Military Funeral of Private Crichton and other Tring News from 1915

Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 20th February, 1915

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

The big event of the week was the funeral of George Crichton, of  "D" Company, 13th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, who had been billeted with Mr and Mrs J. Shephard of Lonbgfield Road, Tring, and who was buried, with full ceremony, in Tring Cemetery.

The religious needs of the troops were also to the fore. The Right Rev. Bishop J. Taylor Smith, Chaplain-General to the Forces gave a service, In addition to the regular church parades some soldiers had joined the parish church choir, and the Y.M.C.A. put on an event in the Gem Picture Palace. More everyday needs were supplied by the Rothschild children who gave 300 lbs. of tobacco and 2,300 packets of cigarettes to the men stationed in the town and surrounding villages.

The letter in last week's paper about the verse "The Lads of Halton Park" produced a response from the author, G. Patterson, who was billeted at New Mill, Tring, complaining that it had been reprinted without permission on post cards in Aylesbury and Leighton Buzzard - and he hopes that any profits are donated to charity. The camp was also in the news because work on the butts was nearing completion.

Other news was that Frederick Plumeridge, who worked on the Grand Junction Canal, had died - and the vicar of Marsworth had left and his replacement had not yet been named.

Surnames this week: Anderson, Atkins, Clarendon, Clissold, Crichton, Essex, Francis, Hampden, Holdaway, Kirk, Lang, Mullins, Palmer, Patterson, Pearce, Plumeridge, Prior, Pickett, Rothschild, Sheppard, Smith, Wright

Tring at War: Latest News 2nd January, 1915

Extracts from the Bucks Herald

Tring

The section headed "TRING in 1914" starts with the words "The most memorable year which this generation has known or is likely know. has just come to an end. Tring at the beginning of 1914, was an obscure little country town, pursuing its quiet, uneventful way. To-day it is a centre of military activity." and much of the current week's news is typical what one might expect of an obscure little country town. The Churches did what churches do at Christmas, the local Slate Clubs paid up, three girls passed their music exams. Lord Rothschild distributed hampers to the children in nearby Marsworth (just over the county boundary into Bucks). Hunting was still continuing as normal, S.C.Holdaway was selling a full range of Horrockses striped and plain flannelettes and you could buy Harrison's Hair Colour Restorer from A. G. Wright. And of course there was a funeral to report, Mrs Percy Mead having died at her home in Gubblecote.

Military

While the soldiers were still in town, and are mentioned in the review of 1914, the only current events described are the Christmas gifts of cigarettes to the soldiers in the two military hospitals, and the concert in the Tennis Court at Pendley Manor. Some of the soldiers seemed to have missed out on parcels from the mining towns in Northumberland - but to learn of this Tring problem you needed to read the Newcastle Journal.

While the military camp at Halton was in Bucks, the 21st Division H.Q. was in Tring, but for the latest news relating to the poor state of the roads to the camp one has to look under the High Wycombe News.

Because the newspaper straddles the county boundary it is weak of more general news relating to Hertfordshire and the Bucks Herald did not mention the following report which appeared in a number of papers, such as the Liverpool Daily News:

HERTFORDSHIRE CASUALTIES Official communication was received yesterday at the headquarters of the First Hertfordshire Regiment (Territorials), at Hertford announcing that Lance-SergeantT. E. Gregory, of Watford, and Private Percy Suggins, ofWare, were killed in action on Christmas Day. The fighting took place at a point where only twenty yards separated the British and German trenches. This is the second time the Herts Territorials have been under fire.

Extracted from the Bucks Herald, 2nd January, 1915

See the Latest Old Tring News

Other Tring "Old News .  

