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NEWS AND REVIEWS
This
section contains various news reports and cuttings, old and new,
with reference to the memorials in and around Bedfordshire. To view
the section please click
here.
An
article about the project appeared in the Luton
News in February 2003
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War
Memorials Trust
Friends
of War Memorials is a charity dedicated to promoting
awareness of the debt we owe to those who gave their
lives in the cause of freedom, by ensuring that their
memorials are properly maintained and preserved. |
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The
Maple Leaf Legacy Project
A
Millennium Project in Remembrance of Canada's War Dead |
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There
is an AIRCRAFT
& AIRCREW CASUALTIES INFORMATION ARCHIVE for BEDFORDSHIRE
maintained by Colin Mackenzie of Turvey.
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The
Police
Police
Constable Robert HOUSDEN
died in the line of duty serving the Bedfordshire Community
in 1952 when warning traffic of a flood. He left a young
widow who gave birth to his son a few months later
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Much
information about soldiers who fell, were awarded medals and more
is to be found in old copies of the London
Gazette. Here is a brief resume:
The
London Gazette, first published in 1665, is the oldest, continuously
published newspaper in the United Kingdom and probably the world.
The London Gazette and its sister publications, the Edinburgh and
Belfast Gazettes, have a unique position in British publishing.
They are official newspapers of the Crown. The London Gazette contains
a wide range of office notices including State, Parliamentary and
Ecclesiastical notices, Transport and Planning notices as well as
Corporate and Personal Insolvency notices to name a few. In addition,
a number of Supplements are published covering Honours and Awards,
Premium Bonds, Armed Forces Promotions and Re-gradings, Companies'
information, etc. and a Quarterly Index.
In
the 17th century, it was believed that National efficiency depended
on the intelligence received by the Crown and that the reckless
publishing of news might endanger it. An embargo on the printing
of news other than reports of events abroad, natural disasters,
Royal declarations and sensational crime continued until 1640.
This had the effect of delaying the development of the press in
the UK. Censorship was introduced in 1643, followed by licensing
of news publications. The Gazette came about because of two momentous
events: the Great Plague and the decision of King Charles II to
remove his court - effectively the government of the time - to
Oxford. The London Gazette started life as the Oxford Gazette
and after a few months changed to its current title.
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The
various memorials
and cemeteries maintained by the War Graves Commission for
the Western Front are described and pictured on the Internet.
Some
of the cap badges are
laid out, on a separate page.
Not
all memorials were to people; there are memorials to various types
of animal that served and fell in World War I for example, dogs.
There is a brief explanation of the working
of dogs during the war.
Photographs and postcards covering various
memorials surface all the time. Here are a few pictures
of memorial home and abroad.
"D" Company, 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment -
World War 1
World War 1 - 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment relaxing in
the billiard room
The
Officers, 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment circa 1906
A crowd gathers to read the casualty lists posted outside the
Bedfordshire Times Offices in Mill Street, Bedford after the
first day of Battle of the Somme, July 1916.
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