January 1916

Rev H.J.Horn left Park Road Baptist Church for 6 months at the front in France.

A wage of 31 shillings a week at the age of 23 was agreed for lasting, finishing, clicking and pressroom workers.

Rushden CWS advertisement:  Butter 1/4d per lb.

February 1916

Rushden Echo advertisement:  Insure against Air Raids with H.Bishton, Higham Ferrers.

J.S.& W.H.Denton played cricket for the 3rd/4th Northants Officers against Northampton.

A smoking concert was held in the Queen Victoria Hotel in aid of Rushden Derby boys.

Public lights were extinguished in Higham Ferrers as they could be seen 20 miles away.  Also municipal property was insured against Air Raid damage.

Henry Dunkley aged 10, of Victoria Road, received a medal for attending school since he was 3 without missing a day.

March 1916

Wymington school children sent 14 shillings to the National Egg Collection Fund.

A 120-strong Girl Guide troop was formed.  They drilled in the Rectory Field.

The Fire Brigade, with hose cart, brought a blaze at F.King’s factory, Victoria Road, under control.

Rushden schools closed because of blizzards.  North Bedfordshire villages were cut off.

Keith Hopper was fined 7/6d for cycling on the pavement.

An Army biplane circled the town and its engine could be distinctly heard.

The worst storm in 40 years caused devastation as telegraph poles and wires blocked roads.  There were five‑foot snowdrifts in Hayway.

April 1916

Wymington High Street was flooded after the thaw.

150 boys and 127 girls were born in Rushden during the previous twelve months.  The estimate population was 14,194.

A lad wheeling a perambulator was knocked down by a cycle in Little Street and suffered a broken leg.

Advert:  Consult A.M.Willson Fenton for painless extraction of teeth by local anaesthetic.

May 1916

There were 8,648 members of the Boot Operatives Union serving in the Forces.

The renewal of George Chettles’ licence for a knackers yard was approved.

Five soldiers who lived in Crabb Street gave their lives in the service of their country.

Northamptonshire prisoners of war in Germany were sent a consignment of boots by the Rushden Boot Manufacturers’ Association.

June 1916

Three Rushden old age pensioners were allowed their claim and given 5 shillings per week.

Plans were approved for a sanitary convenience at W.Claridge’s factory in Wellingborough Road.

Advert:  Battersby’s have a new season fig and rhubarb jam at 6d per lb.

The provision for hot water for Newton Road Infants School would be considered after the war.

Rushden Boy Scouts troop had a route march to Stanwick where they were given tea before going to Raunds.  They were drenched by rain walking back to Rushden.

July 1916

Rushden sent £1,100 to Belgium – as much as any comparable town in England.

Clickers earned £4.10s cutting Russian boots.  The county produced 800,000 pairs a week.

Councillor F.D.Brazier presented ancient oaken rails for the Lady Chapel in St. Mary’s Church.

Wymington agreed to lend their night soil cart to Podington for 6 months at a fee of 1s:6d per week.

Trees were to be planted in Kings Road.

Total scholars in Rushden were 2,260 with attendance of 92.3%.

The Co-op produced 239,149 4lb loaves selling at 7d each and 9,574 small loaves in the half year.

Rushden men were aggrieved because they were to get less than Northampton men for making Russian boots.

August 1916

Motor bus services were reduced owing to the shortage of labour and petrol.

Women were taught clicking in Rushden on a 6‑week course of 4 hours per week.  A 2s.6d fee was charged.

Over 1,000 cakes were contributed in Rushden in July for wounded soldiers.

Frank King, of Park Place, was fined 30 shillings and 3 shillings costs for driving his car at a furious rate at 25mph.

Boys on strike at Sanders and Sanders demanding a war bonus were threatened with a summons, and returned to work.

George Willmott was fined 10 shillings for not keeping his dog under control at night.

September 1916

Twenty-two ladies employed by Mr Skeeles had an outing to Bedford in Mr Asher Abbott’s brake, and returned home at midnight.

Advert:  Use Amber Syrup to preserve fruit, 5d per lb.  Loose.

Girls at King & Co., Park Place, went on strike for 17.5% war bonus.

Gunner C.Sheffield wrote it was 107 deg F in the shade in Mesopotamia.

The Post Office applied to erect telephone poles in the public streets and the yard of the Council Buildings.

North End School advertised for a caretaker at £35 per annum.

Mr West crashed his car into C.Robinson’s newsagents shop.

A Potato and a Rose Show at the Athletic Club made £1.10s for the Benevolent Fund.

Rushden CWS made a half-year profit of £1,278 on an output of £74,223.

The 20th Flower Show was held at the Working Men’s Club, Griffith Street, despite the war.

Four little girls, including Mollie Battersby, made £5.6s selling lavender for the Prisoners’ Fund.

October 1916

Building workers asked for 1d an hour increase up to 7d per hour.

An Army aviator landed in Denton’s field at the back of Eastfields, asked where he was, and flew off in the direction of Bedford.

The police arranged billets for about 1,000 soldiers and 60 horses in Queen Street and Portland Road.

Building workers were offered ½d per hour increase and accepted it.

Three shoehands were fined 5 shillings each for stealing William Garner’s walnuts.

Female clicking students of Mr Goode were examined by H.G.Perkins and did very well.

About 1,600 men from the Duke of Wellington Regiment came to Rushden.

November 1916

The Co-op High Street store closed because the manager was called for military service.

The Co-op bought Rushden Grange Farm [Sanders Lodge] for £4,000.

Advert:  Talking machines and double sided records at 1/1d each available at C.Chamberlains, 78 Wellingborough Road.

Food prices rose by 55% during the war and profiteering was blamed.

Street shrines were proposed.

December 1916

Owing to lighting restrictions, the Baptists had to forego their usual tea for old people.

Fire destroyed the Thursday cricket pavilion despite the efforts of the Bugle Band of the battalion billeted in Rushden.

The daily billeting allowance was raised to 3d per soldier.

A.Peck was fined 9 shillings for failing to obscure the acetylene lamps on his motor lorry.

People leaving Rushden by train at 1.19pm didn’t arrive at Northampton until 5.10pm due to a waggon derailed at Castle Ashby.

J.Bugby, fish merchant, slipped off his marble table while adjusting his blinds and was badly bruised.

All troops billeted in Rushden were invited to a special show of pictures at The Palace on Christmas night.