Is the Advance Too Fast?

Friday 8th November 1918

Today the advance has continued along a broad front, it is reckoned about three or four miles on average. Some are shaking their heads, worrying that, with the atrocious state of the roads, our armies are outrunning their supplies. Others fear that the enemy is not so beaten as he seems and that he has some secret line of incredible strength from which he will launch a devastating counter-attack.

In truth it is difficult to know precisely what it happening. We have all been conditioned to think along trench lines for so long, where an advance of a hundred yards is cause for celebration, that we cannot quite believe the huge strides we are now making. In some areas today it was, we have been told, hard going, with stiff resistance and counter-attacks. In other places defensive positions of great strength have been left unoccupied. 

 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, unemployed for what seems a long time, today made their re-appearance on the battlefield. This afternoon, as the light was beginning to fade, they attacked and took a village called Blaugies a few miles north-west of Maubeuge and in Belgium.

Tonight British troops lie about seven miles from Mons.

Source: X550/5/3

The Attack Goes On

Monday 4th November 1918

The great allied offensive clicked into gear once again this morning. The aim has been to break enemy resistance south of the Condé Canal and undertaking an advance in the general direction of Avesnes, Maubeuge and the place it all began for the British Expeditionary Force - Mons.

Fourth Army has had to negotiate the Sambre Canal and also the Forest of Mormal. The canal is only about head-high but is seventy yards wide. Those of us who reported on the Battle of the Somme remember a vile litany of woods which needed to be taken at a high cost in men's lives - High Wood, Delville Wood, Trones Wood and others.

The canal was crossed at first light this morning on planks and pontoon bridges and it is testament to the increasingly feeble nature of our enemy that it was done almost without resistance. One cannot imagine such an undertaking against the German Army of 1916 or 1917. Only 2nd Division suffered significant losses as the enemy resistance here was very stiff indeed. Indeed the fighting was desperate and called for gallantry of a very high order(1).

In the action around the forest there was hard fighting at times over the ground leading up to the trees. However, our tanks worked their magic and an advance of four miles has been made. As part of the action here the indomitable New Zealanders took the walled town of le Quesnoy, scene of fighting two centuries ago during the ears of the Duke of Marlborough. The walls had to be breached and scaling ladders used in old-fashioned style and fighting through the town was hand-to-hand and vicious until the garrison surrendered. Tonight the army is just in front of the Forest of Mormal.

2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, part of 18th (Eastern) Division has been in action around the village of Preux-au-Bois south-west of Maubeuge. Three officers have been wounded and one, Second Lieutenant Abbott has been killed. Seven other ranks have been killed and 34 wounded, with three missing but the adjutant was able to inform be brusquely: "Operations entirely successful"

Source: X550/3/wd

(1) Four Victoria Crosses were won here, two of them posthumously and it was here that the celebrated war poet Wilfred Owen lost his life.

To a Bolnhurst Girl

Bolnhurst School [Z1306/20/1]

Wednesday 24th March 1915: Hilda Whitmore, the eight-year old daughter of Mr and Mrs H Whitmore of Bolnhurst is one of the scholars at Bolnhurst School who has been knitting for the soldiers at the front. She sent a note attached to a muffler she had knitted and has received the following reply from Private Lee, Machine Gun Section, 3rd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, Landguard Camp.

“I really must write and thank you for the sweet serviceable present which I received today. How I should have loved to have this present when I was in the trenches, but still I shall treasure it much as wind and rain is awful here at night on the pier and fort guards. I must tell you my adventure from August 14th, when I left Belfast in Ireland(1)”.

“We managed to land at Havre in France on August 16th on a Sunday and the following Sunday I was fighting the German Army at Mons where my Regiment lost very heavy but God took me through safely. We had to hang on until Tuesday, when nearly all the 1st Battalion had been cut up. My two chums were killed beside me, but my time had not yet come to die, so I managed to go through ten big battles until I got to la Bassée. After being in the trenches fifteen days, standing on turnips and straw to prevent the water rising too far up our bodies, on October 27th I was firing my gun with good effect as the enemy were advancing in thick formation. I can account for a few hundreds I killed as my gun (the Baby I call it), fires 450 shots a minute. Then a big black shell found me. It smashed the gun, killed the Sergeant and wounded ten others. I was hit in the head and buried for three hours. The Germans advanced and walked over me and took me for dead. I lay until a sergeant found me with just my feet showing, another five minutes I would have been a dead man, but a drop of rum saved me. The Germans took my other eight chums prisoners. I am still under the doctor, so I am sorry to say I can’t go out again to fight for you after the way you and your school chums are working for us. I must say you have made the scarf splendidly. Thanking you again for your kindness”.

