Skip to navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer

Key dates over January 1915

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Lives lost on this day: 2

1st January 1915 - Women’s Co-op Guild Maternity Letters From Working Women was published

These 160 letters described the appalling conditions in which women struggled to bear and raise children, which was leading to high infant and maternal death rates.

Rolling casualty count: 567

1st Batt: ‘B’ Lines: A quiet day in the trenches. The Germans shelled Battalion HQ for 2 hours during the day. No damage done, shells for the most part falling short; 2nd Batt: A great deal of work done on trenches and communication trenches under very heavy sniping, that we had to get the 15th Battery to shell continuously to keep it down; 3rd Batt: In billets at Locre.

Worcester Sergeant Killed: News has been received of the death of Sergt. Horace Smith, of the 1st King’s Royal Rifles. Mr E S Halse, his friend sent him a parcel for Christmas, and has received a letter from Sergt. J McManus, who was in the same platoon as Smith, stating that he was shot dead on December 24th. Sergt. McManus says he was a brave and unselfish comrade. Sergt. Smith was a Reservist, and when the war broke out he was employed by Messrs. Kays, and he was known by many people in the City.

Belgians Entertained at Pershore: About 60 Belgian refugees were entertained to a tea and Christmas tree at the Masonic Hall. The proceedings were the outcome of a suggestion made by the Pershore Committee. They had the valuable help of Mrs Hooper, who threw herself wholeheartedly into the work. Many tradespeople responded magnificently to an appeal to help in whatever way they felt they could by giving anything in money or kind towards this event. The bakers responded well, with the result that there was more confectionery than could be disposed of. It was unfortunate that the district around was submerged in water, as many of the refugees who reside in the villages had to be conveyed by vehicles. Some feared that they would not be able to return to their destination because of the rapid rise of the flood, and in consequence the party broke up earlier than it would have otherwise done;

The war has caused a great increase in the number of marriages by ordinary licence, which dispenses with the calling of the banns, but retains other conditions. Since August there have been well over 700 of these marriages in London, whereas normally there would not have been nearly 200. In the same time there have been 58 special licences granted. This form involves an extra expenditure of £30 and most, if not all, of the ordinary licences were taken out by soldiers and sailors. A difference of opinion appears to exist in certain quarters as to the propriety of the fairness of what are called “war” marriages. A very pathetic outward and visible symbol of the war is the hundreds of very young women to be seen about in a less barbarous modern version of widow’s weeds;

Information researched by Sue Redding