Diary: Youth's sudden death at baths

Digest of stories from The Luton News: Thursday, August 9th, 1917.

Waller St Baths and Barnard gravestone

Consternation was caused at the Luton Corporation Swimming Baths on Saturday afternoon by the sudden death of a youth in the baths.

There were fewer bathers than usual when the boy and his friend arrived. He dived in at the deep end and swam to the shallows. There he got up, but suddenly pitched over in the water. He was promptly pulled out by some of the bathers and laid on the edge of the baths. Mr Archibald Cooper, the Superintendent, was summoned and tried artificial respiration, but without avail. Dr John Birch, of the Medical Institute, was also quickly on the scene, but life was extinct.

The swimmer was season ticket holder Robert Hugh Barnard, the 17-year-old son of straw hat materials merchant Mr Charles Barnard and his wife Emily Jane, of 31 London Road, Luton.

At an inquest on Tuesday afternoon, Dr Birch said there was no suggestion of death from drowning as there was no water in the lungs. In his opinion death was due to heart failure owing to an acute infection. A jury returned a verdict of death from heart failure.

[Robert was buried at Luton General Cemetery on Thursday, August 9th]

  • Another red-letter day in the career of the Biscot 'boys' was the opening of the extension to the Princess Victoria YMCA Hut on Tuesday evening. A merry crowd of khaki boys filled the hut to its utmost capacity. The hut was formally opened on April 13th last year by Princess Victoria Louise and comprised a large main room with a canteen at one end and a platform at the other. In the annexe was a billiard room. Owing to the needs of the men at Biscot and the popularity of the "Y.M.," as it is called, and extension was built at right angles to the billiard room to provide a centre for spiritual and material comforts for the men.

  • Following upon a dismal and wet inauguration, the 2nd Battalion of the Beds Volunteer Regiment (Luton V. F.) have been having a splendid time in camp at Luton Hoo Park this week, by permission of Lady Wernher. The earlier troubles resulting from the incessant rain disappeared when the meteorological conditions changed, and the sun broke forth on Monday afternoon. When the men returned on Saturday the period of training under canvass will surely be voted a great success.

  • The funeral of the late Pte Sidney Albert Coe, son of Mrs Coe, of 40 Chiltern Rise, Luton, took place at the General Cemetery on Saturday, his coffin covered with the Union flag. Pte Coe had drowned on Sunday, July 28th, while on bathing parade near Gorleston, Norfolk.

  • On Saturday evening, Mr W. Essex, leader at the Plait Hall YMCA, arranged an enjoyable concert for the men. The artistes were Pte R. C. W. White, Pte Howard, Pte Sibley and Pte Harpin, from the 25th Training Reserve Brigade, Stockwood; Gunner Ward and Bdr Walker, from Biscot; and Miss Garnett, of the Y.MCA Club.

  • Monday was the occasion of the North Midland Division Veterinary Hospital Sports, which were held in Stockwood Park, by permission of Mrs Crawley. There was an excellent attendance, and competitors for the races came from the Veterinary Hospital, Biscot 'boys', men of the 25th T.R.B. from Stockwood, and two from the A.V.C. at St Albans.

  • Holiday traffic at the Great Northern Railway Station, Luton, on Saturday was at a record, no fewer than 3,000 bookings being made. Monday was not as busy as the usual Bank Holiday Monday with bookings totalling about 2,000, about half being to Dunstable.

  • In addition to the sad news of the loss of Luton men in the East, the roll of honour of our town and county will be considerably lengthened by the inevitable results of the new push in France. The last few days have brought sorrow to several Luton families, including Mr and Mrs Perry, of 45 Boyle Street with official intimation of the death of their son, Sapper Harry Perry, on July 27th; Mrs Page, of 5 Boyle Street, who is left with a family of five very young children with the death of her husband, Sapper Arthur Page, on July 23rd; and Dr and Mrs Worthington, of 17 Cardiff Road, Luton, whose son, Pte Humphrey Winton Worthington, died on July 31st; also Private Charles Herbert Halfpenny, son of Charles and Elizabeth Halfpennny, died on 9 Aug 1917.

  • A pretty wedding was yesterday afternoon solemnised at the Wellington Street Baptist Church of Miss Constance M. Pryer, a daughter of builder Mr G. W. Pryer, of Wavendon, Downs Road, Luton, and the Rev William J. Harris, son of the late Mr W. D. Harris, of Markyate. The bridegroom, a Baptist minister, has been in Canada for the past six years and had latterly been working amongst the soldiers and sailors out there.