Monday 6th November 1916

Winnipeg Camp

Training continued, although the day was very wet.

Lt. Dobson, of 69^th Field Ambulance, (see 31^st October), was again temporarily attached to the Battalion  as he had been three weeks earlier; presumably this was in the absence of Battalion Medical Officer Capt. Cecil Berry (see 31^st October).

Image by kind permission of Scott Flaving

Whilst at Winnipeg Camp two new subalterns reported for duty. 2Lt. John Davis MM (see 28^th August) was twenty years old. Before the war he had worked as an assistant cashier for John Brockhouse & Co in West Bromwich. In 1912 he had joined the territorials, serving with 1^st/7^th Worcestershire Regiment. He had been mobilised on the outbreak of war and served in France from April 1915 until September 1916. During that time he had been promoted through the ranks to Sergeant and had been awarded the Military Medal. He had undertaken his officer training in France and had been formally appointed to his commission with effect from 4^th November. 2Lt. Robert Oswald Milligan, aged thirty, had been a schoolmaster before the war and had worked in South Africa, where he had also served with the Northern Transvaal Rifles. He returned to England and joined the Honourable Artillery Company in August 1915; he served in France from February 1916 and, like Davis, did his officer training in France before being formally commissioned on 5^th November 1916.

2Lt. John Davis MM

Pte. Gilbert Bell (see 8^th July), who had been posted to 2DWR after treatment for shellshock, was admitted via a Casualty Clearing Station in Corbie to hospital at Le Treport, suffering from a ‘sprained back’; the details of his treatment are unknown.

Pte. Herbert Greenwood Audsley (see 22^nd July) was transferred to 34^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples as being “unfit for services at the front” due to defective vision. It was now reported that, “His sight has been bad since he was five years old. At ten or twelve years old he was operated on for double cataract. Was classed A1 on enlistment, yet not examined he says”. A subsequent examination by an ophthalmic surgeon would result in him being recommended for permanent base duties.

A final statement was taken regarding the death in action of 2Lt. Henry Herbert Owen Stafford (see 26^th October); the informant was Pte. Daniel Callaghan (see below) of 14 Platoon, ‘D’ Company; he was currently in hospital at Boulogne. Callaghan reported that, “2^nd Lt. Stafford was my Platoon Officer (XIV), and was killed at Le Sars on Oct. 4^th. He was on my left at the time and I did not actually see him killed, but some of my mates saw him drop – hit in the chest or stomach. He fell and lay there in front of the German trench. We had to fall back that night into our own trenches, but the objective was taken the next day, and Mr. Stafford was brought in by some of another Company. His servant, Harold Bray (Pte. Harold Walker Bray, see 7^th October), said everything was found in his pockets as it should be. He was a very good man. A good soldier and we were very sorry to lose him.”

Daniel Callaghan would be subsequently transferred to the East Yorkshire Regiment and discharged to the Army Reserve at the end of the war.

Pte. Samuel Williams (13552) (see 11^th July) was admitted to Keighley War Hospital whilst on leave from hospital in Bournemouth; he had been under treatment in England since July having been evacuated with severe wounds.

Pte. Samuel Williams

Image by kind permission of Andy Wade and 'Men Of Worth'

Pte. Patrick Sweeney (see 27^th October), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, was once more in trouble, as he had been on many previous occasions; he was found to have been absent from tattoo and was sentenced to be confined to barracks for seven days.