Thursday 9th March 1916

Front line trenches east of Souchez

The truth of Pte. Irvine Clark’s view (see 8^th March) about the exposed nature of the Battalion’s positions was made clear with devastating effect, as he himself told his family, “One Company of ours gave themselves away and suffered for it; one platoon alone had one killed and 17 wounded; our doctor was also killed after he attended to some of the latter”. The Germans had launched a barrage of trench mortars, aerial torpedoes and shells against the section of the Battalion’s front manned by 54 men of ‘C’ Company. According to the official record, one man from ‘C’ Company was killed and 18 others were wounded.  The casualties might have been greater still had it not been for the selfless courage shown by a number of officers and men. At 9.30 am,

“a message was received that several men were wounded in a central trench. Lieutenant Wilson (the Battalion Medical Officer) at once volunteered to go to their assistance, although it was necessary to cross absolutely open ground swept by the fire of hostile trenches. He reached the wounded men and bandaged up those who most required it”.

Having attended to the wounded, Wilson, “was on his way back to shelter when he was fired upon by the Germans from their front line trench, and a bullet struck him just above the heart. He died in a few minutes.”  Lt. Dick Bolton (see 8^th March) remembered Wilson as a man, “who did not seem to know the meaning of the word danger” and he described his recollection of events, “he crossed from the quarry to the front line in broad daylight to attend to a wounded man. He was sniped at both going and returning. On reaching the edge of the quarry he turned to see where the shots were coming from and was killed outright by the next bullet”.

Lt. John David Wilson (see 28^th February) was buried at Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez. Ten days earlier he had been recommended for the Military Cross, but following his death the award was never made. A medical colleague later paid tribute to Wilson,

“It is now four days since official news reached Hamilton that Dr John Wilson had been killed at the front. To his professional colleagues and to those of his friends who knew of the post of danger at which he has made the supreme sacrifice of his life, the news has brought grief and horror, sorrow for the loss of a good brave man, and horror that the conditions of modern warfare have exacted the life of one who entered the arena as a healer amongst those that slay.

To most of his clientele, his death has brought a sense of loss irreparable and consternation that such a catastrophe was possible. Evidently they were not aware that when a regiment occupies the firing line, the Regimental surgeon goes in with it and remains their till it leaves the trenches. I will refrain from public comment on this arrangement. The man himself I have known for several years, and though we were both too much occupied with professional work to have much leisure for intercourse other than professional, one could not but form a very high opinion of him. Genial and obliging in disposition, intelligent and industrious in the prosecution of his work, transparently honest and straight in all his relations with others, he was a man whom it was good to know. It is one of the senseless cruelties of war that an individual with these characteristics should perish in the noble effort to alleviate the sufferings of his brave fellows. His death is regretted alike by friends, colleagues and patients and not least by a professional brother.”

Lt. John David Wilson

The grave of Lt. John David Wilson

The other man killed was Pte. Joseph Allen (3/11487). He was 30 years old and from Bradford and had originally served with 2DWR, going to France in November 1914; the date and circumstances of his joining 10DWR are unknown. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.

The men wounded were:

Pte. Albert Bateson (see 24^th December 1915); he suffered head wounds but the details of his treatment are unknown.

Pte. Samuel Buckley; he suffered wounds to his left thigh but, in the absence of a surviving service record, the details of his treatment are unknown, although it would appear that he would be evacuated to England. He was 26 years old and from Horsforth and had been an original member of the Battalion. 

Pte. James Collings (see 14^th April 1915); the details of his wounds and treatment are unknown but he would re-join the Battalion.

Pte. George Edward Crangle; in the absence of a surviving service record, the details of his wounds and treatment are unknown. He was a 22 year-old slater from Sunderland. He had originally volunteered for the Durham Light Infantry in September 1914 but had been discharged after just six weeks as ‘being not likely to become an efficient soldier’. He had re-enlisted on 9^th February 1915 and had been posted to France on 1^st September. He would subsequently be transferred (date and details unknown) to the Royal Irish Rifles.

Pte. Thomas Eastwood; in the absence of a surviving service record, the details of his wounds and treatment are unknown. He was a 22 year-old ‘bone cutter’ from Sheffield. He had originally served with 2DWR and had been posted to France on 30^th November 1914; the date and circumstances of his posting to 10DWR are unknown. He would subsequently be transferred to 11^th West Yorks.

Pte. Joseph Fieldhouse; he suffered severe wounds to the head and body and would be evacuated to 18^th Casualty Clearing Station at Lapugnoy. He was 31 years old and from Heckmondwike where he had worked in the coal yard of the local Co-Op. He was a married man with three children and had been an original member of the Battalion. 

L.Cpl. William Hargreaves; the details of his wounds and treatment are unknown, but he would re-join the Battalion. He was a 32 year-old machinist from Bradford and had been an original member of the Battalion.

Pte. Harry Hinchliffe (see 18^th December 1915); he suffered wounds to his right leg and would be evacuated to 6^th General Hospital in Rouen. He would be evacuated to England on 14^th March and admitted to 1^st Western General Hospital, Fazakerley, Liverpool. 

