[Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: August 2nd, 1919]

In a leading article on 'Peace and after,' the Northampton Independent says: “The peace celebrations passed off at Northampton with a subdued spirit that showed the futility of attempting to reproduce the exuberant relief of armistice day. A few gangs of irresponsible youths made it the excuse for rowdy revelry, but happily we were spared such outbreaks as have marred the fair fame of Luton, Coventry and Bilston, where rioting of an alarming character broke out.

“The sub-stratum of sanity among the people of Northampton is too strong to lead them to wanton acts of destruction, and we have cause to be thankful that local leaders of labour and of the discharged soldiers' organisations have a greater sense of responsibility for the welfare of the general public than the hotheads in other places where the outbreaks have occurred.

“The lesson of Luton is that we must realise that a new spirit is coming over England. Luton has lost her Town Hall because she was too stupid to see this, and she now bears the scarred emblem of her refusal to allow soldiers to hold a memorial service in the sacrosanct park simply because one had not been held there before.

“Let Luton's example be an omen for the rest of the country that the people are in no mood to allow precedents to stand in the way of common sense.”