1st Bedfords’ Backs to the Wall

Saturday 24th October 1914: Our contact with the 1st Bedfords tells us that they are very much on the alert: ”Heard all sorts of rumours and got the Second Army order, telling us hold on at all costs, as there is nothing behind us and that relief is sure to come in the next two days”. 

Given what we have heard from both our battalions in the field we wonder if the Germans are preparing for a full scale attack around Ypres. Perhaps to meet such an eventuality troops are being moved north, temporarily denuding the defences in the Festubert area. If this is correct the next week or two might be distinctly difficult for our boys at the Front.

Source: X550/2/7

Roll of Honour 24th October 1914

Killed in Action

2nd Battalion: First Battle of Ypres - in the front line around Geluveld

·        8955 Lance Corporal Arthur Frederick ADAMS, 22, son of James and Jane Adams of 32a Bellot Street, East Greenwich [London], born Lambeth [London] (Menin Gate Memorial)

·        8867 Lance Sergeant Thomas George HUNTLEY, born Clapton [London], resided Hackney [London] (Perth Cemetery (China Wall) Ypres)

·        9755 Private William KIRBY, 24, son of William and Rosetta Kirby of 42 Hereford Street, Brighton [Sussex] (Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres)

Died of Wounds

1st Battalion

·        7769 Lance Corporal Arthur PAYNE, 28, husband of Emily May of Colney Heath [Hertfordshire] (Boulogne Eastern Cemetery), born North Mimms [Hertfordshire]

2nd Battalion

·        9271 Private Herbert HUTCHINSON, born and resided Potton (Ypres Town Cemetery)

·        9315 Private Arthur STEELE, 22, son of Mr and Mrs J Steele of 63 Muswell Road, Bedford, he was born in Kempston (Menin Gate Memorial)

·        9569 Private Samuel STILES, born Peckham [London], resided Fulham [London] (Ypres Town Cemetery)

2nd Bedfords at Geluveld

Friday 23rd October 1914: Private T. Farmer of 2nd Bedfords' transport has been wounded and tells us that he had got a chicken from a nearby farm the previous evening and had eaten well: "I retired with the other drivers to sleep in a house about 8 pm, and about 10 pm a shell struck the wall and exploded in the room we were sleeping in; 16 men including myself, out of twenty, were wounded, I was hit in the foot and rather badly in the hip. After being carried into the road I was left until the ambulance came along. Carts were passing all night, and I had to keep shouting to let them know I was lying in the road, so as not to get run over. When I was put on the ambulance, shrapnel burst all around, four shells being fired at us. The driver's seat was blown into the cart at the side of me, and then the horses bolted. The other man, a Bedford chap too, fell out of the cart which ran for about two miles, when the reign caught in the wheel and stopped the horses. Eventually I arrived at a convent in Ypres where I was attended to".

We contacted the adjutant and discovered that things have been happening. The battalion were in reserve trenches supporting 22nd Brigade, though overnight C Company had been ordered up to the front line to take up a position on the right flank of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers (of 21st Brigade), where it dug a trench. Early this morning it advanced and filled a gap which had developed between the Royal Scots Fusiliers and the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment (also of 21st Brigade). The company got as far as a bend in the road when it came under heavy rifle and machine gun fire and had to fall back.

Later in the day the battalion was again ordered to fill the gap. This time B Company was despatched and, moving via the west end of Geluveld under heavy shell fire reached the edge of a wood behind the left flank of the Yorkshires and dug in. Altogether three men were killed during the day and a large number wounded.

Sources: Bedfordshire Times 13th November 1914; X5590/3/wd

Roll of Honour 23rd October 1914

Killed in Action

1st Battalion: front line trenches one mile east of Festubert

·        8124 Acting Corporal Albert Samuel SIMANTS, 28, son of Samuel and Louisa Simants of 16 Gladstone Street, Bedford, born Kempston (le Touret Memorial)

2nd Battalion: First Battle of Ypres - an abortive advance towards Beselare and around Geluveld

·        Second Lieutenant Dudley Luis de Tavora FERNANDES, 21, son of Thomas Weddell Luis Fernandes of Scarborough [Yorkshire]; he was mentioned in despatches (Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres)

·        9301 Private John LILLEY, born and resided Bishop's Stortford [Hertfordshire] (Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres)

·        Second Lieutenant George Drennan Cron WRIGHT, 23, son of George and Letitia S Wright (Dadizeele New British Cemetery)

Died of Wounds

1st Battalion

·        7531, Private Kenneth MARTIN, 30, son of Arthur and Sarah Martin of Anstey [Hertfordshire], husband of Kate of Wydial [Hertfordshire] (Leeds (Lawnswood) Cemetery)

2nd Battalion

·        9518 Private Charles Ernest CRACKNELL, 32, son of Stephen and Alice Cracknell of Charity Farm, Whittlesford [Cambridgeshire] (Ypres Town Cemetery)

Died

4th Battalion

14583 Private Albert Henry EVANS, son of Samuel Evans of 58 Mount Pleasant Terrace, Bedminster [Bristol], resided Bristol (Harwich Cemetery)

Germans!

Countryside at Rue d'Ouvert

Thursday 22nd October 1914: We hear today from Bury Saint Edmunds Magistrates that a man from Luton serving in the 5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, has been sent to prison. His name is Rudolph R. Baukey and he is a German. He had failed to register as required by the Aliens’ Registration Order 1914. When challenged Baukey said: “I know I have done wrong. I am a German and have not taken out naturalisation papers. I saw about it in the papers and did not like to let the people know I was a German and put it off until it was too late”. As Luton is a centre of the straw hat trade there are a great many Germans in the town and it has not been unusual for them to join the Territorial Army. Baukey is a good clarinet player and was a great addition to the battalion’s band. Baukey pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, half the maximum term for such an offence.

