Friday 27th August 1915

Following their arrival at Boulogne just before midnight on 26^th, in the early hours of the following morning the Battalion was guided to their rest camp. Lt. Dick Bolton (see 17^th August) later recalled that this  meant a three mile march, carrying full kit, up the ‘seemingly endless hill’ out of Boulogne, to St. Martin’s Camp, where ‘we were all distributed amongst the tents as well as possible in the darkness’.   After a short rest, at 5am, the Battalion marched a further four miles, over dusty roads, to the station at Pont a Briques.  There then followed another protracted wait, before, at 12 noon, they departed from Pont a Briques; the officers travelling in the first class carriages and the men in covered cattle wagons. The journey, no more than twenty miles, took four long hours in the heat of the day. The journey was described by Lt. Robert Stewart Skinner Ingram (see 26^th August): “Three hours sleep and another 3-4 mile march to a wayside station. After a long wait (for me, sleep) a huge train came up, drawn by 3 large engines. At least a 60 mph express thought me. But not a bit of it. The men in large cattle trucks, we in so-called 1^st class carriages, that wretched train moved up country a la tortoise at speeds between 3 and about 12 miles per hour. Of halts at random there were not a few. Finally, after some hours of this foolery, we reached another little station”. The men detrained at Watten, were formed up again and despatched on a further eight mile march to the ‘rather miserable village’ of Nort-Leulinghem (although Ingram described it rather more favourably, as being, “not unlike Eversley in Berks., where I was billeted on the Martins”).  In accordance with normal protocol, the officers were to be accommodated in the village’s farmhouses, with the NCOs and men in barns and outbuildings. Officers would have led the Battalion through the village, despatching the men, platoon by platoon, to their appointed places. Within individual billets NCOs would have given orders for the drawing of rations, water, blankets and other essential supplies before, doubtless exhausted by their travelling, the men would surely have discarded their equipment, claimed their own ‘pitch’ in the billet, and resorted to cigarettes and hot, sweet tea, the standard fare of the Tommies. Lt. Ingram described conditions for Tunstill’s Company, “My whole Company, hereafter to be known as A Company, is billeted in a farmyard. The men are in the barns, cattle sheds etc and some are in the little farmhouse. Bolton (see above), Harris (see 21st August) and I are in a barn up above. A rickety ladder leads up to it through what we call “Captain’s Drop”. The barn is fairly clean now and the spaces between tiles are protected by ancient cobwebs. Some years ago there was apparently glass in the window”.

The advance party of 10DWR under Major Buchanan (see 26^th August), which had spent the previous night near Le Havre having crossed from Southampton, travelled by train to Watten and from there marched to Nort-Leulinghem, arriving soon after the main body of the Battalion.  

On arrival at Nort-Leulinghem the Battalion comprised of 29 officers and 872 other ranks.

The officers of the Battalion were:

Lt. Col. H.J. Bartholomew, C.O. (see 21st August)

Major L.E. Buchanan, 2IC (see 26^th August)

Capt. C. Bathurst, Adjutant (see 27th July)

Lt. L. Hammond, Transport Officer (see 7^th September 1914)

Lt. D.W.P. Foster, Quartermaster (see 24^th February)

‘A’ Company:

Major H.R. Hildyard (see 21st August)

Capt. H.G. Tunstill (see passim)

Lt. R. Bolton (see above)

Lt. R.S.S Ingram (see above)

2Lt. H. Harris (see above)

2Lt. F. Hird (see 23^rd August)

‘B’ Company:

Capt. H.M.S. Carpenter (see 21^st August)

Capt. A.P. Harrison (i/c machine guns) (see 23^rd August)

Lt. L.G.S. Bolland

Lt. W.A.L. Kerridge

2Lt. R.C. Perks (see 21^st August)

2Lt. S.L. Glover

‘C’ Company:

Capt. J. Atkinson (see 6th August)

Lt. G.R.C. Heale  (Intelligence Officer)

Lt. A.K. Laverack (i/c Bombers)

Lt. H.L. Waite

2Lt. C. Snell

2Lt. C.E. Merryweather

‘D’ Company:

Capt. R. Harwar Gill (see 26th August)

Capt. J.C. Bull

Capt. A.O’D. Perreira

Lt. L.N. Phillips

2Lt. H. Foster

2Lt. G.S. Hulburd

In addition, the two attached officers were Lt. J.D. Wilson (RAMC) (see 22^nd August) and Rev. W.L. Henderson (Chaplain) (see 11^th August). 

The weekly edition of the Craven Herald included an open letter written by Geraldine Tunstill:

Dear Sir – I should like to thank all those kind friends who have helped me so much the last year by sending socks and various other gifts to me for A Company, 10^th Battalion West Riding Regiment (Captain H.G. Tunstill’s men) and to say how very much these gifts have been appreciated, not only for their usefulness, but also for the kind thought which prompted them.

The Battalion has now left for France, and I am hoping to be able to send a large supply of “comforts” each month to the men, and should be most grateful for any contributions, however small, of socks, helmets, mufflers, shirts, cardigans, handkerchiefs, tooth brushes, tobacco, pipes, chocolate, soap, Vaseline, boracic ointment, pencils, writing paper, peppermints or money to purchase same, to be sent to me at Otterburn, Bell Busk.

I feel sure that their friends in Craven will not forget those men who are doing their duty to their King and Country, and will wish them all good luck and a safe return to those they love.

Yours truly

Geraldine Tunstill

Coopers Bridge, Bramshott, Hants.

 Another notice in the newspaper also referred to the departure of the Battalion:

AUSTWICK

For the Front

Mr. and Mrs. N.S. Swales, of Wood View, have received a letter from their son Fred (see 24^th July), stating that he and his company have left England for France. Mr. Swales joined, on September 7th at Settle, the 10^th Duke of Wellington’s, along with Mr. Tunstill of Bell Busk.