Old Tring News - POW returns to England - Soldiers die in road accident - more urinals requried

    Extracts from the Bucks Herald of 27th February, 1915

Military

Compared with previous weeks there is more news about individual soldiers. Captain Edmund S. W. Tidswell, son of the previous vicar of Tring, has been mentioned in dispatches. Private F. Birch (Herts Regiment) of Wigginton, has been wounded. Private W. G. Mustill (1st Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers), of the Cow Roast Lock, Tring, had been earlier wounded and captured by the Germans, but he was part of a prisoner exchange, which he describes, and is now in a London Hospital. Also from Wigginton Harold Gurney is still in hospital at Oxford, while Albert Baker has returned to duty after coming home on sick leave.

Among the forces stationed locally the 15th Platoon, D Company, 8th Lincolnshire Regiment sent a wreath to the funeral of their late officer, Lieut. Wm. Crabtree, who was killed in a taxi-cab near Tring a fortnight ago. An Inquest is to be held on Private White and Thomas of the 12th Northumberland Fusiliers who were found dying by the side of the road at Aston Clinton - a matter which makes Captain's Icke's letter about who had done the fastest route march seem rather insignificant.

The number of troops in the area affects the provision of public services, and in nearby Wendover there was a discussion about the provision of public urinals. The Ruri-Decanal Conference at Berkhamsted (attended by many Church of England ministers and lay members) discussed the provision on intersession services, while the people of Tring were warned that the street lighting might have to be turned off because of the shortage of coal  (in part because so many former miners were now training at Tring?)

On the home front Tring was getting ready for a council by-election following the death of Dr Brown and William Smith, builder, and Edward Wright wrote letter to the paper addressing the electorate.Jack Grange, the son of Herbert Grange, the farmer at Grove Farm, was found to have advanced cancer while James Clark, a Post Office pensioner,  had a successful operation at the West Herts Hospital, at Hemel Hempstead. Both Lord Rothschild, of Tring Park, and J G Williams, of Pendley, won top awards at the Shire Horse Show at Islington. On a more mundane level Percy Mead, farmer of Gubblecote had mangolds for sale.

Surnames this week: Bagnall, Baker, Beal, Bedford, Beech, Birch, Boswall, Brackley, Brown, Bull, Cartwright, Cattell, Clark, Cockburn, Crabtree, Craufurd, Dale, Eccles, Evetts, Ewing, Farran, Field, Finch, Francis, French, Gaussen, Gilbert, Grange, Greey, Gurney, Halsey, Hart-Davies, Hastings, Hilderley, Hodgson, Holland, Houchen, Houseman, Hutton, Icke, Lea-Wilson, Lendrum, Ling, Moore, Lowe, Mead, Muntz, Mustill , Norris, North, Penny, Pope, Ridley, Rolfe, Rothschild, Smith, Smith-Dorrien, Spark, Thomas, Thring, Tidswell, Ward, Weston, White, Williams, Wood, Wright.

Early Cricket in Hertfordshire

I am currently carrying out a series of searches in the British Newspaper Archives with a view to writing a guide to some of the techniques for getting the best out of them. One search was for records of early cricket in the county. I came up with the following two entries from 1737:

Last Wednesday a great Cricket-Match was play'd at Stanstead Abbot in Hertfordshire between 11 Gentlemen of the Corporation of Hertford and 11 of Stanstead, for 200 Guineas, when the Gentlemen of the Corporation were beat, There was up to 1000 l. won and lost on the match.

Derby Mercury, Thursday 14 July, 1737

On Friday last a Cricket Match was play'd at Ware in Hertfordshire, between eleven Gentlemen of Burntwood inEssex and eleven of Hertford, for 200 l., when the former won by six Notches; and it was generally believ'd that they would have beat them at one Innings, had they not met with ill Usage by a Mob of Bargemen. It is said the Bets which were laid on both sides amounted to 2000 l.

Derby Mercury, Thursday 25th August, 1737

I then looked for an early reference to cricket being played in Tring and found:

A Week or two ago was played, for a considerable Sum of Money, on Bohawk-Hill, Wendover, a great Match of Cricket between Wendover and Tring, which was won by the former by a large Number of Notches, at one Innings, notwithstanding Tring was allowed two famous extra Players from another Place. Wendover is soon to play another grand set Match, for a number of Silver Cups.

Northampton Mercury, Monday 3 July 1775

I then looked later for the earliest match I could find involving Tring that named the players and found one played at Tring Park between Tring and Berkhamsted in 1835, published in the Hertford Mercury and Reformer. [Full details - including the names of the two teams].

Some real difficulties were encountered in carrying out these searches and I will be reporting on these later.

Pictures and basic information on Wendover, Buckinghamshire

The Old Cottages, Wendover

The parish of Tring is surrounded on three sides by Buckinghamshire, and in order to understand its history it is useful to look at the surrounding parishes, and the history of transport in the area - including the canal. One arm of the canal goes to Wendover and as a result I have created a single page including a description of this small town in 1918, some hundred year old post card images (high resolution images available), and links to modern photographic images.