THE GREAT WAR of 1914-18 is still an emotive period in our history because most families were touched by tragedy while the personal stories of the soldiers who took part reveal a love of home and country even in the most desperate times and a yearning to be back with their families at Christmas. 

We have no exact figure of how many men from Bourne fought in the war although it has been estimated that around 400 served at a time when the population of the town was only 4,350 (1911 census). Of these, 97 men are known to have lost their lives and their names are inscribed on the war memorial in South Street although the figure is thought to be nearer 140 and that 40 names are therefore missing. 

All wrote letters home although only a few have survived but because of them we know their private thoughts were of family and friends and the life they left behind.  

Even in these terrible conditions, the soldiers celebrated the festive season and among them were several old boys from the council or board school in Abbey Road. They had been encouraged to write home by their old headmaster, Joseph Davies, whose name figures in many of the letters in which he is remembered with affection. 

Among those who kept up a correspondence with him was Private Samuel Tipler whose family lived in Eastgate. He had attended the school for five years and in January 1916, at the age of 21, he was serving in Flanders with the machine gun section of the 5th Northamptonshire Pioneers when he wrote to Mr Davies about his experience of spending the festive season at the front.  

“On Christmas Day we enjoyed a very happy and pleasant time here in the trenches and we hope our generous friends in Bourne who sent us each such good things and a Christmas pudding, oranges and nuts, will accept our sincere thanks. Soldiers out here, though they have to face many difficulties, feel that the Christmas spirit brings a remembrance of home.” 

Private Tipler was obviously homesick and remembered his schooldays with pride, reminding Mr Davies that his brother George was also serving in the army and another brother, Walter, with the navy. “You know, sir”, he wrote, “we Tiplers of Eastgate are trying to do our best for old England, serving under her good old flag. I am hoping to meet some more of my old school pals and talk over old times. We do not forget our old school motto ‘Watch and Pray’. I wish you all a happy New Year.” 

He was also a poet because the letter includes a lengthy and graphic account in verse about the bombardment of the trenches and a recent encounter with the enemy: 

The shells begin their havoc,
Death stares us in the face,
But every man among us
Sets his teeth and keeps his place. 

“I hope you like this piece of poetry”, he wrote. “I've been thinking it out and writing it here in the trenches. I want every word to tell its plain story. To my mind it was a glorious day. I've tried to tell you how we face battle. May God hasten the day of victory when we shall have the enemy in our grip, for victory is coming.” 

Mr Davies was obviously impressed with the letter from his former pupil because he made a note of it in the school admission register against the entry recording Samuel Tipler’s departure from the school on 31st November 1907. 

Also serving in Flanders was Private Percy Lunn, aged 22, of the 1st Battalion, the Northamptonshire Regiment, who lived in Woodview, Bourne, and had been a pupil at the Abbey Road School from 1900-1908. In January 1916, Percy wrote home about Christmas Day in the trenches, an account with echoes of the now famous story of an unofficial truce along the Western Front two years earlier when parties of British and German soldiers met in No Man’s Land to exchange seasonal greetings and songs. 

“We had a happy Christmas here and enjoyed ourselves merrily singing songs and carols”, wrote Private Lunn. “The music of the voices really sounded beautiful on the still night air. We sang some of the songs that I learnt at our old school. We will make up for lost time when we all get home together after this is finished.” 

The offensive in France during the summer of 1916 known as the Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest military operations ever known and resulted in one million casualties from both sides. Film taken during the fighting was given two public showings by the Bourne Electric Theatre Company shortly before Christmas when the Corn Exchange was packed on both occasions and additional seating was installed to cope with the crowds.  

The flickering silent images on the screen were probably the first pictures of the war to be seen in Bourne and the mud and blood of the Somme stunned the audience into total silence and many were moved to tears. The response was the immediate formation of a fund to buy Christmas gifts for the Bourne boys, the proceeds of £35 from the two screenings being the first contribution followed by a flag day in the town which produced a further £14 and a house-to-house collection that pushed the figure up to £102 [£7,200 at today's values].  

As a result, over 200 parcels containing food, sweets and tobacco were eventually dispatched to local serving soldiers at the front while postal orders for 7s. 6d. [£25] were sent to 30 more soldiers who were wounded and recovering at hospitals in both Britain and France. There were also four Bourne boys who were prisoners of war and money was sent to the Central Relief Committee in London to pay for Christmas parcels to be forwarded to all of them.  

Unlike many of their comrades, Privates Tipler and Lunn survived the war but ironically, the return that all of the boys longed for, to be home by Christmas, eventually happened but it was not until 1918 when the peace celebrations in Bourne were marked by a dinner at the Corn Exchange for 300 soldiers and ex-soldiers and a gathering at the Abbey Lawn where a silent tribute was paid to the town’s dead heroes who had not returned.