The ‘Camp Diary’ provides an insight into the Bedfordshire Training Depot from 1914-16. Based on newspaper reports of the time.

June 1916 – The nature of the Camp has started to shift. The Camp was established to train young, local men who heeded Kitchener’s call to volunteer. In early June more married Derby recruits have come in, and from further afield.

More than 1,000 trained men have been sent to reinforce the various battalions of the Bedfordshire Regiment in France, and other drafts are in readiness. On Tuesday, June 7th fifty picked men left the Camp and entrained amid enthusiasm for Liverpool to be attached to the Welsh Border Regiment. The Duke of Bedford addressed them prior to departure, and was loudly cheered.

On Saturdays the men have been rising early for long route marches, headed out by the band. The distance covered was about 15 miles. On Saturday 10th Millbrook and Ridgmont were visited while most of the villagers were still in bed. The march from Woburn through the beautiful Park to Eversholt was greatly appreciated.

Summer games and sports during recreation hours are in full swing, and the Park and Camp surroundings are at their best.

A memorial service was held on Tuesday 13th at the Ampthill Training Camp in memory of the late Lord Kitchener, the Chaplain (the Rev CR. Dickinson) conducting, assisted by the Rev. WD May. At 9am a 1,000 men of the Depot and paraded on the top plateau. Marching in slow time to the cadence of Chopin’s Funeral March, the battalion in columns of fours slowly descended the gorse clad slope to the Lower Parade where it formed into three sides of a square. The Regimental Band played the “Dead March” in “Saul,” and Lord Kitchener’s favourite hymn, “Abide with Me,” was sung during the service which was a most impressive one. At the close the Band played Tchaikovsky’s Funeral March.

On Thursday 22nd the Regimental Band, together with officers and a firing party, took part in the funeral of a Canadian soldier who arrived from the trenches in France at Woburn Abbey Hospital on the morning of Saturday week, and who succumbed to his wounds on Monday.

On Monday 26th fifty men were transferred from the Camp to join the South Wales Borderers.

June 2, 1916

News of Ampthill Park recruits at the Front

June 25 – the 2nd Bedfords carried out a raid on the Enemy’s lines. Ampthill recruits were among the Party. All fifty-one returned safely, capturing one prisoner (wounded). The casualties were: – 6 wounded. 1 shell blindness. 1 soldier accidentally wounded by barbed wire – more.

• Killed in Action
  June 3, 1916
  19560 Private William PICKARD of Great Whyte
  
  June 25, 1916
  17803 Private GH. SEABROOK (23) of Watford
  19564 Private John PEPPER of EversholtJune 26, 1916
  19537 Private Richard E. BALDOCK of Warboys  – shell hit dugout
• Died at Home
  June 22, 1916 
  23746 Private Edward OAKLEY of Eversholt – more

The Revd. C. L. Matthews, the Rector of Clophill, has written from France where he is serving as a chaplain:

“Funerals are always sad and solemn, but I think the funeral of a man who has given his life for his country is more solemn than any other. The cemeteries are getting very full, some of them, but every grave is carefully marked, and the place is tended with every care. Each grave is marked, first of all by a bottle, containing a paper with the man’s name, number, and regiment, and later on by a plain wooden cross with a metal inscription bearing full particulars.”

Source: Barton Parish Magazine, 18 June 1916 (as republished by Bedsathome blog)

Visit the Bedfordshire Regiment website to read the war diary of each Battalion.

Source:

The Bedfordshire Standard. The original broadsheet is part of the Bedfordshire & Luton Archive.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
RBL Roll of Honour
Bedsatwar blog
Bedsathome blog
Bedfordshire Regiment

Next installment to be published on 15 August 2016….
Text copyright S.Hartley (2015-)

Care is taken to ensure accuracy – please accept my apologies if the content contains any errors.

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