Diary: Shopkeepers lobby MPs

 

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Stories from the Luton News: Thursday, May 18th, 1916.

Around 1,000 shopkeepers and owners of one-man businesses attended a mass meeting in the Plait Hall, Luton, on Sunday at which it was agreed that a large deputation of owners of one-man businesses in Luton should go the House of Commons the following day to seek exemption for shopkeepers and small businessmen from the provisions of the Military Service Bill.

It was pointed out that some had already closed down their businesses in Luton, and if all the small traders of the country were taken the nation's coffers would be left empty.

A deputation about 50 strong on Monday visited the House of Commons and impressed their view on Mr Cecil Harmsworth, MP [Luton and South Beds]. Mr Harmsworth greeted them on the Terrace of the House and points raised at the previous day's mass meeting were discussed in detail.

Subsequently a conference arranged by Mr Stanley Sandys [Secretary of the Luton Newsagents' Association] with Mr Alfred Yeo, MP for Poplar, was held in Committee Room No. 9. Mr Stanley Welch spoke in the interests of the retail newsagents; Mr Odell, President of the Hairdressers' Federation, also spoke; and Mr Witten, representing the small straw hat manufacturers, and Mr C. H. Bartlett added their arguments. Other traders' representatives also addressed the MP.

Me Yeo said it was opinion that the Government were prepared to favourably consider the position of the owners of one-man businesses, but he was not able to say that his amendment to the Military Service Bill along the lines the deputation wanted would be adopted.

  • Rumour has been busy with the name of Pte John Marlow, of 30 Spring Place, Luton, and in order to remove the impression that he had been killed in action (whereas he has only been reported as missing) and in the hope that possibly his photo may be recognised and his mother's anxiety appeased, we reproduce it here (right).

  • News had been received that Cpl Reginald Buckingham, of Dorset Villa, Marsh Road, Leagrave, was killed in action while serving with the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry on the Persian Gulf on April 6th. He was aged 22, married and leaves a widow and a baby.

  • The death of Pte Fred Sharp, aged 29, of 21 Essex Street, Luton, and the 8th Battalion Beds Regiment, has left a widow and six young children without their breadwinner. Mrs Sharpe last week received a letter telling her the news of her husband's death in action on April 19th.

  • The death is also officially announced of Pte George Cox, of the Beds Regiment, and the eldest son of Mr Charles Cox, of Sundon, who was also killed in action on April 19th.

  • After having been among the missing for a year, Pte Victor Groome, King's Royal Rifles, is now reported killed, the date of his death in France being officially given as May 25th, 1915. Pte Groome was the son of the late Mr Groome, for 36 years an employee at Messrs Hayward Tyler's works in Luton.

  • The toll of war has been rather heavy among the men of teh 8th Bedfords recently, and included in the recent official notifications by the War Office is that of the death in action on April 19th of 19854 L-Cpl Frederick Goodwin, who before enlisting was employed in the Great Northern Railway good shed at Luton. He was the eldest son of Mr William Goodwin, of Pulloxhill.

  • Mr and Mrs F. Smart, of Laurel Villa, Harcourt Street, Luton, have received official notification that their son, Pte F. G. Smart, of the 7th Bedfordshire Regiment, has been wounded and lies in hospital in France. A later notification says that the wound is a gunshot in the right arm.

  • A serious accident occurred at the Riding School connected with the Biscot Artillery Camp on Tuesday afternoon when Second-Lieut Chandler, the amateur heavyweight boxer of England, fell from his horse and sustained a serious fracture of his left ankle. The lieutenant, who has been attached for some time to the permanent staff as assistant riding instructor, put his horse over a jump he had frequently taken, but unfortunately the ground was very greasy and as the animal attempted to turn it fell and the Lieutenant's leg was crushed under him. He has previously won both the middleweight and heavyweight boxing championships of England.

  • Just before midday yesterday the very neat and quiet-looking jewellery establishment of Mr Walter Frederick Bootes, 15 Guildford Street, Luton, was entered by an undesirable visitant who, with a deftness and an alacrity evidently to the manner born, unfastened the enclosure separating the display of jewellery in the window from the shop area proper, and purloined a case of diamond rings therefrom. Mr Bootes' housekeeper heard the ring of the bell and proceeded to ascertain who had entered, but found the shop empty. The loss of the rings was afterwards discovered. A similar robbery was carried out some time ago at Mr W. J. Butcher's shop in Bute Street.

  • News comes to hand this morning of a daring escapade of a Luton girl who absconded from the Princess Mary Village Home, Addlestone, Surrey. She rode to London in a market gardenere's cart, and then reached her home in Luton by clambering on to the back of a motor lorry. Chief Constable Teale said it was the third time that the girl had run away and she had been taken back to be brought before a court with a view to her detention in a reformatory.

  • At the Borough Sessions on Saturday a fine of £4 was imposed upon Kenneth King, a Second-Lieut at Bedford, for ignoring the 10 mph speed limit in New Bedford Road, Luton, on May 7th. Police Sgt Hunt said the defendant had been "going at a terrific rate of from 35 to 40 miles an hour".