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Bugbrooke in the Great War.
Events 100 years ago to 4th
August 1914
100
years ago, on August 4th
1914, Great Britain declared war on Germany. It was the culmination of
weeks, months and even years of tension and within a very short time it
had become the 1st
World War. There was not a village anywhere which did not feel the
consequences and Bugbrooke was typical amongst them.
Bugbrooke in 1914, was a village with a population of 800 living in
around 150 dwelling centred on what are now High Street, Great Lane, Ace
Lane, Church Lane and Camp Hill..
Men worked in a range of jobs with many engaged in farming and
the railways.
Whilst there were national newspapers, and several Northampton
newspapers, in Bugbrooke the principal communication was via the weekly
school newsletters. Children would bring news into the school from
around the village, the headmaster would compile a letter write it on
the blackboard, and the children would copy it and take it home.
One of the surviving volumes covers 1913 and 1914, and provides a
unique insight into the day to day workings of village life, as well as
relaying letters from past pupils from around the world.
These letters can be viewed on the LINK website via the Site
Directory, as can the school log books for the period up to 1918.
Most of the news was very mundane in content. Village sport was a
regular feature, and the successes and failures of Bugbooke Football
Club and Cricket Club were avidly reported. The football match against
Kislingbury was particularly well followed with over 300 spectators
watching the match on the field at the back of the primary school.
The progressions of the seasons were noted as was the weather,
and any good show of flowers was worth a mention in the letters.
Births, marriages and deaths are of course reported, and given
great prominence were letters home from past pupils often from great
distances around the world. These letters from past pupils are mainly
either from ex
Dr
Barnardo’s children who were fostered here while attending school or
from men who had joined the forces and were travelling the world.
Many of the Barnardo’s children
fostered in the village, were sent with little notice to Canada or
Australia to new lives and kept in touch with Bugbrooke School where
they had obviously been very happy. Other Barnardos children after they
had completed school returned to the
Barnardo’s home in London, where they were apprencticed to a
trade, before making their own way in the world.
The Westle children were typical of these.
Henry, William and Ruth, were fostered in the village, and appear
regularly in the school
log
books, William getting specially commended for his drawing in 1908.
In the 1911 census, all 3 had returned to London living in
Barnardo’s house, and apprenticed.
They were clearly not forgotten in the village however, as both
boys are remembered on the memorial plaque to the fallen in Bugbrooke
church.
There is also regular news of correspondence from boys who had joined
the services. Private Eric Poole, who lived in Browns Lane, Bugbrooke,
joined the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1906 and was a regular
correspondent from Malta and later from Egypt. He was clearly enjoying
every minute of being in the army, and in Malta met up with another
Bugbrooke correspondent Thomas King who was a Signaler on HMS Britannia.
This was in 1913 and early 1914, but the suspicion of the
Germans, Austrians and Turks comes clearly through. Trooper J Barnes was
a reservist with the 11th
Hussars, doing service in Wexford, Ireland and sending postcards in July
1914 to the school.
There were around twelve men serving in the forces before the Great War
with connections to Bugbrooke.
If their letters home were typical, it was clearly a great life
for a young man.
Everything
changed however in the summer of 1914. Soon Private Poole and Trooper
Barnes would form part of the British Expeditionary Force, sent to
France in August.
Both will
die in the war and appear on the church war memorial.
There had been much excitement throughout Northamptonshire in Septemeber
1913, and this is well reflected in the school letter of the 26th
September.
At this time
there were major army maneuvers in this area, involving 75,000 troops,
simulating 3 armies at war.
These were designed to simulate the situation which occurred in real
life less than one year later, namely the response to Germany attacking
France through Belgium.
The
King was staying at Althorp during this week, and he was reported around
Bugbrooke.
The Leicester
and Staffs Yeomanry were camping on the Rectory lawn in their hundreds,
and the Park saw much activity. On one day almost 3 thousand soldiers
passed through on their way to Towcester.
22 biplanes were seen passing over on one day (always a rare
sight in those days), as well as the airship Delta.
Many of the Bugbrooke pupils from that era, were sent on their way with
a rare working knowledge of telegraphy and radio.
The headmaster Frank Wright was a pioneer in this field and
Bugbrooke School was well known as one of the few working telegraph
stations.
All pupils
learned morse code as part of the curriculum.
