luton, is with the British Expeditionary Force in France, and writes;

“The mud here is as bad as glue. The trenches are very close, only 30 yards apart in some instances, and a lot of trench mortars are used. We have one that can easily get the tenth shot in the air before the first one lands. Fritz is very busy with his machine guns at night. He was worrying us very much the other night until one of our trench mortars dropped on top of him. We are constantly digging up dead bodies, as we are making a new support line, but they are not British, as our chaps who fall are properly buried. The dug-outs are quite 30 to 40 feet deep, with two landings, and that‘s what is wanted under heavy shell fire. We measured a German shell last week - 2ft. 4ins. long. We are sleeping in a village down a cellar five minutes’ walk from the trenches. The rats here are awful; they skip about over us as we lie in bed at night.”


NBT 1916 July 18th Tue.

Suffering from a shell wound, Private H.G. Preece, of the Beds. Regiment, is now in hospital at Broadstairs, and writes;

“We were in the trenches near --- , waiting for the signal to take some German trenches 700 yards away. The Huns bombarded us, but we made the attack and won the trench. It’s wonderful how our lads go into action; they sing and whistle. The Huns must have lost large numbers of men as our Artillery had been heavily bombarding them. My helmet saved my life, as a piece of shell pierced it and struck the back of my head. I have also wounds in my left forearm and left foot. I cannot describe the ground, as it was in such a terrible state, but there were hundreds of dead Germans lying about. The Germans sniped our wounded as they lay on the battle field. The German trenches were concreted in places.”


NBT 1917 May 15th Tue.

Private Cyril Scoats, aged 21, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Scoats, 70, Burr Street, and Private Stanley Glenister, aged 21, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Glenister, Adelaide Terrace, Luton, are believed to have been drowned when the “Arcadian” was sunk in the Mediterranean. A telegram sent from Aldershot informed Mr. and Mrs. Scoats that Private Scoats was believed to have drowned on the 15th, the day on which the “Arcadian” went down, and a similar telegram was received by Mrs. Glenister. This was followed by a letter from the War Office, stating that Private Glenister probably drowned when the “Arcadian” was sunk.


NBT 1918 July 30th Tue.

News has been received that for his part in bombing the Zeppelin sheds at Tondern, Schleswig, Captain Bernard Arthur Smart, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smart, of Charlton House, London Road, Luton, has again been awarded the D.S.O.


NBT 1918 Oct. 1st Tue.

Appearing before the Luton Tribunal, a conscientious objector respectfully begged for exemption from service, because ‘he took upon himself the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and had no need of carnal weapons for defending purposes’;

“Now behold, I had a dream. I drew some coins from my pocket and a shilling fell to the floor and a great dog swallowed up the shilling. On asking the meaning of this, I was told to look at the shilling. There I saw the superscription representing the British Empire. Upon rising from my bed I took up my Bible and commenced to read in Revelations xvi, and verses 19, 20 and 21, which literally explain away the British Empire as represented on the shilling. I thank God for saving my soul on January 19th, 1914, and pray earnestly for my King and country to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

He then continued to explain the dream at some length, but during a pause the chairman intervened and said; “Have you finished; we have had enough, you will be held to serve.”


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