100 years ago

A tragic story had been reported from Hull of how a young officer, Lieutenant Harold Dales, 4th East Yorkshire Regiment, had sent the news of his own death to his sweetheart.

Lieutenant Dales had only left Hull for the Front on Sunday week with the 4th East Yorkshire Regiment, which had been in training at Newcastle and Darlington, and his fiancée, a young lady at Hull, had received a letter from him in his own handwriting, reading: “Sweetheart, - We have had our baptism of fire this morning. It was awful.

"This afternoon I have to take ammunition to the firing line. A heavy bombardment by the enemy is in progress. The job seems a difficult and dangerous one. If you get this letter you can be sure I shall be killed.”

The relatives thought that Lieutenant Dales had left the letter with a comrade to forward if the worst happened. The War Office had no confirmation of the lieutenant’s death.


50 years ago

No other country than Britain had achieved so big a changeover of rail motion in so short a time, said Mr John Ratter, member of the British Railways’ Board responsible for technical matters, when he welcomed a group of 70 visitors from Europe, the United States, Russia and Japan, to an exhibition of British Railways’ motive power.

Mr Ratter said that ten years before, British Railways had 18,000 steam locomotives, but only seven diesels operating the mainline services. Electrified railways were almost entirely confined to commuter and short-distance services round London, Manchester and Newcastle.

“Today more than 2,500 main line diesel locomotives are in use, and early next year the London to Manchester and Liverpool electrification project will have reached completion. By 1968 we intend that steam locomotives will have been eliminated.” Savings resulting directly from the conversion to diesel traction amounted to a figure well over £20m during the last two years.


25 years ago

Ripon’s hornblower would be blowing his own trumpet when he represented the city at a European festival the following month.

Alan Oliver would be attending the third annual meeting of the European Night and Town Watchmen’s Guild, being held in Gundelfingen, Bavaria.

At the previous year’s festival in Kraków, Poland, there had been 42 watchmen from five countries, but this year nine nations would be represented including France, Holland and Poland. Mr Oliver would be taking part in a number of civic receptions where the watchmen would re-enact their particular custom.

He would be the only one to blow a horn although the Hamburg watchmen used a trumpet. While Mr Oliver was away his father Ron would carry out hornblowing duties by the city’s obelisk.