Tring News 23rd January 1915 - Wartime activities and killing sparrows.

Military

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 23rd January, 1915

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

Tring The training of the men in the 21st Division continued, and they remained in local billets while the construction of the Halton Camp (described in detail) continued. The Y.M.C.A. facilities for the troops billeted in Tring continued with an evening of entertainment in the Museum annex. The Bucks Herald also reported details of the concert organised by the Aldbury Choral Society. One of the singers was Captain Vivian D. Williams of the 5th Dragoons, who was back in England recovering from wounds he had sustained in France. Two soldiers from the 13th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (who were billeted in the village) also preformed. At the Parish Church the Rev. Rainbow gave a talk describing the Church Army's contribution to the war effort. There was a recruiting advertisement showing the Royal Field Artillery in action, and it may well be that the number of men joining up explains why Herbert Grange and James Honour of Grove, Tring, were both trying to recruit grooms. The St John Ambulance Association was planning to set up a local Ambulance Division and the paper lists 13 local men who recently qualified for a first aid certificate, carefully failing to name the one in the class who failed. The Tring and district Sparrow Club held their annual meeting at the Rose and Crown and it was reported that during the year bounty had been paid for 9,302 sparrows heads. There was a big wedding at All Saint's Church, Long Marston when  Miss Edith Ives, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. Roberts, married Mr. A. Proctor, the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. John Proctor - and there is a long list of those who gave presents. Mrs J Batchelor died and was buried only a week after the death of her husband. Another death was that of Alice Osborn of 70 Akeman-street, Tring. A new organist was appointed at Tring Parish Church, and there was a fund-raising talk on the  Baptist Missionary Society at the High Street Baptist Church.

100 years ago this week - A German Spy in Tring?? and other News stories

A lot of news this week - with War related news turning up all over the place. 

Military

There was a scare about a suspect German Spy. On the war front there were additional names for the Roll of Honour for Tring and Wigginton, and some casualties such as Private Edwin Dell who was wounded and in hospital while Harold Gurney was suffering from frost-bite in the feet. The men of the 21st Division (the 62nd & 63rd Brigades billeted in Tring) were taking it in turn to take leave while Lieut. G. Macdonald Brown was unstinting in his praise of the behaviour of the Herts Regiment men at the front. Recruitment to the Volunteer Training Corps was reported as being slow. 

William Brown was advertising furnished houses near Tring and Halton - which could have been in demand where married officers wanted their families nearby during training. The Urban District Council met and in addition to routine items about a polluted pond in Grove Park, the Brook Street Sewer and a new School Manager, there were military references when discussing the Isolation Hospital and the refuse collection.

Old News

Of course everyone was preparing for Christmas, with many adverts, and I reproduce a typical one by Jacklin, a news agent, and another tuned to the war theme with the headline "War on Pain." People (including the Belgium refugees and the soldiers billeted in the town) had enjoyed Miss Darnell singing at the Gem Cinema as well as watching the films. The hare coursing season had just begun and after a good day (not so good for 14 hares) the party relaxed in the dining room of the Royal Hotel, at Tring Station - and a collection raised £1 4s for the War Fund.

On more routine matters the paper reported on the death of the Oddfellow, Thomas Dudley (55) who worked in the Tring Park building department. There were Diocesan reports of the village schools atLong Marston and Wilstone, and records of the milk production of the Shorthorn and Jersey herds at Tring Park.

See the Latest Old Tring News

Other Tring "Old News .  

Short Weights in the Tring & Hemel Areas

Old News

Was your ancestor caught overcharging customers by using defective weights or scales. In 1860 many traders in West Hertfordshire were fined. For instance William Collins, of The Crown at Long Marston had an unjust weighting machine, William Latchford, a beer retailer & fishmonger of Hemel Hempstead has 9 light weights, and James Austin of Boxmoor was a grocer &coal dealer who gave short measure. You now have an additional reason for buying beer from the suspiciously named Peter Evilthrift.

See the full list of convicted shopkeepers on the fiddle!

Rural Relaxation & Medieval Fields

     A couple of days ago the sun came out, after days of heavy rain, and I went to Long Marston to look at the effects of flooding. Not surprisingly Watery Lane was justifying its name - basically it was a small river, with water from side to side, steadily flowing north, for a distance of several hundred yards, and several inches deep. What I had come to see was the large field between Astrope Lane and the old Long Marston Church Tower. On previous walks I had noted the low ridges which suggested that it was a former medieval ridge and furrow field, but in the summer, with the grass long, it was almost impossible to photograph in a way that showed the layout.

     As the above picture shows, the plan was immediately revealed and would have been really striking from the air. A whole series of long pools filled the furrows, with the ridges standing proud.

    This is not far from the former medieval fields I have photographed under Wilstone and Startops Reservoirs. In past years, in my walks along the local canals in nearby Buckinghamshire, I have photographed evidence of medieval fields near Wendover (feint but visible in suitable light), at Bierton (very well preserved, and bisected by the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal) and at Buckland (a tiny corner of the field north of the later canal survives, but the rest south of the canal is ploughed out). (If anyone is interested I can post pictures of these.)

Long Marston War Memorial

As part of the plan to photograph Hertfordshire War Memorials two pictures of the War Memorial at Long Marston have now been published, together with a list of names.