Black Country folk gave £1million IN THE FINAL WEEK OF First World War
IN LAST week’s Bugle John Workman touched briefly upon the Feed the Guns Week that was held in Dudley in the final days of the First World War.
It was a remarkable few days that saw the folk of the Black Country come together and raise an unprecedented amount of money for the war effort.
The mood at that time was positive, after years of unremittingly grim news from the front line. In the autumn of 1918 there was a real sense that Britain was on the verge of victory. With victories in the Middle East, the Balkans and Italy, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria and Austro-hungary all teetered on the brink of collapse – the only question that remained was how long would Germany go on fighting.
Through September and October the Allies had proved the German Army to be spent force, rolling back the front line towards the Rhine. Despite fierce resistance in retreat, German soldiers were surrendering by the thousand every day, rather than go on fighting. A new found optimism was celebrated in the British press, but what was not widely known were the approaches by the German high command begging for an armistice.
So it was that when Feed the Guns Week began in Dudley on Sunday, November 3, 1918, the people of the Black Country dug deep into their pockets, buying war bonds and savings certificates, little knowing that the guns would fall silent in a week’s time.
The main attraction of the week was a display of heavy artillery in the Market Place. Six guns in full battlefield rig were there – a 9.2in howitzer, weighing 15 tons with a range of six miles; an 8in howitzer, 12 tons; a 6in gun, 16 tons; a 4.5 howitzer, 25cwt; a 60-pounder gun, five tons; and 38-pounder gun, 25cwt. There were also two captured German guns.
The week before the guns had been in Wolverhampton, where they raised £920,000. They were brought to Dudley by “caterpillar tractors” and reached Sedgley at 12.30pm and the borough boundary at Shaver’s End at 1.20pm.
They were in the charge of Inspector Robinson and Sergeant Hale of the Staffordshire Police but at the Dudley border they were met by a special delegation.
The dignitaries were led by the Mayor of Dudley, Thomas Chambers and mayor-elect Thomas Willetts Adshead. They were joined by fellow councillors, Sir Arthur Boscawen, the town’s MP, and Arthur Holt, the town clerk. The Mayor of Stourbridge and the Chairman of Tipton UDC were also in attendance.
The guns were then processed along Salop Street, Stafford Street, Wellington Road, Queen’s Cross and the High Street to the Market Place, led by the band of the 1st Volunteer Battalion Worcestershire Regiment. Local troops of Scouts, Girl Guides, Boys Brigades and the Grammar School Cadets marched, along with the Ambulance Brigade, discharged soldiers and munitions and other women workers.
The guns had seen service in France were now in the command of Captain Rigden RA and were manned by men of the Royal Garrison Artillery, Royal Field Artillery and the Motor Transport Army Service Corps.
Crowds
The opening day on the Monday was conducted in heavy rain, but the crowds were undeterred. Rev W.J. Down led a short religious service before Alderman Chambers gave a speech. Then letters from Sir Gilbert Claughton and John Priest, Chairman of Rowley Regis UDC, were read out before Sir Arthur Boscawen gave a patriotic speech. The proceedings ended with one of the howitzers firing a shot.
There were further speeches on Tuesday and the Wednesday was given over to the Chamber of Commerce to drum up support. The highlight of the week, according to the Dudley Herald, came on the Wednesday afternoon, with a simulated gas attack: “The gas alarm sounded, the force prepared for attack, and there was a discharge of a cloud of gas, which was coloured similar to that which our enemies so greatly dread.”
The week finished on Saturday, November 9, when, “the Market Place was densely crowded to witness the promised fireworks by Captain Rigden and his staff. It was a most effective display, illustrating and attack on an enemy’s force, and was concluded by a discharge symbolic of a victory achieved.”
On November 16, in the same edition it reported on the armistice, the Dudley Herald announced the sums raised by the Feed the Guns Week:
“Dudley, £530,582; Stourbridge, £137,226; Amblecote, £9,884; Brierley Hill £121,292; Kingswinford, £12,942; Lye, £29,721, Rowley, £94,668; Quarry Bank, £10,008; Tipton, £100,000. Grand total, £1,046,323.”
Local works contributed large sums: Noah Hingley and Sons, £5,902.8s.6d; Julia Hanson and Sons, £3,000; Co-operative Wholesale Society, £2,000; H. & T. Danks, £2,000. The Earl of Dudley contributed £4,230.
The Dudley Herald published no pictures of the week’s activities, so Arthur Parkes’s photograph, above, may be the only surviving visual record of the event.
Raising more than a million pounds in just one week was a remarkable achievement by the people of the Black Country, wearied by more than four years of fighting but still determined to play their part and give their all in that final push to victory.