People

Christmas Eve at the Front

An interesting letter has just been received by Mrs Packer, of Broadclyst, from her husband, Corpl Packer of A Company, 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment, who is serving with the Expeditionary Force in Northern France. In the course of a letter he describes a remarkable incident which occurred on Christmas Eve between the British and German trenches.

Sir,
On my return home after some weeks absence, I have read in your columns a report of the Suffragist meeting held on 30th January.

I notice that the meeting was held under the auspices of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies. It was claimed for this body that it was non-militant and non-party, but apparently this claim was put forward by the chairman of the meeting, and by the chairman only. None of the speakers seem to have thought it worth while to urge this claim – possibly from notives of discretion. It was left for Mr McNeill Martin to refer to this omission which he thought was a great pity. Personally, I think it was more that a pity. It was an evasion. It was the duty of the speakers to show that the Union they represented came before the public with clean hands, to point to instances in which the Societies concerned had denounced and reprobated the senseless and cruel outrages which have been inflicted on all classes by the hysterical hooligans who glory in the debasement of their sex as a means of attaining the vote. I am aware that there have been sporadic cases of individuals belonging to this or that society, expressing their disapproval of the action of the militant section. But in all such cases as have come to my notice, the outrages have been deplored as hindering the case of Woman Suffrage. This seems to have been the main, if not the sole, reason for the censure. The inherent wickedness and folly of the acts themselves have not been condemned, but emphasis has been laid on the bad tactics of the lawbreakers in exasperating public opinion. So might a man denounce dishonesty on the ground that it does not pay.
Further, the claim of the National Union to be non-party requires elucidation. It was announced not long ago that the Union had decided to support the Labour candidate in future elections, inasmuch as the Labour Party was the only one that put forward Woman Suffrage as a plank in their platform. This simply means that Unionist Woman Suffrage are to throw over their principles as Unionists and to make common cause with a party that is in favour of Home Rule, Welsh Disestablishment, and Universal Suffrage – a party that opposes the maintenance of a strong Navy and that loses no opportunity of belittling the Army. Surely this is party politics; nay more, it is a prostituted form of party politics, commonly called ‘log-rolling’.
A man who recently was convicted of firing a haystack was sentenced to five years imprisonment, from which ‘hunger-striking’ will not save him. A woman can burn down a historical house with its priceless art treasures and simply because of her sex is released after a few days’ incarceration. There is certainly inequality in the law as regards man and woman, which in this connection at least might well be redressed.
Yours faithfully
C A Edes
6th February 1914

What The Suffragists Say

To the Editor, Bideford Weekly Gazette,

Dear Sir
May I contradict two mis-statements that have appeared in the columns of your paper with reference to the Suffragettes at Clovelly?
The first one is that we accused Mr Asquith on the golf links of ‘being a beast and a coward’. Then, further down in the column, you say ‘On their return to the village, Mrs Jones, their landlady….. said she did not desire their company longer.’
Both of these statements are absolutely untrue. We never called Mr Asquith a ‘beast’/ What we did say to him was ‘Receive our deputation on June 29th: don’t be a coward!’. We did not accuse him of BEING a coward. We only gave him a timely warning.
As to Mrs Jones saying she did not desire our company longer, I do not know where you got this information from. After our interview with Mr Asquity on the golf links, we decided that we would leave Clovelly as soon as we could in order to carry out another scheme, and when we informed Mrs Jones of our decision, she made no remarks at all about our departure beyond asking us to sign our names in the visitor’s book, which we did. Our campaign was well planned and our departure from Clovelly almost immediately after heckling Mr Asquith on the golf links was only a part of the scheme. Our landlady had nothing at all to do with it. On the contrary she was quite nice and homely. I think it is only fair to her fair to us that these mis-statements should be contradicted.
Yours faithfully,
Jessie Kenney

It is no doubt difficult for anyone to state precisely what was actually said on the exciting occasion by the Suffragettes in question, but we think our readers, as ourselves, will prefer to take the information as to what was said, from the gentleman form whom we obtained it, rather than from ladies who are capable and proud of such misbehaviour as that which took place at Clovelly.
Editor, Bideford Weekly Gazette

Rugby Guard of Honour at Bideford Wedding

Bideford Rugby Club player and team secretary, Mr W T M Bonetta and the secretary of the Supporter’s Club, Miss Helena Davies, were married on Saturday at St Mary’s Church, Bideford.

27.2.1959 Bonetta Davies wedding

Mr Bonetta is the only son of Mr and Mrs J Bonetta, of 1 Stanhope Terrace, Bideford, and Miss Davies is the second daughter of Mrs A M and the late Mr Davies of Mount Pleasant, High Street, Bideford. The Rev T Derwent Davies officiated accompanied by Mr J R Trigger on the organ. The bride was given away by her uncle, Mr Reginald Mitchell. The best man was Mr Tom Bonetta and ushers were Messrs R Colwill, C Mill and J Eastmond.
The full Gazette article is dated 27 February 1959.