On the first day of the war,
everything changed.
Prior
to the outbreak of war, there was no indication in the local newspapers,
or the school letters, of any threat of war.
From 4th
August, the news in both would be dominated by it.
At
the school, officials descended and confiscated all of the radio
equipment to avoid information leaking to the enemy.
It was never returned, and with the death of Frank Wright in
1919, the expertise died away.
Alliances played no small part in the scale of the conflict, and what
started as a local war spread very rapidly through these alliances to a
extent that no-one could have envisaged.
Out
of a Bugbrooke population of around 800 around 150 men served in the
Great War, and 29 did not return.
Geoff Cooke (for the 100 years project)
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 Eric
Poole
 Charles
Turland
Bugbrooke
Men Enlisting between 4h August 1914 and end September 1914.
Harry Ambler—Polytechnic Service Corps.
Joseph Bannard— A Squad Yeomanry
Edwin Bubb— 10th Hussars
Henry Bubb— 10th Hussars
Philip Campion— Warwickshire Yeomanry
James Joyce— Ox & Bucks Light Infantry
Charles King— Northants Regiment
William Latimer— Royal Garrison Artillery
Harry Marshall— Northants Regiment
John Marshall— Royal Garrison Artillery
David Moore— Northants, Mobbs Corps
Evelyn Moore— Military Nursing
Wallace Nightingale— Finsbury Rifles
John Payne—
William Payne—
John Pritchard— County of London Reg.
Arthur Turland— East Surrey Regiment
Charles Turland— Northants Regiment
Philip Turland— Royal Field Artillery
Henry Westle— Royal Fusiliers
William Westle— Royal Fusiliers
Horace White— London Regiment
Arthur Wright—
Frank Wright— Yorks and Lancs Regiment.
Percy Wright— Notts & Derby Regiment
Philip Campion
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Bugbrooke in the Great War.
Events 100 years ago from 4th
August 1914 to the end of September
1914
One hundred years ago the First World War had just
been going for a couple of months. In some ways life in Bugbrooke went
on as usual but in other ways there were great changes. Many of the
young men (and not so young) were volunteering and leaving the village
to fight for King and Country.
At the start of war the French had a large
conscripted army and the British had a smaller, but professional, army
backed up by the might of the Royal Navy. The Germans had a large well
equipped army and a well thought out plan. Many on both sides were
expecting it to be resolved quickly. “It will be over by Christmas” was
a common saying. In early September one of the Bugbrooke old schoolboys,
Signalman Thomas King on HMS Britannia, wrote to the village that “The
general feeling in the Navy is that Germany has taken on more than she
can manage”.
Back in Bugbrooke in September 1914, the School
letters continued to have a mix of news of men enlisting, news from some
in training or already overseas and the day-to-day happenings in
everyday life such as the fact that Mrs Higginbottom and Mrs Barford had
a lovely show of snapdragons and Mrs Collins had some beautiful
asters. In the letter of September 4th 1914 the first list of local men
in the services appeared – Tom King (the adopted son of Arthur and
Elizabeth Walker) was in the Navy on HMS Britannia. Most joined the Army
– Bailey Clarke, James Clarke, Mark Clarke (three brothers – sons of
William and Rose Clarke), Charles Rush (son of James and Emma), Eric
Poole (son of William and Sarah), Frederick Wooding (son of John and
Charlotte), Major Percy Grove (a military man from Eastcote), James
Barnes (who was brought up by his grand-parents William and Sophia),
Joseph Bannard (from Staverton), PC William Latimer and John Marshall
(son of Henry and Elizabeth). Many more were to follow including John
Marshall’s father Henry. There is also the first mention of Eva (Evelyn)
Moore the daughter of Bugbrooke farmer John and his wife Harriet. Eva
qualified as a nurse in Berkshire before moving to Goring on Thames. At
the outbreak of war she volunteered and was accepted into Queen
Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve.
Eastcote house, which formerly had belonged to Mrs
Gresham, was taken over by some societies which looked after needy
sailors. In September 1914 it was occupied by around twenty German and
Austrian sailors whose ships were prohibited from leaving England. As
the war progressed it was to take many more.
In the Northampton Independent of 22nd August there
is a photo of a group of “steel backs” including Mark Clarke from
Bugbrooke.
Quite a number of service men wrote back to the
village and their views and comments were included in the school’s
weekly newsletter.