Source: Bedfordshire Times, 26th March 1915.

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(1) He was evidently not in the Bedfordshire Regiment at the time.

The Peacemakers

Sunday 14th February 1915: An officer of the 3rd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment has told us how his regiment acquired its name of The Peacemakers. It was in the early summer of 1815, the war with the Americans(1) having just been concluded that the regiment, then known as the Sixteenth, was ordered to return to Europe. Napoleon's overthrow at Waterloo occurred while the corps was on its voyage homewards. The Bedfordshire was the only regiment to join the victorious troops after Waterloo and remain until the conclusion of the peace. Hence the ironic nickname "Peacemakers".

In the present campaign the 1st Battalion of the Regiment has been through it all from Mons to Givenchy. Their brigadier(2), in a letter to the commanding officer said: "Only eye-witnesses could appreciate the dogged courage with which the battalion has not only faced the enemy at close range, but has sat tight under heavy shell fire and borne every sort of hardship - cold, wet, mud, serious losses, exhaustion, nerve strain and insufficient clothing - without a murmur. There is only one word to qualify the conduct of both officers and men - it has been magnificent and the Brigadier is proud of having the honour to command them".

In the first fortnight's fighting around Ypres the 2nd Battalion, a unit of the glorious 7th Division, had more than six hundred casualties and lost all its officers except three. At one time the Germans were no less than nine to one against them, and all the 2nd Battalion's original 1,100 that eventually came out of the firing line were one officer and three hundred men.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 12th March 1915

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(1) The so-called War of 1812 essentially a drawn conflict in which American invasions of Canada were defeated, the White House burned by British troops and Wellington's brother-in-law defeated at New Orleans after the official peace was signed but news had not yet reached the combatants.

(2) Count Gleichen

Pig Sticking and the Hazards of Flying

Private Harry Parker

Saturday 13th February 1915: Private Harry Parker, currently serving with the 3rd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment at Languard Camp near Felixstowe has seen service overseas with the 1st Battalion. He has been speaking with one of our correspondents.

"I killed quite a number of Germans. At Ypres I was in two bayonet charges and at la Bassée in another one. At the latter place we were shelled out of the trenches  and although we made three charges to retake them we were not successful(1). Of course, such charges can be made only at night and you might be within a few feet of a German. It is bayonet for bayonet then and if you don't get your man he will have you!"

"As early as the retirement from Mons I got two slight wounds in the legs and more recently I was wounded in the hand at la Bassée in one battle about midnight. In addition to that I had got frost-bitten feet and had to be taken from the trench on a stretcher".

"We can never safely venture into the open to take German prisoners. If they show a white flag it means treachery more often than not. I saw from a distance the 'white flag business' played on the Northamptons. We were on their right and saw them cut up, but were too fully occupied ourselves to go to their assistance"(2).

"We cannot tell how the general thing is going on as we are limited to our own range of vision".

"Conditions now are a great deal better. At the first we had to stay in the trenches as long as 21 days at a time. But now only three days and three nights are necessary. That is quite bad enough when you are up to your knees in mud and water. A 'Jack Johnson' is like an iron foundry coming along!(3) The French howitzers seem quite as powerful. They are like tree trunks flying through the air".

"It is nothing unusual to see soldiers in their spare moments charging with bayonets the pigs in the farmyard. Once he is got to bay, the porker is stuck and a piece is sliced from it and cooked, the remainder being left. The peasants who are plucky enough to keep to their homes within the war zone sometimes walk around after the scraps".

"I saw an English airman chase a German and fetch him down and I have seen one of our own brought to the ground. The pilot and his passenger were dropping smoke bombs and revealing the enemy's position. The Germans fired on it and the aeroplane made a dive towards the earth. Just before it touched one of them fell out and the machine was soon one mass of flames".

Source: Bedfordshire Standard 5th March 1915

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(1) 13th October 1914.

(2) This may have been in late November 1914 when the 5th Division was in the line with the 8th Division, which included 2nd Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment.

(3) A 150mm shell which burst with a lot of black smoke, Johnson, an African American, was world heavyweight boxing champion.

