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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 Aug. 31st Tue.

Serving in the Middlesex Regiment, one of Mrs. Henry Jordan’s sons has been gassed twice, another is in the Beds. Yeomanry, whilst a short while ago a third, 29 year old Private Lionel Jordan, sent her a field card at Prospect Place. On it was printed the message; “I am quite well. Letter follows at first opportunity”, but on Friday week she heard that he been killed, whilst sleeping in a dug out between Lille and Armentieres. Lieutenant Lucas, the Officer Commanding his Company, writes;

“Nothing is much consolation in times of sadness like this, but I hope it will lessen your grief to know that your son was killed instantaneously by a high explosive shell whilst he was lying asleep in his dug out, and he would have no suffering of any kind. To me his loss is one which can never be repaired, as he was my personal servant and I saw him hourly, and I can fully say that I never met a man who was so invariably cheerful and so willing in all he did. He was a very brave lad, was liked and respected by all the men in the Company, and by the officers. I can only sympathise with you in your sorrow and hope that God will bring comfort to you in the loss of such a fine lad who has died fighting for his country.”

Lieutenant A. Welsh also writes respectfully, as also the Chaplain, the Reverend Basil Keymer, who said that Private Jordan had been laid to rest in the British burial ground near to where he was killed. Prior to his death, Private Jordan had some narrow escapes, including one instance when men either side of him were killed by an exploding shell, which blew his rifle out of his hands.

For some years Lionel had worked at the Charlotte Cottage Hospital, and at the outbreak of war enlisted in the Alexandra Princess of Wales Own 4th Yorkshire Regiment (T.F.), having been a first footman in the service of Sir Hugh and Lady Bell at Raunton Grange, Northallerton.

Lady Bell writes;

“We have all in this house felt it as a personal loss. Lionel was one of the most delightful members of the household; he had such courteous, gentle manners and was so really good and kindly. Everyone liked and respected him.”

Other letters of sympathy have also been received, including those from Mrs. Leopold de Rothschild and Lady Edith Cotes.


NBT 1915 Aug. 31st Tue.

Mr. and Mrs. F. Randall, of Rothschild Road, have been informed that their son, Sergeant Reginald Randall, was shot in the action at Suvla Bay. The bullet entered his left leg just below the knee, and exited at the ankle. He was duly sent to England, and by coincidence the Red Cross orderly who helped him off the ship was George Willis, of Wing, who had joined the Red Cross Ambulance through the V.A.D. at the village. Sergeant Randall was taken to the Military Hospital, Manchester, and has since been moved to a convalescent home. About a year ago he joined the Sherwood Foresters, and during his first night in the trenches his bayonet was shattered in his hands during a charge.


NBT 1916 Feb. 22nd Tue.

From France, the work of Mr. Lowesly, a former curate at Wing, is mentioned in a letter sent to Dunstable by Private Melville Lockhart, R.A.M.C.;

“We are now close to the firing line, living in a small village, where we hope to stay for some time. You will be surprised to hear that I have been taken out of the ‘Bearers’ Section,’ and placed in the operating theatre, where a steady nerve is required. I could tell you much about the ‘cases,’ but this would only depress you. My duties are to assist the doctor, and with me is another man, Mr. Lowesly, who was curate at Wing, near Leighton Buzzard at one time, and we get on well together. At first it was most trying work, and we do all in our power to help the poor fellows who are wounded. One died just after the doctor had dressed his wounds, as we were standing around, and we buried him the next day in the little churchyard near the village. We have some awful cases, and it does make one realise the terrible realities of war. The other morning three of us were in the operating tent when about eight Red Cross cars came rushing into the yard, full of wounded. Fortunately we were fully prepared, and were hard at it until seven o’clock in the evening. How the doctors do work, and how clever they are. Lowesly and I have an orderly room to ourselves, and I wish you could see it. We have made it look very nice, and spotlessly clean. I scrub the floor every morning and light the fire, and make coffee for two, and, later on, we have tea and make toast and Welsh rabbits. The other day I was in the operating room from seven in the morning until 12 o’clock at night. I feel now that I am doing my bit. I hear we are going into a Rest Camp in about three weeks. It will be a treat.”


