Friday June 21st, 1918
Reveille 5am, breakfast 5:30. ?? Struck 6am and took bivouacs to fresh camp. Did double for Caithness. Very groggy still. Very windy and sand storms. Went to Clickety Clicks??
Education Act
Back at home, there was increasing focus on ‘a land fit for heroes’. One of these initiatives was improved education for children. Throughout June and July 1918, there was huge focus upon the ‘Education Bill’ that was being shepherded through parliament by Herbert AL Fisher, the Minister for Education.
Operation Mincemeat
Mr Fisher was an English historian, educator, and Liberal MP, representing first Sheffield Hallam in 1916 and then the Combined English Universities in 1918. He was a renowned historian, first cousin of Virginia Wolff and Vanessa Bell, and related by marriage to the composer Vaughn-Williams. However his oddest claim to fame came after his death in 1941, when his underwear was used on the corpse of the fictitious Mr Martin in Operation Mincemeat to mislead the Germans about the D-Day landings.¹
The Lancashire Cotton Barons
In the census of 1901, Sarah Sutton, who would become Frank’s wife, was working half-time in a cotton mill. She was 12 years old. The Education Bill will raise the school leaving age from 12 to 14. After this point, the original bill proposed a system of ‘Continuation Schools’ that would provide part-time learning for 14 to 18 year olds. Such a system had already been in place in Cadbury’s factories for five years and had proven beneficial and workable.
However, the provision was successfully challenged by the Lancashire cotton barons led by Sir Henry Hibbert – who wanted to protect the supply of child labour for their factories. Hibbert introduced an amendment to provide 14 year olds with part-time education of 600 hours per year for only two years. There was considerable resentment against this amendment and many felt that Mr Fisher should have held his ground. º
However, the provisions of the new Act did make education compulsory and enforceable. It also provided for school nurses and other improved social conditions for children. Its implementation required thousands of extra teachers and new schools to be established and was phased in over time. It remains the basis of the Education Act today.²
13th (Service) Battalion War Diary – 21st June 1918 – Divisional Horse Show Ground, Cugunci
Battalion moved from La Marraine Camp during day into tents pitched on the Divisional Horse Show Ground (about 300 yards from old camps). This was owing to La Marraine camp being condemned as unhealthy. All working parties cancelled for the day.
References & Further Reading
º Various articles in The Guardian newspaper (June – August 1918)
¹ HAL Fisher on Wikipedia
² Education Act for England and Wales
* Children at Greenfield School, [Z50/142/46], Bedford Borough Council community archive, image may be subject to copyright