Digest of stories from the Luton News: Thursday, November 9th, 1916.

Luton town councillors met this morning to elect a Mayor for the ensuing year and "until his successor shall take office". By common consent the mind of the Council was made up a month or two since - Alderman John Staddon (pictured above) has done so well in his first term, 1915-16, that it was unanimously agreed to invite him to accept office for a second period.

His consent to do so was received with general satisfaction throughout the town. The Mayor's year of office has been marked with that thoroughness which is characteristic of him. He believes what is worth doing is worth doing well, and he has lived up to that ideal.

Alderman Staddon's year has been noteworthy for the establishment of the Tribunals under the Military Service Acts, the meetings of this body having numbered about 70. Yet while the claims of a tremendous business have never been neglected, the Mayor has simply revelled in the activities of Council work, and has neglected nothing.

One difference Luton would see in the Mayor would be that he would be wearing a new 'cocked hat' rather than a top hat with his regalia, the latter being regarded as incongruous.

• The question of teachers' salaries and the high cost of living was raised at a meeting of Beds County Council's Education Committee, which heard that female teachers receiving only £20 to £50 a year were in extreme difficulties. A petition from the Beds Elementary School Teachers' Association was to be considered at the next meeting. Meanwhile, a meeting of the Caddington Group of School Managers heard that one woman teacher at Leagrave Infants School had resigned to become a bus conductress in London at a salary of £2 8s a week.

• In a special ward at the Workhouse Infirmary lies an old soldier names Pte James Maher, aged 47 years, a Hastings man who came to Luton on Tuesday. He was taken to the Workhouse about 1.50 yesterday having severed his widpipe during the night with a table knife (part of his kit) whilst under arrest in the military guardroom at the Old Schoolroom of the Park Street Baptist Church. Maher, who has served at the Relief of Ladysmith during the Boer War, was said to be much improved and was expected to recover.

• Two more men with Luton connections had been awarded the Military Medal. L-Cpl G. E. Trott (pictured right) , married with a wife and little daughter living at 43 Elizabeth Street, gained the distinction for gallant conduct and devotion to duty in the field, September 26th to 30th, 1916, at the capture of Thiepval. And Sgt Sam Impey,whose aunt lived at 7 Stanley Street, received his medal for bravery after being severely wounded by shrapnel on July 1st. He was in a Red Cross hospital at Redhill Lydney, Gloucestershire.

• After a disappointing initial response, the Luton News/Saturday Telegraph "Tommy's Christmas Pudding" appeal, fund-raising was gathering momentum. To date, 2,318 shillings had been raised towards a target of 5,000 shillings. Each shilling would provide Christmas pud for two Bedfordshire soldiers on active service. Organ recitals at the Parish Church and St Paul's Church were expected to give a further boost.

• A letter signed by numerous old boys of Luton Modern School expressed appreciation of the work of Senior Assistant Master Mr E. W. Edmunds, who had tendered his resignation. Describing his departure as a real loss to the school, the former students wrote that they had found his lectures on literature, science and kindred subjects not only a real pleasure but an education in themselves, and it was regretted that future generations of students would not enjoy the same opportunities they had had.

• Among those reported to have given their lives on the battlefield: L-Cpl Edwin Granville Harvey (Beds Regiment); Rifleman Alfred John Stanley Bruton (King's Royal Rifles); and L-Cpl Ellis Henman (Beds Regiment).

• Bostock and Wombwell's Circus advertised its forthcoming first visit in four years to Luton, setting up its big top at the field at the tram terminus in Dunstable Road on November 14th, with performances at 3.30, 7 and 8.30. Attractions would include a giant hippopotamus, the only one travelling.