Sunday 17th October 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

The fine weather of the previous few days continued, but with the nights and early mornings noticeably colder and with further foggy periods around dawn. Routine patrols were sent out and conditions were generally quiet, though two men were reported wounded by rifle fire. The men wounded were Ptes. Fred Job and Henry Wood Thrippleton, both of whom were original members of the Battalion. Pte. Job was 29 years old and from Brighouse and had worked as a mechanical engineer in Bradford; he suffered abdominal wounds. Pte. Thrippleton was a 32 year-old labourer from Brighouse; he had suffered wounds to his right leg. Both men would be evacuated to 70^th Field Ambulance at Erquinghem.

Pte. William Knox (see 12^th October) wrote to his wife, Ethel. (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters).

“… Well Dear this will be the first letter that I have written in the trenches. We came in on Saturday night and we had no sooner got there when the Germans started at us pretty hot. The bullets came just over our heads. It was a case of bob down, you’re spotted. You say you cannot say what you would like to do in your letters. You can say what you like as they do not censor them, only them as comes from over here. I had been looking out for a letter from you these last two or three days. It seems ages since I heard from you. The Captain of our Company has just given us all a parcel each. I got a writing pad, a handkerchief and pencil, so I think it is very good of him. I am on sentry today. I wished many a time last night I was in a comfortable bed. We had to lay on a bit of board in our clothes and I was perished all night long. I don’t expect we shall be able to take our clothes off at all while we are in the trenches as we never know when the Germans may open fire on us. He is a fair Devil old Fritz. He keeps having a pop at us all night long. He is a sniper and by God you must not put your head an inch above the parapet or else you get a bullet with your own regimental number on it and then you are out of action… I think I shall soon get used to trench life. I did not feel the least bit nervous for the first time under fire but of course we have not had it very bad as yet. It is very quiet where we are now. We are about 400 yards from the German trenches. They say it is very seldom that you see a German. I came across Jim McMath (Pte. James McMath, see 12^th October) yesterday. I had not seen him all the week. He came into the reserve trenches last Sunday week and I stayed at a billet. He had not had a shave for three days. He did not half look very different to what he did at the Sergeant’s Mess. You would have liked to have seen us washing this morning. There were only eight of us washed in the same lot of water in an old biscuit tin …”.

Having been admitted to hospital the previous day (see 16^th October), Capt. Pereira of ‘D’ Company, developed symptoms of jaundice.

Following treatment for gonorrhoea, Pte. Harry Shaw (12316) (see 4^th September) was discharged from 9^th Stationary Hospital at Le Havre to a rest camp, also at Le Havre, before being posted to 23^rd Infantry Base Depot at Etaples.

At home in Royton, Elizabeth Ann Slater died of meningitis at the age of eight months; she was the daughter of Pte. George Slater (see 29^th August).