Tuesday 19th December 1916

Winnipeg Camp

The weather became bitterly cold, with snow flurries at time. In the evening a party was again despatched to Ypres, by train, to work with the Royal Engineers.

The five new officers, Lt. Arthur Poynder Garratt and 2Lts. John Robert Dickinson, Herbert Middleton (Bob) Hands, Arthur Calvert Tetley and William George Wade who had arrived in France five days earlier (see 14^th December) now reported for duty with the Battalion.

Along with the new officers came a draft of 73 other ranks, 50 of whom, being new recruits, were immediately sent to the Brigade School for further instruction. 

A number of the men of this draft have been identified. They were mostly men who had attested under the Derby Scheme in late 1915 and had been called in the Spring of 1916 for training with 3DWR and had been posted to France in early December. Pte. Wellington Baldwin was a 20 year-old farm labourer from Settle. Pte. Mortimer Banks was married with six children; he was 35 years old and had been working as a labourer in Keighley. Pte. John Edward Bartle was a 19 year-old woolsorter from Queensbury. Pte. Thomas Arthur Bedford was a 26 year-old bookkeeper from Leeds; he was a married man with one daughter. Pte. Joseph Bernstein was 22 years old, from Bradford, and had been working as a warehouseman and clerk. Pte. Clarence Best was a 22 year-old clerk from Lidget Green, Bradford; during training he had three times been found absent and had spent a total of 27 days confined to barracks for his offences. Pte. Harry Gordon Binns (see 3^rd November) was re-joining the Battalion following a period in England having been wounded on the Somme in July. Pte. Clarence Hubert Bolt was a 20 year-old French polisher from Little Horton, Bradford. Pte. William Boodle was 21 years old, from Leeds, and had worked as a cooper’s labourer. He had served before the war with 3DWR and had re-enlisted in September 1914. He then served with 2DWR and had first arrived in France on 31^st August 1914, joining his Battalion ten days later; he had been wounded on 19^th November and evacuated to England on 3^rd December 1914. He had been reported absent without leave from the Regimental Depot at Halifax on 8^th March 1915 and had remained absent for some considerable time, although the precise details are unknown. He had been apprehended at some point and by October 1916 had spent 108 days in military detention at Stafford. He then submitted a written statement to Commandant of the Detention Barracks, stating that “I should be very grateful if I could be sent to the front at once. I was wounded at Ypres on 13^th November 1914. I am extremely sorry for the trouble I have given”. After enquiries had been made with 3DWR he had been approved for a return to active service. He had been posted back to France on on 19^th November. Pte. Harold Bray (18231) was a 20 year-old clerk from Bradford. Pte. George Brook was 31 years old, married, with one son, and from Bradford; he had originally served with 2DWR in France from 14^th July 1915 but had been posted back to England (circumstances unknown) in July 1916. Pte. Sam Brook was 25 years old and from Linthwaite. Pte. William Butterfield was a 27 year-old joiner from Keighley; he had married Sarah Luley in April 1914 but the couple had no children. Pte. Herbert Butterworth was 19 years old and from Todmorden, where he worked in the textile mills. Pte. Albert Edward Carter was 22 years old and married with one son (Ralph) when he enlisted; his wife, Lily, was pregnant with their second child, Emily, who would be born on 21^st January 1916. The couple had been living in Meltham, near Huddersfield. Pte. John William Clark (20782) was a 24 year-old miner from Bilston. He had enlisted in the South Staffordshire Regiment on 2^nd December 1915 but doubts had been raised about his fitness for service on account of his eyesight. He was then transferred to 12DWR and had been posted to France on 1^st April 1916. However, he had never seen active service as he had been hospitalised on two occasions, firstly on account of his eyesight and then, in August 1916, suffering from pneumonia. He had been posted back to England on 1^st September, and had twice been reported absent without leave while with 3DWR at North Shields. Pte. Harry Cowper was 19 years old and had been living in Skipton, where he worked as an apprentice sawyer with the firm of Messrs. Alf Green and Co., Midland Saw Mills. Pte. Harry Crawshaw was a 27 year-old weaver from Huddersfield; he was married with one child. Pte. Arthur Dyson was a 21 year-old woollen piecer from Halifax. Pte. John Thomas Elford was a 29 year-old miner from Gosforth; he was a married man with two children. Pte. John Ellis was a 28 year-old shipping clerk from Nottingham; he had previously served 15 months with the Grenadier Guards. Pte. Thomas Fielden was a 20 year-old wood planer from Todmorden. Pte. Rowland Firby was a 19 year-old dyers’ warehouseman from Shipley. He had originally enlisted in December 1915 but had found to have been underage and had been discharged in January 1916; he was then recalled in July 1916, having attained military age. Pte. George William Foster was a 21 year-old butcher from Hebden Bridge. Pte. John Greenwood was a 39 year-old fustian cutter from Hebden Bridge Pte. Charles Hammond was a 29 year-old gardener from Baildon; although he stated he was unmarried he did specify two children