Saturday 24th March 1917

‘L’ Camp, near Poperinghe

The weather again turned much milder. Training continued and the final of the inter-Battalion football competition was played, with 11^th West Yorks. beating 8^th Yorks. 1-0.

Cpl. Harry Waddington (see 12^th March) was promoted Sergeant (and Signaller).

JJust two weeks after being sanctioned for smoking while on the march, Pte. Michael Henry Rourke (see 9^th March) was again in trouble, this time for “insolence on parade”; he was again reported by Cpl. George Wallace Fricker (see 9^th March), and again on the orders of Capt. Alfred Percy Harrison (see 23^rd March), he was to be confined to barracks for seven days. Pte. Thomas Richardson (see 13^th December 1916) was reported for having ‘dirty small arms ammunition’; he was reported by Sgt. Norman Wilson (see 7th October 1915; it is not known when he had been promoted) and on the orders of Capt. James Christopher Bull (see 10^th March), he was to be confined to barracks for three days. Pte. Charles Frederick Riddial (see 16^th January) was also in trouble; he was reported by Cpl. Edward Woffindale (see below) for having a dirty rifle on parade. He was ordered to be confined to barracks for five days, on the orders of Capt. Harrison.

Edward Woffindale was an original member of the Battalion. He was 37 years old and from Pool-in-Wharfedale, where he had worked as a woodman. He had been promoted Corporal whilst the Battalion was in training in England.

Pte. John William Oates (see 16^th January) was evacuated to England (details unknown); he was suffering from ‘debility’.

Pte. Alfred Bogg (see 6^th October 1916), who had been in hospital in England for the previous five months after having been wounded in October 1916, was discharged from to 2^nd Western General Hospital in Manchester. In the absence of a more complete service record the details of his subsequent service are unknown, but he would serve with both 9DWR and 2^nd/4^thDWR.

The weekly edition of the Keighley News carried a brief report of local men who had been wounded in action; those named included Sgt. Frank Shelah Gilleard (see 6^th October 1916). Also named in the list was Pte. James Deeks; he had been a pre-war regular and had gone to France in November 1914 with 2^nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment but had subsequently been transferred to 10DWR. It is unclear exactly when both men had been wounded, but it was most likely during the actions in late February.