The outbreak of War had an immediate effect in the town. Some Post Offices were open all night on August 4th, delivering telegrams to army reservists, ordering them to assemble. Motorists drove round delivering messages. On the 5th, soldiers left from …. Leominster to travel to Pembroke Docks, and crowds gathered to see them off. On the 6th, a long convoy of lorries passed through the town, on their way from Manchester to Avonmouth, having been commandeered from private companies by the government for military use.
From ‘Leominster and District in the Great War’, published by the Leominster Printing Press in 1919
Within days, the Leominster News asked inhabitants to report any German residents they knew of to the Police. False rumours began to spread about certain people who were perceived to have ‘foreign’ names – especially Mr Rouch, and Mr Hoff, who were both English. Mr Rouch, who ran a shop in South Street, was forced to take out advertisements in the News, and offer a £50 reward, to save his business from ruin.
From ‘Leominster and District in the Great War’, published by the Leominster Printing Press in 1919
When Belgian refugees, escaping from the German invasion of their country, began arriving in October 1914, they were kindly received. Accommodation was found, money raised, and school spaces secured for several children. Most stayed until 1919, and in recognition of the town’s hospitality, an organising committee member was awarded a medal by the King and Queen of the Belgians.
From ‘Leominster and District in the Great War’, published by the Leominster Printing Press in 1919
Everyone worked very hard to support the War effort. Between December 1914 and May 1919, 164,411 eggs were collected by the Leominster depot of the National Egg Collection for the Wounded and sent to recovering soldiers. Fundraising events were organised to buy warm clothes for the troops; school girls were set to knitting caps and socks for soldiers; turkeys and dolls were raffled at Christmas. Different groups chose different causes to support. The Quaker community raised money for the Friends Ambulance Unit and refugees; village schools organised concerts and magic lantern shows; while Scouts helped at the cottage hospital and with gardening and other jobs.
From ‘Leominster and District in the Great War’, published by the Leominster Printing Press in 1919
Although many men from Leominster and the surrounding villages rushed to join up, there were others who believed the war was completely wrong. The Military Service Act of 1916, which introduced compulsory military service, contained a ‘conscience clause’ whereby men who objected could be freed from conscription. There was a strong non-conformist and Quaker community in Leominster, who had a tradition of pacifism – a belief that all war and violence is wrong. Several young men in Leominster with nonconformist links refused conscription.
From ‘Rifles & Spades – Our Story’ – Leominster Museum’s 2014 exhibition
Some of the men who were lucky enough to return to Leominster managed to make the transition back to normal life relatively well, although those who remember them said they rarely talked about the War. However, in Leominster, as in towns across the country, there were others for whom the Twenties proved a very difficult decade. Their injuries, whether physical or psychological, combined with the prevailing economic conditions, made it hard for them to support themselves and their families.
From ‘Rifles & Spades – Our Story’ – Leominster Museum’s 2014 exhibition
At home in Docklow, we had a parlour where we used to listen to the wireless. I’ll never forget: Dad was sat in his armchair with his pipe and mum was pouring tea when we heard Chamberlain say war had started. Mum spilled the milk. I thought bombs would drop any minute. It was very frightening.
Anon
Me and mum went and worked at Rotherwas munitions. We earned good money and met all sorts. …. Mum was one of those Canary girls and her hair and skin turned bright yellow from all the powder. She worked in the filling shed. We didn’t think anything of it at the time. We were there at Rotherwas the day the bomb was dropped: I was on the early shift (we used to catch the bus from Leominster) well, we heard the German plane above us. One of the buildings was blown up by it & one of the men, Mr Biggs, his head was blown off. We were all in a bit of shock but we had to carry on working.
Anon
Anyway, Mum got a bit ill with all the powder she was working with [at Rotherwas] so we left and went to work for the Red Cross at Pudleston Court, looking after convalescing soldiers: French, German and English. Oh, I loved working for the Red Cross and I made some great friends.
Anon
We used to go dancing with GIs. I’ve still got letters from one of them. …. During the war, he was based at Baron’s Cross. ….. He used to come to us [for] Sunday lunch regularly. I’d never met anyone who ate cheese with apple pie. His mother once sent a honey cake because she was so grateful they were looking after him.
Anon
The hospital was at Barons Cross, yes. There were quite a lot of Polish people in the town at the time. In fact … my grandfather let the house part of the shop to a Polish family who were there for quite a long time. And there were also the American Air force at the hospital who used to come and visit various houses when they were well enough to walk about. There was an ‘Adopt an Airman’ scheme I think, so they used to come and have tea and be entertained by the families.
