Thursday 11th January 1917

Winnipeg Camp

Pte. Arthur Walton (see 27^th December 1916) reported back to the Battalion at 5.50am, having been two weeks late in returning from leave to England; he was immediately placed under arrest and would be ordered to undergo 14 days’ Field Punishment no.2.

Training continued and a draft of 49 men who had arrived in France a few days earlier reported for duty. A number of men from among this draft have been identified; they were mostly men who had attested under the Derby Scheme in late 1915 and had been called up for training in August and September 1916. Pte. Myers Atkinson was a 31 year-old cabinet maker from Shipley; he was married with two children. Pte. Joseph Barnes was a 19 year-old weaver from Longwood, near Huddersfield. Pte. Harry Beaumont (29306) was a 32 year-old weaver from Huddersfield; he was married but had no children. Pte. Michael Bedley was a 37 year-old baker from Halifax; he was married, with three children from a previous marriage (his first wife had died in 1909). Pte. Edwin Dawson was a 34 year-old window cleaner from Bradford; he was married with three children. Pte. Harry Earnshaw was a 36 year-old plasterer from Cullingworth; he was married with three daughters and his wife was pregnant with their fourth child. Pte. Alfred Exley was a 19 year-old dyer’s finisher from Guiseley. Pte. Joe Fawcett was 30 years old and from Meltham, where he had working as a ‘bobbin turner’. He had married Alice Ann Wood in 1909 and their first child, Jack, had been born on 4^th January, just two days before Joe had been posted to France. Also known to have been among this draft was Pte. Richard Field was a 24 year-old married man from Bradford and had worked as a tailor. He had married Minnie Pouncey in May 1915 and the couple’s daughter, Doris Ivy Field, was born a year later. Pte. Lewis Greenwood was a 26 year-old textile designer from Bradford; he was married with two children. Pte. Thomas Henry Hanson was a 33 year-old musician from Bradford; he was a married man with one daughter. Pte. Trayton George Harper was a 39 year-old motor bus driver from Holloway, London. Pte. John William Holroyd was a 40 year-old postman from Bradford; he was married with two children. Pte. Herbert Farrand Hogley was a 33 year-old painter and decorater from Huddersfield; he was married and his wife, Florence, was pregnant with their first child. Pte. Willie Holmes was a 33 year-old commercial traveller from Birstall; he was married with two children. Pte. James Henry Howarth was a 32 year-old piano tuner from Huddersfield; he was a married man with one daughter. Pte. Ben Hutchinson was a 41 year-old carter from Keighley. Pte. Harry Leaper was a 19 year-old clerk from Halifax. Pte. Henry Charles Lindsay was a 33 year-old brewer’s labourer from Heckmondwike; he was married with three children. Pte. John Longmire was a 30 year-old barman, who had been living and working at the Brick Hall Hotel in Skipton.  Pte. Willie Nichols was a 20 year-old fitter from Eccleshill, Bradford. Pte. Joseph Pickles was a 38 year-old stone mason from Keighley; he was married with two children. Pte. Joseph Renshaw was a 25 year-old carpet printer from Halifax. He had attested under the Derby Scheme in in December 1915, but his employers, Messrs. T. F. Firth & Sons had, in March 1916, appealed for him to be exempt from conscription; the appeal lead to a postponement but he had been called u in June 1916. Pte. William Robinson was a 34 year-old golf professional from Baildon; he was married with two children. Pte. Herbert Rushworth was a 23 year-old spinning overlooker from Queensbury, Bradford. Pte. Abraham Sunderland was a 32 year-old ironmonger’s assistant from Keighley; he was married with two children. Pte. Patrick Sweeney (see 16^th December 1916) had already had a number of brushes with military discipline. Pte. Benjamin Tetley was a 28 year-old painter from Wilsden, Yorks.; he was a married man with one daughter. Pte. Samuel Walker was a 37 year-old musician from Perth; he was married but had no children. Pte. Harry Walsh was 25 years old and from Halifax. Pte. Harold Wider was a 31 year-old woollen warper from Marsden, near Huddersfield. Pte. Arthur Wood (29040) was a 31 year-old woollen warehouseman from Huddersfield; he was married but had no children. Pte. Arthur Wood (29524) was a 38 year-old married man from Burley-in-Wharfedale. Pte. Arthur Wylie was a 35 year-old weaver from Earby; he was married with three children.

Pte. Harry Simpson (see 23^rd December 1916), who had spent the previous three weeks in hospital, was discharged to duty and re-joined the Battalion.

Pte. James Leonard Bloomer (see 11^th November 1916), serving with 83^rd Training Reserve Battalion at Gateshead, was reported as having been absent from duty for three hours; he was ordered to be confined to barracks for three days.

2Lt. Ernest Cyril Coke (see 28^th October), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, appeared before a Medical Board assembled at Tynemouth. The Board found that, “The condition has much improved and he is now fit for General Service”.

2Lt. Harry Widdup (see 26^th December 1916), who had been admitted to 1^st Southern General Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham two weeks’ earlier, appeared before a Medical Board assembled at the hospital. The Board found that, “He reported sick on December 16^th 1916 at Meaulte with pain in both lower limbs and in wrists. He was taken to the 14^th Casualty Clearing Station, where he remained until December 26^th; he was then transferred to Corbie and Rouen and was subsequently admitted to this hospital on December 31^st 1916. The pains have considerably abated, but have not disappeared and there is recurring debility”. He was deemed unfit for any service for one month on grounds of “Myalgia contracted as a consequence of infection while on active service in France”.  

Capt. William Norman Town (see 18^th November 1916), who was currently on three months sick leave, wrote to the War Office in reply to a request made almost two months earlier, confirming his current address as being c/o Junior Army and Navy Club, Horse Guards Avenue, London SW. This was in advance of a further Medical Board due to be held on 22^nd January. 

A payment of £2 4s was authorised, being a partial payment of the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Thomas Robinson Barwick (see 15^th July). The payment would go to his widowed mother, Mary Ann. The reason why only a partial payment was made (there was a further £2 3s 11d due on his account) is unclear.

Pte. Thomas Robinson Barwick

A payment of £2 11s. 9d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. John Thompson (see 31^st August 1916), who had been killed in action in August 1916. The payment would go to his mother, Eliza Jane.