Skip to navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer

Key dates over May 1917

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Lives lost on this day: 3

19th May 1917 - Breaking up Land Problem

Rolling casualty count: 6371

War Front:

1st Batt: Training as usual am but Batt football match v 2nd Northants Ref pm. Batt lost 2-1. Concert in evening by Very Lights assisted by Divisional Band.

2nd Batt: Batt moved to the position of Assembly, east of Croiselles in the evening, halting for tea near Maison Rouge.

SMD RFA: HQ moved to wagon lines at Velu-Wood, relieving the HQ of the 1st Australian Field Artillery. At dusk the remainder of the men relieved the Australians.

Home Front:

Sir George Bullough of Kinloch Castle, Argyllshire and the Down House, Worcestershire has again accepted the Mastership of the Ledbury Hounds, which he has hunted since 1908.

Only a fortnight ago record was made of the fact that Armourer-Sergt. Insley of the Nigerian Frontier Force, who was on his way home invalided, had been drowned by the torpedoing of the vessel on which he was travelling. Mrs. Insley, 50 Boughton Street, Worcester, in her bereavement has received an announcement that her son, Pte. Ernest Alfred Insley, who was in a Canadian Regiment, has died of wounds. He was employed for a while by Messrs. Heath and Son plumbers and by the Hop Market Hotel, but when only 15 years of age he left England for Belleville, Ontario. At the age of 16 he joined the Colonial Force and he had had three birthdays in the trenches in France.

A Concession to Soldiers: The Chief Constable has received from the Southern Command a notification that soldiers may now stay on licensed premised until 9.30pm. Previously soldiers were not allowed on licensed premises after 9pm.

Silver Cinema: Twice each evening next week the Navy League patriotic film “It is for England” will be screened. The film was nearly two years in preparation, consists of 1,000 separate scenes and over 15,000 people have figured in the production. The might of England on the seas is vividly presented. As for the story itself, it is sufficiently sensational and exciting to satisfy the most exacting in that sphere. The role of ‘St. George’ is wonderfully played by the Baroness Hélène Gingold, with the consummate art that is strengthened by restraint and the subtle power of knowledge.

County Food Production: Breaking up Land Problem: 1,000 skilled workers wanted: Mr. Dixon said that the committee ought to have something definite from the Government as to the questions of labour and horses. It would be a catastrophe to break up land without they had some assurance on those points. The Chairman said that the Government were fully aware to the importance of the matter, but they had not seen their way he thought, to guarantee it. Mr. Ward said that if they broke up 40,000 acres they would require at least 100 tractors and he understood that the Government had promised 30. Mr. Parkes said that for the 40,000 acres they would want 1,600 horses and at least 1,000 skilled men and Mr. Dorrell agreed that they would want one man for every additional 40 acres. Mr. Davis: The only way you can do this is to get all the agricultural labourers returned from the Army. The Chairman: That you cannot get done. The question was referred to the Labour Sub-Committee.

A Patriotic Astwood Bank Yeoman: Evidence which is regarded as conclusive has been received that Mr. Charles Howard Smith, son of the late Mr. Bryan Hinton Smith of Astwood House, Astwood Bank, was killed in action on Easter Sunday last year, at Katia. Mr. Smith, though over military age, was the first to volunteer from Astwood Bank on the outbreak of war.

Removal of Pigs: Humphrey Hemus, Woodhouse Farm, Wichenford, was fined 4s. for removing two pigs from the Cattle Market Worcester to Wichenford, without a license. Clerk Sergt. Price said that on Wednesday defendant went to the Police Station and told him that he had removed the pigs without the license. Defendant left the pigs in charge of another man and he too, had forgotten to get the license.