Diary: Lieutenant awarded the Military Cross

 

Stories from The Luton News: Thursday, March 18th, 1915.

The brilliant work of the East Anglian Royal Engineers on February 20th, when they stormed and blew up some German trenches, has been fittingly recognised. Lieut C. H. Humphreys, formerly of Luton, has been awarded the Military Cross. He is the only Territorial of the 25 officers who received awards.

Lieut Humphreys's act is officially recorded as: "Conspicuous gallantry at Givenchy on February 20th, 1915, when, leading the Royal Engineers which accompanied a storming party, he was wounded by shrapnel in the first few yards of the advance, but continued with his men into the German trench and assisted in driving them out with bombs."

He was a member of the Corps some years ago when he was working in Luton as head draughtsman at Commercial Cars Ltd. He went out to America, but on the outbreak of war came back and rejoined the E.A.R.E. in October down at the coast, being posted to Section 3. He went to the front at Christmas.

On February 20th he was second-in-command of the operations which were led by Lieut Langley, and had no sooner left his trenches than he was knocked over and wounded by a shrapnel shell which burst among his section. Thought badly cut about in the back, he kept on, did his bit in the special task allotted to the E.A.R.E. and returned with them. He is now in hospital at Regents Park. We understand that his wound, though severe, is not serious, and that he will soon be convalescent.

Lieut Humphreys, whose family lived in Torquay, took a prominent part in the Luton Amateur Dramatic Society's performances.

  • New recruits to the 2nd 5th Battalion Beds Regiment enlisted at Luton Corn Exchange included: F. G. Bodsworth (Eaton Bray), G. Farnham (Eaton Bray), J. Farnham (Eaton Bray), R. Fordham (Luton), V. Logan (Luton), A. Maclaren (Luton), F. Plater (Dunstable), J. Reeve (Luton), H. Rowland (Dunstable), W. Rowles (Bedford), H. M. Rollings (Eaton Bray), G. J. Saunders (Edlesborough), F. W. Weedon (Eaton Bray), W. J. Wilson (Edlesborough).Horace Ward

  • Four months after the event, Pte Horace Ward (pictured left), 7269, 1st Battalion Beds Regt, was officially reported killed in action on November 14th, 1914. A former Electricity Station worker, he lived at 219 Castle Street, Luton, and was called up as a reservist at the outbreak of war.

  • Maynard Tomson, Honourable Artillery Company, has been discharged from Wellingborough V.A.D. Hospital after being invalided home in January suffering from jaundice and frostbite. Mr Maynard, whose home address is Bedford House, Luton, had joined up at the outbreak of war and left for France on September 18th.

  • Mrs Pope, of 11 Highfield Road, Luton, says her husband Mr Herbert Ashley Pope (pictured right), who became a private in the 8th Company, 3rd Battalion (Toronto) Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on the outbreak of war, is in the No. 3 Stationary (Red Cross) Hospital at Rouen suffering from frostbite. Mr Pope was a plait salesman in Luton prior to going to Canada in September 1914 where he held an appointment in Toronto. He is a Hampshire man with six children.

  • Some little children who were playing on Sunday morning at Wardown Park made a gruesome discovery. Under some trees just inside the fence between the Park and New Bedford Road they found a parcel, and when they tore it open the body of a dead child was discovered. The youngsters, who were only six or seven years of age, ran to the park-keeper who removed the parcel to the boat house, whence it was afterwards taken to the Mortuary, where a post-mortem examination revealed a fracture of the skull. The body was that of an unidentified newly born male child which had probably been dead from 36 hours to three days, An inquest was opened and adjourned.

  • As the result of a terrible accident at the Luton Gas Works on Saturday morning, Samuel Hodge, aged 32, an employee of the company who has been living at 43 Salisbury Road received such grave injuries that he died later in the day at the Bute Hospital. He was going up in a hydraulic lift when something went wrong and it descended with great speed, striking the bottom with such force as to cause the fatal injuries to Mr Hodge. He leaves a widow and two daughters. An inquest was opened and adjourned.

  • Cases of diphtheria in Luton were quickly declining, according to a report of the Town Council's Sanitary Committee. There were 22 cases in February, as compared to 43 in January, and the improvement in March was expected to be favourable.

  • At the Borough Court on Saturday, a Luton youth named Sidney Willis was fined 7s 6d for having played football in Leagrave Road. The Chief Constable said this was becoming a serious matter. He received a complaint from a cyclist who had been knocked over and rather badly hurt. The Chairman, Mr Low Giddings, said it was a foolish practice.

  • At the same court, Archie Plater, Arthur Burgess, Percy Gregory and Bertie Cosby were summoned for playing the card game banker in Trapps Lane on the previous Sunday. PC Odell said he caught two boys who were called as witnesses to prove that the defendants were playing cards and putting money on. Cosby, who had a previous conviction, was said to be the ringleader of youths who frequented Trapps Lane and Bailey Hill. He was fined £1 or 14 days in jail and bound over to keep the peace for 12 months. The others were fined 7s 6d and warned that if they appeared before the court again they would be punished very severely.

  • The number of people using Waller Street Baths in the four weeks ended March 6th was around ten times higher than a year earlier. The number was 8,595 compared with 860 in the same period of 1914. The big jump was in the use by men of the slipper baths, up from 660 to 6,796.

  • The redecorated Wesley Hall and Brotherhood Hall at Waller Street Wesleyan Church were reopened at a gathering to celebrate the church's jubilee. The £300 renovation scheme, including installation of electric light, had been postponed by the commandeering of the premises for troops, who then left in December.

  • An inquiry was held at Luton Town Hall into a proposed £5,320 extension to Spittlesea Isolation Hospital and appropriation of land previously acquired for sewage disposal works. The Town Council was also seeking Local Government Board approval to raise the loan but was arguing against an extra cost of having to fence off the hospital. It was argued that the remote Spittlesea was difficult to fence off and had been used for 25 or 26 years without being fenced and there was no case of an infectious disease which could be traced by a person having got into contact with a patient at the hospital. Explaining the need for an extension, Medical Officer Dr Barnes said there had been 568 cases of diptheria, 246 of scarlet fever and three of typhoid fever reported in 1914 and of those it had been possible to treat only 225, 39 and 2 cases respectively at the existing hospital.

  • Luton Town's Wednesday game at Brighton and Hove Albion resulted in a 1-0 win for the Town, centre forward Simms scoring from a corner in the first half.