Lieutenant Downes’ Experiences at the Front

Aspley House in 1961 [Z53/3a/1]

Thursday 17th September 1914: We have had the following letter from Lieutenant Villiers Chernocke Downes of Aspley House, serving with the 1st Bedfords. He writes as follows: “We arrived in North East France, where we remained from 19th to 23rd August and took part in the Battle of Mons. We had to retire, but held the enemy in check for the whole day at le Cateau. We were in the firing line on each occasion and had thrilling experiences. I found it far less nerve trying than I expected. At Mons I was in a very hot corner for a few minutes, being shelled by shrapnel at close range, about 400 yards, with the German Infantry. Four men were killed around me and I got a bullet through my hat. That will make a fine trophy. Our Division[1] has since had no fighting, but have marched 20 miles per day. We are very fit in consequence. We are generously treated by the inhabitants who give to us freely of their best”.

Our other source with the battalion writes that the miller at Montgard is no better company than yesterday: “The old miller is still very disagreeable although we tried to help him with his milling which he had been ordered by the Requisitioning people to get a move on with as fast as possible”.

“While we were digging latrines in the farmyard, we dug up near the manure heap a jar containing all sorts of valuables which we presented to him. He, however, seemed more bored than pleased to get them back as he had, of course, buried them for safety”.

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[1] 5th Division.

Wrest Park Becomes a Hospital and the Uses of Taxicabs

Convalescent soldiers at Wrest Park [X291/393]

Monday 7th September 1914: The first batch of convalescents from the seat of war arrived at Wrest House this afternoon. The drawing and dining rooms and library, with some of the bedrooms had been converted into hospital wards at the expense of Lord Lucas[1], under the personal supervision of his sister, the Hon. Nan Herbert. The arrangements met with the hearty approval of the War Office and a resident surgeon, Doctor Beauchamp, with matron and Red Cross nurses arrived yesterday. Lord Lucas paid a visit in the afternoon. On receiving intimation that a number of soldiers invalided home from Belgium would be transferred on the morrow, final arrangements for their reception were made. The heroes of Mons left the General Hospital, Whitechapel soon after two o’clock in motor cars and omnibuses and arrived by instalments. They were expected about four, but the first did not put in an appearance until some time after that hour. The last did not reach their destination until 6.30 and as the motor-bus, from its height, could not proceed beyond the lodge gates, the majority of the soldiers had to walk the length of the avenue.

It is needless to say that crowds awaited the arrival of the gallant fellows and the latter thoroughly appreciated the cordial reception. Few of the working men were, of course, able to be present but the women and children waving Union Jacks and cheering lustily brought a smile from the dust-stained khaki-clad visitors. As each car halted at the front steps of the mansion, from the roof of which floated the Red Cross flag, a stretcher party stood ready to help those unable to walk, but only three or four of the sixty who were sent down needed any assistance. One or two had heads bandaged; some had hands bound up; a few with arms in slings, while some limped as they mounted the steps. But there was an air of cheerfulness about everyone, though the poor fellows must have had an awful time during the preceding fortnight. The tunics were more or less stained, and bore evident marks of conflict. The footgear had been somewhat neglected, but a few days’ rest will alter appearances. Indeed, after a good wash and cup of tea, the haggard looks gave place to cheerfulness.

They were quite ready to give an account of their three weeks’ campaign and to make light of their ailments. All were eager again to meet the foe and to add to former laurels. Cavalrymen, linesmen and artillerymen were comrades for the time being – all had been injured by the common foe. The Grenadier Guards, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, the King’s Own and Hussars were together for a short space, anxious to receive at short notice a clean bill of health and rejoin their units before the war is over. The secret landing at le Havre, the journey by train and road to Mons, the hasty digging of trenches by the canal on Saturday, August 22nd and the sudden onslaught on the part of the Germans the next day and the almost annihilation of the battalion during the 36 hours’ struggle made a thrilling story for the listeners. Asked about the enemy, they declared the odds were often 10 to 1, but the firing was most erratic. Very few were injured by bullets because the enemy did not trouble to take sight. But the shrapnel took deadly effect. Under cover of the artillery fire they made a dash forward but at the sight of the British bayonet they turned and fled. The Belgians could not do enough for those who had come to their succour. They lived on the best, while the Germans had to be content with horseflesh. They were of opinion that the war would be over before Christmas. A decisive battle in France, and rebellion in Berlin would soon bring matters to a successful conclusion as far as we were concerned.

