Friday 8th September 1916

Billets in and around Eperlecques

Training and musketry practice continued. The Battalion was instructed to be made ready for a possible return to the Somme front on 10^th September.

Pte. Hubert Crabtree (see 29^th July), who had been in England since having been wounded in July, was discharged from hospital in Edmonton and, after two weeks’ leave, would be posted to 83^rd Training Reserve Battalion, based at Gateshead.


Pte. Harry Shaw (12316) (see 3^rd July), who had been serving with 176^th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers, was discharged from the St. John VAD Hospital in Chester. The medical report completed on his discharge revealed the extent of his disability, “Kept getting one cold on top of another and finally a wheezing cough developed. Kept reporting sick and being treated until he was sent to hospital on July 4^th. To England on July 8^th. Some flattening over right lung; vocal fremitis increased, as compared with left side. Vocal resonance much increased over both lungs. Breath sounds harsh, with occasional rhonchi. Continuous harsh cough, day and night, with some expectoration. Is losing weight. Has a soft, rapid cough. No temperature. TB positive. Result of active service; cold, exposure and infection. Permanent. Total incapacity for six months, then according to condition”. He would be formally discharged from the Army on 22^nd September and was awarded an Army pension of £1 7s. 6d. per week.

A Medical Board convened in Nottingham declared that 2Lt. Charles Crowther Hart (see 8^th August) who had been suffered gunshot wounds to the right leg in the fighting around Munster Alley, would be unfit for duty for at least a further month. The Board found that, “the wounds discharged until a few days ago; they are now healed over and dry. There is pain on walking and weakness. His sleep is disturbed by dreams; he suffers from severe headaches”.

A payment of £11 7s. 3d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances for the late Pte. John Bruce Davidson (see 23^rd July), who had died of wounds sustained during the advance on Contalmaison. The payment would go to his father, Joseph.

Pte. John Bruce Davidson

A payment of £11 1s. 3d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances due to the late Pte. Anthony Ellingworth (see 10^th July), who had been killed in action on 10^th July; the payment would go to his mother, Sarah.

A payment of £2 2s. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Cyril Gilbert Perkin (see 5^th July), who had been killed in action on 5^th July; the payment would go to his widowed mother, Elizabeth.

The War Office wrote to Capt. James Christopher Bull (see 6th September) regarding a cheque which had been found among the effects of the late 2Lt. Walter Douglas Taylor (see 27^th July). The cheque, for £9 16s. was signed by Bull but had no payee named. The War Office requested that Bull confirm whether the cheque was indeed intended for Taylor; under what circumstances it had been written and asked, if appropriate, that a new cheque be issued which could be credited to Taylor’s account (see 18^th July).

The War Office wrote to the father of the late 2Lt. Samuel Lawrence Glover who had been officially posted as missing in action since January (see 11^th August), confirming that they had now received Glover’s identity disc “from the German government through the American Embassy” and that the disc would duly be forwarded to the family.

2Lt. Samuel Lawrence Glover

The weekly edition of the Ilkley Gazette reported the news of the wounding of Pte. Frank Hargrave (see 6^th August), though without any further detail.

The Craven Herald reported news of the continuing efforts of Geraldine Tunstill to raise money and provide ‘comforts’ for her husband’s Company (see 4^th August).

COMFORTS FOR CAPTAIN TUNSTILL’S MEN

The following ‘comforts’ have been sent to A Company, 10^th West Riding Regiment, this month: 2,500 cigarettes, 130 lemonade powders, 50 shaving sticks, 100 handkerchiefs, 150 fly papers, 12 tablets soap, 20 lbs. of sweets and 100 pairs of socks. No parcels of woollens have come in this month and as it is now getting cold in France, especially at night, Mrs. H.G. Tunstill will be glad of contributions of socks, shirts, mufflers, mittens, or any other useful things, and will gratefully acknowledge them if sent to her at Milford Hall, South Milford, and will forward them to the men.