Thursday 19th October 1916

Billets in Poperinghe

The weather turned fine, but very cold. All the men were issued with new box respirators and they would receive intensive instruction in the use of these over the next week.

One man from 10DWR, though not from Tunstill’s Company, Pte. George Tate, died of wounds at no.2 General Hospital, Le Havre; when he had been wounded has not been established. He was buried at Ste. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre.

After two weeks treatment at 20^th General Hospital at Camiers for wounds he had suffered at Le Sars, Pte. Thomas Lloyd (see 6^th October) was evacuated to England onboard the Hospital Ship Cambria; it is not clear to which hospital he was admitted on arriving in England.

Pte. Frank Shuttleworth (see 4^th October) who had been treated in France for the past two weeks for wounds he had suffered at Le Sars, was evacuated to England; on arrival he would be admitted to Second Western General Hospital, Manchester. He would not recover sufficiently to return to active service and instead was transferred to the Royal Defence Corps. The RDC had  been formed in March 1916 and was composed of soldiers either too old or medically unfit for active front-line service. The role of the corps was to provide troops for security and guard duties at home.

 

Pte. Frank Shuttleworth

2Lt. George Henry Roberts (see 5^th October) who had left the Battalion two weeks earlier suffering from, “trench fever and slight debility”, was evacuated to England, from Le Havre to Southampton, onboard the hospital ship Panama.

A Medical Board considered the case of 2Lt. John Keighley Snowden (see 10^th October), who had been wounded at Le Sars. The Board noted the “multiple wounds from an exploding bomb:

Helux of right pinna (earlobe)
Right mastoid region, 1 inch long
Inner side of right calf, 2 inches
Pieces of wood were removed from all these in France. He is deaf in the right ear (he could hear quite well before). All wounds are healing”.

He was declared unfit for service for two months, on the expiry of which he would be re-examined.

After spending three weeks at Northern Command Depot at Ripon, Pte. Harold Howlett (see 28^th September) was granted ten days’ leave, at the end of which he was to report to 3DWR at North Shields.

Having been in England since having been wounded in August, Pte. Eastwood Wilkinson (see 31^st August) was posted to Northern Command Depot at Ripon.

Official notice was published in the London Gazette of the award of the Military Medal to Sgt. Frederick Griggs (see 13^th October), who had been one of Tunstill’s original Company but was now serving with 2DWR. The circumstances under which Griggs gained his award are, as yet, unknown.

A payment of £69 was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Lt. Frederick Hird (see 28^th August) who had been killed at Munster Alley. However, the payment was not issued as there was no clear statement of who was entitled to the money due to the uncertainty over Hird’s marital status.

A payment of £2 15s. 3d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Wilfred Palfreeman (see 29^th July) who had been killed in action in July; the payment would go to his father, Charles. Pte. Palfreeman’s mother, Elizabeth, would subsequently  be awarded an Army pension (date and details unknown).

A payment of £2 15s. 3d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Douglas Smith (see 18^th August), who had died of wounds on 18^th August, the payment would go to his father, Job.

Pte. Douglas Smith

The War Office wrote to the father of the late 2Lt. Isidore David Marks (see 19^th September) who had been killed near Contalmaison in July, with news of where his son was buried. They reported that his remains had been interred, “End of trench, just S. of Contalmaison, 3 ¾ miles E.N.E. of Albert, Map. Ref. Sheet 57d. Square X, 16.d.6.0.”. Marks’ remains were later exhumed and he was reinterred at Gordon Dump Cemetery near Pozieres.

2Lt. Isidore David Marks