Johnny Won’t Hit Today

J W H T Douglas 

Thursday 3rd February 1916: The adjutant of the 2nd Battalion in the front line near Maricourt on the Somme tells us that Captain J W H T Douglas has taken over the duties of second-in-command from Major H S Poyntz who has become commanding officer. Thus one cricketer succeeds another.

Captain Douglas is, of course, internationally known having won the gold medal for boxing in the middleweight category at the London Olympics of 1908. He is, perhaps, even better known as a cricketer. He has played as an amateur for Essex since 1902 during which time he has played 231 matches for his county. He is an all-rounder of great merit having made 9,221 runs at an average of 26.04 and taken 683 wickets with his quickish medium paced deliveries at an average of 23.81. He has been captain since 1911.

It is as a test cricketer, however, that Johnny Won’t Hit Today has made headlines. This nickname, inspired by his initials, was given to him by crowds in Australia, where they are always disrespectful and aggressive towards English teams and players, and was given on account of his obduracy in defence, scoring his runs carefully and, to the crowd’s taste, too slowly. Perhaps some of the venom came from the fact that Captain Douglas led the England side which defeated Australia 4-1 in the series of 1911/12 in Australia. In all he has played 11 test matches, made 410 runs at an average of 25.62 and taken 25 wickets at an average of 23.76. he has been playing for his country in war since arriving with the 2nd Battalion on 4th December 1915, when he arrived with a third cricketing officer, Major Poyntz’s brother Edward Stephen Massey Poyntz.

Source: X550/3/wd

First Bedfordshire Regiment Men Killed in Action this Year

Harry Hack

Friday 8th January 1915: Just over a week into 1915 and today the Regiment has had its first men killed in action. The 1st Battalion are currently in the front line trenches north-west of Wulvergem, which is south of Ypres.

They have been shelled whilst holding the trenches and six men have been killed. Three of these men were from Bedfordshire – Private Wright from Shefford, Private Pestell from Bedford and Lance Corporal Hack from Luton. The other four men are from Essex, Hertfordshire, Warwickshire. This shows how widely the regiment recruits.

Many men in the Bedfordshire Regiment have always come from Hertfordshire, as that county has no front line infantry regiment of its own and this seems to be continuing, with many Hertfordshire men joining since the outbreak of war. However, men are recruited from further a-field, particularly London and others of the eastern counties.

We understand that it is War Office policy to ensure that, wherever possible, regiments comprise men from a variety of geographical backgrounds. This makes good sense when one considers the disaster which might be visited upon a locality if one of the battalions in its local regiment were to suffer high numbers of casualties in an action. This policy should help to ensure no missing generation in the towns and villages of Bedfordshire, however long the war lasts.

Source: X550/2/5