Keep the Home Fires Burning - detailing wartime life in the towns and villages mentioned.

NBT 1915 Aug. 17th Tue.

Private Jesse Sibley, who went with the 2nd draft from Ampthill Park, writes from the trenches;

“We have joined the first draft, and are getting on all right together. There are some hardships, but we take them all in good part and don’t grumble.”

(He mentions having met a number of men from the village that he knew, including Ted Pratt, who, after being wounded, has now returned to the trenches.)

NBT 1916 Sep. 19th Tue.

Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, of 65, Crow Lane, Husborne Crawley, has been unofficially notified that her younger son, formerly of the Bedfordshire Regiment, but later of the 9th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, has been killed in France. A Corporal in the Company states that during a big attack on Sunday, September 3rd a parapet had to be mounted, and on reaching the top 26 year old Private Archie Smith was riddled with bullets, and died immediately. Born at Husborne Crawley, he had joined the Army under the Derby Group Scheme, and left for France in the early summer. A single man, prior to enlisting he was a gardener at Woburn Abbey, being resident at Woburn. His mother is a widow, and his brother, Horace, has been in France for some time.

NBT 1918 Oct. 29th Tue.

Mrs. Fossey, a widow, has received news that her 22 year old son, Private Horace Fossey, serving in the Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in France on October 17th. In a letter, Lieutenant Baddeby says that he was esteemed by officers and men alike, and was shot by a sniper whilst working a machine gun. He volunteered for service in November 1914, and, despite having taken part in many actions, had never been wounded.