Tring at War - Latest News 19th December, 1914

Christmas in Tring is looking good, as the the decision to based the headquarters of the 21st Division in the town, and the billeting of some 3,000 men now means that the shops are busy, although they would be even busier if local people shopped locally rather than in London. The paper was full of Xmas adverts and Tring Consolidated Charities distributed tickets for bread and coal. Over £25 was raised at the Tring Stock Sale for the Belgium Relief Fund and the big local news was the death of Dr Brown. There are brief mentions of the success of  Evelyn A. Freeman and Norah Jeffery in music exams, the vocalists at the Gem cinema, a lecture by the Rev. E. J. Whitman at the Baptist Chapel at Wigginton,  and the fact that Mr. H. W. Bishop, of Pendley, was a judge at the Smithfield Show.

     The military plans to use the High Street Schools as a military hospital were  progressing, which will allow them to vacate the Victoria Hall. Several Councillors launch an appeal for Xmas gifts for the soldiers in the hospital. Meanwhile military training carries on in the area. The nearby village of Marsworth provides a list of men from the parish serving in the armed forces. The very rainy weather was causing problems in the construction of the large army camp just over the county boundary at Halton, where "The continual heavy rains have, if anything, added to the wretched conditions that prevail, and the roads in the vicinity of the camp are almost impassable to anything but heavy motor vehicles." These problems may be why James Putnam was offering 30/- a week, plus lodgings, for "Pair and Single Horse Drivers" to work at the camp. Elsewhere in the paper there is a mention of the problems farmers are having with preparing the fields for the crops because so many farm workers have volunteered for the forces. [Later in the war a single track narrow gauge line was built between Wendover Station and the camp]

     Bombardier P. Seabrook, 35th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, son of Mr. Edwin Seabrook, of Albert-street, wrote home and while such letters do not normally mention the location or the fighting he can report that "Yon can read of my Battery in the Daily Mail of Nov. 26th. The heading 'Sticking to the Guns.' and 'The Heroic Defence of --- by a Single Battery commanded Major Christie.'" [Has anyone got a copy???]

Extracted from the Bucks Herald, 19th December, 1914

See the Latest Old Tring News

Other Tring "Old News .  

Some newly acquired post cards

I have added a varied batch of new Hertfordshire views(all with higher resolution images) as follows:

Military

A View of Batchwood Camp, St Albans, taken by L. L. Christmas in September 1915. It  shows the North Staffordshire Lines, and was in the St Albans area at about the same time as Briton's Camp (location unknown) was in existence.

I have created a page for four early 20th century pictures of New Birklands School, St Albans, two of the exterior, one of the dining room, and one of the garden. Three were taken by a London firm of photographers, Elliott & Fry, who had photographic works in Barnet. The other was taken by Montiville Evans, of St Albans. I have added details of the schoolthen just called Birklands, in the late 20th century, but have not yet researched it foundation.

Marsworth is on the Grand Union Canal on the birder with Hertfordshire, and close to Tring, so of interest despite being in Buckinghamshire. About a dozen post cards (possibly mostly amateur snapshots from about 1905) appeared recently on ebay and I purchased a number - some of which are good enough to justify high resolution scanning. As it is always a pity when a contemporary collection like this gets dispersed I have also included reduced sized thumbs to record those I did not win. 

Also included in the update were two pictures of Chorleywood, a picture of Radlett parish church before the wider nave was added, and a picture of  Nether Hall, at Widford.

Low Water at Startops Reservoir - Picture of the Day on Geograph

Low Water at Startops Reservoir, near Tring, in 2012

It seems somewhat ironic that on January 23rd Geograph selected one of my pictures of the effects of drought on the Tring Reservoirs to be  "Picture of the Day" when a visit I made a few days earlier had shown that all the reservoirs in the area were filled to capacity, much as I reported in a Rural Relaxation note in April last year. This picture shows (not very clearly) part of the medieval ridge and furrow area I reported here on December 3rd 2011 and March 11th 2012.

One of the frustrating things about Geograph's "Picture of the Day" is that the photographer is not told when one of his pictures has been selected and it sometimes appears years after the picture had been added to the web site. (I posted the above picture on January 24th 2012)  I know two other pictures of mine have been selected in the past - but there may have been others.

The first was this picture of tulips round a war grave in the churchyard at Halton, Bucks, near Tring, which I took in 2009, together with other pictures of the church and village.