Sgt. Edward Hunter (see 7^th January); he suffered shrapnel wounds to his right thigh and would be admitted via 70^th Field Ambulance at Grand Servins and 18^th Casualty Clearing Station at Lapugnoy to 12^th General Hospital in Rouen.

L.Cpl. Arthur Mason; the details of his wounds and treatment are unknown. He was a 45 year-old married man from Batley; he had originally served with 8DWR and had been posted to Gallipoli in July 1915. The date and circumstances of his posting to 10DWR are unknown and he would subsequently (date and detaiils unknown) be transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers. 

Pte. Cecil Stanley Pitblado (see 18^th December 1915); he suffered shrapnel wounds to his right buttock and would be admitted via 70^th Field Ambulance at Grand Servins and 18^th Casualty Clearing Station at Lapugnoy to 11^th Stationary Hospital in Rouen.

Pte. William Robson; in the absence of a surviving service record, the details of his wounds and treatment are unknown but he would subsequently (details unknown) re-join 10DWR. He was 23 years old and had originally served with 8DWR and had been posted to Gallipoli in September 1915; the date and circumstances under which he had joined 10DWR are unknown.

Pte. Charles Smith (12380) (see 25^th July 1915); the details of his wounds and treatment are unknown but he would soon re-join the Battalion. 

Pte. Albert Edward White (see 24^th December 1915); he suffered wounds to his left arm. The details of his treatment in France are unknown. 

Pte. Mark Whitelock; the details of his wounds and treatment are unknown. He was a 25 year-old textile worker from Bradford and was married with one child; he had joined the Battalion in France early in 1916 (exact date unknown).  

Pte. Thomas William Woodcock; he suffered wounds to his left knee and would be evacuated to England (details unknown). He was a 24 year-old carter from Newcastle-under-Lyme. He had enlisted in September 1914 and had been posted to France in May 1915 to join 2DWR; the date and circumstances under which he had joined 10DWR are unknown.

Not only had Lt. Wilson distinguished himself in this action but so too had a number of others; in particular Lt George Reginald Charles Heale (‘C’ Company) (see 30^th January), CSM Alfred Lodge (see 8^th December 1915), Sgt. Kayley Earnshaw (see 21^st August 1915) and Pte. John William Hawkridge,  all of whom survived and were recommended for recognition of their conduct. Lt. Heale subsequently received the Military Cross, “For conspicuous gallantry. During a continuous and very heavy bombardment by the enemy he personally attended to the wounds of 15 men, and inspired his men generally by his cool bravery".  Lodge was also awarded the Military Cross. In his case it was said that, “he succeeded in bringing in fourteen wounded men under heavy machine gun fire, and, after dressing their wounds, sent them to the dressing station. On the same date, also under machine gun fire, he brought in fourteen other men suffering from frost bitten feet”. The citation for Sgt. Earnshaw and Pte. Hawkridge explained how they had acted; “During a heavy and continuous bombardment by the enemy one of Serjeant Earnshaw's guns was blown bodily into a shell crater. He went out into the open, brought it back, and in a short time had it in action again. Private Hawkridge displayed great bravery on this occasion”.  Both men received the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Sgt. Kayley Earnshaw, pictured wearing the DCM ribbon.
Image by kind permission of Sue Lugton

George Reginald Charles Heale was born at Addington in Kent on the 26th of January 1882, the son of the Reverend James Newton Heale, Vicar of Harbledown, and Isabella Margaret (nee Wingfield-Stratford). He was educated at the King's School Canterbury from September 1891 to July 1898, after which he went to Wye Agricultural College.

He was keen, however, to take part in the South African War and being too young, enlisted as a drummer boy in the 19th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (Paget's Horse) in March 1900 rising to the rank of Private. On the 8th of February 1902 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the newly formed 38th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry but the war ended and he resigned his commission on the 16th of December. At the end of the war he took a job as a school master in Johannesburg remaining there until 1906 when he went to Jamaica, living at Westmoreland. Whilst in Jamaica he held a commission as a Captain in the Jamaica Armed Scouts.

On the outbreak of war he returned to the UK and was commissioned as a Temporary Lieutenant in the 15th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers on the 25th of May 1915. He was then attached to 10DWR.

Heale’s elder brother, Ernest Newton Heale, was a career soldier, who had been commissioned in 1889 and had risen to the rank of Major by the outbreak of war. On the 19th of October 1915 he had been promoted Temporary Lieutenant Colonel on his appointment to command 14th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers and had been promoted Brevet Lieutenant Colonel on 14th of January 1916.

2Lt. G.R.C. Heale

CSM Alfred Lodge

Pte. John William Hawkridge was 30 years old and originally from Great Ouseburn; he was not one of Tunstill’s Company. He had married Emily Bishop in the Autumn of 1913 in Hunslet and their son, Cecil, had been born a few months later but died in infancy. At the time of his enlistment his home address was recorded as being Hunslet, but he had actually signed up in London.

L.Sgt. Robert William John Morris (see 17^th February) was promoted Acting Sergeant.