• Soldiers marching off to war from the Town Hall in 1914.

At 11.10am [on Monday, November 11th, 1918], in the presence of a great crowd, his Worship the Mayor appeared on the balcony of the Town Hall, supported by the Deputy Mayor (Councillor Charles Dillingham), Aldermen Oakley and Arnold, Councillors Attwood and Merchant, and the Town Clerk (Mr William Smith) and other officials and announced to the assemblage that he had an important announcement to make.

His Worship [Councillor Henry Impey] proceeded to say that he was enabled by the courtesy of the Luton News to state that the Armistice had been signed at five o'clock that morning. Further, that hostilities would cease at 11am that day, and that the Great War was over.

The Mayor's sentences were punctuated by cheers. 'God Save the King' was then sung, followed by a verse of 'Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow'. It was evident from the halting and emotional way in which the impressive words were sung that the feelings of the crowd were most deeply stirred.

The never-to-be-forgotten ceremony closed with three rousing cheers. By this time the whole length of George Street and all the approaches to the Town Hall were filled by eager crowds of townspeople whose faces clearly indicated the depth of joy one and all experienced at the glorious news just announced.

At the Town Hall the leaders of public life met in conclave to discuss the initiation of celebrations, and the chief feature of their deliberations was the decision to attend a divine service of thanksgiving on Tuesday morning.

The authorities promptly withdrew lighting restrictions, soldiers were released from duty where possible, and towards nightfall the town was a blaze of light and resounding with jubilation.

When the notices came that the Military Service Act was suspended, the homes of scores were exalted and brightened, and as the armistice terms followed and were published in a third edition of the Saturday Telegraph, the spectre of a resumption of hostilities faded away altogether, for it was realised the war was finally ended inasmuch as no nation could be reduced to such abject humiliation and then resume the fight.

Services were arranged at all the churches, and so thoroughly had the Saturday Telegraph spread the news that large congregations assembled everywhere.

The Red Cross Band played outside the Town Hall, the Salvation Army bands were respectively posted at Park Square and the Volunteer Club [Park Street], and the streets were packed with a dense mass of people until midnight.

The declaration that the following day would be a public holiday was received with cheers, and it was felt at the end of the day that the beginning of the peace celebrations had been comparatively mild but thoroughly successful.

[The Luton News: Thursday, November 14th, 1918]