Bedford, Part I to 1945: Controversy and Construction

A joke about Bedford is that no-one, perhaps even some amongst its residents, is quite sure where it is. AI solves the confusion by telling us it is ‘located in the East of England region … the county town of Bedfordshire, lying in the southern Midlands about 50 miles north of central London’. All bases covered. The town attracts the mockery sometimes applied to such slightly unfashionable places but it has a fascinating history and some notable landmarks. This post and its follow-up will focus on its significant council housing history, not least the Council’s clash with Minister of Health and Housing Christopher Addison when it was found to be in default of the 1919 Housing Act. Statues in the town commemorating two local heroes: John Bunyan (1628-1688), author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, who spent twelve years in Bedford Gaol, and John Howard (1726–1790), a later High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and prison reformer The 1912 Report of Bedford’s Medical Officer of Health, FB Willmer…