Most of them are early risers and enjoy the spacious pleasure grounds which, by generosity of Lord Lucas, have been placed at their disposal. Beyond a Scotch cap decorated with plaid, or spurs, one is scarcely able to locate their connection with any particular regiment. All badges seem to have been cut off. Buttons on tunics and elsewhere have even disappeared, given as mementos to Belgian or French peasants as some return for kindnesses shown during weary marches. They are emphatic in condemning the cruelty of the Germans. Not content with torturing the wounded among their foes by depriving them of eyesight or otherwise maiming them, the brutes do not hesitate to kill their own wounded or even burn the corpses in the cornfields. Some have brought away a few specimens of undischarged bullets in their clips, so that they may show interested listeners the difference between English, French and Belgian missiles. One who had three German bullets extracted from the shoulder, will not part with the relics, and he still carries another in his body. In all probability other cases of a more serious nature will be treated later. There have been about 220 beds erected for patients and staff, so that men are expected at any time. The sanitary arrangements are perfect, as Lord Lucas, after the late Mr. Whitelaw Reid left[2], spend a considerable sum of money in overhauling them. The electric light has been installed temporarily.

In France the 1st Bedfords have reached Boissy-le-Châtel, some 22 miles north-east of Tournan-en-Brie; they are marching ahead of the main body of 5th Division. Today stirring events have seen a desperate French defence against a German thrust towards Paris, with 6,000 reservists being ferried to the front from Paris in 600 taxicabs at the initiative of General Gallieni, governor of the city. They are clearly determined to avoid an repeat of the humiliation of 1871 when the city was given up to the Germans.

Sources: Bedfordshire Times 11th September 1914; X550/2/5; X550/2/7

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[1] Auberon Thomas Herbert, 8th Baron Lucas would be killed serving with 22 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, on 3rd November 1916, aged forty.  He is buried at Ecoust-Saint-Mein Cemetery in France.

[2] Whitelaw Reid was US Ambassador to Great Britain from 1905 to 1912 and leased Wrest Park privately. He had King Edward VII to stay on a private visit in 1909. He died in office in London.

Two Wounded Woburn Soldiers’ Reminiscences

The Market Square Woburn [Z1130]

Sunday 30th August 1914: Two men from Woburn have contacted us with their experiences at the Battle of Mons, fought last Sunday and afterwards. Private F. Pickering of 1st Battalion, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry was in action for nine hours alongside a canal. During the retreat he had to fight at intervals as the Germans pressed close behind until Wednesday morning when he sustained his wounds. A bullet passed through his arm and then through his thigh, making a nasty wound in its exit near the groin. He happened to be carrying a knife in his pocket which belonged to his lately deceased father and in his opinion that knife saved him from more severe injuries, as the bullet struck the haft, chipping part of it away, and thus being deflected. The wound bled profusely, but he struggled along, at times dropping from loss of blood. A corporal of the 5th Lancers, with two troopers, noticing that he was badly hurt, cut away his trousers from the wounds and bandaged him up. Private Pickering gratefully accepted the corporal’s offer of a ride, and after going between five and six miles, they reached an army ambulance*. He was then conveyed on a stretcher to the train for le Havre, and afterwards by hospital ship to England. He said the enemy’s charges were terrific, and their fire unceasing. They had no time to finish and occupy their trenches and a great part of the fighting and retirement was in open country. The final impression before exhaustion was some neighbouring troops calling out “Good old Cornwalls”. It will be a lifelong regret to him that he did not ascertain the name of the corporal of the 5th Lancers, to whom he is confident he owes his life**.

Private W. Stanford joined his regiment, 1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, at Newcastle. He was in the street fighting at Mons and was among the company that lined the now famous canal. It was during the fighting on Sunday afternoon that he received a wound in the leg from shrapnel shell, in addition to injuries from a sprained ankle. He crawled through two potato fields – the firing being so incessant that to expose oneself meant certain death – and reached safety. He was taken to the base hospital at Rouen and reached Southampton on the hospital ship saint Patrick. He says that he saw men who had had their hands cut off by the Germans. Only those who have been in the thick of it can realise the horror of fighting, and the piteous sights to be seen on every side. The fighting in the trenches was terrible – his own rifle was smashed to pieces in his hands, and he thought his time had come. On one occasion the man next to him, who had just been talking to him, was killed instantly, uttering never a word. Like his townsmate Private Stanford has gone back cheerfully to face it again and fully expects to be in the front within a week***.

