Training continued
At 8am on another fine, warm day the Battalion departed on a
six-mile march to a new camp at Scottish Lines in the Boeschepe area where two
nights were to be spent. After arriving at Scottish Lines Pte. Thomas Thompson (see 8th December 1916) was presented with the ribbon of
the Medaille Militaire, which he had been awarded following the actions at Le
Sars, by the Divisional Commander, Major General Sir J.M. Babington KCMG.
There was to have been a Yukon Pack competition between 10DWR and 11th
West Yorks, but this was cancelled due to the move. The Yukon Packs would be
much used in the forthcoming offensive. Both the medal ceremony and the
cancelled Yukon Pack competition were referred to in a letter home to his wife
Brig. Genl. Lambert (see 28th May). He also gave
her a hint as to the coming return to action. He told her, “The medal
presentation by the French C-in-C, General Petain, did not come off yesterday,
so General Babington presented them today after we had moved. He made a very
nice little speech about Barker (CO of 11th
West Yorks.) and myself and we had an audience of two of the battalions.
The other two were too far off to bring in. It has been another very hot and
dusty day but I fear we shall be getting a thunderstorm or a change to wet
soon. We are in for a strenuous time again after our rest and I am glad to get
the medal before we go in … Intended to have a great competition for carrying
loads today but had to postpone it til tomorrow. I had arranged for 18 per
battalion to carry stores in ‘Yukon Packs’ which are not unlike the things the
Swiss carry loads etc. in. Each man has to carry nearly 100 lbs and marks are
given for quickness in loading and unloading as well as for marching.”
(I am greatly indebted
to Juliet Lambert for her generosity in allowing me access to Brig. Genl.
Lambert’s diary and letters).
Cpl. Albert Bradley
(see 20thFebruary) was
promoted Lance Sergeant.
Just three days after his first promotion, L.Cpl. Willie Nichols (see 29th May) was now promoted Corporal.
Ptes. Fred Sutcliffe
(see 17th October 1916) and
Harold Precious (see 25th May) were reported
by L.Cpl. Robert Holdsworth (see 10th July 1916) and Cpl. Ronald Jeckell (see 29th January) respectively as having been,
“improperly dressed on parade”; on the orders of Maj. James Christopher Bull (see 25th
May) both would be confined to barracks for two days.
Pte. Leonard Briggs
(see 22nd May) re-joined
the battalion; he had spent the previous ten days at 23rd Division
Rest Station at Waratah Camp, south-east of Poperinghe, being treated for
‘myalgia’.
2Lt. Bob Perks, DSO
(see 31st May) rode around
eight miles to meet his former fellow 10DWR officer Capt. Leslie Guy Stewart Bolland MC (see
16th July) who was now serving with 8DWR, who were in camp at Bailleul.
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2Lt. Bob Perks DSO
Image by kind permission of Janet Hudson
|
Pte. Albert John
Start (see 26th March),
serving with a Base Details Battalion at Abbeville, departed for England on ten
days’ leave.
Trooper Claude Darwin
(see 24th May),
serving in Egypt with 1st Field Squadron, Engineers, Anzac Mounted
Division, was sent to 54th Casualty Clearing Station, having been
diagnosed as suffering from tonsillitis. He had been at a rest camp near
Alexandria where he had been recuperating following treatment to a minor injury
to his right hand. He was the brother of Tunstill recruit, Pte. Tom Darwin (see 24th May), who had recently re-joined 10DWR.
Pte. James Edward Simpson (see 17th April), who had been in England since having been wounded in April, was posted to 3DWR at North Shields.
Pte. Herbert Willis
Pickles (see 29th April),
serving with 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffs., was discharged from hospital in
Lichfield and re-joined his Battalion; he had been suffering from syphilis.
The weekly edition of the Craven Herald carried a report on the death of Pte. Edward Fawcett
of the Northumberland Fusiliers, which confirmed that news of Fawcett’s death
had been passed to his family in a letter from Sgt. Allan Wharton (see 3rd
November 1916), who was now serving with the same Battalion. It has not
been established when Wharton had been transferred to the Northumberland
Fusiliers, although it would appear to have taken place once he was recovered
from wounds suffered on the Somme in July 1916.