as dependents. Pte. John William Hardcastle was from Brighouse; 35 years old, he was married with three children and had been working as a ‘wire cleaner’. Pte. Charles William Hird was a 31 year-old metal dealer from Shipley; he was married with three children. Pte. Maurice Stead Hodgson was a 24 year-old engineer’s labourer; originally from Baildon, he had recently been living in West Bowling, Bradford and had married in March 1916. Pte. Michael Hopkins (see 20^th September) had originally served with 10DWR but had been convicted of assault while on leave and had been posted to 9DWR on completion of his sentence; he had been wounded in August but was now re-joining his original Battalion. Pte. James Buckley Kenworthy was a 21 year-old textile worker from Oldham; he had served in the 7^th (Territorial) Battalion from the age of 15 and had been called up to active service in December 1915. He had served with 9DWR in France from April to July 1916 when he had been invalided home after suffering gunshot wounds to the chest and shoulder in action on 7^th July. He had been treated in hospital in England before being posted back to France. Pte. Henry Marshall was a 19 year-old motor mechanic from Hebden Bridge. He had been called up in March 1916 but had lodged an appeal with his local tribunal. Marshall had been working with his father, Samuel, who worked as a ‘motor carrier’ and Samuel Marshall had given a written statement to the tribunal in April to the effect that his son could not be spared from the business because, “It is impossible for me to run my commercial motor car without an assistant. I have tried a man over military age but without success. The firm who employ me have written regarding this”. The appeal had been rejected, although it was allowed that Marshall would not be called up until 1^st July. Pte. John William Midgley was a 24 year-old dyers’ labourer from Yeadon; he was married with a seven-month old son, Edward. Pte. George Edward Milner was a 30 year-old coal carter from Bradford. Pte. James Edward Parkinson was a 22 year-old carter from Morecambe. Pte. Frederick Patrick was a 27 year-old weaver from Barnoldswick; he was a married man with one son, Gordon. Pte. Hector Salembier was 33 years old; a Frenchman by birth, he was originally from Croix, north-east of Lille and now under German occupation. He had been living in Bradford, where he had worked as a painter. Pte. Thomas Wilson Shaw was a 25 year-old bobbin turner from Meltham Mills. Pte. Fred Smith (23056) was a 26 year-old single man from Bentham. Pte. Tom Smith was a 25 year-old labourer from Shipley; he was married, but had no children. Pte. William Percy Smith was a 30 year-old miner from Fence Houses, near Sunderland. A married man with three children, he had enlisted in February 1915 and had served with 8DWR at Gallipoli between September 1915 and June 1916, when he had been invalided back to England. He had spent a  month in the Western General Hospital in Manchester being treated for enteric fever and had then been posted to 3DWR. Pte. Greenwood Speak was a 28 year-old textile worker from Todmorden; he was married, with two children. Pte. Alfred Spencer was a 25 year-old weaver from Barnoldswick; he was married but had no children. Pte. Arthur William Stobart was a 27 year-old clerk and warehouseman from Bradford; he was married with one daughter. Pte. Elijah Sudworth was a 22 year-old chemical worker from Willington Quay, near North Shields; he had not been called up until July 1916. Pte. Milton Sutcliffe was a 28 year-old cotton weaver from Hebden Bridge; he was married with a young daughter, Nora, born 24^th June 1915. Pte. Leonard Beaconsfield Turner was a 36 year-old card setter from Huddersfield; he was married but had no children. Pte. Charles Walton was 32 years old, unmarried, and from Halifax. Pte. John Walton was a 22 year-old silk dresser from Brighouse. Pte. William Norman Whitehead was a 23 year-old painter from Queensbury, Bradford. Pte. Smith Stephenson Whitaker was a 26 year-old cotton weaver from Cowling. He had married Maria Dracup in October 1914 and their daughter, Doris Emma, had been born four months later; she had died, aged 20 months, on 31^st October, with the cause of death noted as ‘marasmus’, a form of malnutrition. Pte. Erwin Wilkinson was a 28 year-old weaver from Hebden Bridge; he was married with one daughter.

Pte. John Sheridan (see 20th February) was evacuated to England having been wounded (date and details unknown).

L.Cpl. Rennie Hirst (see 11^th October), serving in France with 8DWR, was admitted via 34^th Field Ambulance to 3^rd General Hospital at Le Treport; he was suffering from “I.C.T.” (Inflammation of the connective tissue) to his foot (‘trench foot’). One week later he would be evacuated to England onboard the Hospital Ship Dunluce Castle; the details of his treatment in England are unknown.

The Regimental Paymaster, Middlesex Regiment, wrote to the War Office confirming that there was an amount of 11 shillings payable on the account of the late Lt. Harry Harris (see 18^th December) from his service with the Battalion prior to his being commissioned.

Lt. Harry Harris

Pte. Conrad Anderson (see 4^th May), serving with 26^th Royal Fusiliers, was posted back to England to join no.17 Officer Cadet Battalion at Kinmel, near Rhyl; however, he would have three weeks leave before reporting for duty. Once commissioned he would serve with 10DWR.