Diary: Footballers in the firing line

 

Stories from The Luton News: Thursday, March 16th, 1916.

Luton Casuals FC

Luton Casuals FC, the well-known local football club which is closely connected with the King Street Congregational Church, is noticeable week by week by its invariable absence from matches. One and all, the team are not now clad in the familiar black and white stripes but in khaki and are toeing the line for King and country.

They are volunteers in the fullest sense of the word, having all been in His Majesty's Forces for months past. From the record of the members of this club it would take a lot of beating, and one which they and their supporters are justly proud.

Pictured back row, left to right: Alec Webdale (9th London Regiment, Queen Victoria's Rifles); Morris (attested); Cpl F. Basey (regiment unknown); Leslie Hart (16th Middlesex Regiment, Public Schools Battalion), wounded. Middle row: F. Webb (9th London Regiment, Queen Victoria's Rifles); H. Sharp (24th London Regiment, Queen's), discharged from service owing to wounds; George Hart (24th London Regiment, Queen's); P. Burnet (King's Liverpool Regiment), wounded and in hospital. Front row: P. Darby (24th London Regiment, Queen's), killed in action in France on May 26th, 1915; S. Bailey, rejected as medically unfit.

Other members of the team: W. Coggins (3/1st North Midland ASC), training at Nottingham; S. Burnet (Inns of Court O.T.C.), recently gazetted; F. Biggs (despatch rider, 1/1st North Midland Division); club captain H. Webb (24th London Regiment, The Queen's); S. White (R.A.M.C.) ; F. Facer (Army Veterinary Corps), in training; club secretary A. Mahon (London Rifle Brigade).

Unless otherwise stated, all were serving "somewhere in France".

  • Yesterday the Admiralty published the list of casualties from the loss of H.M. M.F.A. Fauvette. The names of the "missing, believed dead" included Stoker First Class Charles Higgs, a son of Mr J. Higgs, of 230 Wellington Street, Luton.
  • Shoeing-smith Charles Hull, 21st Lancers, is one of the latest heroes to be awarded the Victoria Cross for an act of great gallantry. Although he belongs to Harrogate, Yorks, the great distinction he has won is of considerable interest to this district for he comes from an old Sundon family which is today well represented in Luton as well as in several of the surrounding villages. His father, Mr John Hull, was born at Sundon, but went north in his teens and for 34 years has been an employee of Harrogate Corporation. There are three Hull brothers in Luton - James, William and Albert.
  • It was announced in a supplement to the London Gazette on Saturday that the King had conferred the Territorial Decoration on Major S. J. Green, Bedfordshire Yeomanry, who had been recommended for same under the terms of the Royal Warrant dated August 17th, 1908.
  • This morning a long list of decorations for gallantry in action was published. Among the men who have been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal is Cpl J. Ivory, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, one of three soldier sons of Mr G. Ivory, hairdresser, of 62 High Street, Markyate, who was in business in Luton at one time.
  • A missionary's conscience caused him to have a somewhat exciting time when he appeared before the Luton Tribunal on Saturday afternoon and secured total exemption from military service. He did not secure it easily and not until he had answered some very pointed questions, including denying he had been warned by the military authorities for influencing people about conscientious objections.
  • Inquiries to find the mother of a baby girl whose body was found in the refuse screens at Luton Sewerage Works on March 8th had not been successful, an inquest at the Police Station heard on Monday. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with medical evidence that followed a post-mortem examination which showed the child was still-born.
  • Yesterday at the Luton Borough Court, Thomas Bass, of 76 Hitchin Road, Luton, pleaded guilty to having furiously driven a horse and cart in George Street on Monday. The defendant told the court he "had to go for a soldier" today, and he was in the hands of the Bench to do as they liked with him. He was told he would be kept in custody until he had to report at the recruiting office.
  • Curious question from a reader: "Could you inform me the year and the date when the last captive balloon broke away from the old Football Ground in front of the Gas Works in Dunstable Road?" Answer: "It was on July 30th, 1902, and the occasion was a fete on behalf of the Children's Home."