Tag Archives: Camp

WWI – Ampthill Command Depot in Ampthill Park – the Camp Diary, November 1917

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The ‘Camp Diary’ provides an insight into the Bedfordshire Training Depot (1914-16) and No.9 Command Depot (1916-1919) that followed. Based on newspaper reports of the time.

November 1917 – on Wednesday, November 14th  Sister Dora NEWMAN (Superintendent) of the Ampthill V.A.D. Hospital was awarded the Royal Red Cross Medal (2nd Class) for devoted service rendered to wounded soldiers. Ampthill Park House is one of four residences in town that are providing medical care to support war effort.

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Ampthill Park House (1908)

On November 18th a large number of wounded arrived at Ampthill Station from France and Flanders. There were about fifty cases who were conveyed by motor ambulance for treatment at the two hospitals in Woburn. Most of the men were suffering from being gassed, and a number of them were Canadians and Anzacs.

1917.11.16 BS

Bedfordshire Standard – November 16, 1917

 

1917.11.23 BS

Bedfordshire Standard – November 23, 1917

 

News of the Canadians

Work is underway on Cooper’s Hill to create a camp of rustic, timber huts from from the waste slabs. This will replace the bell tents as winter draws in.

There is news that Private John HAYWARD, one of the railway foreman, has been injured after the brakes failed on a railway car and he was dashed into a closed gate at the bottom of the grade.  Private Hayward sustained serious compound fracture to the right arm. He has been taken to the Duchess of Bedford’s Hospital, at Woburn

Sergeant GARDEN of the Canadian Forestry Corps has been at the Wesleyan School to tell the children of ‘Canada.’ Sergeant Garden took his hearers on an imaginary trip where he described the wonders of Niagra Falls, the Rocky Mountains, and many other sights and scenes of that beautiful country. The headmaster, Mr W.H. CUTLAND, thanked the narrator on behalf of the children.

News of Ampthill Park recruits at the Front

Thirteen Ampthill Camp recruits have been killed this month of which eight died of battle wounds. Here is what we know of Sergeant George S. BABBINGTON.

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Source: de Ruvignys Roll of Honour vol.3

Private Walter C. PEARCE died at home and has been laid to rest in Hitchin Cemetery.

Source:

The Bedfordshire Standard. The original broadsheet is part of the Bedfordshire & Luton Archive.

Ampthill Parish Magazine
de Ruvignys Roll of Honour vol.3
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
RBL Roll of Honour
Ancestry.com
The National Archives
Bedsatwar blog
Bedsathome blog

Report on the Activities of the 126 Company Canadian Forestry Corps. Ampthill 1917-18 (K.Fadden)
A Review of Activities with the 126th Company Canadian Forestry Corps while stationed at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, Eng. (Sgt H. Porter, 1918)

Www.bedfordshireregiment.co.uk

#IWMSTORIES

Next instalment to be published on 31 December 2017….

Text and images copyright S.Hartley (2015-)

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

BUY: Stencilling Tommy’s Footprints

This 48 page book tells the story of how Tommy’s Footprints came about and notes the many people who have contributed and connected. There are just 150 individually numbered books. A unique gift.

 

 

 

 

 

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Proceeds will help to fund a book about the Ampthill Camp ~ profits to benefit the charity Combat Stress which was founded in 1919 to help WWI veterans deal with shell shock.

£6 (inc p&p). Please email hartleyhare135@gmail.com to order by PayPal or BACS transfer. The book is also available from Ampthill Town Council, The Hub and The Stationery Boutique in Ampthill while stocks last.

To remember that amazing day and the memories it went onto craft, here is a free copy of the book “Stencilling Tommy’s Footprints” – click to download.

WWI – Ampthill Command Depot in Ampthill Park – the Camp Diary, July 1917

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The ‘Camp Diary’ provides an insight into the Bedfordshire Training Depot (1914-16) and No.9 Command Depot (1916-1919) that followed. Based on newspaper reports of the time.

July 1917 – news has been received the Government proposes to acquire and fell timber in the locality. The Government has selected the Coopers Hill Plantation which is fondly known and enjoyed as ‘The Pines,’ together with areas in the Millbrook district and 500 acres near Aspley Heath.

