Just as some men had been transferred away from 10th Battalion to join the ASC, so some others were transferred to join the 23rd Divisional Cyclist Company. The date of their transfer is not clear, but it would appear to have been effected at an early stage in their training and certainly a number of men were selected and transferred together, as witnessed by their near consecutive service numbers. Certainly in other newly formed divisions the transfers had taken place by mid-October, as reported by a letter from a Craven recruit to another Division who found himself transferred to a cyclist company. His letter, published in the Craven Herald on 16th October, described his new role:
"I am attached to a cyclist battalion, whose main functions
are scouting in advance of the main army, but we have also to learn everything
the infantryman knows. Generally speaking, we have physical drill at 6.45,
which is very trying to some of the married men, but with a little practice
they can often put the youngsters through it. It is often accompanied with
about a three mile march. From 9.30 to 12.30 generally squad, section or
company drill, following about a four mile march. In the afternoon it is
generally skirmishing, which is the most exciting and sometimes the hardest of
all drill, such as rushing a heavy cycle across a ploughed field behind a hedge
bent half double in order to avoid capture or to get into a position to
successfully repel the oncoming enemy. The outskirts of Colchester are
literally intersected with bye roads and lanes, and it is very difficult for an
opposing force to move on without being found and checked".
It seems likely that a similar regimen would have been followed by the six men from Tunstill's original recruits who transferred. They were James John Angus; Walter Dinsdale; Henry Clifford Harvey (for whom see 29th September); Joseph Parker; Wilson Pritchard and Sam Shepherd.
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