NBT 1916 Aug. 15th Tue.

Serving with the Royal Engineers, Fred Horn, of Mill road, was badly wounded in the great advance, and is now in the 4th General hospital, Lincolnshire, suffering from explosive bullet wounds in the legs, and machine gun bullets in the arm. He writes to his mother;

“I think myself very lucky to get out at all as I was on the battlefield for six days before I could get back to our own lines. I was amongst the trenches that were occupied by the Germans for three days. A party of us got too far into a village and were cut off, and all we had to live on for six days were the biscuits we got from the dead. I had to hide in shell holes in the day, and crawl as much as I could in the darkness at night. I had to sham dead several times because of German Patrols. One patrol hit me on the head with a club and stunned me and the dirty swine pinched my watch.”


NBT 1916 Aug. 29th Tue.

Mr. and Mrs. Pease, of Church Street, have been informed of the death of their son, Private Pease. He was serving for about five months with the Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry, and had been at the front for only a few weeks. Lieutenant Early, his officer, writes;

“Dear Mr. Pease, it is a great sorrow to me to have to send you bad news about your son, Pte. W. Pease. Our Battalion had a very rough time in the front line trenches at the beginning of the week, and during shelling your son was hit and died almost at once. I understand the wound was on the top of his head, and he was apparently not conscious at all and passed away in five minutes. There is the comfort of knowing that he did not suffer at all. We feel we have lost a good and true soldier, and I want to offer you on behalf of all his comrades, our deep and respectful sympathy.”

A letter has also been received from the Chaplain.


NBT 1916 Aug. 29th Tue.

Mr. and Mrs. Pickering have heard that their son, Rifleman Frank Pickering, has been missing since July 15th. The only information so far is from his friend Private Lomas, who writes;

“I was with Frank all the time in the attack on High Wood. We were held up for a little, so Frank and I went out to get three of our wounded boys in. We were both shot through the coat a few times, but remained unhurt, and took them down to the dressing station. Frank lost his equipment, so I went down with the third man whilst Frank went to find it. After that I could not find him anywhere. I was so anxious all the time, and when we came back I inquired and was told that he was wounded. I have been looking forward to a letter from him, until a few days ago I heard he was officially reported missing.”

The Chaplain has also written, suggesting that he may have been removed to hospital, or taken prisoner.


NBT 1916 Sep. 5th Tue.

On July 14th, Colour Sergeant Major J.W. Tantrum was killed in action in France. Serving with the West Yorks. Regiment he had been billeted at Wing, and was well known locally. He joined the West Yorks as a private at the outbreak of war and soon gained promotion, the last being for service at Loos, when he led counterattacks after 12 of the 20 officers had fallen. The news of his death is conveyed in a letter from a fellow N.C.O.;

“He suffered no pain whatever, as his death was instantaneous. He was buried by the lads of the Company, and a suitable cross marks the spot where he now rests. He died doing his duty.”

Additionally, Captain Edward Dunbar, of the same regiment, writes;

“His loss is felt by all the battalion, and especially his Company, who, perhaps more than all, knew his worth. He was Sergeant Major, chosen by me out of all the Sergeants of the Company, though he was younger than all. I was never for a moment sorry for my choice. At St. Eloi in March he earned the Military Medal, and would have got it but for the fact that he was a warrant officer, and so was ineligible for it. I am sure, had he been spared, he would have earned and got further distinction. He was invaluable to me on all occasions, and I cannot speak too highly of him. ”


NBT 1916 Sep. 26th Tue.

Private Harry Kent, the son of Mr. E. Kent, of George Street, Wing, was badly wounded in the shoulder and right arm in the fight at Guillemont. From Netley Hospital he writes;

“I am still in bed, and by another operation they have taken some more shrapnel bullets out of my muscle. This time my arm is also badly fractured, but I am getting on as well as can be expected.”