ANOTHER GARGRAVE SOLDIER KILLED
As briefly announced in our last issue, Pte. Edward Fawcett,
of the Machine Gun Section of the Northumberland Fusiliers, met with his death
instantly in action on April 28th last, aged 28 years. His parents have not as
yet had any official intimation the event, but an Earby youth named Allan
Wharton, who formerly lived in Gargrave, sent the news to his mother, who has
passed it on here. Wharton is in the same regiment as deceased. Prior to
enlisting at Keighley on May 6th, 1916, Pte. Fawcett was manager of Messrs.
Fred Green and Son's warehouse at Clapham, and was a member of the Gargrave
Mechanics' Institute and of the local Oddfellows' Friendly Society. Rev. A. C.
Blunt, vicar, feelingly referred to his sad death at the evening service on
Sunday last at the Parish Church, and the congregation stood while Mr. E.
Burlend (organist) played the 'Dead March.'
There was also news of another of Tunstill’s original
Company, Pte. Johnny Smith (see 22nd April):
IN A TORPEDO ATTACK
Mr. and Mrs. F. Smith, have received word from their son,
Private Johnny Smith, who was on the transport torpedoed on Sunday April 15th.
He writes, “You will be glad to know I was one of the lucky ones amongst the
saved from the big boat (SS Cameronia,
sank 150 miles east of Malta)
torpedoed on Sunday night, April 15th, at half past five. There were
over 3,000 on board and I cannot tell you how many were saved, but thank God I
am. I have been in bayonet charges, but they were nothing compared with the
sight I saw when the boat was going down and I don’t want to see another. I am
now safe and sound at Malta. We were 18 hours sailing after we were torpedoed
and I’ve never had such a long 18 hours in all my life”.
In a further letter he adds, “They did not give us long at
Malta to get over our shock, but never mind, we are now safe in Egypt. It only
took us about 70 hours, but I can tell you they seemed like 70 days to me.
There is nothing to grumble at here; it is very hot and dusty, but I think I
can stand that all right. We are here for equipment, then I expect we shall go
forward to Mesopotamia”.
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| Pte. Johnny Smith |
There were also reports on the deaths of Sgt. John Hudson (see 25th May) and Pte. Arthur
Gill (see 26th May).
ANOTHER BRADLEY SOLDIER KILLED – ONE OF THE FIVE
News was received on Wednesday morning by Mrs. Hudson, of
Pear Tree Terrace, that her youngest son, Sergeant John Hudson, of the Duke of
Wellington's Regiment, was killed in action on May 22nd.
Sergeant Hudson was one of the five Bradley lads who
enlisted at the commencement of the war, and went to France in July 1915. He
was wounded in the hip and shoulder on December 19th the same year. In July
1916, he was wounded in the arm and was in hospital eight weeks. He had just
got back into the fighting line when he had his equipment blown away without
any injury to himself, and had to take the clothes off a dead gunner. He was
mentioned in despatches in July and October 1916, and again in April this year.
He was 22 years of age and an old scholar of the Primitive Methodist Sunday
School. Prior to enlistment he was employed by Mr. T. Chapman, builder,
Skipton. The deepest sympathy is felt for Mrs. Hudson and family. The following
letter was received by Mrs. Hudson from Geo. Drake, one of the five lads
mentioned above:-
May 24th, 1917
"Dear Mrs. Hudson, - It is my painful duty to inform
you that your son was killed on the 22nd, along with another six, by an enemy
shell which fell in the midst of them. I can assure you that he suffered no
pain whatever, his death being instantaneous. He was buried the same night,
along with his comrades, in a cemetery halfway between Ypres and the line. In
the course of a few days a cross will mark the place. He was a good pal and
everyone in the Company liked him; he did his duty nobly and was a brave soldier.
It was about five o'clock when he was killed. Had he lived a few more hours he
would have gone out of the trenches the same night to seek billets for the
battalion.
Jack Hargreaves, who comes from Farnhill, was one of the
party who buried him. He told me they were buried decently, and a parson read
the Burial Service. All the Company and the non-commissioned officers and men
join in tendering you their deepest sympathy in your sad loss. He was my best
pal, and I was nearly heartbroken when I heard about it. You have my deepest
sympathy, but he has died in fighting for the freedom of Old England and the
banishing of Prussianism. We are out of the trenches at present.
