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

B.S. 1915 Jan. 16th

Writing to his mother at North Crawley, Private Higgins, of the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment, tells of life in the trenches;

“I thank you very much for the Christmas parcel although it arrived a bit late. I have sent the Christmas gift I received from Princess Mary on by post. I hope it will arrive safe, as I should like it kept. The cake and pudding went down great, and the mince pies were good. I gave one each to the rest of my section, so it was a good thing there were plenty. I had three myself. Those who had one wished the maker and sender ‘Good health,’ so I forward their wishes on. The card I am sending with this letter is from the King and Queen, as you will see. I am writing this in a dug-out dug in the side of the trench. I have just got enough room to write with the paper resting on my rifle. I have been busy for about three hours digging it out and making myself as comfortable as circumstances will permit. It is dry, which is a blessing, for at present it is pouring of rain. It is nearly always raining owing, I expect, to the big guns, which are at present banging away. We have just had a fortnight out of the trenches, so that we have not done so bad.”

(In a letter in October, regarding some of the recent heavy fighting he would write “I am afraid our regiment got more than they bargained for, but all the boys went into the fight with a good heart, although it was simply hell for half-an-hour.”)

B.S. 1916 Jan. 1st

The Reverend. J. Dove, the rector of North Crawley, has received the following letter from Trooper W. Clare, of the 3/1st Beds Yeomanry. He is stationed at Colchester, and writes;

“Rev. and Dear Rector, - I wish to thank you and the people of North Crawley very much indeed for the parcel you sent to me for Christmas. It was a most pleasant surprise and very much appreciated. It does one good to know one’s Pastor and neighbours think of them, especially at this time of the year when the hearts of those away from the village for a time are drawn closer to the people at home. I thought of you all on Christmas Day, and although some distance away wished you all a happy and peaceful Christmas. . . We were treated as well here for Christmas as could be expected. Our Dinner on Christmas Day consisted of chicken, ham, roast beef, brussels sprouts and potatoes, and plum pudding, custard and mince pies. In the evening we had a concert and refreshments consisting of beer and minerals, cigarettes, nuts, apples, oranges, and cake, so that we had quite an enjoyable time. - Yours sincerely and gratefully, W. CLARE.”

B.S. 1916 Apr. 8th

A letter to the editor of the Bucks Standard;

“Dear Sir, - Being a reader of the “Bucks Standard” - which I receive weekly - I should like very much to pass a few comments on those young men of North Crawley who are doing their utmost to evade military service. Having been out here for the past nine months doing my bit to the best of my ability, I must admit that it is with great sorrow and utter disgust that I have to read the reports of the cases and the excuses that are put forward when these men come before the local Tribunal. In my opinion it would do both of those able-bodied young fellows (who by the way are not satisfied with the decision meted out to them at the Tribunal) a great amount of good if they could imagine the hardships and risks their fellow countrymen are undergoing – partly for such as themselves. I would remind them that there are quite a number of men one meets going or coming from the trenches who are quite old enough to be their fathers. This alone I am sure should stir their fighting blood - which no doubt every true Britisher possesses in these troublesome times of war - and make them “hop it” to the nearest recruiting office to get attested. I am a little relieved seeing that the objectors to whose cases I am alluding do not apply for exemption on conscientious grounds. I might add that they need have no fear of losing experience in the occupations they are following at present, for there is splendid opportunity for them to show their prowess with the spade in the way of trench work. I sincerely hope that we may soon have the knowledge that the young men referred to have altered their opinion. I don’t think they need fear meeting the Germans, as no doubt the war will be over before such as they are required to uphold the honour of England.

Flanders,
March 17, 1916.”

B.S. 1916 May 6th

Before joining up, Driver W. Eeles, of the Royal Field Artillery, was a regular reader of the Bucks Standard at his home in North Crawley. After several months on active service in France, he and his Division have now been sent to Salonica, and his are the following verses published in “the good old paper,” which is regularly sent out to him;

B.S. 1916 July 29th

The following verses have been forwarded from France by Private P. Reed, of Little Crawley, who is on active service with the 2nd Beds Regiment;

B.S. 1916 Aug. 12th

Private Charles Chapman, whose widow mother lives in Church Walk, North Crawley, has been awarded the D.C.M. for his bravery whilst fighting with the British forces in Egypt. He is on active service with the Bucks Hussars, and was mentioned in dispatches last February last for an heroic act when his regiment was in action against the Senussi. Formerly employed in the stables at Crawley Grange, Private Chapman enlisted immediately on the outbreak of war, and took part in the operations on the Gallipoli Peninsula, Chocolate Hill, and more recently the famous charge on the Egyptian desert plains, when the conduct of the Bucks and Dorset regiments of Yeomanry was highly praised by the Commanding Officer in Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. He had previously served King and country in the South Africa campaign, and two of his brothers are serving in the Forces - Percy in the Indian Cavalry, and Fred in the Army Veterinary Corps.

