Friday 5th May 1916

Billets at Hersin

On another very hot day the Battalion’s move to Pernes began in the morning with the transport, under the supervision of Lt. Leonard Hammond (see 26^th April), assisted by Lt. Dick Bolton (see 4^th April), departing by road, via Barlin, Houdain and Divion to Pernes. Meanwhile, 2Lt. Hugh Lester (see 26^th March) was despatched to Hersin station to supervise arrangements there. At 3.50pm the Battalion formed up and marched to Hersin station and from there travelled by train, via Bruay and Bryas, back to Pernes, arriving at 7pm. They then marched to billets which were found to be, “not in a good condition. A complaint has been lodged at Brigade HQ”.

Prior to leaving for Pernes, Lt. Harold Lockhart Waite (see 13^th January) left the Battalion to join the Royal Flying Corps as a Flying Officer (Observer). It seems likely that the photograph below may have been taken as a memento prior to Waite’s departure (it can certainly be dated to no earlier than 21^st April as that is when Capt. Adrian O’Donnell Pereira had re-joined the Battalion).

Image from the album kept by Lt. Dick Bolton (and annotated by him; I am most grateful to Henry Bolton for his permission to reproduce the image here. The photograph is especially interesting as it is clear that it was taken either by, or perhaps ‘unofficially’ during a visit by, an itinerant photographer, as the image clearly shows not only the ‘backdrop’ provided for the photo to be taken, but also a section of brickwork of the structure behind.

Harold Lockhart Waite, born 1^st June 1893, was the youngest of six children of Charles Michael and Mary Diana Waite. His father was a solicitor in Lincolnshire, but his mother had died when Harold was only two years old. In 1901, as a seven year-old, Harold was at a boarding school in Hampstead and by 1911 he was working as an apprentice to a “petrol motor engineers” in London. He had been with 10DWR since its formation. He had been the officer who had led the patrol sent out in January to search for 2Lt. Samuel Lawrence Glover (see 17^th April) after he had been reported missing in action.

Capt. John Atkinson (see 15th April) was an Irishman, born in Bundoran, County Donegal in 1884; he was one of eleven children of George Andrew Atkinson, who was a solicitor in Dublin. John was granted a commission with 3^rd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1902 and served for six years before resigning his commission “owing to financial trouble”. John then settled in London and married in 1909; he and his wife had a child who died in infancy and, at the time of the 1911 census, the couple were living at 5 Blandford Road, Bedford Park. Living with them were three of John’s sisters, one of them also with her four months’ old son. In 1911 John had been working as a time-keeper at the Shepherd’s Bush Exhibition but by 1914 he had begun training as an engineer, working for the industrial giants, Siemens. On the outbreak of war he immediately applied for a commission with his old regiment but was told there were then no vacancies and was instead appointed to a temporary commission, with the rank of Captain and posted to join 10DWR in training at Frensham.

For Lt. George Reginald Charles Heale see 9^th March and note that he wears the ribbon of the Military Cross; for Lt. Adolph Keith Lavarack see 17^th April; for Capt. Adrian O’Donnell Pereira see 21^st April.; and for 2Lt. Christopher Snell see 30th January.

The weekly edition of the West Yorkshire Pioneer carried an extended report regarding the death of 2Lt. Harry Thornton Pickles who had originally served with Tunstill’s Company before being commissioned (see 3^rd May):

BARNOLDSWICK OFFICER KILLED IN ACTION

The sad news was received on Sunday morning in a telegram from the War Office of the death of Second-Lieut. Harry Thornton Pickles, second son of Mr. Stephen Pickles, J.P., C.C., cotton manufacturer of Raygill, Barnoldswick. The telegram stated that he was killed in action on April 26. He was 26 years of age. A young man of exceptional talents, with every prospect of a brilliant future, he responded to the call of his country by joining the army in September 1914, enlisting as a Private in the 10th Battalion Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment. After a period of training at Frensham Camp he was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant, and transferred to the 3rd Reserve Battalion at North Shields, where he was given a position of responsibility in training and organising the despatch of troops to the front. He was drafted out to France in January last, and after a brief training in grenade throwing was given charge of a Battalion (sic). He was married on January 20th, at Lewisham, to Miss Ada Heuf, of New Eltham, Kent. On Saturday last his parents received from him a cheerful letter (dated April 25th, the day before his death), saying he was quite well and feeling very fit.

Second-Lieut. Pickles was educated at Silcoates School, near Wakefield, where he spent five years, leaving at the age of 17 with all the scholarships the school had to confer. He then went to Victoria University, Manchester, where he carried all before him, taking his B.A. degree with honours before the age of 20. The M.A. degree was conferred upon him the following year. Six years ago he began to study for the law, and was articled to Messrs. Goulty and Goodfellow, solicitors, Manchester. Early in 1914 he secured the University degree of LL.B., with first-class honours. While at Manchester Mr. Pickles maintained a keen interest in sport, playing with the Varsity Association team, of which he was captain in 1911-12. In his final examination as solicitor he outdistanced all competitors being the only one in the list who passed with 'first-class' honours, and secured the Stephen Heelis Prize for Manchester and Salford Students in the form of a massive gold medal, awarded by the Manchester Law Society.

An estimate of the value set upon his intellectual attainments may be formed from the fact that shortly after leaving the University the authorities selected him from amongst a large number of applicants for a vacant lectureship in English Law and Jurisprudence, on which he was to have commenced with the winter term of 1914, but which he was destined never to occupy owing to the outbreak of war and the more insistent call of patriotism.

A letter received on Wednesday morning from Private James Mudd, another Barnoldswick man in the same battalion, states that Lieut. Pickles was killed by concussion from a bursting shell whilst going through the trenches to see that his men were all right. A bombardment from the enemy's heavy guns, lasting nearly 3 hours, was in progress at the time. Private Mudd adds that Lieut. Pickles was not struck by the projectile nor disfigured in any way, and that had he stuck to his dugout he would doubtless have come through scathless.

2Lt. Harry Thornton Pickles

Fred Dyson was mobilized for service, having previously (10^th December 1915) registered under the Derby Scheme, and was posted to join 3DWR for training; he would later be commissioned and serve with 10DWR. He had been born on 20^th October 1891, the third of eight children of John Henry and Mary Dyson. His father ran an oat cake bakery in the village of Linthwaite, near Huddersfield. Before the war Fred had trained as a teacher and was working in a local school when he enlisted.