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Key dates over January 1918

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: 2

21st January 1918 - Pitchcroft under water

Rolling casualty count: 8477

War Front:

2nd Batt: Batt moved to Brandhoek.

3rd Batt: Trenches are now passable so the usual patrols were sent out.

10th Batt: Batt relieved in the trenches by the 9th Cheshires and proceeded to Vallulart Camp near Ypres. 1 OR was wounded.

Home Front:

Railwaymen’s Resolution: At a meeting of the Worcester railwaymen, held on Sunday evening, it was decided to send a resolution to the Mayor emphatically protesting against the women of the city having to stand in queues to obtain the necessaries of life, notwithstanding their protest of December last and their demand for equal distribution and rationing by Jan. 1st. The railwaymen have decided to merge their Committee in the Food Vigilance Association.

The first prosecution at Coventry for food hoarding was heard on Saturday. The defendant was Oscar Harmer, general manager of Messrs. Alfred Herbert (Limited), machine tool makers, and the summonses were in respect of six different articles of food. Evidence was given that a search by the local Food Officer and the Chief Constable resulted in the discovery in a locked store-room at the top of the defendant’s house of the following stocks: 400lb. of tea, 144lb. of sugar, 37 tins of sardines, 14 hams, 26 tins of tongue (2½ lb. each), 13 x 1lb. tins of butter. The chests of tea came from Twining’s and from a Worcester firm. Other articles were obtained personally by the defendant from time to time when he was in London, and some were bought locally. The defendant’s household consists of seven persons. The defence was that the defendant was in the habit of buying tea and sugar in large quantities, and that the chests of tea and cube sugar were mainly got before the existence of the Food Order. He gave away 60lb. of tea to wounded soldiers and others…The Bench convicte, the Chairman said a money penalty was not deemed sufficient and they sentenced Mr. Harman to a month’s imprisonment in each case, the terms to run concurrently, and fined him £500 and £50 costs. The defendant collapsed on hearing the decision.

Severn Valley Flood: The Severn, which rose rapidly during the end of last week after the sudden thaw and the extensive rains, has now overflowed its banks for miles, and many acres of land are now submerged. We almost invariably get a flood in the Severn and Teme valleys when a heavy fall of snow is followed by rain…Pitchcroft is a huge lake, and the low-lying meadows on either side of the river are, of course, under water…There was 10ft. 4in. of flood water at Diglis this morning. Happily, the flood appears to have reached its height during the night, and it is now receding.

Sergt.Baker, of the Worcestershire Regiment, son of Mrs. Baker, Amblecote, had this week the distinction of receiving both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal for conspicuous bravery in France. Before the war he was serving in India, and he has been three times wounded in France.

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team