B.S. 1916 Nov. 11th

Private Leonard Fulford, of the Bedfordshire Regiment, has been killed in action, just after having received news that his father had died. His mother, Mrs. Fulford, of North Crawley, has received the following from his friend, written on October 20th;

“We are out of the trenches with a bit of luck. Poor Len Fulford got killed I am sorry to state. A shell caught him. He had just received word his father had died before he went into action. He was a good soldier and saw no fear.”

Since then Mrs. Fulford has received official news from the War Office. Private Fulford had joined the Army since October 1914, and 31 years of age.

B.S. 1916 Dec. 16th

Formerly the coachman at Crawley Grange, after serving three weeks with the Colours, Private William Wheller died from double pneumonia, and was buried in North Crawley churchyard on Friday, December 9th. Since the age of 18, he had been employed for 21 years by Mr. J. I. Boswell, of Crawley Grange, and was associated with the North Crawley section of the Bucks Volunteer Regiment. On Friday, November 17th he joined the Army Veterinary Corps at Bletchley, and from Woolwich was transferred to Salisbury Plain, where he was taken ill. He was then moved to hospital, but died on the afternoon of Saturday, November 26th. He leaves a widow and two children, and many members of the Corps were present at the funeral to pay their respects.

B.S. 1917 May 5th

Official news has been received by the Reverend Dove, rector of North Crawley, that Private Harry Ruffhead, of the 1st Battalion, Worcester Regiment (Lewis Gun Section) has been killed in action in France. In a letter on the 2nd, Second Lieutenant Martin Warren, commanding the Lewis gunners, writes;

“In reply to your letter regarding 42650 Pte. H. Ruffhead, I much regret to say that he was killed in action on March 4th, 1917. The battalion had captured two lines of trenches early that morning and had done very good work. Ruffhead was killed instantaneously by a shell soon after the second line had been taken. He was doing very good work with his team of Lewis gunners when all the team except one were killed by the explosion of a shell. I was very sorry to lose him as he was a good and willing fellow; and wish to express sympathy with his father and relations. He was buried just where he fell, just east of Bouchavesnes, near the Somme. If there are any other particulars his father would like I shall be pleased to give them.”

Born at North Crawley, but a resident of Little Crawley, Private Ruffhead had joined the Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry about 13 months ago, being transferred to the Worcesters.

B.S. 1917 May 12th

In a letter, last week the sad news was received by Mrs. Nettie Howson, of Prospect, Emberton, that her brother, Corporal John Davis, of the 175th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, had died in hospital in France on Tuesday, January 30th. He had enlisted in May 1915, and went straight to the Labour Battalion. Born at North Crawley, he lived at 162, Long Street, Dordon, Warwickshire, where his widow and seven children live. His widowed mother, Mrs. Charlotte Davis, resides at Emberton.

B.S. 1917 May 12th

Aged 21, Lance Corporal Lewis Higgins, of the Machine Gun Corps, was wounded in the fighting in France on April 28th, and is now in a French field hospital. He is the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Higgins, of North Crawley, to whom Lieutenant Roberts writes;

“… he has been in my section since I took it over in August, 1916, and I have always found him a very reliable man and a good soldier, and in consequence I am very sorry to lose him.”

Lance Corporal Higgins describes his wound as slight, and writes;

“I was firing the gun when Fritz spotted us and he gave us as warm a quarter of an hour as I have had. They (the shells) were dropping everywhere except just on top of us, when a piece hit me in the back and I thought the world had come to an end, but as I had a fair amount of clothing on it didn’t make much of a cut.”

Enlisting at the outbreak of war, Lance Corporal Higgins has been in France since December 1914, and although he has been through much hard fighting his wound is the first that he has suffered. Recently his name was brought before the Divisional Commander for conspicuous bravery in the field, and during his active service he has had several miraculous escapes. A few months ago, when he was sniped at by German outposts the shots entered the back of his headgear, but came out at the top without inflicting any injury. On another occasion a piece of shrapnel burned a hole in his pocket, and his clothing was grazed in two other places. One of his brothers is presently serving in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.

