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Key dates over January 1918

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: 4

19th January 1918 - Severn floods in thaw

Rolling casualty count: 8473

War Front:

1st Batt: Two officers and 16 OR joined the Batt. Batt finding working parties.

2nd Batt: Batt relieved the 4th Suffolks in the Front Line.

4th Batt: Y and Z Coys providing working parties of 100 men to drain trenches and salvage equipment

2/7th Batt: Batt relieved 2/6th Royal Warwicks in right sub-sector of the Divisional Front at St Quentin.

2/8th Batt: Batt relieved 2/7th Warwicks in right support of right sector before St Quentin.

10th Batt: 2 OR were killed and 4 wounded. A draft of 5 OR joined the Batt.

Yeomanry/Cavalry: Reg working hard in training. For recreation, race meetings, horse shows and mounted sports like hunting and polo took place.

Home Front:

A largely attended meeting of citizens, convened by the Food Vigilance Committee, was held at the Co-operative Hall this afternoon, when a deputation of the Committee gave a report on their visit to the meeting of the Food Control Committee. Delegates stated that they were received with courtesy, but they expressed dissatisfaction with the statement of the Committee that it was not possible to put into operation the margarine, tea, and butter rationing scheme until February 11th.

A Severn Flood: The recent snow and rain has caused the Severn to overflow its banks, and the low-lying ground on its banks is submerged. On Pitchcroft there is a long stream of water. The river is running very fast, and is rising.

Malvern’s Biggest Queue: Despite the efforts of the Executive Officer of the Local Food Control Committee, who, by the distribution of margarine among traders up and down the district has tried to disperse queues, the longest and broadest margarine queue ever seen in Malvern, formed in Church Street, on Friday afternoon. Uniformed police and special constables were on duty to see that people toed the line and stood in the order of arrival. In the queue were young ladies from boarding schools, wearing their school colours. Their presence corroborated the point raised at the last meeting of the Food Control Committee, as to the seriousness of the position being increased by the re-assembly of pupils at the colleges and private educational institutions, which adds 2,500 to the population of the district.

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team