When wounded, he had been in France for fourteen months, and before the war was employed in the gardens at Ascott.


NBT 1917 May 8th Tue.

Private L. Coles, who was employed as a painter in the building department at Ascott before joining the Army, has written a long letter to Mr. Edgar, describing his voyage to India. The Germans claimed to have sunk the “Empress of Britain,” the vessel on which he travelled, but Private Coles writes;

“We sailed from -----, with seven other transports under a good escort, and there was only one death during the voyage. We called at Sierra Leone, West Africa, and stayed there five days. Once we had to turn back for some hours owing to weather - or danger. We could only have a wash every two days as there was not enough water on board to last us to Cape Town. At Table Bay we were allowed to go ashore every day after dinner. We stayed there for a week and had a good time, the people treating us like their own and giving us fags, grapes, etc., and taking us in to tea and supper. We were very sorry to come away. We next called at Durban and had a recruiting march, between 17,000 and 20,000 of us marching through the streets. Whilst on board on Feb. 19th we had a wireless message to say that, according to German news, we were supposed to have been sunk. I am glad to say it isn’t true. We landed at Bombay on March 3rd and had a three days’ and nights’ journey to Bangalore. We were only allowed to get out of the train twice to have a wash. Now we are in an isolation camp for 28 days. Then we go across the road into barracks. I hear you have had a hard winter. We have missed all that. Here it is very hot and we have to be very careful. Anyone can get sunstroke in a few minutes. There are few horses here, and it is funny to see oxen working in the fields. There are thousands of goats, kept like flocks of sheep in England. All the land is used for growing corn, and the goats are kept on the stubbles.”


NBT 1917 July 17th Tue.

The Major General commanding his division has complimented Sergeant E. Willis, Norfolk Regiment, for his distinguished conduct, and has presented him in the field in France with the Military Medal. After his officer had been badly wounded, Sergeant Willis carried on holding the trench with his men and consolidated the position, thereby saving many lives. He is the son of Lance Corporal and Mrs. E. Willis, George Street, and has two brothers serving in France. Corporal F. Cheshire, R.E., whose wife lives at Ascott has also been awarded the Military Medal


NBT 1917 Sep. 4th Tue.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Woodwards, of George Street, have received a letter from the Officer Commanding C Company, Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry, stating that their son, Private Arthur Woodwards, was killed by a sniper during an attack on August 10th. He writes;

“Although your loss must be hard to bear you have every reason to be proud of your son who always did his duty well and laid down his life for his country. He will be missed by his comrades and as one of the older members will be a real loss to the company on whose behalf I tender the deepest sympathies in your bereavement.”

Leaving the Wire Works, at Leighton Buzzard, Private Woodwards had joined up early, and three of his brothers are presently serving in France.


NBT 1917 Sep. 4th Tue.

A letter from one of his chums has been received by Mrs. Sidney Woolhead, saying that her son, Private William Woolhead, Trench Mortar Battery, was killed during an attack last week. The writer says he died instantly, and did not suffer. Other letters of sympathy have also been received. Private Woolhead had only been in the battery since January, but had proved very popular with his comrades. Before joining up he had been in the Ascott Estate building department for a number of years.


NBT 1917 Sep. 4th Tue.

A letter from the War Office has been received by the well known farrier of High Street, Joseph Pollard, and his wife. It states that their son, Ernest, a farrier Sergeant in the Bucks. Hussars, has died of wounds sustained with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force on August 25th. He joined up in 1914 and had been in Egypt for 2½ years. In fact he had only just been discharged from hospital after three months of treatment.


NBT 1917 Nov. 13th Tue.

News reached Mr. and Mrs. Page, of Ascott, on Saturday week that their youngest son, Frank, had been killed in action near Ypres. A comrade in a hospital in Leeds writes;

“He died painless and happy. Though your son was young he acted like a man when in the line.”

