Wednesday 16th September 1914

Wednesday saw two meetings; the first at Sawley (7.30 pm) followed by Grindleton (9 pm). At Sawley, despite the presence of an array of prominent local figures, including Colonel Parker, Mr. Leonard King-Wilkinson and Mr. C.A. Milford, Tunstill failed to secure any further recruits. However, having driven on to Grindleton they found “a larger and more enthusiastic meeting”, which yielded four new volunteers.

The Grindleton volunteers were:

• William Irving Bell; (born 1891) had lived originally in Pendleton, near Clitheroe, with his parents, two brothers and one sister. However, following the death of his mother in 1898 the family had been broken up. William stayed for some years with his father but had latterly lived out with a local farming family for whom he worked as a labourer. His elder brother, Joseph, had lived for some time with his uncle in Grindleton but had emigrated to Australia in 1911. William's younger brother, George, had already enlisted, joining the Royal Field Artillery as a driver, even though he was actually only 15 years old.
• James Wilding Clarkson; was one of Tunstill's oldest recruits, at the age of 36. He was originally from Blackburn and had worked for some years as a policeman, although more recently he had been working as a weaver. He had married Mary Ann Fletcher in 1895 and they had two children.
• Joshua Crossley; enlisted at the age of just 16 (he was born, 1st July 1898). He was the son of John and Mary Crossley of Cottam's Farm, Grindleton.
• William Walker; I have, as yet, been unable to make a positive identification of this man.

At least one other man completed his papers and primary examination at Settle on Wednesday. This was Samuel Shepherd. He was years old and had been born in Blackpool. However, the family had moved widely across the north of England as his father, John William Shepherd, a labourer, followed job opportunities. Samuel himself had been working as a farm labourer and the family had been settled for some time in Austwick.

The volunteers from the previous evening’s meeting in Cowling signed their attestation papers (witnessed by Captain Lansdale) and had their primary medical examinations. 

Eighteen of the men who had volunteered passed the medical examinations and would later join Tunstill’s Company:

