Thursday 12th November 1914

James Boothman, who had volunteered at Grassington on 12th September, was formally discharged from the Army on the grounds that he was 'not likely to become an efficient soldier', with no further detail recorded. He had been a member of number 4 platoon, under the command of Lt. Dick Bolton (see 1st November). He returned to the family farm at Fell View, Burnsall.

(James Boothman married Esther Lister in 1925 and they had two sons. Esther died in 1972 and James in 1975).

Christopher Frederick Tate (known as ‘Fred’) was also discharged, again with no details specified other than that he was ‘not likely to become an efficient soldier’. He was one of the Ilkley recruits who had joined Tunstill’s Company prior to their departure for Halifax on 21^st September.

The fact that many young men lied about their age in order to join the army under-age is well-known. It is less well-known and acknowledged that other men under-stated their age in order to enlist. Fred Tate is one such case. When he completed his attestation at Ilkley on 9^th September Fred declared himself to be aged 34; in actual fact he was then 44 years old and too old to join. It is of course impossible to be certain of Fred’s motivation for concealing his true age, but the relative financial security of life in the Army may well have played a part. Fred had been lodging in various towns across Yorkshire for the last twenty years and making a living firstly working in dyeworks, and more recently as a slater. In 1914 he was living in Bolton Bridge Road, Addingham.

According to subsequent proceedings recorded when Fred was attempting to claim a pension from the Army, he had suffered some degree of ill-health since his late twenties, when he had begun “to have a cough and pain in his right side and became short of breath”. However, Fred claimed that he “was in a perfectly healthy condition when he joined the Army, but, during the short time he was in the Army he took a severe chill owing to being kept for a considerable period in his wet clothing without a change of any kind”. He further claimed that when he “reported sick he was not taken to hospital but discharged”. His obvious discontent at the standard of medical care, echoes the comments made by Priestley (see 11th November).

Having been discharged, Fred returned home but was soon admitted to Otley Union Infirmary where he was treated and found to be suffering from TB; he was to remain in hospital for the next year.

Lance Corporal Robert Cresswell (see 12th October) was promoted Corporal. Before the war he had been a policeman at Giggleswick and was clearly held in some regard.