Stories from the Beds & Herts Telegraph, July 3rd, 1915

Prisoner of war Pte Charles Odell wrote to Mrs A. B. Attwood at Highcroft, London Road, to thank her for her parcel and her practical help for his family at home. Mrs Attwood is a prominent member of the Prisoners' Aid Society.

In a letter from Salzwedel camp in Germany, he wrote: "All the boys and myself were very pleased to hear from you. I am sending you some of the names so that you may see that there are some of our boys here who are not in No. 1 Company. They are in No. 4 Company.

"We have three sergeants here, and the parcel will be divided among us. We have had one big parcel from the Church Army, London, and one from the "Keep Smiling Society," London.

"These are the names of the boys - L-Cpl W. Doffield, 9071, Royal Scots Fusiliers; Pte E. H. Dobbs, 7827, Scots Guards; Pte T. H. Hines, 8050, Duke of Wellington's; Pte L. W. Rogers, 1346, 6th Battalion Royal Fusiliers; Sgt J. Boswell, 7693, 1st Cheshire Regiment; Pte James Clarke, B Company, 2nd Manchester Regiment; Pte F. Mortimer, 8064, Royal Scots Fusiliers; Pte T. Fisher, 9251, Royal Scots Fusiliers; Pte A. Gregory, 10546, 2nd Worcester Regiment; Pte J. Finlinson, 8143, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment; Pte G. S. Moon, 8682, 1st Battalion Scots Guards.

"I have also had a letter from Luton asking if I know Archer Godfrey. I am pleased to say I do. I am only too pleased to let them know all I can, and if there is anyone in Luton that you know who has relatives missing from the 3rd Bedfordshire Regiment, I would be very glad to tell them if I know anything about them for we have two or three other lists here of missing men and NCOs."

• Pte David George Jaquest (pictured, right), of the Canadian Black Watch, is in Luton this weekend and is staying at 7 Cardiff Road. He is the son of Mr Edward Jaquest and grandson of the late Head Constable of Luton, and went to Canada five years or so ago, having previously served three years in the Bedfordshire Yeomanry. In Canada he has served three years in the Canadian 17th Hussars and has fallen into line with the thousands of other Canadians who are placing their services at the disposal of the Mother Country by donning the kilt of the Canadian Black Watch. His battalion arrived in England a fortnight ago and lost no time in coming home to see some of his old friends.

• This morning the funeral took place at the Luton General Cemetery of Pte George C. Wade, 847, 3/1st North Midland Field Company, Royal Engineers. A driver, he was 22 years of age and died somewhat suddenly on Tuesday Evening while billeted at 277 Hitchin Road, Luton. His home was at 13 Harcourt Street, Skelton, Stoke-on-Trent. He was accorded full military honours, his coffin carried on a gun-carriage provided by the 2/1st North Midland R. F. A.

• Nothing has been heard from an official source of Sgt Arthur Ward, the son of Mr and Mrs Brewer, of 140 Wellington Street, Luton, who has been missing since May 9th. Sgt Ward, a cousin of QMS Arthur Andrews and an old boy of Queen Square School, was in the 2nd Rifle Brigade. He had served in India and was drafted to the Front soon after war broke out. A soldier on furlough in Luton informed the family that Sgt Ward was dead.

• Lieut Pope, of the Bedfordshire Regiment, is one of a number of officers who are prisoners of war at Danholm, a camp which consists of two small island (connected by a bridge) between Stralsund and the island of Rugen, in the Baltic. They were sent there from Mainz about six weeks ago. The Telegraph also said that 180 men of the Bedfordshire Regiment were now prisoners of war in Germany.

• A thrilling sight was witnessed at Slip End on Thursday morning - 17,000 troops from Luton and Dunstable, three-and-a-half miles long, assembling there for a combined march. Preparations are well advanced for a sham fight on Blow's Downs at Dunstable.

• A very important meeting is to be held in Luton on Wednesday next at the Town Hall to inaugurate a War Savings Campaign throughout South Beds. It is the bounden duty of rich and poor to contribute to the great National War Loan.

• Luton Chamber of Commerce agreed to send the Town Clerk the names of members who might be of assistance with voluntary work in compiling a National Register to be undertaken at every household in Luton by the Town Council. The Bill to create the register was given its first reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday. It would require every person aged from 15 to 65 to state their age, employment and whether they were willing to volunteer any special form of labour, with penalties applied for non-compliance. Volunteers would be recruited to collect the data.

• Watercress beds on Leagrave Common, said to have been in existence for 50 or 60 years, are engaging the attention of the Court Leet of the Manor of Luton, and last evening were the subject of a water rights inquiry at the Council Schools, Oak Road. Mr Augustus Page Turner, an adjoining landowner, was pressing a claim to grow watercress in the stream bounding the Common, from a point new the Sundon Road to the Wellhead. The inquiry was trying to establish whether anyone had the deeds to the Common or whether it was common land to which the people of the parish had a right. After evidence from villagers to try to resolve the issue, the inquiry was adjourned.

• Another Baptist minister is leaving South Beds. It is announced that the Rev B. Fendick, of Limbury, has accepted the unanimous invitation of the High Street Church, Dereham, Norfolk, to become its pastor.

• The Rev John Lawrence White, who succeeds the Rev G. F. Sloan as senior curate of Luton Parish Church, takes up his new duties tomorrow. He was ordained in 1910 to the curacy of Bishop Latimer Memorial Church, Birmingham, where his work was chiefly among the lads employed in the large engineering factories. In 1913 he moved to St Paul's Brixton, from where he comes to Luton.

• The heavy storm that visited parts of the district on Wednesday was responsible for the holding up of all traffic to Luton on the Great Northern Railway branch from Hatfield. Near Luton Hoo station the heavy rains washed down a great quantity of ballast and sand and moved the permanent way, causing the engine of a goods train to leave the metals, blocking the single line to all traffic. Temporary repairs were soon affected, and the trains were running as usual on the evening of the same day.

• The population of Luton is now estimated at 56,120. At the census of 1911 it was 49,978, and ten years before that the returns showed the total number of inhabitants to be 36,404. Last year the birth rate per 1,000 living was 23.7. The number of deaths under one year per 1,000 births was 94.7. Among the principal causes of death during 1914 were organic heart disease (95), diphtheria and croup (72), bronchitis (59), pneumonia (56), phthisis [tuberculosis] (51) and cancer (40).

• This morning at Luton Borough Court, Frederick Howkins, licensee of the Fox Inn, Dunstable Road, was summoned for having permitted drunkenness on the premises on June 25th. He denied the offence, claiming that a soldier named Fred Smith had not been served beer there but had been drinking out of other people's glasses, and he had turned him out. He was removed from the premises by other soldiers and taken to a guard room, where he collapsed and was confined to barracks for seven days. Howkins was found guilty and fined £3.

[The Fox Inn, Dunstable Road, photographed by T. G. Hobbs]