Tuesday 21st March 1916

Front line trenches west of Angres

The day was dull and overcast which made observation very difficult. However, the regular exchange of rifle grenades and trench mortars continued and a series of explosions resulted in eight men being wounded. Lt. Leslie Guy Stewart Bolland of ‘B’ Company, who had been awarded the Military Cross in November 1915 (see 10^th December 1915) was also wounded. The exchanges were again reported by the Trench Mortar Battery: “Fired from left hand gun five rounds at twelve midday by request C.O.8^th Yorks to shut up rifle grenades also to annoy Hun. Fired from left hand gun 1 round at 3.30pm silencing hostile grenades and catapult bombs. Fired from right hand gun 2 rounds at 4pm to register on Boche trenches opposite supposed mine”. Concerns had been raised about this ‘supposed mine’ the previous day and it had been investigated by 23^rd Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers; their OC now reported that, “he is unable to detect sounds of mining”.

Among those wounded was L.Cpl. Albert Simpson; he suffered wounds to his scalp and left shoulder and would be evacuated to 4^th General Hospital at Camiers. He was a 21 year-old draper from Keighley and had been an original member of the Battalion.

Leslie Guy Stewart Bolland never re-joined 10DWR and the course of his career through the remainder of the war has not been established in any detail. However, it is known that he would be posted to 8DWR and would remain with the West Riding Regiment until 1^st June 1918, although in what capacity and with which Battalion is unknown. He was then granted a probationary commission with the Indian Army which he held for the next eighteen months, rising to the rank of Captain and serving with 1^st/8^th Rajputs. He relinquished his commission with effect from 10^th October 1919. He then spent some time living and working in Siam (he applied for his campaign medals in 1922, giving his address as c/o the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, Chiengmai) before returning to England from Penang in May 1927. He married Winifred F. Knight in Sussex in 1931 and in the following January the couple travelled to Lisbon; the ship’s register records that Bolland’s future intended permanent residence was to be Nigeria (his occupation was given as “Inspector”) whilst his wife’s was to be England. However, the couple returned to England together in March 1932 and their only child, a son, Thomas Geoffrey Stewart Bolland, was born on 4^th October 1932. In 1939, on the outbreak of war, Bolland was granted, aged 42, an emergency commission as Second Lieutenant with the Royal Regiment of Artillery; the details of his war service are unknown.

Bolland’s story was to have a tragic end, as recorded in a report in the Mid Sussex Times, 6^th July 1955; the cutting was kept by Bolland’s fellow 10DWR officer Dick Bolton (see 14^th March), who had clearly remained in contact with him (Bolland’s name also appears in an address book kept by Dick Bolton).

P.C. Pleaded

“Don’t do it!”

But Man Shot Himself

After an urgent message had been flashed to police at Haywards Heath a police car raced to Birchgrove Road, Horsted Keynes. As it drew up to a small car parked in the lane, a man stepped out onto the grass verge.

The tragic events which followed were described by P.C. Roy Nicholson, of Haywards Heath, to the East Sussex Coroner, Dr. A.C. Sommerville, at an inquest at Cuckfield Hospital, on Monday on Major Leslie Guy Stewart Bolland, a 58-year-old commercial traveller, of Samphire Cottage, Hastings Road, Battle.

“As I got out of the car”, said P.C. Nicholson, “the man stared at me fixedly. Smiling, he drew out a revolver with his right hand. He said ‘Oh, no!’, and raised the revolver towards his head”. The officer pleaded with him, “Don’t do it!”. But by this time Bolland had placed the barrel in his mouth, pointed it upwards and pulled the trigger. “The gun fired”, said the officer, “and the man collapsed, bleeding copiously”.

The revolver, a Colt .45, contained six rounds, one of which had just been discharged. By the man’s side lay an empty whisky bottle, an empty sherry bottle, a water siphon, a metal tankard and a glass. He had with him three letters in blue envelopes, one addressed to his son, one to his wife, and other containing his will.

The dead man’s son, Mr. Thomas Geoffrey Stewart Bolland, said he was on his way to meet his mother from the Continent about mid-day on Thursday. He found the house empty, the garage doors open and the car missing. Although for the past year his father, a former Indian Army officer, had been unable to work because of a pain in his right shoulder, he had not mentioned any financial worries or suggested taking his life.

HANDED MOTORIST A NOTE

Mr. Cecil Leslie Ruming, a salesman motorist, of Montgomery Street, Hove, said he saw Bolland standing in the middle of the lane and thought he wanted help. “You know how things are, old man. You’ve been in the Army I suppose”, Bolland said to witness, handing him a folded note, addressed to the nearest police station. Thinking his behaviour rather odd, Mr. Ruming said, he stopped further along the road, read the note and immediately telephoned Uckfield police.

Evidence of interviewing Bolland the day before his death was given by Det. Constable Robert Pert, of Battle. Bolland, he said, had been unable to give a satisfactory explanation about a typewriter which he had sold for £10 and which had since been found to have been stolen at Canterbury in January 1954. Deceased had told him he bought the machine from a man in a public house for £5. “He appeared very calm and composed”, added the officer, who had told Bolland further enquiries would be made.

Dr. T.M. Pritchard of Haywards Heath, who was called to the scene, said death was caused by destruction of the brain from a bullet wound. Recording a verdict of “Suicide”, the Coroner said Bolland’s action was doubtless due to worry about the typewriter. 

Pte. George Edward Western (see 11^th March) was reported by Sgt. Ernest Nussey (see below) and L.Cpl. George Peacock (see 25^th September 1915) for being ‘improperly dressed on fatigue; ie being without smoke helmet’; on the orders of Capt. James Christopher Bull MC (see 11^th March) he would be confined to barracks for three days.

Ernest Nussey was an original member of the Battalion; he was 30 years old and from Earby and had worked as a ‘beamer’ at Coates Mill, Barnoldswick.  

Pte. John Beckwith (see 20^th March) who had been wounded the previous day was evacuated to England en route to hospital in Staffordshire. 

Beckwith and the other wounded men would have been evacuated according to the plans reported by 69^th Field Ambulance:

“Medical arrangements. Four regimental aid posts: no.1 (on right) in Headquarters Trench, communication with fire trenches only by night across open; no.2 in Arras Road Trench; no.3 in Cooker Alley; no.4 in Couronne d’Aix Alley. 69 Field Ambulance posts at Dump (1 NCO, 8 men); at House (1 NCO, 6 men, Ford ambulance car at night); at Cave, 2 men and 2 wheeled stretchers; at Aix Noulette, 2 officers, 30 NCOs and men, 2 Daimler ambulance cars and 1 Ford (day only); good cellar accommodation at Aix Noulette for 300 wounded. Evacuation from no.1 and no.2 Regimental Aid Posts via Arras Road Trench – Dump – House – Cave (carry 2 hours); wheeled stretchers from Cave to ADS 15 mins in daytime; by night by Ford car from House to ADS. Evacuation from no.3 Regimental Aid Post to House by Cooker Alley – Angres Alley. From n0.4 Regimental Aid Post bynight only to House across open; from House as already described; wounded by day from no.4 to left sector Field Ambulance.”

Plan from 69th Field Ambulance War Diary