Maureen Crumpler
At the fish and chip shop …. years ago, I used to be … serving in there, and they used to think they should have priority, the whites. One day I was there and went to serve this black person that was sat there, and these white ones were starting mouthing. I said to them ‘these were here before you’, I said, ‘so it’s their turn to be served’. Anyway the manager at the time… he said ‘what’s the matter?’ I said ‘oh they were moaning because I served the black man’, I said ‘but he was there quite a while before they came in, it was only fair that it was his turn to be served’. He said ‘right, don’t worry, you were only doing what you thought was right’. And he took no notice of them. But they were rumbling because I went and take his order before.
Dorothy Oughton
We lost so many Leominster boys in the war. I used to go dancing with Gilbert Daws, he was a sailor on HMS Exeter. He was quite sweet on me really. He used to write but then the letters stopped and we discovered he had been shot on the gun deck and died. There’s a memorial at Plymouth. I expect no one else around remembers old Gilbert now. But I do.
Anon
There was evacuees, I was friendly with a few, because we had to take them in, if you had a spare room. And we only had a cottage in Etnam Street, you had to take in, my mother took in a mother and daughter, a baby. Well she took several lots in. … If you had the room you were forced to. … We had a lot of evacuees and they’ve remained in town … The children’s home in Rylands Road, … they had a few evacuees, they must have been orphans, they went there.
Pauline Davies
Being in such a remote area, the war was far away. … As for local bombs I only know of two. The Pinsley Brook, which joins the Lugg, just a mile from here. Apparently an enemy aircraft jettisoned a lone bomb on the return. …… Unless they thought there’s a railway line down there, no harm in disrupting it, and the railway passes not very far from where the bomb fell, into the brook. It did not explode, for all I know it might still be there. The Police and others came to cordon it off. We knew about it and rushed out there to see what we might see. Whether they ever extracted it, I don’t know.
Mervyn Bufton
I also was told by my father that two or three bombs were dropped up towards Kimbolton, and there are still large craters in the field. They are probably ponds or something now. But it was one of our own pilots ditching ammunition on the way home. Possibly trying to get home safely. And I believe one cow was killed, but that was the only casualty.
Maureen Crumpler
Then there was VJ (Victory in Japan) Day which followed. VE (Victory in Europe) Day I think was in May and I can remember going down to the Corn Square in Leominster and people were singing and dancing, and the bells were ringing, there was huge hilarity going on. And we danced the hokey-kokey in the square. Which I did as well, I would have been about seven then.
Maureen Crumpler
With the war in Europe over on the 8th May, 1945, the people of the town celebrated VE Day with street parties and dancing in the Grange. During the celebrations athletic sports were held and I was lucky to win the 100 and 220 yards sprints. After the celebrations the Americans welcomed the townspeople to a barbeque and sports at Eaton Hill House where they introduced us to the game of baseball and all its complications! I was sorry not to be in Leominster for VJ Day as I was visiting relatives in Scotland. However, I travelled down from Glasgow to Leominster by train on the night of the national celebrations and witnessed all the beacons lit by the towns and villages lighting up the night sky for miles around.
John Sharp
All the women got together and made sandwiches, jellies, you know all that kind of thing. Dancing, really all night. I can remember the street party the day the war ended, probably VJ Day. It was the whole length of Etnam Street. It joined up with the Worcester Road residents and their party. I cannot think how many people that was. … We had trestle tables all the way down the street — the food was good. I don’t remember what it was but I remember the party!
Pauline Davies
Rationing was introduced temporarily by the British government several times during the 20th century, during and after the Wars.
At the start of the Second World War in 1939, Britain imported about 70% of its cheese and sugar, nearly 80% of fruits, 70% of cereals and fats and 50% of its meat, to feed its population of 50 million. One of the main aims of the Germans in the Battle of the Atlantic was to attack ships bound for Britain, and starve the nation into defeat.
To deal with shortages, the Ministry of Food started rationing. Each person was provided with a ration book containing coupons. Shoppers had to take ration books with them when shopping, so that the relevant coupons could be cancelled.
Petrol was the first commodity to be rationed, followed by bacon, butter and sugar, meat, tea, jam, biscuits, breakfast cereals, cheese, eggs, lard, milk, and canned and dried fruit. Almost all foods apart from vegetables and bread were rationed by August 1942. Strict rationing created a black market. Fresh vegetables and fruit were not rationed, but supplies were limited. Lemons and bananas disappeared for most of the war; oranges were available but greengrocers reserved them for children and pregnant women. Many grew their own vegetables, encouraged by the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign. Clothes, soap, paper & coal were rationed later.
Surprisingly, rationing improved the health of theBritish; infant mortality declined and life expectancy of civilians rose. This was because it ensured that everyone ate a varied diet with enough vitamins. The diet eaten by most people in Britain during the Second World War was far healthier than many diets in the 21st century; with far less sugar, fat & salt.
