Butlers, Fed-up Tommies and Prisoners

Clifton Road, Shefford [Z1306/101/5/3]

Thursday 1st July: A letter received by the Vicar of Bromham from Bombadier H Waller, Royal Horse Artillery, says: “I should like to tell you what a grand lot of fellows our County Regiment are. We have supported the (the 2nd Bedfords) from the awful days of October at Ypres up to now; they have always been picked for the most difficult work and have always covered themselves with glory”. Previous to mobilization Gunner Waller was butler to Mr. W. H. Allen of Bromham House

“Private A Breed, 1st Bedfords, writes home to Shefford: “I am longing for the time to come when I shall be able to come home Clifton Road, Shefford. I have had quite enough of it and so have all my chums. Still we are here to do our duty and our duty will be done. I think the Germans must be nearing the finish. They have tried all the fakes they can to kill us and to save their own men but it has not come off as they expected, They are now trying to blow us out of our trenches by coming under the ground, because they dare not come on the top to blow us out. But they are often caught napping in that, for we have got some good handy men. For my 23rd birthday I was in the trenches near the hill [Hill 60]. Still, I was glad to see it, for a good many men out here will never see another. It was this day the Germans tried to blow us up, but it did not take much effect on us, as they did not get far enough, though they tried hard. They exploded two mines, but no good – too short both times, although it killed two of our RE(1) men. It is very quiet here now. It seems as though there is no war on”.

Lieutenant Pope of the Bedfordshire Regiment is one of a number of officers who are prisoners of war at Danholm, a camp which consists of two small islands (connected by a bridge) between Stralsund and the island of Rugen in the Baltic. The British officers who are at this camp were sent there from Mainz about six weeks ago and are stated to find their island camp much more agreeable than their former quarters.

Of the Bedfordshire Regiment, 180 men are known to be prisoners-of-war in Germany. They are receiving fortnightly parcels of necessaries and comforts, provided by subscriptions, organised by a Bedfordshire Committee, of which Miss Gurney of Henlow is Honorary Secretary(2)

Source: Bedfordshire Times 9^th July 1915

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(1) Royal Engineers

(2) The 1st Battalion had been at the front since August and the 2nd Battalion since October 1914 – a total of 22 months so about 8 men per battalion per month had become prisoner.

Gased by the Germans

Ampthill Road, Shefford [Z1306/101/3/2]

Thursday 13th May 1915: Last week a report was received in Shefford that Private Algy Breed, C Company, 1st Bedfordshire Regiment, had fallen a victim to the asphyxiating gas used by the Germans on Hill 60 on the 19th April. Happily, the report was unfounded. On Monday three letters written from the trenches on the Hill and dated 27th April, were received by his wife, his father and Mr. Alldritt. They had taken a fortnight in transit!(1) Another letter to his wife, dated 9th May, was received by her on Tuesday. In his letter to Mr. Alldritt, Private Breed says: "I am quite safe and well, which I am very much pleased to say, for I have been in the hottest shop since the war began for shell fire, and all other sorts of fire, for the Germans used nearly everything in the way of killing; and they did kill and wound ever so many of the fellows of our regiment, and another, too(2). I thank God for sparing my life, for I am sure He has answered many a prayer which has been sent up by us. I said my prayers as a good many more did, for I am sure that all who were there were in the jaws of death. You would have thought the same if you had been there, which I am very pleased to know you were not. Well, sir, I am sure I did my best to help to hold the Hill, and I am sure that all of the 1st Beds Regiment did the same. I and all of us were very pleased when our reliefs came. As soon as we were relieved we were soon off out of it, for we had had enough of it for three days, but they kept on shelling us all the time we were going away out of the trenches to our other place to have a rest, which was, however, a very unpleasant one, for we were turned out at night and marched off towards the line again. So in our three days' rest we were very uncomfortable and at the finish we had what you would call no rest at all. All this was on taking that Hill. I am in the trenches now writing this. It seems such a long time since I heard from you last, and I should like to have another letter from you, or from anyone else from Shefford(3)".

Source: Bedfordshire Times 14th May 1915

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(1) Every effort was made to get mail to and from the troops as quickly as possible in order to maintain morale.

(2) 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment

(3) Happily, Algy Breed seems to have survived the war though five other men called Breed were killed with the regiment during the war.

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