Images from the First World War

While local St Neots men were sent to the East coast, the 1st Highland Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery from Aberdeen in Scotland were sent to parts of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire for their training.

The 3rd City of Aberdeen Battery of the Highland Royal Field Artillery were stationed in St Neots, many men were billeted with local families and quickly became popular with local residents.

The Evans family of Cambridge Street allowed part of their builders yard to be used to stable some of the Royal Artillery horses with blacksmiths using one of their workshops.

The heavy field guns belonging to the Battery were stored close to Priory Park on a field which became known as ‘The Gun Park’. During the very wet winter of 1914 / 15 the guns were moved to the Market Square.

During October 1914 Belgian refugees began to arrive in Britain, driven from their homes by the invading Germans. By the 9th of October the St Neots Advertiser was reporting that Belgian families were arriving at Little Barford.

The 1st Highland Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery in St Neots Market Square, 1914

Aberdeen Battery stablehands, Cambridge Street, St Neots, 1914

The Evans family with members of the Aberdeen Battery, 1914

News of the Belgian Refugees, St Neots Advertiser, 16th October 1914

Cottages at Little Barford, about 1905

In 1914 the annual Hospital Week Parade in St Neots fell on Sunday 2nd August. With the widespread sense that war was coming a large crowd watched the parade.

All the major community services in the town took part in the Parade including the Salvation Army Band, the Scouts, the Red Cross, the Railway Union, the Fire Brigade and various Friendly Societies.

Call to Arms

Britain did not have a history of conscription into the army so in August 1914 Lord Kitchener, the new Secretary of State for War, called for volunteers to join the army.

By the 14th August every local newspaper across Britain, including the St Neots Advertiser, was printing ‘A CALL TO ARMS’, which asked all men aged 19 to 30 to join up ‘in the present grave National Emergency’.

Many men who had already been professional soldiers re-joined the army. Alfred Chapman of Eynesbury had already served in the army from 1889 until 1907, fighting in the Boer War in South Africa. He re-joined in early 1915 and served until 1917, by which time he was 49 years old.

Many local men joined the local Huntingdonshire Cyclist Battalion. Lord Kitchener did not intend to use his new volunteer recruits until they were fully trained (in 1915) and the Hunts. Cyclists were based in the Grimsby area where they began serious training to turn a battalion of volunteers into a fighting force.