Without any ceremony, three Luton men left the town on April 19th, 1915, on an errand of mercy to the war front. Mr Arthur Brown, Mr C. R. Clay and Mr Rupert Plummer were bound for the battlefield, each in charge of a new Red Cross car to be used to transport wounded soldiers from as near to the firing line as it is possible for the cars to be taken and from there to a hospital train.
There are now over 400 Red Cross cars working for the British Army in France. There are also 78 touring cars, 32 motor lorries, 21 motorcycles, eight travelling kitchens and five travelling workshops, a total of nearly 550 cars. Of the 560 drivers, 430 are paid and the rest are working voluntarily. The military authorities now supply the Red Cross Ambulance Department with petrol and tyres, and provide billeting for the men.
Each of the three Lutonians has taken out a 20 hp Colonial type Napier with a specially high clearance which, with full equipment, spares etc, represent an initial outlay of around £700 a car.
The car driven by Mr Brown is the gift of his family, Mr Clay purchased his own car, while Mr Plummer was driving a car purchased by his father, Mr Matthew Plummer.
The cars, which have ordinary touring bodies capable of accommodating driver and six passengers, remain their own property, but even assuming that they arrive safely at the front this will probably not benefit them much after their work is done. The life of cars in the fighting area is said to be very short. By the time they have been landed in France and have been constantly driven over extensively damaged roads in the wake of the Army, and even within the firing zone, there is not likely to be much of the cars remaining to bring back.
The three drivers are giving their services voluntarily, and it is usual for the War Office to require gentlemen going out to undertake this work to enter into an agreement to remain for a minimum period of six months.
Mr Brown, whop is well known as an expert motorist and who since the outbreak of war has rendered the military authorities a lot of valuable service with his car, volunteered in the early stages of the war for some work of this kind. His knowledge of motors makes it the most useful sphere in which he can render service, and it is through the War Office that he is now going out on this particular errand. Mr Clay and Mr Plummer are also extremely well known in Luton, and it will be the general hope that they may have a safe trip and be able to do very much good work.
Primarily, the cars, which will bear the sign of the Red Cross, will be worked under the auspices of the British Red Cross Society, but in the field it is likely that the work of the gentlemen in charge will be more generally directed by the officers of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
The hoods with which the cars are fitted enable them to be closed right in, and each driver has to be prepared to live and sleep in his car when the conditions under which he is working may render this necessary. The cars will form part of a convoy of 25 vehicles, it being the practice to have three or four cars of this type in a convoy for the conveyance of patients who are able to sit up, the remainder of the convoy consisting of stretcher ambulances.
[The Luton News, April 22nd, 1915]