A friend writes;

“He in his short life will always be remembered as a thorough, upright and God-fearing lad, and of his memory as such you may well be proud.”

Private Page was aged 19, and had been at the front for only three months. Having joined the Oxon & Bucks Light Infantry in October, 1916, after passing as a first class signaller he was sent to France on July 29th, 1917, being then transferred to a Lewis Gun Section. He had been one of the first to join Mrs. De Rothschild’s Own Troop of Scouts, and did much good service when soldiers were first billeted in Wing.


NBT 1917 Nov. 20th Tue.

A memorial service in honour of the late Private George Woodwards, of Wing, was held on October 21st at the Primitive Methodist Church, North Bay, Ontario. The North Bay ‘Dispatch and Tribune’ reported that he was ‘an exceptionally fine type of Christian man and gentleman’, and his widow, who still lives at North Bay, has received a letter stating the circumstances of his death;

“He was killed by a shell which burst just over his head and death was so sudden that he lay with a smile on his lips at some jest he had heard just before the splinter struck him. He was a good lad, cheery, unselfish, and thoroughly brave.”


NBT 1918 Apr. 23rd Tue.

Serving with the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force, ‘A.S.C.’, ‘late of Wing’, writes;

“Sir. I was very much pleased with a report in your issue of Dec. 4th of a meeting held in the Wing Hall in connection with the war savings campaign. I greatly appreciate the speech of Lady Nott -Bower. She begged the audience to abstain from all unnecessary luxuries, especially those that had to be imported and took up shipping room. The poorer class are doing their best to economise - but are the higher class? Take for instance the Lord Mayor’s banquet, on which I was pleased to see Mr. R.A. Stratton made comment at the Food Control Committee. For a second instance, out here in Mesopotamia everything is difficult to obtain, including the necessary things that the soldier wants for everyday life, such as milk, sugar, etc. Yet the canteens are being continually supplied with wines and spirits for the officers and N.C.O.s . It is a very different thing where I am situated to go to the canteen and to be told they have nothing in stock only plenty of intoxicating drinks. Why is so much of it allowed to come? My answer is, because those who are at the head of the affairs at home cannot forego their luxuries. When we return - and may God hasten our triumphant return - we shall demand, and rightly too, a better country in every sense of the word, a country in which there shall be no reckless luxury at one end of the social scale and heartbreaking destitution at the other end. But, shall we have such a country? Our people at home have been instructed how much sugar they may have, how much meat, tea and bread. Yet nobody believes there is a real shortage, nobody will ever believe it whilst the Government are sanctioning an increase in the quantity of beer, etc. What a pitiful business it is that the very last thing the Englishman is supposed to be ready to stand is any interference with his drinking.”


NBT 1918 May 28th Tue.

Mrs. C. Green, of Oakley Cottage (N.B., the reference to the town is somewhat vague, but Wing seems most likely) has received the following letter from an Army Chaplain;

“Dear Mrs. Green, I have to send you very grievous news. Your son, L18289 Driver Arnold Paxton, R.F.A., has laid down his life for his country. His battery was shelled yesterday (16th May) and he and two others, Driver Hitchcock and Gnr. Reynolds, were killed, and a fourth was wounded. He was unconscious after he was hit and therefore will not have suffered greatly. We buried them this morning in a little Cemetery near here. I must not tell you the name of the place, but careful record is kept and the battery are putting up a cross to mark the grave. I know that this letter will bring great sorrow to you. Will you first let me say how deeply I feel with you. I know that you have lost a good son. I only wish you could hear how highly everybody, officers and men, speak of him. He has given his all in a great cause, now we must leave him quietly in God’s hands and ask Him to forgive us all what He sees amiss.”


ALSO AVAILABLE IN BOOK FORM AS ‘LETTERS FROM THE FIRST WORLD WAR’ FROM WWW. LULU.COM,
PRODUCED WITH THE INVALUABLE EXPERTISE OF ALAN KAY & ZENA DAN.