This ration book shows that rationing did not stop when the War finished in 1945; it finally ended in July 1954.
During the Second World War, the only way that soldiers could communicate with home was by letter. There were no emails or smartphones, and very few chances to use a telephone land line. The government had serious problems in maintaining a postal service for forces stationed abroad. They preferred to send mail by air, but space was very limited. Letters to and from the Near and Far East were taking 3 to 6 months to reach their destination by the only other method – by ship around the southern tip of Africa.
The Post Office realized that the solution could lie in the microfilm system that had been used for record-keeping by banks and other businesses since the early 1930’s. Thus the “Airgraph” was invented. The word became a trademark of Kodak Ltd., who controlled the process.
Letters were photographed at the sending end, then the negatives sent by air to the destination, where they were printed and delivered. The volume and weight of the film were less than one fiftieth of the letters, so many letters could be transported quickly at a much smaller cost.
That first shipment of 70,000 letters was from Cairo. About 350,000 messages were sent during the first month of the service and over 500,000 in the second month.
The letters had to be written on special forms designed to fit in the processing equipment, and the maximum length of a message was only a few hundred words. The form had to be handed in at a post office. It was then checked first by censors, and then by sorters. By the end of the War, over 330 million Airgraphs had been processed. When cheap airmail postage to troops was introduced early in 1945 the use of Airgraphs declined rapidly and the service ceased on 31st July 1945.
Behind the inscription in this book lies a fascinating story, linked to the turbulent history of Poland in the 20th century. Stanislaw Szostak was born in 1898 in Belarus, now an independent country, but part of the Soviet Union after the October Revolution. He was sent to officer cadet school in St Petersburg, Russia in 1917, and took part in an unsuccessful mutiny against the incoming Bolsheviks during the Revolution, for which he was imprisoned for a month.
After the outbreak of the War, Szostak and the unit under his command fought against the Soviets. On 24 September 1939, he lost all his tanks and crossed the border into free Lithuania with the reminder of his men and was interned in different Russian camps for almost a year. When Hitler invaded Russia, he joined the ‘Anders Army’, a Polish unit fighting for the Allies against the Nazis. When this unit was evacuated to Iran, he moved with them, and spent the rest of the war working with the British in the Middle East, in Palestine and elsewhere.
After the war, Szostak came to England, and joined the Polish Resettlement Corps. This was set up by the British government in 1946 for members of the Polish armed forces who had been serving with the British, and did not wish to return to a Communist Poland after 1945. It was designed to help their transition from military into civilian life. It was run by the British Army, and was finally disbanded in 1949. Barons Cross camp was one of the camps used by the PRC to accommodate the veterans until they were ready to move on. For a time Lieutenant Colonel Szostak was the Commander of the camp at Barons Cross. After his release from the army, he moved to live in London. He died there as the result of a car accident in 1961.
We have discovered half the story, but we don’t know who Mrs Ellwood was, and how she helped the Polish veterans at Barons Cross. Do you know? If so, please tell us!
In 1916, Lily Hodges of Leominster decided to send her brother Alec, who was fighting in France with the Machine Gun Corps, a present. Knowing that he was very fond of the Chelsea buns sold in Mrs Pewtress’s bakery shop on the corner of New Street, she bought a bun, packed it in a small box, and put it in the parcel she posted to him. Unfortunately, the parcel never reached Alec, who had been seriously wounded, and evacuated to hospital. Eventually, the parcel, containing the bun, was sent back to Lily, as Alec could not be found. Rather than throwing it away, she kept it on the sideboard in her house for the rest of her life. Eventually, it was given to the Museum. It has featured on the radio, in the Hereford Times, and has had a special event organised round it.
The story does have a good ending. After convalescing in St Thomas’ Hospital in London for a long time, Alec was invalided out of the army, and returned to Leominster, where he ran a boot and shoe repair shop in Burgess Street for many years. He married and had a family of four children.
It is not known to whom these keys belonged. The circular frame has a different photo on either side. As well as two small pen knives, and a coin, there are two keys which look as if they fitted padlocks locking boxes or trunks. There are also several very tiny cylindrical keys with no heads, which were almost certainly watch maker’s keys. Was their owner a watch repairer? How did he become separated from his keys? Were they sent back to his grieving family after his death, as part of his personal effects? Do you recognise the soldier or the tools of his trade?
The box has a plate on it which reads ‘F Taylor Horse Artillery’. The RHA was responsible for light, mobile guns that provided firepower in support of the cavalry. It was the senior arm of the artillery, but the one that developed and grew least during the Great War. A battery had six 13-pounder field guns and included 5 officers and 200 men. It is not known who F Taylor was, but this lockable box was almost certainly where he kept his valuable personal possessions as his unit travelled from place to place.