Car accident

Nancy Hawnt of Fulham, was killed on the Watling Street at Chalk Hill near Thorn Turn on August 14 1905 when she tried to overtake a heavy motor lorry and the wheel hubs touched.

The occupants of the open-topped car were thrown out and Mrs Hawnt, said the Dunstable Borough Gazette, "expired about 20 minutes after the accident".

Mrs Hawnt's husband and another passenger were injured. Mr Hawnt was taken to the Sugar Loaf Hotel, where he received "every attention". His wife's body was taken to the Bird In Hand public house (now the Mulberry Tree). The Gazette subsequently printed an indignant letter from the landlord of the Green Man (now the Chalk Hill pub) denying that he had refused to admit the corpse.