Stories from The Luton News: Thursday, October 7th, 1915

Girls employed by Vauxhall Motors Ltd, Luton, will perhaps cease work if they have to go home through streets which are unlighted. At least this possibility was foreshadowed in a letter received from the company by the Luton Town Council on Tuesday night.

The Highways and Lighting Committee reported that they had received a letter from Vauxhall Motors Ltd, asking the Council to partially light Kimpton Road, as many girls were employed by the company. The committee reported that they were unable to entertain the application.

Councillor A. A. Oakley, chairman of the committee, said they did not feel they could make an exception in favour of this company. If they renewed the lighting in one direction they would have to do so in others. A number of girls came along together at stated times, so it was not as though girls came along singly, and the committee did not think they could alter the arrangements which had been made.

The Town Clerk reported that he had communicated the committee's decision to the company, and had received another letter, dated September 28th. In this surprise was expressed at the decision of the committee, in view of the importance of the work on which Vauxhall were engaged. At the present time the lamps in the main streets were alight until ten o'clock or later, and right through the night there was a large amount of light from the dust destructor, and flashes in the sky from some electric furnaces. With this in mind they felt their application had not received adequate consideration.

Following suggestions that a man with a lantern could accompany the girls, or that the girls should carry torches, the action of the committee was confirmed.

• Pte Horace Hammett, of the 1st Beds Regiment and son of Mrs S. Hammett, of 114 Castle Street, Luton, has received War Office notification that he was killed in action on May 5th. He had since been reported wounded and missing. The Adjutant of the 1st Bedfords apologised that news was so late forthcoming but was due to an absence of witnesses.

• Pte Alfred Lloyd, 4245, 1/5th Bedfordshires, has been reported missing, believed killed. Pte Lloyd, aged 20, has no parents, but his sister, Miss S. Lloyd, said she would be glad of any information which can be sent to her in Luton.

• Sapper P. Langridge, a son of Mr F. Langridge, of 59 Ramridge Road, Luton, who has been serving with the East Anglian Divisional Engineers in Gallipoli, is in hospital at Malta with a compound fracture of the arm and shrapnel wounds in the throat and left leg. "I have had three operations and am free from shell now, and getting along fine. They tell me that in a short time, when I can get up, I go to a London hospital, and I shall be home for Christmas at the latest," he wrote

• Pte Frederick Goodship, 3824, 1/5th Bedfordshire, was admitted to the 21st General Hospital, Alexandria, suffering from dysentry, on September 5th. He is the youngest son of Mr G. Goodship, of The Green, Stopsley, from whom a letter has been received stating that he hopes soon to be out of bed.

• Pte Stanley Burgess, 54th E.A.R.E. Cyclist Company, has suffered an attack of dysentry while serving at Gallipoli and is now in hospital at Cairo. He is 22, and prior to the war worked in the felt department of Mr Hugh Woods' factory in Guildford Street, Luton.

• Pte Stanley Barton, of the 11th Essex Regiment, is at present in hospital "somewhere in England" having been wounded in action near Hill 70 in France on September 26th. He is the son of Mr and Mrs Alfred Barton, of 2 Guildford Street, Luton.

• Mrs Day, of 25 Brache Street, Luton, has received word from her son, L-Cpl Albert Day, that he has arrived in England with other wounded from Gallipoli and is now an inmate of East Leeds War Hospital in Yorkshire and is progressing satisfactorily.

• Wounded Pte A. Pakes, 1/5th Bedfords, writing from hospital at Alexandria, said he was getting on fine now and hoped to be fit again shortly.

• Gunner Daniel Conolly, North Midland Brigade, has made a very good recovery after being severely wounded in the head on July 29th. He is the son Mr and Mrs G. C. Conolly, of 7 Holly Walk, Luton, and worked in the Dunstable Road clothing department of Messrs Mares before enlistment.

• Pte Alec William Taylor, familiarly known as Will, wrote to his parents, Mr and Mrs William Taylor, of 70 Langley Road, Luton, that he was in a military hospital at Trensham Hill, Surrey, after having been wounded in the cheek on September 26th. It was not a very big wound, he wrote, but it had affected his thorax, and the piece of shell was still in him. Pte Taylor, 21, had been a moulder working at Ripley, Derbyshire, before enlisting in the 5th Shropshire Light Infantry.

• Pte Albert Mullett, a son of Mr W. F. Mullett, of Luton, is unofficially reported to have been wounded in France recently while serving with the 2nd Bedfords. He joined the county regiment at the Ampthill Training Camp shortly after the war began.

• Mr Horatio Bottomley, described as "England's War Orator," has definitely accepted the invitation of the South Beds Recruiting Committee to speak on "The War" at Luton on November 4th. The meeting will take place at the Winter Assembly Hall and commence at 7.45 pm. Mr Bottomley, since August of last year, has devoted several days a week to addressing recruiting meetings in all parts of the United Kingdom.

• An inquest was opened and adjourned on Tuesday afternoon into the death of Mrs Amy Martin, of 6 Queen Square, Luton, whose husband, Gunner Henry Charles Martin, Royal Garrison Artillery, had been charged with her murder. A jury had been to the Bute Hospital to view the body, and then heard evidence of identification from the dead woman's father, Mr Edwin Plummer, a blocker living at 10 Blythe Place, Luton. [The couple had married in the summer of 1902 in Luton.]

• Earlier closing of shops in Luton during the period of the war is being organised with the Luton Tradesmen's Association, with the support of the Town Council. An agreement has been arrived at with regard to an earlier closing hour on Saturday nights (10 pm instead of 10.30), and the closing hour for other nights is now to be dealt with.

• Luton Town Council on Tuesday decided to insure Corporation property against damage by aircraft. Properties including the Town Hall, the Plait Halls, Corn Exchange, fire station and court house were to be covered for total premiums of less than £100. Properties excluded from cover included Spittlesea Hospital and Wardown House.

• The Librarian reported to the Town Council that there were at least 11 people in Luton able to read Braille type, and that by paying an annual subscription of £5 to the National Lending Library for the Blind, 20 Braille volumes could be borrowed each month. The subscription is to be paid.

• Last night the Luton carpenters and joiners decided to take strong action over the refusal of the local master builders to grant them ½d per hour advance. They passed the following resolution unanimously: "That this meeting of carpenters and joiners of Luton and district declares that if our demands, which become operative on October 30th, are not guaranteed by writing on or before October 14th, the said carpenters and joiners will leave work on October 30th, 1915; also that a deputation from the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners is willing to meet the employers in conference prior to October 14th."

• Among the plans passed by the Luton Town Council on Tuesday evening were those for a factory to be erected at Kingsway, the new road between Dunstable Road and Dallow Road, for Messrs B. Laporte Ltd, chemical manufacturers of Park Street, Luton.

• Luton Fire Brigade were called at six o'clock on Sunday morning to Collingdon Street, where a fire had broken out on the premises of Hat Materials Ltd. A shed used as a store was well alight and the fire was just breaking into the main building, while adjoining premises of Messrs A. T. Dimmock and Co had just caught alight, and also the roof of Messrs A. and C. Robinson's premises. Only small damage was done other than to the store in which the fire originated.