In the run-up to, and during the four years of the First World War, we will be looking at how the Luton News covered the momentous events, week by week.
Luton got a new fire engine this month. The 60hp engine could carry 10/11 men and do 35/40 miles an hour.
A housing inquiry by the Land Enquiry Committee revealed some interesting details of workmen’s houses in Luton.
It said the houses generally inhabited by workmen in Luton are erected in large rows with a joint passageway between each pair.
The accommodation consists of a front parlour, often with a bay window, living room at the rear with a window looking into the yard or garden. A scullery with a copper and sink are built out from the main building with coals and WC adjoining.
There are two or three bedrooms on the first floor and about 40/50 foot of garden clear of the house.
The main defect is the lack of larder convenience and cupboard room.
Ethel Smith, aged 23, of Chequer Street, Luton, was charged with stabbing Thomas Hill with a knife on March 28. The couple had lived together as man and wife for about eight weeks. They had rowed over a fish and chip supper.
The case was sent to trial. Mr Hill was not badly injured.
A coroner ruled that a doctor who had refused to attend a four-year-old girl badly burned after playing with matches was within his rights as he was attending another important case at the time.
Louisa Owen, the adopted daughter of Mr and Mrs James Champkin, of Hartley Road, Luton, had told her father she would not touch matches again, as she was taken to hospital by cab, the inquest heard.
All the infants schools were closed over Easter. Queens Square and Surrey Street suffered fewer than 50% attendance because of fears of infectious diseases. The schools were to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected over the holidays.