The Pines – Victorian beauty spot

Mr Charles P. Hall, the agent to the Duke of Bedford, regretfully confirmed that the news is true; it also affects His Grace who is being pressed to supply extremely large quantities on the grounds of ‘national necessity.’

A special meeting of Ampthill Urban District Council was convened and unanimously resolved to protest strongly against the felling of The Pines on the grounds that it is one of the main features and chief attractions of the town, and provides the only open space in proximity to the town, to which the public have open access; and also on the grounds of the health-giving properties of the pines, particularly in cases of pulmonary affection, which has made Ampthill for many years a health resort for numberous visitors.

The Council also resolved to implore Local Members of Parliament to use their influence, and a petition will be opened for signature by the ratepayers.

1917.07.13 BS CFC

Bedfordshire Standard – July 13, 1917


News of Ampthill Park recruits at the Front

This month 12 Ampthill recruits have been killed in action or died of their battle wounds. Three of the boys – Privates Bransome, Elsdon and Ball – come from Luton. Private Stocker trained with the Bedfords’ and was killed serving with the 21st Machine Gun Gorps.

  • Casualties

23490 Private Percy A. REEVE (21) of Watford Killed in Action on July 5
20674 Private Arthur H. BUTCHER (24) of Milton Keynes Died of Wounds on July 6
19569 Private Sidney READ (22) of Orton Waterville Died of Wounds on July 7
22530 Private Joseph BRANSOME (33) of Luton Died of Wounds on July 8
18971 Private Ernest ELSDON (20) of Luton Killed in Action on July 12
22801 Lance Corporal Walter GOODMAN (32) of Marston Church End Killed in Action on July 16
23136 Private George A. KILBY (23) of Ramsey Hollow Killed in Action on July 16
30779 Private George HILLS (31) of Beechwood Green Killed in Action on July 20
18459 Private Robert W. AMBROSE (22) of Earith Killed in Action on July 28
22996 Private Alfred BALL (21) of Luton Killed in Action on July 29
18476 Private Frank JEFFS of Fenstanton Killed in Action on July 29
21602 Private Robert W. STOCKER (21) of Biggleswade Killed in Action on July 31

Source:

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

Report on the Activities of the 126 Company Canadian Forestry Corps. Ampthill 1917-18 (K.Fadden)
A Review of Activities with the 126th Company Canadian Forestry Corps while stationed at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, Eng. (Sgt H. Porter, 1918)

Www.bedfordshireregiment.co.uk

Next installment to be published on 31 August 2017….

Text and images copyright S.Hartley (2015-)

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

BUY: Stencilling Tommy’s Footprints

This 48 page book tells the story of how Tommy’s Footprints came about and notes the many people who have contributed and connected. There are just 150 individually numbered books. A unique gift.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Proceeds will help to fund a book about the Ampthill Camp ~ profits to benefit the charity Combat Stress which was founded in 1919 to help WWI veterans deal with shell shock.

£6 (inc p&p). Please email hartleyhare135@gmail.com to order by PayPal or BACS transfer. The book is also available from Ampthill Town Council, The Hub and The Stationery Boutique in Ampthill while stocks last.

WWI – Bedfordshire Training Depot in Ampthill Park – 1 July 1916 | Centenary: The Battles of the Somme

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One hundred years ago, on 1 July 1916 the British Expeditionary Force commenced a major offensive at the Somme. Ampthill recruits in the Bedfords’ 7th Battalion (C & D Company) were in frontline trenches, and went over the top. 19,240 British soldiers were killed on that infamous day. Ninety-five Bedfords were among them – ten of these men trained at the Ampthill Camp:

Many more soldiers were wounded. The Bedfordshire Regiment 7th Battalion War Diary provides an account  of what happened on 1 July 1916. Ampthill recruits would see action in the weeks and months that followed.

The family of Peter Darrington would receive the following letter:

Bedfords, B.E.F., 19/7/16

Dear Sir, – I am in receipt of your post-card of the 15th inst.

