Edward Barber, V.C., is killed - and Tring News on 17/4/1915

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 17th April, 1915

Edited from British Newspaper Archive
Previous week ~~~~ Tring News Index ~~~~ Next Week

News has reached Tring of the deaths of Edward Barber, V.C., and Frank Marcham. Lieut.-General Sir Edward Hutton's letter about is leaving the 21st Division is published, and fifteen soldiers are confirmed by the Bishop of St Albans. Arthur Macdonald writes to the paper on the army's need for more sand-bags and William Mead, of Tring Flour Mill, agrees to be a collecting point.  At Tring Park Cricket Club's AGM it was said they would be having a reduced fixture list and would not be employing any permanent ground staff - and would reduce the subscription accordingly. It was agreed that the rents paid by the Tring Tennis and Bowling clubs would be reduced if they also reduced their subscriptions. The Easter festival normally held by the Church Girls' Union had been cancelled due to the War.  At the Easter Vestry Meeting the Vicar, Rev. H. Francis mentioned with pride the towns role it the war, with 298 being on active service, of which 79 had been members of the Church Lads' Brigade, with 5 having been Boy Scouts. At the National level local farmers may well have been unhappy about the Government's arrangements for buying hay. The death of Lord Rothschild, reported two weeks earlier, featured in a number of reports. He had been the president of the Tring Agricultural Society and there were many tributes at the meeting of their committee. He had actively helped the Tring Park Cricket Club, although his son Walter was the club president. Hew was also briefly mentioned in the vicar's report given at the Vestry Meeting. However much of the long report at this meeting provides an interesting review of the town during the previous year. Other news included the wedding at Wigginton of Miss Petronella Trickey of Champneys (the home of Mr Alexander Marc) and Mr, Thomas J. N. Perkins, headmaster of Helensburgh School, the high prices at William Brown's fat stock sale, and William Rodwell having been prosecuted for riding a motor bkie and side car with inadequate lights. Perhaps because of the other news there was less church news than usual. Surnames mentioned this week:  Bagnall Bailey Baker Baldwin Barber Barton Bathurst Bedford Beech Bishop Brackley Bright Brown Bull Burnham Butcher Carr Carter Clarke Clissold Coker Cole Cox Crossland Dawe De Fraine Dickens Elliman Fells Finch Flowers Forestier-Walker Fountaine Francis Fulks Fulley, Gibbs Grange Gregory Hayes Heading Hedges Hardern Horwood Houchen Howe Huckvale Hull Hutton Jenney Kidstone Kingham Kirk Lepper Macdonald Marc Marcham Mash Mathews Mead Miller Newman Newton Pearce Perkins Pond Poulton Pratt Reeve Rodwell Rothschild Rowe Smeathman Smith Steadman Trickey Turner Tyler Vaisey Waterton Williams

Death of Lord Rothschild - and News of Hertfordshire Regiment in April 1915

Tring in War Time, 1914-1919

Undoubtedly the big news of the week was the death of Lord Rothschild - and there was a very extensive obituary. There were reports of the  Hertfordshire Territorials in action at the front, including the way Sergeant Raven had rescued an injured officer officer who had lain where he fell for four days. There was only the routine news of concerts and church services for the soldiers billeted in the town, except that two deserters from Tring appeared before the Petty Sessions in Winslow. William Brown held the Easter Fat Stock Show (detailed report) and also advertised the sale of 600 books from the Mechanics' Institute Library, the closure of which was announced last week. Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 3rd April, 1915 Edited from British Newspaper Archive Previous week ~~~~ Tring News Index

Tring News on 20th March, 1915

Military

While there were a large number of troops billeted in and around Tring the main military news in the local section of the paper was that there had been two concerts for their entertainment. One was put on by Mrs Williams at Pendley Manor and the other was arranged by the Soldiers' Entertainment Fund and held in the  Medical Inspection Hall (now the Victoria Hall). However in the main part of the paper, covering Aylesbury, there are indications that billeting is to end in April, and the soldiers will be moving on.

Old News

One of the soldiers, based in nearby Aston Clinton was before the court for driving a car with no lights and one can only wonder if the police were tightening up after the accident in which two soldiers had been killed a week or so earlier. One may also wonder if some of the road repairs deemed necessary were due to the wear and tear due to the number of troop movements in the area, and the construction of the camp at Halton.

Tring

In normal years local gardeners would be able to compete for prizes in events such as the Tring Agricultural Show, but many had been cancelled, However the Daily Mail had announced a grand show of vegetables in London in September, and Arthur Dye, of Tring Park Gardens, was co-ordinating entries for the area.

On the religious front the Baptist Church at New Mill had meetings supporting the Baptist Missionary Society while the Baptist Chapel at  Wigginton celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Sunday school.  There was also the usual order of services for the Parish Church.

Easter was being celebrated in a different was by W. Brown & Co, auctioneers - who were inviting entries to the Tring Easter Fat Stock Show and Sale - and they were also to sell off a baker's tools and trade utensils - including a dough mixer, a cake making machine, and a waggonette and a useful tradesman's horse.

Surnames: Ariston, Bagnall, Baker, Birch, Brooks, Brown, Clark, Curtis, Dell, Downes, Dye, Eggleton, Fulks, Gomme, Groome, Hazell, Heading, Hemmens, Hutton, Kirby, Kirk, Lang, Locke, Longman, Mather, Mullins, Page, Rothschild, Rowe, Sait-Knight, Swann, Taylor, Thorne, Ward, West, White, Wilding, Williams, Winterton

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 20th March, 1915

Edited from British Newspaper Archive