Jack's old pal, GEORGE DRAKE."
 |
| Sgt. Jack Hudson |
SKIPTON SOLDIER REPORTED DEAD
We regret to state that news has been received from an
unofficial source that Private Arthur Gill, West Riding Regiment, son of Mr.
and Mrs. T.H. Gill, Newmarket Street, Skipton, has died from wounds received on
the Western Front. The sad news is contained in a letter written to his wife by
a Skipton stretcher-bearer of the West Riding Regiment named Pte. John William Atkinson MM (see 26th May), whose home is
in Nelson Street. Pte. Atkinson says:- "Private Gill was seriously wounded
and died almost immediately."
Twenty years of age, Private Gill enlisted in December 1914,
and went out to France in May the following year. He had been wounded twice
previously in the left leg on the 1st July 1916, and in the left leg and right
arm on the 1st January following. In civil life he was a butcher in the employ
of the Skipton Co-operative Society, and was connected with the Skipton Baptist
Church and a member of the local Liberal Club.
Since the above was written, Mr. Gill has received a letter
from Pte. J.W. Atkinson, in which the latter says:- "You will no doubt have
heard all about the death of your loving son Arthur, as I wrote to my wife and
mother asking them to let you know. Well, the Germans gave us a terrible
bombardment on the 22nd inst. I am sorry to say Arthur was in a dugout which
they knocked in with a shell, and he was very badly wounded and died nearly
right away. It is with deepest sympathy that I am writing this letter, but I
thought it my duty to let you know as early as possible. He was very well
respected by all, and we have lost a good soldier, but he died like a hero,
doing his duty to the last. I hope our Heavenly Father will be a comfort to you
in this awful hour of trial and trouble."
Pte. W. Boodle, West Riding Regiment, has also written to
the bereaved parents as follows:- "I am sorry to tell you that your son
was killed on May 22nd, about 2-50 a.m. He had just got into a dugout to have a
sleep after being on patrol all night, and he had not been in it an hour when
the Germans opened a very heavy bombardment upon us. The first shell knocked
the dugout in and buried five of us. We got out all right, but suddenly found
that your boy was still under, being covered with the remains of the dugout. I
at once started to dig him out, and after working for an hour succeeded. I then
got him on to a stretcher and saw him out of shellfire, as I was for hospital
myself. His last wish as we parted was that I should write to you. We have been
chums ever since we came to the Battalion, and I shall miss him very much. I
can quite understand your feelings at the sad news which this letter brings
you, and if ever I have the good luck to get over again I will come and see you
and explain how it happened, as I live in Leeds myself."
Second Lieut. R.O. Milligan writes:- "You have probably
by this time been informed officially of the extremely sad death in action of
your son. Gill had been in my platoon from the time he joined this battalion
and was always a favourite amongst his fellows. His cheery spirit made him
popular wherever he went, and he was one of the men on whom I could always
depend. Some months ago I chose him as my 'runner,' that is, my constant
attendant in action, and it was his lot to be by my side during many a lonely
watch and in many an exciting hour. He received his unfortunate wound whilst resting.
Only a few hours before his death, during a very heavy bombardment, we both
escaped miraculously from a shell which burst within six feet of us. And so,
having my self realised his worth, I can in some small way realise how great is
your loss. Please convey to his mother my deep sympathy, and be assured that I
hope and pray that you all may have strength to bear your great loss, and to
feel the pride of having sacrificed so much for the great cause."
Sergeant Dolding, of 'C' Company, West Riding Regiment
states:- "I am writing to let you know how sorry the lads and myself are
at having lost your., son Arthur. He was loved by everyone in the platoon, and
he died doing his duty. He was always cheerful, and had a good word for
everybody. He never once gave me an anxious moment, as his Platoon Sergeant. I
can speak as I found him. I know it seems very hard for so young a boy to be
cut off - but I believe he will receive a just reward for the good life he
lived. I hope you will accept our deepest sympathy. Your, son was a good
boy."
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| Pte. Arthur Gill |
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