Tuesday 8th September 1914

Recruitment Meeting at Hellifield
Gilbert Tunstill held his second meeting. On this occasion the gathering was conducted outdoors, on the green in Hellifield. The meeting was chaired by Capt. J.C. Yorke, who was joined, not only by Tunstill, but also my Messrs  A.C. Peake and E.H. Russell. Capt. Yorke outlined the purpose of the assembly before Mr. Peake explained the circumstances of the war and told the crowd that he only wished he had been thirty years younger and he would have volunteered without any hesitation. Mr. Russell then spoke on behalf of the local railway company, which was among the major employers in the area, and confirmed that his company would freely allow, and actively encourage their employees to join the forces. The stage was then left to Tunstill to make his own impassioned statement. He told the crowd; “My country has given me my health, my work, my wife, my happiness, in fact everything I possess, and up to now my country has had no return for such gifts. Now my country asks for help, and I think it is only my duty to obey that call”. The meeting closed with music from the Settle Brass Band. Thirteen local men came forward to volunteer for enlistment.

• Joseph Edward Preston; he was a porter at Hellifield Station. He was 25 years old.
• James John Angus; 19 years old, he worked as a telegraph messenger.
• Christopher Ralph (known as 'Kit'); also worked as a railway porter, he was 28 years old.
• Thomas Procter; originally from Ulverston, he was 20 years old.
• Sidney Hoar; he was 23 years old and married with one son. He worked with his father who was a grocer and corn dealer in Hellifield.
• James Mason; he was 22 years old and originally from Bolton-by-Bowland, but had been working as a farm labourer in the Hellifield area.
• Carl Parrington Branthwaite; aged 20 and originally from Dent. He too had worked as a farm labourer in Hellifield.
• William Henry Scott; was 22 years old. He was originally from Shropshire, but the family had moved to Barnoldswick. William himself worked as a groom for Mr. Joseph Kearns, of Willcross House, Gisburn.
• Thomas Edward Askew (known as Ted); may have worked with Scott as a groom for Mr. Kearns (Ted's father certainly worked for Kearns). Ted had only recently turned 18.
• Benjamin Ashton Butler; 24 years old, he had lived for many years with his family at Adams Farm, Paythorne, but more recently had been working away as a farm labourer.

As yet I have been unable to make a positive identification for three other named individuals: 
Fred Graham, William Lawson and Thomas Harding.

Attestations and Medical Examinations at Settle
The administrative structure necessary to support the effort had now to be put in place. A recruiting office was established at the Victoria Hall in Settle to be managed by Edwin Ellis Roberts, who was a teacher at the local elementary school. He would be on hand every evening to complete the necessary paperwork with the volunteers. Thomas Brayshaw, a prominent local solicitor and JP would administer the oath to recruits and Dr. B.S. Hyslop, would conduct the primary medical examinations to attest to their fitness. These officials conducted their first round of business on Tuesday 8^th September when the volunteers from the previous evening’s meeting presented themselves for examination.

It seems likely that a number of those who had volunteered the previous evening were rejected on medical grounds, as no trace has been found of several of men ever having seen service with Tunstill's Company (see 7th September).

Austwick Volunteers
Messrs. Roberts, Brayshaw and Hyslop also had to deal with five young men from Austwick who travelled together to Settle to volunteer.

• Fred Swale; aged 21 was the son of a local joiner, Nathan Shepherd Swale. Fred worked as a clerk in his uncle's dry-salting business in Clitheroe.
• George Thistlethwaite; enlisted under-age at 17. He was working as a farm labourer.
• Wilson Pritchard; also enlisted under-age, being only 17. He was Austwick born and bred, the son of a well-known local builder. Wilson himself had been working as a farm labourer.
• John and Harry Lord; John and Harry were cousins - their fathers, William and Charles, were brothers and William and Charles’ sister, Sarah, was the mother of Wilson Pritchard. Aged 19 and 20 respectively, both John and Harry had moved out of their family homes and were working as a farm labourers.

Swale, Thistlethwaite and Pritchard were all accepted as suitable recruits, but both of the Lords were rejected on the grounds of being unfit for military service.

William Clarke re-enlisted, from the Special Reserve, in Birmingham, being re-appointed to his previous rank of Colour Sergeant and was posted to serve with 10th Battalion.

William Clarke had previously served twenty years with the Regiment but had been discharged due to illness in 1911 and had been working as a commissionaire. He was 39 years old, was married with one daughter, and had been living in Balsall Heath.