The following presentation was displayed in September 1914 at the Church
of St Michael and All Angels in West Watford as part of the 2014 Heritage
Weekend events. It was researched and created by members of the West Watford
Local History Society.
Church Concerns up to outbreak of war August 1914
1913 saw the new church in use and the transformation of the former
church into a social hall. A social celebration for communicants in the hall in
April, was attended by 300. While the year started with an outstanding debt of
nearly £3,000 for the new church’s building and fittings, by March the debt had
been reduced to £445. The old building previously used as a social venue was
still used for some activities and was called the “Institute”.
New residents in “this vast district” were invited to leave contact
cards in a box provided in the church. The population of King’s Ward was due to
grow by 5.5% in 1913, faster than in any other ward. Its population reached
16,650 by 1914. 147 new homes would be built in West Watford in 1914, when
another Mission Church at Cassio Bridge was mooted to meet the needs of the
growing population. Services and activities were already taking place in the
Good Samaritan Mission, a pre-fab metal structure in Holywell Road.
A Mr Crabtree joined the church from college as a lay reader, with good
experience gained in Manchester. He would superintend the Good Samaritan
Mission.
St James Church, on neighbouring Watford Fields, was consecrated in 1913
and improvements to Vicarage Road cemetery chapel were completed. The Reverend
Littlebury, priest in charge at St Michael and All Angels’, proposed to gift a
lectern and seat to the cemetery chapel.
Residents of the parish were reminded in the parish magazine that
following a court case, wedding banns and ceremonies not conducted in the
parish church, were invalid and illegal.
Parishioners were also called to support a national demonstration in
Hyde Park against proposals to dis-establish the Church of Wales. A local
protest parade and meeting in Clarendon Hall also took place.
January 1914 saw the formal dedication of the new church, followed by a
tea party for the “large and comprehensive church family”. The church would be
a “rallying point for all forces to gather round and a radiating point from
where strength should issue.”
Parishioners were asked to donate ingredients for a soup kitchen which
operated from the Good Samaritan Mission throughout the winter of 13/14. School
children of working parents were provided with a hot lunch and the sick and
elderly with jugs of soup. 300 children “in need” were entertained at a
Christmas party on Boxing Day in the Institute, each going home with a small
present.
The Church scout troop which had started in 1911 and which previously
met in the Good Samaritan Mission, transferred to the new hall and still had a
few places for boys 12-16 “of the right stamp” who would benefit from
scout-type activities and “a course of steady drill”. As an “up to date branch
of the Church Lads’ Brigade,” it was intended to prepare boys for “Christ’s
army” not the military.
The girls were not forgotten. Girls’ Club members were allowed to play
cricket in Cassiobury Park on summer evenings, led by 1914 by Miss Pinn, Tyrell
Pinn’s sister. Tyrell Pinn was very active in the church community and was
considered by Reverend Littelbury as his “right hand man”. Miss Pinn taught the
girls not to protect their wicket with their long skirts. A church Lads’ Club
for confirmed church goers over 14, was started by John Searle in the
Institute. Working parties to sew plain and fancy goods for sale to raise funds
continued to meet regularly, presided over by Reverend Littlebury’s wife. The
men’s club led by Tyrell Pinn, thrived as a result of a busy programme of
football fixtures until the voluntary enlistment of club leaders including Pinn
brought football activities to a halt.
Three weddings took place in 1913: William Beck of Whippendell Road wed
Cissie Hughes. Alfred George Anning of Harwoods Road, wed Florence Ethel Bullen
and Thomas Harry Bailey of Hagden Lane married Agnes Southam. All three local
men were destined to lose their lives in the war.
Early in 1914, the War Office was supporting a local press campaign in
Watford to stimulate recruitment to the regular army and “to tell in plain
English what are the conditions.” The National Service League was active
locally and nationally, sending a deputation to Lord Asquith, to press their
sense of real danger that regular and territorial British forces were
under-strength. Lord Asquith was opposed to national service but supported
“better physical training for young men aged 14-18.” At this time a public
meeting was scheduled in Kingham Hall in the town to debate “the Present Aspect
of the Peace Question”. Clearly, a sense of war danger was in the air.
Meanwhile in May 1914, St Michael’s scouts attended Empire Day
celebrations in Hyde Park and a parish fundraising pageant was in planning in
June when Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination started a steady slide towards
hostilities. While Austria-Hungary was declaring war on Serbia, marriages
continued to take place in the church- James Gurney wed Mary Anne Smith- and
the parish as a whole was preoccupied by a performance of the most popular
D’Oyley Carte Operas. This pageant took place in “a woodland dell” in
Cassiobury Park, in a ”perfect alfresco theatre” against the backdrop of Cassiobury’s
ancient walls. Parish ladies staffed the refreshment and tobacco stalls.
Declared “an artistic triumph” by the London Gazette, and winning “the praise
of London critics as well as local opinion”, it was an artistic but not a
financial success. Expenses were heavy and the eventual net profit was £120.
August 1914 The Outbreak of War
Watford Free Churches Council was urging the Government to not get drawn
into “this disastrous conflict” and to remain neutral, only days before the
declaration of war on August 4th after Germany invaded Belgium.
The Reverend Littlebury wrote of the “awful news” that Europe was involved in a
“terrible international war”. Army reservists from the local police and the
post office immediately joined their regiments and territorial regiments were
on the move, including 100 men from Watford in the Hertfordshire Regiment.
The scene shown below must have become commonplace.
Lords Clarendon and Ebury write to the local newspaper and with the
local Labour Church, warn the town Council of likely hardship among the
population at home as panic buying results in food shortages, certain trades
decline and short hours and lay-offs make rents un- affordable. Formed of
people from a cross section of the town, the Watford Executive Relief Committee
raises funds and oversees the impact of war on the poor. Mr Chaston is the
Kings Ward representative on this Committee. 182 cases of need in the ward are
already registered by the end of September, resulting in 89 grants, 62 refused
and a decision on 25 pending.
Led by General French, the British Expeditionary Force lands in France
and proceeding to the Front in Belgium, is outnumbered by German forces at the
Battle of Mons and ordered to retreat by Lord Kitchener. Two parishioners of St
Michael’s are among British casualties. Frederick James Sanders was killed in
the battle while Thomas Ashby of Kings Avenue died of wounds received.
German forces try to encircle Paris but in a series of encounters, the
Allies force them in September to withdraw east of Paris across the Marne. Both
sides suffer 25% casualties at the Battle of the Marne including a parishioner,
Edward Pritchard of Harwoods Road and William Griffin.
Watford rifle club in Willow Lane is opened up to all. The local paper
starts a regular Roll Of Honour column.
Reverend Littlebury writes in the parish magazine: “Do we realise we are
almost within echoing sound of an enemy’s canon...” Millions will be sacrificed
“to satisfy the lust of a few for temporal power”. He is shaken by the idea of
Christian nations fighting each other. Parishioners have a first duty to pray;
secondly to give to local and national relief funds. “Don’t try and ignore it
as if the war meant nothing more than the upsetting of our plans. It is our
affair. Our brothers who are fighting so gallantly are fighting for us. We must
make our sacrifice too.”
