Monday 7th September 1914

Recruitment Meeting at Settle
As promised, Tunstill arranged a series of recruitment meetings over the next two weeks. In order to get his campaign off to the best possible start it was decided that the first meetings should be held in the larger towns in the district. Consequently, the first meeting was held on Monday 7^th September in the Victoria Hall in Settle.

The meeting attracted a large crowd who were addressed in turn by a number of speakers. Walter Morrison, who presided over the meeting, “explained the war from the commencement and urged the young to answer the call. He showed how the German Militarists had been getting ready for years for war against this country and how the German Navy League with its 2,000,000 of members had been pressing the Kaiser to increase the German Navy in order to crush the British Fleet”, Tunstill himself then “in a short speech, informed the meeting that he wanted 99 persons to enlist along with himself as privates. There would be no difference between them, whoever joined would be equal. He was sure he could get the number from this district. He appealed to the women to let their men go and so make it easier for them”. A telegram was read from Colonel Birkbeck, C.O. of the 1^st/6^th territorial battalion, saying that he was glad they were holding the meeting, and that men were required at once – next week might be too late – and that his own Battalion hoped soon to be ready for foreign service. Another letter was read from Mr. Hector Christie, proprietor of Langcliffe Mills, which employed many men in the district, saying that he would guarantee the financial security of the wives and the dependants of any of his workforce who joined the colours.  It was reported that both of these latter announcements were greeted with loud cheers. The terms and conditions which would be offered to recruits were then explained by Lieutenant Quartermaster Bulcock.

There were then further resolutions put before the meeting. Reverend J.R. Wynne Edwards, headmaster of Leeds Grammar School, urged all eligible men to do their duty and proposed “That it is absolutely essential that a very large addition be made to the numerical strength of our forces, whereby the safety of our Empire and its future place in Europe may be assured. And this meeting pledges itself to encourage the able-bodied youth to respond to the call of duty by enlisting in the army in the hope that sufficient recruits to form one or more companies may offer themselves in this district”. His resolution was seconded by Mr. Marlor and carried by a vote of the meeting. The Reverend W.E. Linney proposed and the Reverend W. Rapson seconded “That this meeting desires to place on record its enthusiastic admiration of the superb courage shown by the British Army and the allied forces; and would also express its sympathy with the gallant stand made by the brave Belgian nation against the violation of its territory by the German hosts”.

Finally, a vote of thanks to Morrison was proposed by Mr. T. Brayshaw and seconded by Mr. R.N. Douglas, and the meeting formally closed with a rousing rendition of the National Anthem. At the close of the meeting 22 men came forward from the audience to volunteer; in one evening, Tunstill had secured almost a quarter of the recruits he had set out to raise. 

In addition to Tunstill himself, 12 of the recruits who came forward at the Settle meeting have been positively identified:

• John Henry Hitchin; a 24 year-old bank clerk at the Settle branch of the Bank of Liverpool. Hitchin had the distinction of being the very first volunteer to come forward.
• Albert Edward Dury; a 21 year-old railwayman, who was originally from Nottingham.
• Thomas Laytham; 29 years old, working as a platelayer on the railway. He had a somewhat ‘chequered’ past having been, as a teenager, an inmate at the North Lancashire Reformatory.
• Arthur Herbert Proctor; another railway worker, working as a porter at Clapham Station. He was 19 years old.
• Walter Dinsdale; originally from Ingleton, he was 20 years old and working as a farm labourer in Stainforth.
• George Jellett; 19 years old and originally from London.
• John Bruce Davidson; a railway porter from the village of Dent, aged 19.
• Solomon Richard Webb; another railway worker, aged 26, who had moved to the area from Cambridgeshire. He had married Lily Peel in 1912 and the couple had one son (George) and Lily was expecting their second child.
• Robert Cresswell; aged 26, he was originally from Essex, but was now working as a policeman in Giggleswick.
• John Thomas Cockerill; was 25 years old. He was one of two sons of the widowed Elizabeth Cockerill.
• Walter Umpleby; was 29 years old and had been working as a farm labourer.
• William (Billy) Hoyle; was 25 years old and working on the family farm at West Side House, Malham Moor.

The remaining volunteers from this meeting were named in the Craven Herald, but did not feature in the final list of the Company as it prepared to depart to begin training. This strongly suggests that they failed the initial medical examination (see 8^th September 1914).

The men named were:

Ernest Cokell; a 28 year-old married man with one child. He worked as a hairdresser in Settle.

Maurice Robinson; a 21 year-old, working on the family farm at Sannat Hall, Stainforth.

Percy Darling, William Richardson, Geoffrey H. Taylor, Arthur R. Hodgson, John Wolfenden, William Lawson, Alfred Robinson and Arthur Nelson.

Leonard Hammond
Both Leonard Hammond (who was to become Transport Officer for 10th Battalion) and his brother, Paul, enlisted in the Inns of Court, Officer Training Corps (See 20th August 1914).

Addingham Volunteers
The men who had volunteered in Addingham on the previous Saturday left the village to begin their military training with 9th Battalion Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment. The occasion presented a considerable spectacle. The men who had volunteered from Burley and from Ilkley marched into Addingham, accompanied by the Ilkley Brass Band playing It's a Long Way to Tipperary. On arrival in Addingham at about 4.15 pm, where they were met by crowds of people ("nearly all the inhabitants turning out to give their men a hearty send-off"), they halted for refreshments and were joined by the Addingham recruits. From there, the Addingham volunteers duly took their place at the head of the column as the men marched on via Silsden to Keighley. They were accommodated in Keighley on Monday night before moving on the following morning to the regimental depot at Halifax.

However, in addition to the men who had volunteered on the Saturday, three other local volunteers who had not attended the Saturday meeting and would instead join Tunstill's Company, also joined the procession and were indeed pictured at the head of the column as it passed through Addingham.

Contemporary photograph from the Ilkley Gazette,
annotated by a member of the Smith family

Reuben and Johnny Smith were brothers, two of the eight sons of Fred and Emily Smith (they also
had two daughters) of Adelaide Terrace, Addingham. Reuben was aged 20 and worked as a ring spinner in the local mills. Johnny was underage, being only 17; he had been working W.A. Johnson's confectioners in Ilkley. Their proud mother marked them out on her copy of the photograph which appeared in the West Yorkshire Pioneer.

Also named as being in the group, but Joining the Smiths in Tunstill's Company was Richard Lister, a 27 year-old gardener, who lived with his parents on School Lane, Addingham.








John Boynton Priestley, who was to find fame as one of Britain's favourite novelists and broadcasters, enlisted in the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment. He was to be posted to 10th Battalion and, although he was to serve with 'B' Company, rather than with Tunstill's Men ('A' Company). However, his letters and memoir provide valuable insights into the experiences of the Battalion as a whole.

For the first week of his service Priestley travelled in daily by train from his home and for the next week then drilled by day and slept overnight in a disused skating rink in Halifax.