Today the 1st Bedfords marched another thirteen miles or so to the village of Croutoy, leaving in pitch darkness at 2.30 am. Our contact states that his company is billeted in the local chateau: “The place is owned by a very decent old man (a carpenter) and his wife by the name of Veillet. The company itself is in the orchard. The billets are very much overcrowded as there are about 4,000 men in the village which could only really accommodate about 1,000. We are, however, very comfortable in a wood shed”.

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/2/7; Bedfordshire Times 2nd October 1914

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* Not in the modern sense of a conveyance but a post where men were assessed and treated or moved on to a hospital with greater resources.

** Sadly Private Pickering did not have long to live. He rejoined his battalion and died of more wounds received on 16th April 1915, he was 31 years old. He is buried in Aeroplane Cemetery, Ypres.

*** Private Walter William Henry Stanford was killed in action on 28th February 1915, aged 28. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres.

The Battle of Mons

The Place Leopold in Mons [Z1247/5]

Sunday 23rd August 1914: Today the first major battle of the war involving British troops took place in and around the Belgian town of Mons. Reports are still a little sketchy but it looks as if hordes of Germans descended on our gallant forces and, by sheer weight of numbers, drove them south out of the town. The Bedfords seem to have taken a minor role in the action so far though they have suffered their first casualty, a man from Henlow.

Having spoken to our contacts with the 1st Bedfords we hear that about midday half the battalion (A and B Companies) proceeded to Wasmes south-west of Mons. No immediate fighting was expected and the men began to dig trenches. Then the enemy shelled the area. One of our contacts with the battalion told us: “We later heard that A and B Companies were under fire and having a hot time and shells were starting to fly about. Everyone turned out to see the fun and we heard that quite a large number of civilians were hit. Excitement rose higher and parties of civilians were collected to go off and dig. They were wandering about in their Sunday clothes and looking at things with much interest”.

“At 5 pm we were ordered out to go off and help the other two companies who, we heard, were having a desperate time. After a pathetic farewell of our hostess we marched for a solid two hours through various villages being greeted with “Vive L’Angleterre” and finally reached the railway station at Paturages. Here we halted and lay down at the side of the road and tried to get some sleep. We did not know in the least what was happening, the whole situation being very obscure”.

The two halves of the battalion were still separated from each other and not reunited until after dark as those at Wasmes made for Paturages. The enemy was reported by inhabitants to be approaching in force on a road on the battalion’s right flank. A patrol was sent out in which our informant took part. His is an exciting narrative: “After saying good-bye to everyone as we did not expect ever to return, we started off at 9 pm with our party and interpreters. All of the latter however soon got the wind up and faded away!”

“The night was very dark and the road was fenced on both sides by rows of houses, some of which were burning as a result of the day’s bombardment. Civilians in the houses soon spotted us and kept jumping out and shouting “Vive L’Angleterre” and made an awful noise. I had to run ahead and tell them to be quiet and shut and lock them in their houses”.

“We had no maps and so could only hope we were going right. When we had done about one kilometre I heard someone running up the road in front away from us. We halted and thought it over but expected it was only some civilians. We went on and came up to a gasworks on the left of the road which was on fire and burning hard”.

“In front it was pitch dark and I was just going to give the halt to my party so that I could explore by the light of the fire when we were suddenly challenged out of the darkness ahead in English. It gave us an awful start and we at once answered and stood still. A party then came out of the darkness dressed in khaki consisting of an officer and about twenty men. The officer came up to me in the middle of the road and placed his loaded revolver to my head asking me questions while each of his men placed his bayonet at the stomach of my men”.

“He asked me such questions as – who are you? What Regiment? When did you land in France? Where were you stationed in England? And then said “Thank God, we nearly shot you!" We said “Thank God you didn’t!” They were the Northumberland Fusiliers of 3rd Division and had placed a barrier across the road and had orders to shoot anyone coming up the road we came along without challenge!”

“They told us that they had had very heavy fighting all day and a lot of casualties and that the Germans had drawn up field guns to within 50 yards of them over the bodies of their own dead and fired point blank at them”. The situation was reported to divisional headquarters by breaking into the railway station and using the telegraph and telephone!

Sources: X550/2/5; X550/2/7.

