Diary: The 1/5th Bedfords are coming

 

Stories from The Luton News, June 3rd, 1915.

1/5th Bedfords march up Barton cutting

The 1/5th Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment have never been in Luton as a complete battalion, and the march through the county, commencing today, should therefore arouse the enthusiasm of local people.

Starting from St Albans at 7.30 this morning, they marched via Redbourn and Markyate Street to Dunstable. Just before entering Dunstable, in Costin's field, they had their rations, also refreshments, which were kindly given by the Mayor (Councillors F. T. Garrett), the Town Clerk (Mr C. C. S. Benning) and other gentlemen. The battalion, who are carrying full kit, afterwards marched to Dunstable Town Hall, where the Mayor addressed a few words of welcome.

Tonight they will bivouac in a field near the church, Houghton Regis. Tomorrow they will march via Toddington to Bedford, and at 6.10 on Saturday morning they will leave Bedford for Luton, where a public reception of the battalion will be at the Town Hall.

Subsequently the battalion will march through the town via Park Street to Luton Hoo Park, where they will stay on Saturday night.

[The battalion are pictured, above, marching from Barton to Luton on June 5th, 1915]

  • Up until last evening [June 2nd] the recruiting march through the county by a detachment of the 2/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment had resulted in 123 men being attested and found medically fit. The majority of these have passed through the recruiting officer at Luton.

  • Among those who took part in a memorable charge near Givenchy by the 24th County of London Regiment ("The Queen's") was D. Summerfield, whose home is at 161 High Town Road, Luton. He has been promoted to the rank of sergeant "for his gallant and distinguished conduct when in action". But there was to be no Distinguished Conduct Medal..

  • A film made to illustrate the life in a service battalion and featuring officers and men of the Bedfordshire Regiment is to be screened at the Palace Theatre on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening next week, with a matinee showing on Wednesday. Spectators will be able to see their relatives and friends at work without having to make a more or less long journey for the purpose.

  • A meeting at Luton Town Hall on Tuesday afternoon agreed to the setting up a committee to start a fund to provide comforts and necessaries for those prisoners of war whose homes are in Luton or the immediate neighbourhood. Mayor Councillor Walter Primett said it was most pathetic to read letters from men to whom parcels of food had already been sent, and as they were extremely grateful for gifts of such things as treacle and bread it was evident their standard of living could not be very high. Parcels of up to 11 lbs up were taken free by the Post Office, and parcels from 11lbs up to 112 lbs by the American Express Co free of charge.

  • A former Luton policeman, Bombadier A. H. Goss, Royal Horse Artillery, wrote to Chief Constable Teale expressing thanks for respirators he had arranged to be sent to the front. Explaining how he had been involved in the taking of three German trenches but not having to face gas due to wind direction, he said: "They [the Germans] have a pump in the trench which blows gas 100 feet wide and about 20 feet in the air, but many of them are done in by their own methods."

  • The latest recruits for the Regular Army who have enlisted at the Luton Corn Exchange are: H. Batchelor, P. W. Bath, H. Bent, J. Blackburn, A. A. Blomfield, H. S. Bunker, H. Cook, A. Down, J. Dunn, P. Edwards, H. Ely, S. J. Fensome, S. Fletcher, H. Freeman, C. Green, A. Grace, E. Hill, A. J. Hutchison, E. Janes, F. Noman, H. Pedder, H. Pring, J. Ramsden, W. Roly, E. Smith, H. S. Smith, R. D. Snoxell, S. Swift, W. J. Walters and A. Webb.

  • Flt Lieut Francis Hewlett, son of Mrs Hilda Hewlett of aeroplane manufacturers Messrs Hewlett and Blondeau, Leagrave, has been promoted to the rank of Squadron Commander in the Royal Flying Corps, with seniority of May 27th. He took part in the air raid on Cuxhaven on Christmas day during which he went missing for a week owing to engine trouble. He was rescued by a Dutch trawler.

  • As the result of the formation of a coalition Government, Luton MP Mr Cecil Harmsworth has relinquished his Ministerial office he was appointed to in February. His post as Under-Secretary to the Home Office has gone to Mr William Brace, a representative of the South Wales coalminers.

  • The Rev J. C. Trevelyan, the vicar who saw St Saviour's, Luton, grow from a mission church attached to Christ Church into a separate parish with a handsome church during his 23-year ministry, is to become vicar of Yaxham, near East Dereham, Norfolk. He will be succeeded at the end of August by the Rev B. H. Winterbotham, a former curate-in-charge of All Saints Church, Luton, until 1911. The Rev Trevelyan officiated for the first time at St Saviour's on January 17th, 1898.

  • The funeral will take place this afternoon at the Church Cemetery of Mr Edmund Tydeman, for 30 years the police superintendent in charge of the Luton Division. He was aged 72 and lived at 27 Crawley Road, Luton. He is survived by a wife, five sons and four daughters. Death was due to heart failure.

  • In the absence of a response to the tender for shaving the inmates of the workhouse, Luton Board of Guardians raised the contract price by £10 - from £15 a year to £25. The existing contractor was finishing that afternoon.