It is with the deepest regret that I have to inform you that Pte. Darrington, 20317, of this Company, met his death in action on July 1st. The part which the Bedfords, and D Company in particular, played in the Battle of the Somme was a crowning success, and in that success Pte. Darrington gave of his best and met his death like a true Englishman. He was buried by the Padre where he fell and his grave has been marked by a wooden cross. At that date I was an A Company officer, and so I have no personal knowledge of Darrington, but I hear though he had only recently joined us, he had won favour with all, and made himself popular.

Will you convey to his mother, not only the deepest sympathy of myself, but of his platoon and his company. I feel very deeply for her in her great trouble. Will you break the news to her, if she has not already heard from the W.O., and show her this letter.

May it be of comfort to her to know he died, as she would have wished, doing his duty, and in the height of a glorious success for the new armies.

Yours very sincerely,

HJ. Cartwright

Source: Bedfordshire Times – July 21, 1916 (as republished by the RBL Roll of Honour)

 

From 1 July 2016 at Exeter Cathedral each of the 19,240 British soldiers who died during the first day of battle will be represented by a 12 inch figure, wrapped and bound in a hand-stitched shroud and arranged in rows on the ground. The work 19240 Shrouds of the Somme illustrates the enormity of the horror that unfolded, and the loss of life.

The Battles of the Somme ended on 18 November 1916 by which time more than 1,000,000 men were wounded or killed.

Imperial War Museum film – The Battle of the Somme | 100 years on

BBC In pictures: Battle of the Somme

Sources:
The Bedfordshire Standard and Bedfordshire Times. The original broadsheets is part of the Bedfordshire & Luton Archive.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
RBL Roll of Honour
Bedsatwar blog
Bedsathome blog
www.longlongtrail
www.thesomme19240

Next installment of the ‘Camp Diary’ to be published on 15 July 2016….
Text copyright S.Hartley (2015-)

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

BUY: Ampthill Camp WWI Centenary Postcard

This special postcard commemorates the centenary of the WWI Bedfordshire Training Depot (1914-16). Limited edition: 500

Proceeds will help to fund a book about the Ampthill Camp ~ profits to benefit the charity Combat Stress which was founded in 1919 to help WWI veterans deal with shell shock.

£2 (inc p&p). Please email hartleyhare135@gmail.com to order by PayPal or BACS transfer.

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WWI – Bedfordshire Training Depot in Ampthill Park – the Camp Diary, October 1914

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In 1914 Herbrand Russell, the 11th Duke of Bedford applied to build a camp in Ampthill Park to train British men to fight ‘for King & Country.’

October 1914 –  the Ampthill and District News reports on progress with establishing the camp. The broadsheet includes a letter inviting local men to volunteer and “join at once” –

October, 10th 1914


ADN 14.10.24

October, 24th 1914


ADN 14.10.31

October, 31st 1914

S : Ampthill and District News. The original broadsheet is part of the Bedfordshire & Luton Archive.
The next installment to be published on 15 October 2015……… 

Text & photos copyright S.Hartley (2015-)

WWI – Bedfordshire Training Depot in Ampthill Park – the Camp Diary, November 1914

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

November 1914 – a reporter from the Ampthill and District News visits to discover how the camp is progressing. It is a hive of activity – six large shelters are virtually finished with another three underway. The air is laced with the sweet smell of creosote. The work is entrusted to two firms: Messers W.T. Sharp and Son and Mr G. Betsford, both of Ampthill. The standard of accommodation compares very favourably and will house 600 local men. Local grocer Messers Dudeney and Johnston Ltd will provide meals from a fully-equipped cook house with a huge stove.

On Thursday, 19th the first 160 recruits transfer from Kempston Barracks to Ampthill Park where every convenience and comfort has been made.

Lady Emily Ampthill has organised a working party that meets in the Church Room each week – 900 garments have already been produced, which is a splendid achievement. Ampthill Railway Station is receiving injured soldiers for dispersal to Wrest Park and a hospital in the north.

November, 14th 1914

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November, 21st 1914

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November, 28th 1914

Source: Ampthill and District News. The original broadsheet is part of the Bedfordshire & Luton Archive.

Next installment to be published on 15 October 2015….

Text copyright S.Hartley (2015-)