Commemorating An Event Most Momentous LIathbury 1914 a GReAcWAR 191 -19,s.AD. o L L o v o n o f of .11. . n the small village of Lathbury, one mile from Newport Pagnell, a group of residents are planning to commemorate one of the most momentous events of the last century - the start of the First World War one hundred years ago. The intention istostageanexhibitionintheVillageHut,itselfamuch loved survivor of that same war, sometime in July 201 4. Our village is probably typical of many rural villages in Buckinghamshire at that time. Almost all the men worked ontheland. Manyofthewivesmadeandsold lace. The childrenwenttoschool,sometimes,inNewportPagnell. Lifeexpectancywasquitelow. Healthcareandhousing were often poor. Lathbury had no great family in the areatolookafterthem. Theyhadarectorandhisfamily in the Rectory and the big house, Lathbury Park, had been run as a private school, preparing young men for their entrance exams for the universities, the army or the colonial service. In 1 91 4 Lathbury probably had a population of about 1 50, much the same as now, but the spread of ages was very different. In the 1 91 1 census, the closest source of information at the time, there were 57 children under the age of 2 1 , 36 women, 24 men under the age of 40 and 23 menaged40ormore. DuringtheWar,webelievesome 35menjoinedtheforces. Sixdidnotcomebackandare remembered on the village war memorial, while those that did return included those who had been wounded orgassed. It'satrulyremarkablerecordforsuchasmall village, but possible quite typical of this area. The war and its aftermath were to change Lathbury dramatically and life was never the same again. Preparing for the exhibition has started with searching for information about the six casualties named on our memorial. These included two brothers who served in the Royal Navy, one dying at the Battle of Jutland. The other four were in the Army, three in the local regiment of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. One of them had five brothers who also all joined up. But the exhibition is also intended to reflect the effect of the war on a small village. With the men away at the war, how did the women cope? What was the effect on agriculture, education, food, life in general? We are anxious to trace descendants and family members of those who lived in Lathbury at about that time. Can you help? In particular we are looking for those connected with, among others, our six casualties: Albert Bertram BRICE (1894-1916) Percy John BRICE (1 895-1 91 4) Walter Edward DORRILL (1 889-1914) William Robert HARCOURT (1894-1918) Walter Ernest JOHNSON (1 889-1 91 6) Thomas STOWE or STOW (1 889-1 91 7) Other families we wish to contact include: ADKINS, BENNET or BENNETT, BOON, COALES, ELLIS, GILLAM, INCH, IRELAND, JARVIS, MEAD, MOBBS, NAYLOR, STANFORD, STRATTON, TREVOR, WHITING, WRIGHT. If you, or your friends, are connected with any of these families and think they might have had a connection with Lathbury at some time, and if you have not been in touch with us already, please phone Tom Hart on 07920 802558 or email tom.hart@taybarn.info. r . -s ? - . , ,S.' . 5 HI1 .RA S n .V . . . ., me_ 0 1B LJ. € w.E.5 R , 0.1B.LJ n.c-u € . B .'R t u .0.1B.W. p GJ, . OBL p C . r p, f .O . p Boon,.A.S.C. p A B n.,R. . .j. P B .As.c C B . 5.C p , D Vc JJ-• p J D . R A p ,... .:m.R fA + p., - .R . p . .B p o .R f . RI.p p -01 . J ,,.W D L.o,B f ec.. ,.:n• =. cJ. CB. M .12 . , ,. = ,Q. J. !LB B .(2 s. o .t R Phonebox Magazine 35 J . R