                                                       

The adjutant of the 1st Bedfords tells us that they have been ordered to move from Givenchy-lès-la-Bassée north-east to Chapelle Saint-Roch and report to 13th Brigade where they will be ordered to assist in an attack on the village of Violaines towards dusk.

Our contact with the battalion has just spoken with us to tell us about an abortive operation which has cost the lives of seventeen men. It appears that the Germans pre-empted our planned attack: “I could just see Germans rushing towards us and off fights going on in various places and shouts of “Don’t fire, we are your own men!” evidently from the Germans”.

“I ran back pursued by a batch of Germans through a barn and came up against a barbed wire fence about seven feet high. I got through this somehow, being pulled from the other side by Company Sergeant Major Sharpe who turned up torn, and torn, bleeding and with all my breeches torn off, got to ground”.

“We collected a party of men and then I made for a cross-roads where I reorganised what was left of the Company and got up to hold the Main Line of Defence. The whole thing was a tremendous muddle but for the time being the Germans never got further than our temporary line”.

“It appears that the Germans had rushed the 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment in the darkness and had managed to clear them out of Violaines almost without a shot being fired, as it was done so quickly. Few of the Cheshires got back to us. The Germans had then rushed on to us about a mile back with a few of the Cheshire and were met by our two front platoons”.

“We eventually worked our way collecting stragglers and got a semblance Company back consisting of various units. We then reformed and when we had the men together, started to try and get the trenches back. Of the whole Company I can only muster about forty. Any form of advance was met by appalling fire so we lay low and were eventually relieved by the Manchesters and Worcesters. We then collected as many of the Company as possible, about sixty all told, and got into ditches in support of the Manchesters in the village of Rue d’Ouvert. No appreciable advance was made however”.

Luton News 29th October 1914; X550/2/5; X550/2/7

Roll of Honour 22nd October 1914

Killed in Action

1st Battalion: abortive attack at Violaines

·        8238 Sergeant Richard William ALLSOPP, born Stoke Alban [Northamptonshire], lived Yardley Hastings [Northamptonshire] (le Touret Memorial)

·        9999 Lance Corporal William BROWN, 20,  born Aspley Guise, resided Luton, brother of F C Brown of 15 York Street, Luton, B Company (le Touret Memorial)

·        9527 Private John Henry CHAPMAN, 24, son of William Chapman of 5 Nutholt Lane, Ely [Cambridgeshire] (le Touret Memorial)

·        7485 Private Robert CLARK 32, son of Ellen Clark of Broxted [Essex], born Henham [Essex] (le Touret Memorial)

·        Lieutenant William Saint John COVENTRY, 22, son of John and Emily Mary Coventry of Burgate Manor, Fordingbridge [Hampshire]; he was mentioned in despatches (le Touret Memorial)

·        8580 Sergeant William FRESHWATER, born Norwich [Norfolk], resided Woolwich [London] (le Touret Memorial)

·        9656 Sergeant Beverley KEABLE, son of Ernest Keable of 41 Sunbury Lane, Walton-on-Thames [Surrey], born Great Yarmouth [Norfolk], resided Balham [London] (le Touret Memorial)

·        Second Lieutenant John LITCHFIELD (Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres)

·        7092 Private James MUMFORD, B Company, son of the late William and Mahala Mumford; born and resided Luton; husband of Emily Helen of Peter's Green [Hertfordshire] (le Touret Memorial)

·        7374 Private Charles PETTS, 29, husband of Eliza of Vine Cottages, Much Hadham [Hertfordshire] (le Touret Memorial)

·        6967 Private Albert RANN, born Stoke Newington [London], resided Hartford [Huntingdonshire] (le Touret Memorial)

·        6956 Private Leonard SPRIGGINS, 36, son of the late James and Louisa, husband of Ellen Elizabeth of Aston [Hertfordshire], he served in the 2nd Boer War (le Touret Memorial)

·        7829 Private George TEAR, 31, son of Frederick and Grace Tear of 128 Shortmead Street, Biggleswade, born Gamlingay [Cambridgeshire] (le Touret Memorial)

·        7628 Private Edward THOMAS, born Wrexham [Denbighshire], resided Liverpool [Lancashire] (le Touret Memorial)

·        10114 Private John William TYLER, 17, B Company, son of John and Annie Tyler of Birch Green [Hertfordshire], born Tewin [Hertfordshire] (le Touret Memorial)

·        10262 Lance Corporal Thomas VINCENT, 19, son of Maria and the late Thomas Vincent of 106 Railton Road Herne Hill [London], born Lambeth [London] (le Touret Memorial)

·        8386 Private George Ernest WILSON, 26, son of Caroline and the late Joseph of 64 Meadows Dwellings, Bethnal Green [London] (le Touret Memorial)

A German Attack at Ypres

Wednesday 21st October 1914: Today the 2nd Bedfords have moved almost due north from Geluveld to Zonnebeke. During the day the Germans made an attack on our positions, trying to push through to Ypres.

The adjutant tells us: “As we were leaving our trenches they were shelled fairly heavily, one platoon of C Company under Lieutenant Paine being unable to leave its trench. The Battalion was also shelled on its way to Zonnebeke. Fortunately no one has been killed”.

Source: X550/3/wd