Philip Campion wrote in his diary summing up the mood
of most people before the outbreak of war as “we were all peacefully
carrying on at our various occupations. Practically all were blissfully
ignorant of the circumstances which eventually brought about the war. We
relied on our fleet for protection.” He said he was animated by the same
spirit by which the first 100,00 joined Kitchener’s Army, and decided
that if the war was continued he would enlist along with some friends in
Rugby. He left the corn harvest with one more field to go and went off
to Rugby recruiting depot with the idea of joining the cavalry as “it
seemed more exciting”. Unfortunately, he found that the recruiting for
the cavalry there had ceased, and so he went off to Warwick to join the
Yeomanry.
Before being accepted, he had to satisfy Colonel
Charteris and Lord Willoughby-de-Broke of his riding skills, pass a
medical and tell his Lordship which pack of hounds he hunted with. He
replied that he hunted with the Grafton but omitted to say that it was
on foot! After swearing an oath on the Bible he was signed up. After a
week’s leave, training started in earnest. Uniforms eventually arrived
but took some getting used to. Finally Philip and the rest of the
Warwickshire Yeomanry moved around East Anglia before settling on
Newbury Racecourse.
On the 25th September the village heard that David
Moore, son of Griffith, licensee of the Five Bells, and his wife Ellen,
had been promoted to Quarter Master Sergeant.
Other local men that enlisted in the first months of
the war were Harry Ambler (born in Wiltshire but an apprentice architect
living in Bugbrooke); the Bubb brothers – Edwin and Henry; James Joyce
(son of James and Edith); Charles Abner King (a Bugbrooke farmer born in
Titchmarsh); Wallace Nightingale (son of Josiah and Mary); the Payne
brothers – John and William (born in Essex but William was a jockey
living in Bugbrooke); John Pritchard (son of Owen and Mary (born in
Bugbrooke but living before the war in Marylebone); Arthur Turland (son
of William and Mary) and the Turland brothers – Charles and Philip (sons
of Charles and Lavinia); The two Westle brothers Henry and William
(Barnardos boys who had been fostered and schooled in Bugbrooke) and
Horace White (son of Arthur And Ellen). Before the war they had a
variety of jobs such as grocer, labourer, motor works apprentice and
tailor – now all to be soldiers.
Because of the effect of the war on shipping in food
from overseas, the Board of Trade issued a notice recommending the use
of glucose for sweetening instead of sugar until fresh stocks arrive. It
was available from the Yeast Company and No. 11 Marefare at 2 pence (old
pence – just less than 1p) a pound in glass jams. It was reported that
it was quite transparent, like treacle and tasted like honey and treacle
mixed.
Rifle ranges were prepared at Nobottle and Harpole
for training and a number of soldiers were billeted in Kislingbury. Many
big guns were transported along the railway and Belgian refugees came to
live in some empty cottages in Litchborough.
Three sons of the school master, Frank Wright,
enlisted at the start of the war.
Frank William Wright was born in Stoneleigh in Warwickshire like
his brother Reginald before his father came to Bugbrooke School. Frank
married Clara Jane Brooke in 1907 and was working as a Newspaper
reporter in Huddersfield before the war.
He had served in the Territorial Force, in volunteer battalions
of the Royal West Surrey and the Duke of Wellington’s Regiments.
He enlisted in 12th (Service) Battalion, the York and Lancaster
Regiment, raised in Sheffield on 5 September 1914, on 11th September.
The youngest Wright brother, Percy, was born in
Bugbrooke. He followed his eldest brother into the profession of
journalist before enlisting on 20 October in 1/8th Battalion, The
Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment).
Reginald Wright, who was believed to have previous
service in the Royal Engineers and was therefore a Reservist, attested
at Huddersfield on 4 December 1914 in the Army Service Corps (ASC), to
be employed in Motor Transport.
He had married Olive Ellis in 1912 and was working as a motor
mechanic.
The initial German attack through Belgium met stiff
defence which allowed the French to prepare and the British
Expeditionary Army to land. The battle at Mons followed and the Germans
pressed towards Paris but were then pushed back to the River Aisne.
Both sides’ hope of a quick win was soon dashed as they faced
each other across the trenches
David Marshall (for The 100 Years Project)
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Bugbrooke and the Great War - Page 2.
August, September 1914
