Cambridge Street war shrine
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Many Luton streets during and after World War One had a war shrine to commemorate the men who had once lived there but had died in the conflict.
Many of the shrines were the result of work by church groups, for instance in November 1917 the Church of England Men's Society at Luton Parish Church unanimously decided to place war shrines in every street of the parish and to visit every house to gather the necessary information for them.
The above image of the Cambridge Street shrine was taken in 1921 when older scholars of Surrey Street Boys' School marked Armistice Day by holding a short ceremony. Headmaster Mr Eastmond and the boys gathered at the shrine to sing 'O God, our help in ages past'.
The image, credited to Seath, Church Street, and published in The Luton News, shows the shrine that had been placed on a house wall and that was bearing a wreath subscribed to by relatives and friends of the ten men from Cambridge Street who had been killed.The names inscribed on the shrine were: R. Marshall, F. Marshall, A. Eames, W. Eames, W. Bavister, P. Roe, W. Pedder, A. Craddock, H. Carrington and J. Langford, nearly all former pupils of Surrey Street School.
Author: Deejaya
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