Friday 25th September 1914

Pte. Frank Harrison (3/11632) was admitted to Connaught Hospital, Aldershot, for treatment for gonorrhoea; he would remain in hospital for 12 days before being discharged to duty. He was a 21 year-old wire cleaner from Brighouse and had enlisted in Brighouse on 7^th September; he was on the National Reserve having previously served in the East Yorkshire Regiment (details unknown).

The Brighouse Echo published a letter written by Pte. Joseph William Henley (see below) describing his experiences and the conditions at Frensham Camp over the previous few days:

“Private Joe Henley of No.1 ‘D’ Company of the West Riding Regiment – an employee of Messrs. Turner & Wainwright, Brookfoot – has amused many Brighouse audiences in his capacity as ‘Professor Len Lee’, ventriloquist. He is now a member of Lord Kitchener’s Army and has interested many friends with the following letter which he has forwarded from Frensham Camp, Farnham. “We left Halifax”, he writes, “on Friday last at 6.30 am, the first stop being (illegible), where we dined. We had beef sandwiches, and we enjoyed them I can tell you. We had two great big slices of dry bread with meat. We stayed there about half an hour, then off again and here we are. We are (illegible) miles below London and 37 miles from the coast. We are just outside the village of Frensham, right on the moors. The next village higher up is the prettiest little place I ever saw, all country lanes and hedges. We marched through this place on our way to the camp which is nine miles from Aldershot. I suppose this place will be very bleak in winter, and they say we are here for ten weeks, so we have some cold weather to face. The first night we had to sleep on the bare ground with two blankets each, 12 in each tent, but now we have got waterproof sheets for the floor, so we are alright. The first night I felt the damp strike through and I had a cold next morning, which has not left me yet, but otherwise we are fine. On Sunday we had sausage, and this morning we had a couple of boiled eggs, so you see we are living like fighting cocks. The dinners are similar to those we had at Halifax. The tea is much better and we can put our own sugar in the tea and sometimes we get butter. The bread and the plates are clean. Some of the chaps say the meat is horseflesh, but I don’t care if it’s elephant, I can eat it. When you have done about three hour’s training you are ready for anything. The training is very strict. We are up at 5.30 every morning and on parade at 6.30, breakfast at 8 o’clock, dinner at 12 o’clock, tea at 4.30, bed at 9 and lights out at 9.30. I can tell you, it feels cold when we turn out first thing in the morning. We go down to the lake to wash ourselves. It is a splendid stretch of water, about a mile long and the beach is all sandy, like Blackpool. I only wish I had been here all the Summer, the sun is warm during the day but it is chilly at night and morning. We have to put in about eight hours a day at training and this week myself and nineteen others of our Company are on picket, which means that we must not leave the camp for a whole week, as we may be called up for duty. There are 700 of us in our regiment and four or five other regiments, about 5,000 men altogether, so you can guess there is a few to feed. The catering is done by Lyons & Co. Ltd. We have three big tents for dining and lots of cooking kitchens. The cooking is all done by steam. They have a lot of pans for boiling water and potatoes etc. They are just like toffee pans. We have not got any uniforms yet but expect them any time, and no pay yet. Some chaps have been here a month and had no pay, so they are cadging all day long”.

Joseph William Henley was a 28 year-old married man from Brighouse.

The concern over uniform and the appearance of the men made a considerable impression on a number of commentators who looked back later: 

“We were rather a motley crew. One man was wearing a khaki tunic, blue trousers, brown boots and a bowler hat. A few had red tunics. Most men had come in old suits and they were soon in rags” (from the Battalion History). 

“No proper uniform was issued although many men wore old scarlet militia tunics issued to them at Halifax and these, combined with green Homburg hats, striped trousers and check waistcoats frequently produced very striking effects … a Company on parade presented the most motley and grotesque appearance” (from the Divisional History).

 

The distinctive and distinguishing feature of Tunstill’s Men was their wearing of their white and red “Kitchener’s Man” brassards. Looking back many years later, John Habishaw recalled that, “we were the only company in the whole of the camp who had them, and we became known as ‘Kitchener’s Pets’”.


Gilbert Tunstill passed the medical examination required to support his application for a commission.