• Sydney George Fisher; 24 years old, he was the son of a local postman (Alfred Erasmus Fisher) and worked as a clerk in one of the local cotton mills.
• John Hartley; he was born, in Cowling, in 1895. He was the eldest of two children of local millowner Watson Hartley and his wife, Mary; John’s sister Minnie was born in 1898. John attended Cowling Council School before gaining a four-year scholarship to the Keighley Trade and Grammar School. He also studied textile subjects for three years at the Glusburn Institute and during his last year there he took second place for linen weaving in a national competition. After completing his education, John took up a post as company secretary for Messrs. J. Hartley (Cowling) Ltd., manufacturers, Acre Mills, Cowling, the family business which had been established by his grandfather, and in which his father was senior partner. In his spare time he was closely involved with the United Methodist Church, including teaching in the Sunday School and being secretary of the Bible Class.
• Fred Benson; aged 23, Fred Benson lived with his elder sister, Adelaide, and their widowed mother, Ann, on Keighley Road, Cowling. Fred’s father had died in 1904.
• Willie Hewitt; was 21 years old and employed as a warp dresser at Royd Mill, Cowling. His family had lived in Cowling for at least 60 years.
• Willie Bradley; aged 25, he was one of ten children of James Henry and Catherine Bradley, who lived in Keighley Road, Cowling. Like all the adult members of the family, Willie worked in the local cotton mills. He had attended the recruitment meeting with his two younger brothers, Johnny (aged 23) and Archie (18). However, both Johnny and Archie had failed their initial medicals; Johnny because of an insufficient chest measurement and Archie on account of his height.
• Frank Shuttleworth; born 13^th October, 1891, Frank lived in Park Road, Cowling, with his elder sister, fanny; both worked in the local cotton mills. His father, Arthur Shuttleworth, had been a prosperous draper and hosier, but both Arthur and his wife, Jane, had died, within months of each other in 1903, when Fanny and Frank were aged just 17 and 10 respectively.
• Frank Stephenson; was 22 years old (born 11^th April 1892). He was the only son (though he did have a younger sister, Amy) of Amos and Ada Stephenson. Both Frank and his sister had been working in the local cotton mills.
• Ernest Jobling; was one of nine children of Joseph and Mary Jobling; the family lived in Fold Lane, Cowling. Like most of the family he worked in the local cotton mills – Ernest worked for Watson Hartley (see above).
• Arthur Lindsey; like most of the Cowling recruits, Arthur Lindsey was a textile worker; he worked for Messrs. John Binns & Sons, at Croft Mill in Cowling. He was born in Grantham on 16^th June 1893, but the family had later moved to Cowling where Arthur, along with his parents, Edward and Annie, and younger sister, Susannah, lived on Keighley Road.
• Johnny Hoyle; was born on 11^th August 1893, in Cowling, the second of four sons of John and Ellen Hoyle (they also had one daughter). The family lived on Gibb Street, Cowling.
• Frank Arnold Stephenson; (nicknamed “Frank Enoch's” after his father and not to be confused with the ‘other’ Frank Stephenson – see above) was from a family which had a livery business on Fold Lane, Cowling. Frank was 18 years old.
• Albert Metcalfe; was born on 14^th December 1895; the fourth of five children born to Thomas and Elizabeth Metcalfe. Thomas was originally from Embsay, near Skipton, and his wife from Grassington and the family had lived originally in Embsay and then in Bradford before settling in Cowling in the mid 1890’s. Thomas worked as an overlooker in a local weaving shed; Albert and his two sisters, Linda and Ann, also worked in the mills. Albert’s older brother, Arthur, had joined the army aged 17 in 1904 and had re-enlisted on 7^th August 1914.
• Albert Saville; was a 29 year-old weaver from Cowling, working for Messrs. J. Binns at Croft Mills. He was the son of Benjamin and Amelia Saville; Amelia had died in 1908.
• Frank Lomax; was born on 19^th September 1889 in Darwen, Lancs, where his father, John, had been brought up. The family later moved to Carleton, near Skipton, where John died in 1899. His widow, Bessie, re-married two years later, to David Smith, a cotton weaver originally from Bradford. The family then set up home in Cowling, where Frank worked as a cotton weaver.
• Arthur Hargreaves; was born, in Cowling, in the summer of 1888. He was the first of the three children of Tempest and Mary Hargreaves (formerly Pickles). Early in 1913 Arthur married Martha Jane (‘Janie’) Emmott and later that year their daughter, Constance Mary Hargreaves was born. They set up home at 4 Gill Top, Cowling, not far from where Janie had been brought up at Beckfoot Farm. Arthur was associated with the Cowling Hill Baptist Chapel and was a very well-known sportsman, playing a prominent part with both the Cowling cricket and football teams. He was a member of the football team which won the championship of the Keighley and District League, and was well-known as a bowler in the West Bradford Cricket League. He also had some connection with several football clubs outside the village, amongst them being Sutton United.
• Tom Snowden; was a married man, aged 30 with four young children. He had married Ada Nelson in 1909, when Ada, though unmarried, already had two children (it is not clear whether either, or both, were actually Tom’s children). The couple subsequently had two more children (Donald, b.19010 and Gladys, b.1912). Both Tom and Ada were working as cotton weavers.
• Fred Hopkinson; was a 37 year-old married man with two children. He came from an old Cowling family and worked as a ‘stationery engineman’ in one of the local mills.
• Sam Shuttleworth; was the tenth of twelve children born to Smith and Hannah Shuttleworth. Smith was described in 1911 as a ‘painter and artist’, while Sam and two other sons were referred to as ‘painter and decorator’. Both Smith and his wife Hannah had been born and brought up in Cowling and the family were well known in the district.

Much more information and images of several of these Cowling recruits can be found on the excellent Cowling Village website (http://www.cowlingweb.co.uk) and I am greatly indebted to Joan Tindale and her fellow Cowling enthusiasts for much of the detail on these volunteers

 

Alfred John Lodge

Alfred John Lodge attested for service with the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment and was posted to 3^rd Battalion, with the rank of Sergeant. Like Harry Dewhirst (see 10^th September) he was one of a number of senior ex-NCO’s who would be posted to the newly-formed 10^th Battalion and would serve with ‘A’ Company (Tunstill’s Men).

Alfred Lodge was 39 years old and had served 16 years with the Regiment (including seven on the Reserve) before retiring, with the rank of Sergeant in 1909. He had served in India and South Africa. The family had a strong military background; no fewer than seven of Alfred Lodge’s brothers had fought in the Boer War. In 1902 he had married Emma Holden and they had two children; the younger of whom, also named Alfred John, was only eight months old when his father re-enlisted. Lodge was originally from Essex and the family had been living at Chingford.



Meanwhile, plans were being put in place for the larger scale military organisation of which Tunstill's Men would eventually become a tiny part. Tunstill's volunteers would become one of four Companies ('A' Company) in the newly-created 10th (Service) Battalion, Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment. The Battalion, in turn, would be one of four battalions which would together constitute 69th Brigade, which in tuen would be one of three brigades which would combine, along with associated divisional units, as 23rd Division.

The concentration of 23rd Division was due to begin on 16th September, but, looking back after the war, the Division's official historian acknowledged that there were significant difficulties; "few officers had yet joined their units; others had been delayed by an error in orders. That mistakes should occur in the orders emanating from a hard-pressed War Office was not surprising … though other ranks were plentiful, officers were scarce".

Appointments to most of the key posts directly affecting Tunstill's Men would be made over the following days.