B.S. 1917 May 19th

On Friday last, Mr. William Jordan, of Brook End Farm, North Crawley, received news that his third son, 27 year old Sergeant Jesse Jordan, of the Royal Bucks Hussars, had been killed in action in Palestine on Thursday, April 19th, 1917. This was conveyed in a letter from Private William Walters, whose home was also in Newport Pagnell. Being in Sergeant Jordan’s squadron, he saw him fall badly wounded from shrapnel, and the injuries were so serious that he died shortly afterwards. From being a member of the London City Police, with whom he had served for four years, Sergeant Jordan had mobilised with the Bucks Yeomanry at the outbreak of war, and before going to Palestine saw a good deal of active service with his regiment in Egypt, in the many skirmishes and ultimate rout of the troublesome Sennussi tribe. A brother is serving in France with the Royal Horse Artillery. Sergeant Jordan is commemorated on the Jerusalem Memorial, Israel.

B.S. 1917 Nov. 17th

News has been received that Lieutenant John Irvine Corrie Boswell, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Irvine Boswell, of Crawley Grange, was killed in the fighting at Gaza on Friday, November 2nd. He was educated at Radley College and Lathbury, and after some time with the Bucks Regiment of Yeomanry had managed for some while a tea plantation in Ceylon. Later seeing active service in Egypt and Palestine, during the early part of the war he was an ambulance driver on the Western Front, and was serving in the E Company, Tank Corps when he was killed. He was 28 years of age, and last November 9th had married Miss Alfreda Hurley, of Caversham Heights. Besides a widow, he leaves a baby boy. He is buried in Gaza War Cemetery, Israel, and is commemorated on his father’s grave in the churchyard at North Crawley Parish Church.

B.S. 1918 May 18th

Stephen and Emma Ementon, of Chequers Lane, North Crawley, have received news of the death of their eldest and youngest sons. The former, Lance Corporal Arthur Ementon, D Company, 1st Battalion, Cambridgeshire Regiment, was previously reported as missing at Ypres on Wednesday, September 26th, 1917, but has now officially been noted as having been killed on that date. He was aged 27, and for many years had worked for Messrs. Salmons and Sons at Newport Pagnell. He then went to Swansea, and later to Cambridge, where he joined the county regiment on May 9th, 1915. He went to France on September 26th, 1915, and took part in much of the severe fighting in France and Flanders, until his death, at Ypres, two years to the day since he went to the front. He leaves a widow and a small boy, aged two.

The youngest son, Private William Ementon, joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on July 23rd, 1917, and went to France on April 5th, 1918. He was killed exactly a fortnight later, and in his first battle. He was aged 19, and since leaving school had been employed by Mr. Jarvis, of Church Farm, North Crawley.

B.S. 1918 Sep. 28th

Private William Glidewell, of the 1st Battalion, Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment), has been officially reported as killed in action in France on Friday, August 23rd. Writing to Mrs. Glidewell, of North Crawley, a friend of her husband gives the following details;

“He was in the charge for the railway between ----------- but he did not cross the ridge. On the following morning I found him lying where he had died. I say died because he was not wounded in any part of the body. His rifle, with magazine loaded and bayonet fixed, was lying beside him, and in his right hand he was grasping a Mill’s bomb. Some said that heart failure was the cause of death, and others put it down to concussion. With four men to help me we carried the body to ----------- and buried him there. I got Captain Mellish, a Church of England Chaplain, to officiate at the grave.”

Aged 39, before enlisting Private Glidewell had been in business at North Crawley as a boot and shoe maker, and on joining the army on September 4th, 1917, was posted to the Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry. He was in the fighting in France before last Christmas, and was later transferred to the Bucks Battalion and then the Berkshires. He leaves a widow and three children.

B.S. 1918 Oct. 5th

Lance Corporal Frederick Hedge, of the 2nd Battalion, Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry, died on Monay, September 23rd from the serious wounds he had sustained ten days earlier. The Matron of the hospital has written several letters to his wife, and in the final one says that he “lapsed into an unconscious state, and this continued to the end, which was very peaceful. I am sure this will be a great trial to you, and I wish it could have been otherwise. We feel so disappointed when our efforts end like this. Please accept our sincere sympathy.” Lance Corporal Hedge was the third son of John and Elizabeth Hedge, of North Crawley, and his widow, Rose, and 17 months’ old baby live at Duck End, Maulden, Beds. He enlisted on September 1st, 1914, from employment on the Midland Railway at Bedford, and crossed to France in July 1915. Two months later he was wounded, and after recovering in England returned to the Western Front in November 1916. In February 1917 he was again wounded, but this time remained in France. He was killed the day before his 27th birthday.