The First Clash is Close at Hand

Alexander von Kluck

Saturday 22nd August 1914: The 1st Bedfords have moved up to camp in a wood called Bois Boussu. This is some six miles south-west of Mons where, we are now given to understand, the leading regiments of the army are now billeted. The Germans are very close. Our cavalry encountered a strong force of them early this morning at a place called Casteau to the north-east of the town. They charged a group of German uhlans[1], and drove them off, killing a number, the first Germans, we believe, killed by British troops in this war.

These Germans are, we believe, their 1st Army commanded by a man named von Kluck. This name has given our lads some ribald amusement and has quickly given rise to a song, to the tune “The Girl I Left Behind Me”, in which the men express the view that they couldn’t give a very vulgar expletive “for old von Kluck”!

It seems very likely that there will be a battle tomorrow. The French army is on our right around the town of Charleroi and our I Corps will take up positions along the road leading from Mons to Beaumont angled rather north-west to south-east. The II Corps, in which 1st Bedfords find themselves, is on the left, lining the Mons-Condé Canal. The army is thus formed nearly at right angles with II corps formed up west to east facing north and I Corps facing north-east or east.

Source: X550/2/5

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[1] Uhlans were light cavalry armed with a lance as well as a sabre. They had a fearsome reputation.

Our Lads at Home and Abroad

Friday 21st August 1914: The 1st Bedfords have reached a town named Gommegnies, south-west of Bavay where they have been billeted. We still have no exact knowledge of where the enemy is but he must be somewhere to the north, close to the town of Mons. There is a rumour that a reconnaissance team of cyclists encountered the Germans near the town of Obourg just north-east of Mons earlier today. One of their number, we believe, was killed*. The men, our contact with the Bedfords tells us, are in good heart and spoiling for a fight with those who have already committed so many dreadful acts of murder, rapine and arson against a peaceful population whose only crime was to happen to live on the Germans’ way to France. The universal view is, we understand that the Germans must be stopped here and now and that our boys are the boys to do it. God Bless them in the days ahead.

There is great but unobtrusive activity going on at the Bedford Depot in connection with the Second Army**. Colonel Tilly, the Commanding Officer and an efficient staff have been working night and day to make matters go smoothly. Judging from observations at present 500 or more men in Barracks are being made as comfortable as possible, and there is no delay about clothing the men as the articles are received. Recruiting must be going on very satisfactorily and large numbers of recruits sometimes arrive late at night, but our representative heard no word of complaint. There is a quiet earnestness of purpose manifest.

We hear that the 5th Bedfords have had a pretty stiff time at Romford and have found the weather somewhat trying. They are nearly always in full marching order on every parade, and carry 100 rounds of ammunition, which "hang heavy". Then many of the men have had to have new boots and there have consequently been lots of blistered heels and galled feet. The men, however, are in good spirits, and make the best of the situation.

Sources: X550/2/5; Bedfordshire Times 21st August 1914

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* Private John Parr from Church End, Finchley serving with 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. He is buried at Saint-Symphorien Cemetery. He was the first British soldier killed whilst on active service during the war and he was just sixteen years old. His grave is opposite that of George Edwin Ellison of 5th Royal Irish Lancers. He fought in the Battle of Mons in 1914 and was killed ninety minutes before the Armistice on 11th November 1918, the last British casualty of the war, aged forty. These two were separated by 1,543 days and 886,937 other deaths.

** This was the designation for newly raised troops answering the call for volunteers since the outbreak of war. It bears no relationship to the Second Army of the British Expeditionary Force which was created on 26th December 1914 and served for most of the war in the Ypres salient in Belgium except for a spell in Italy between November 1917 and March 1918.

1st Bedfords Approaching Mons

The Cottage Hospital, Woburn [Z1130]

Thursday 20th August 1914: We understand that 1st Bedfords are marching towards the enemy who have, today, taken the Belgian capital, Brussels. The Bedfords, with their division, seem to be heading for the town of Mons just inside Belgium close to the French border.

In Woburn the Duchess of Bedford has granted permission to use the Hospital for military purposes, and has placed 25 beds therein and, if necessary, will fit up the gymnasium or a wing of the Abbey as a temporary Hospital.*

Sources: X550/2/5; Luton News 20th August 1914

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* This was Mary, the famous “Flying Duchess” who had been instrumental in getting the hospital built between 1901 and 1903. It served as a hospital, latterly called Maryland, until 1964 when it became an adult education centre. It closed around the year 2000 and is now divided into flats.