Bury St Edmunds in the Great War by Glynis Cooper

Author:Glynis Cooper [Cooper, Glynis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, World War I, Europe, Great Britain, General
ISBN: 9781473864726
Google: FL46DgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Published: 2017-02-28T00:26:17+00:00

CHAPTER 4

1917

Intercession Sunday services had been held on New Year’s Eve but the first issue of the Bury Free Press for 1917 carried a good deal of war news that was not cheerful and the by now ubiquitous long lists of casualties. There were also details of local military awards, which were uplifting for townsfolk, and outcomes of the military tribunals, which were not usually welcome. Fellgets’ New Year message was upbeat: ‘Victory, Peace & Prosperity’, their greeting to 1917. Pretty’s held a great stock clearance sale of clothes and household linens, although many did not have much money. Some of the local country houses were advertising for servants, which perhaps emphasised their remoteness from what was actually going on. There was a shortage of domestic labour, as in other professions, due to enlistment, compulsory or otherwise, the acute need for workers in the war industries, especially munitions, and the simple fact that almost any other job paid better wages, an absolute necessity with the rapidly rising costs of living. Some newspapers in neighbouring counties were actually promoting the idea of fewer servants as an economy measure, which also freed up people for the war effort. Following a report that darkened-street accidents were killing hundreds more than Zeppelins, and encouraged by supposed street-light concessions being made in London, Bury made fresh pleas for more street lighting, asking for forty-two instead of the current thirty lights allowed. None was sanctioned, however, and the town was also told it could not have any more blue air-raid warning lamps either, on grounds of health and safety, despite a police recommendation of one for the post office.

Suffolk was increasing food and vegetable production in gardens. Potatoes and onions were in demand and swedes were being promoted as ‘tasty vegetables’. In addition, cultivation of wasteland to grow vegetables was encouraged. It was reasoned that if individuals could grow various crops of vegetables, this would allow the farmers to concentrate on wheat, oats and barley, as well as potatoes, with some mangolds for animal fodder. School gardens would also play a part, with pupils taught to grow their own food by tending crops grown by the school, and potatoes were to be cultivated in the Abbey Gardens. The importance of soil types was stressed when deciding what type of crops to grow as some would not take in certain soils. Woolpit School Gardens, a few miles from Bury St Edmunds, had six plots of 1.5 square poles each. A pole is a unit of length equal to 5.5 yards (5.03 metres) for growing food. Vegetables were grown in four plots and a six-year model rotation of crops was practised:

• round onions and spring onions

• peas, intercropped by lettuce and succeeded with turnips

• beet, carrots, parsnips (no manure used)

• autumn onions, turnips and French beans

• early cabbage followed by Brussels sprouts (manured twice)

• potatoes (no manure used)

Another plot was used for propagating fruit trees and growing fruit while the last plot was used for seed beds and general purposes.

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