The other was this view of  barges moored on the Grand Union Canal at Marsworth on a frosty winter morning in December 2012.

Rural Relaxation: A Spectacular Canal Walk

Frost-covered Trees at Marsworth Reservoir
Adjoining the Grand Union Canal, near Tring.

By the Canal near Startops Reservoir, near Tring

On Wednesday last week my car was due for service at Lower End Garage. Marsworth, and I planned to drop the car off when it opened and walk back to Tring along the canal, having breakfast at the Garden Centre at Bulbourne. Very low temperatures and freezing fog had been forecast so I dressed warmly and took my camera. When I arrived at the garage the fog had gone and the countryside had been converted into a winter wonderland - with everything covered by a thick layer of hoar frost.

As a result I ended up with a large number of photographs of the Grand Union Canal, Startops and Marsworth Reservoirs, plus some other views. There were close-ups of frosted leaves - rimed with ice crystals, and the birds were not ignored. The best pictures can now be seen, in high resolution, on Geograph. One of the pictures, "Its warm inside - and bitterly cold outside," was selected as the picture of the day on December 16th.

Lock 44, Grand Union Canal

The pictures were all taken with my new camera, a Canon Powershot SX40 HS camera, and in view of the interest in my earlier First and Second impressions of using it, I provide a Third impression, after using it for three months - below the fold.

A Detour into Buckinghamshire

One of the frustrations of this web site has been that I live in Tring - which is the western part of Hertfordshire which is surrounded on three sides by Buckinghamshire. I enjoy walking the countryside, taking photographs of features of historical interest and well as the wild life and farming activities. With the Vale of Aylesbury to my north, and the Chiltern Hills to the east and west there is much to keep me occupied - but most of it is in Buckinghamshire.

William Brown's Account Book

The point is that the county boundaries of Hertfordshire are in most places highly arbitrary - and mainly derive from the boundaries of Anglo-Saxon estates over 1000 years ago. While administrative history may limit itself to such boundaries they are for most purposes arbitrary lines which in some place are not even marked by as much as a hedgerow. Treating the county boundary as a rigid "no-cross" line causes significant difficulties if you are discussing local history.

One example relates to Tring as a market Town - when many of the people who used the market to buy and sell would have crossed the county boundary to do so. William Brown was an auctioneer in Tring in the 19th century and, when I have time, I am presenting details of his Customer Account Book which again deals with customers on either side of the boundary.

The Lock at Startops End

Another example relates to the Canal, its branches, and its reservoirs, where any account of its history automatically involves both Herts and Bucks - particularly the Bucks village of Marsworth.

To make it easier to cover issues which cross the county boundary it has been decided to introduce pages for Buckinghamshire parishes which are associated with the canal, plus some adjacent parishes in the Vale of Aylesbury. Each page will consisted of one or two old post cards images and links to my modern photographs, which will be held as high resolution images on Geograph. There will also be links to cross-boarder topics on the Hertfordshire web site and external links to other relevant web sites. There will be no attempt to duplicate the excellent information on Buckinghamshire GENUKI.

To get this rolling the Buckinghamshire page has been updated, together with demonstration pages for Marsworth (which includes a significant section of the Grand Union Canal) and Aston Clinton (which includes short sections of the Aylesbury and Wendover Arms of the Canal, and the site of a former Rothschilds House.) This will be considered a low priority project with perhaps one or two place pages added each month.

More Evidence of Medieval Fields at Tring Reservoirs

Very Low Water Levels at Startops Reservoir, near Tring, December 2011

The dry stream trench in the foreground is main inlet stream - the overflow from Marsworth and Tringford Reservoirs - both of which were low. When full the water would be up to the dam - which holds back Marsworth Reservoir.

In October I reported on the very low water levels at Wilstone Reservoir and how they had  revealed evidence for an ancient ridge and furrow system. In the centre of this picture you can see the same parallel lines of slightly darker vegetation which is all that is visible of a medieval ridge and furrow field, possibly associated with Marsworth village.

Continued below the fold, with more pictures