Diary: Lord French inspects Volunteers

 

Digest of stories from the Luton News: Thursday, November 2nd, 1916.

Lord French inspects Volunteers

Field-Marshal French, Commander in Chief of Home Forces, inspected the two county battalions of the Beds Volunteer Regiment in a dismal downpour of rain in Wardown Park on Sunday morning.

Upwards of 1,000 men were on parade, and in addition the Boy Scouts lined up as a guard of honour. During his 20 minute stay on his first visit to Luton he also addressed the men, congratulating them on their smart and fine appearance.

  • Very satisfactory progress is being made with the scheme for the collection anddisposal of waste paper for the benefit of local war charities. In the course of three weeks about 13 tons of paper has been collected, entirely by voluntary effort, and of this the workers have baled over 10 tons, which will realise from £35 to £40.

  • Sec-Lieut R.M. PlummerIt was announced in the London Gazette of Monday, October 23rd, that Sec-Lieut R. M. Plummer (pictured right), 5th Bedfordshire Regiment, has been seconded for duty with the Royal Flying Corps. He is the son of Mr F. W. Plummer, President of the Luton Chamber of Commerce, and obtained his commission on the outbreak of war in 1914 and went out with the first draft of the 1/5th Bedfords to Gallipoli. He is now on active service in France serving with the R.F.C.

  • This week the work of fitting up the Plait Hall has commenced in readiness for the YMCA to welcome incoming infantry. It is expected to open next week, and several billiard tables are being put in. The interior will probably have a new coat of paint.

  • Pte Oscar Horace Bigmore, of the County of London King's Royal Rifles, and only son of Mrs Bigmore, of 12 Napier Road, Luton, is at present in the Royal Victoria Minitary Hospital, Newcastle-on-Tyne, suffering from a fractured thigh bone caused by a bullet while servng on the Somme. Unhappily, no one was near him at the time, and for three days and nights he lay helpless and had nothing to eat or drink except a few drops of muddy rainwater which he managed to scoop from the bottom of the hole in which he was lying. Prior to the war he was employed as a pattern maker at the Diamond Foundry.

  • Having been at the Front 16 months without illness or wounds, Cecil C. Robinson, the husband of Mrs Robinson, of 41 Pondwicks Road, Luton, and father of two bonny children, has won his first stripe on the field in the taking of Thiepval with the Bedfords, and is now a lance corporal. He joined up in September 1914 while employed at Messrs Clay's hat factory. He had been a popular member of Clarence FC.

  • In fining a middle-aged woman 20 shillings or 14 days in jail for stealing articles worth 2s 1d from Woolworth's Bazaar, George Street, it was suggested to the manageress at the Borough Court yesterday that the store's method of showing goods was a great temptation. The woman had pleaded not guilty, the manageress stating that the prosecution was taken because so many things had been stolen.

  • Latest names to be added to Luton's roll of honour. Co Sgt-Major Arthur Fountain (Bedfordshire Regiment), L-Cpl Cyril Stone Terry Short (Royal Fusiliers, Bankers' Battalion), L-Cpl Thomas John 'Jack' Heley (Bedfordshire Regiment), L-Cpl Ernest Edward Fowler (Worcestershire Regiment), Pte Samuel James Carter (Bedfordshire Regiment), Pte Edward Horsler (Bedfordshire Regiment), Pte Harry Waller (Bedfordshire Regiment), Pte Charles Wood (Bedfordshire Regiment), Pte Henry Cecil Pugh (Brooks) (Royal Fusiliers), Pte James Hubert Mimms (Bedfordshire Regiment - initially reported missing).