taken from Leighton Buzzard dated 25/05/1915 "The Workhouse barber, who is a Russian, has asked the Guardians to release him from his contract so that he may join the Army. Mrs. Lewis remarked, when the application came before the Board, that if they were sure he was not a German, and he wanted to fight for this country, they should release him. The Guardians found apparently that the shaving of paupers was more important than the killing of Germans, for they declined to release the barber until they had advertised for tenders for shaving the inmates for 12 months, and had appointed a successor.