Friday 3rd August 1917

Billets between Zudausques and Boisdinghem.

The weather remained very wet and the Battalion was again involved in musketry practice on the ranges.

Brig. Genl. Lambert (see 2^nd August) again despaired of the impact of the weather, “it was fine for a bit of the night but since then has again been pouring almost more heavily than ever. The trenches must be waterlogged! I suppose we shall be wanted somewhere soon, but meanwhile we are comparatively comfortable, though I wish we could have got on with some training instead of this endless rain”.

Ptes. Christopher Smith Birch (see 16^th January), Ernest Gee (see 11^th February), Alfred Hanson (see 17^th October 1916), William Edward Varley (see 16^th January) and Ernest Wilson (28985) (see 4^th May) were all promoted (unpaid) Lance Corporal.

Pte. Harry Hartley (see 8^th May 1916) was posted back to England; it would appear that he was ill, rather than having been wounded, but the details are unknown.

Pte. James Robert Ingleson (see 16^th July), who had suffered severe wounds three weeks’ previously, was evacuated to England for further treatment.

Pte. Thomas McDonald (see 23rd March), serving in France with 9DWR, was admitted to 51^st Field Ambulance (XVII Corps Rest Station) suffering from “P.U.O.” (pyrexia, or high temperature, of unknown origin); he would be discharged and re-join his Battalion after 13 days.

Pte. Ernest Smith (29167) (see 17^th June) who had suffered wounds to his head and thigh on 7^th June, and had been under treatment at the Kitchener War Hospital in Brighton, was sufficiently recovered to be transferred to Auxiliary Hospital “A”, at Wych Cross, Forest Row, Sussex.

Capt. Alfred Percy Harrison (see 26^th July), who had been in England since been wounded on 7^th June, appeared before a further Medical Board. The Board concluded that he was to remain in hospital for further treatment to his injured foot, and would be re-examined in two months’ time.

Pte. Joseph Clough (see 21^st May), who had been at Edinburgh War Hospital for the previous ten weeks, after being wounded, was discharged from hospital. He would have ten days’ leave before reporting to Northern Command Depot at Ripon. 

Maj. Harry Robert Hildyard, (see 20^th December 1916) who had been the original senior officer of Tunstill’s Company but who was now serving with 1^st (Home Service) Garrison Battalion, Leics. Regt., having been declared no longer fit for active service, was transferred to the Royal Defence Corps.

Pte. James Bentley Crosland (see 13^th March), who had been in England for almost a year after being gassed in August 1916, was posted from 3DWR at North Shields to Northern Command Depot at Ripon, having been deemed unfit to return to service overseas.

Pte. John James Cowling (see 24^th January), who had been in England since being wounded in January, appeared before a Medical Board assembled at St. Luke’s Hospital, Halifax. The Board found him unfit for further service due to his wounds, and recommended that he be discharged from the Army. 

The funeral of Gnr. John George Waggitt (see 1^st August) was held at Addingham Parish Church. His body had been recovered, on the previous Tuesday, from shallow water just below the bridge at Heber's Ghyll, on the edge of Ilkley Moor. He was the brother of L.Cpl. Willie Waggitt (see 1^st August), who had been killed at Le Sars in October 1916. The Craven Herald would subsequently (10^th August) report on the funeral;

“The members of the Addingham Platoon of the West Riding Volunteers, in command of Sergt. Baker, met the mourners at the top of the village, and formed an escort to the Church. The service in the Church and at the graveside was conducted by the Rev. J.W. Hall (rector). The firing party fired a military salute and the 'Last Post' was sounded. The chief mourners were Mr. and Mrs. Waggitt, Miss Waggitt, Miss Hannah Waggitt, Miss Lily Waggitt (sisters), Mr. and. Mrs. Lister Ellis, Mr. and Mrs. C. Brown, Mrs. Nixon, Mrs. Gregson (Moorside), Mr. Capstick (Woodhouse, Ilkley), Mr. Watson and Mr. E. Thackray (Netherwood), Mr. S. Whiteoak, Mr. John Rishworth, Mr. H. Todd, Mr. W. Lancaster, Mr. H. Moore, Mr. James Pighills, Mr. Bell, Mr. J. Gill, Mr. J. Rishworth, jun., Mr. A. Kendall, Mr. Charles Dewhurst (Moorside), Mr. L. Steel (Turner Lane), Mr. H. Mason, and Mr. R. Thompson (Gildersber).

Wreaths were sent from Nellie, Hannah, Lily, and Fred (somewhere in France), "In loving memory of our dear brothers John and Willie" (Willie fell in France about nine months ago), Mr. and Mrs. Nixon and Master Everitt and John Nixon. There was a large gathering of the public out of sympathy with the bereaved family”.

The Craven Herald also reported news of an appeal before the Skipton Military Tribunal by Mrs. Judith Carlton, mother of the late Pte. Frederick George Carlton (see 12th June), who had been officially ‘missing in action’ since the engagement at Le Sars on 5^th October. According to the report, in appealing on behalf of another son, who was a carter for the Midland Railway Company, Mrs. Carlton told the Tribunal that “two of her sons had already been wounded, another had been missing ten months, while a fourth son was at present on active service in France” and that, “They cannot take any more now unless they take me and my husband. I am willing to go if they will have me”. Her appeal was refused.

Pte. Frederick George Carlton