Friday 22nd December 1916

Winnipeg Camp

A quiet day, with nothing to report, although the Battalion began to make preparations for a return to the front line. However, the weather became very windy; Brig. Genl. Lambert, commanding 69^th Brigade (see passim) told his wife that, “I was out seeing some of the Battalion camps and was caught in about as heavy a gale as I have been in for a long time. It nearly blew me out of the saddle and the horse could hardly get along. Roofs etc were being swept off and it was a most surprising wind”.

(I am greatly indebted to Juliet Lambert for her generosity in allowing me to reproduce extracts from Brig. Genl. Lambert’s letters).

L.Cpl. Harold Brooksbank (see 9^th October) and Ptes. John William Addison (see 19^th June), James Albert Garbutt (see 11^th September 1915), Joseph Holmes (see 7^th October 1915) and Joseph Wilkinson (see 10^th November) departed for England on ten days’ leave.

2Lt. John Selby Armstrong Smith (see 24^th May), who had been with the Battalion  for the previous seven months left, recorded simply as ‘unfit’. The nature of his illness or injury has not been established.

Capt. George Reginald Charles Heale MC (see 7^th December), who had recently been ordered to relinquish his commission on grounds of ill-health, wrote to the War Office asking that he should be allowed to retain the honorary rank of Captain. 

Capt. George Reginald Charles Heale MC

James Hatton Kershaw (see 6^th July) who had been at the Cardigan Sanatorium in Wakefield having been discharged from the Army due to TB, was discharged and returned to his home in Rastrick.

A payment was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Cpl. Herbert Waddington (see 10th October). The payment was divided equally, presumably in accordance with the terms of his will, into seven separate payments, each of £1 9s. 9d. to Waddington’s Mother and six siblings.

Thursday 21st December 1916

Winnipeg Camp

The Battalion, along with 9^th Yorkshires, was drawn up in two ranks on the Ouderdom-Vlamertinghe road and inspected by Field Marshall Haig at 12.40pm. Brig. Genl. Lambert, commanding 69^th Brigade (see passim) was less than enthusiastic about Haig’s visit, as he revealed in a letter to his wife, “We are being inspected today by the C-in-C and I cannot say I enjoy these functions. I don’t suppose it will last long, but I hope it will go off all right. It is not as cold today, but more inclined to be wet. I hope it is not going to rain as personally I am not very fit to stand or sit on a horse in wet clothes with the rain coming down and no coat! … I wish he could have chosen another time as we are keeping Christmas on this and the forthcoming day. At least the men are”.

On completion of the inspection the Battalion marched back to Winnipeg Camp, where, in the evening, they had their Christmas Dinner. The menu, as described by Cpl. Fred Swale (see 17^th December), comprised of, “pork, beef, potatoes, cabbages, apple sauce, beer, plum pudding, sweets, cigarettes, etc etc, and after dinner we had a concert. A special band, on tour from ‘Blighty’, was the star turn”.

Cpl. Fred Swale

Image by kind permission of Joan Rigg and family

(I am greatly indebted to Juliet Lambert for her generosity in allowing me to reproduce extracts from Brig. Genl. Lambert’s letters).

Pte. Tom Lister Ellison (see 2^nd November) re-joined the Battalion after spending seven weeks away on a cold-shoeing course at Abbeville.

L.Cpl. Stephen Grady (see 24^th November), serving with the Brigade Trench Mortar Battery, was found to have been absent from his billet; he was deprived of his rank of Lance Corporal, and reverted to Private.

Pte. Reginald Jerry Northin (see 28^th October), who had recently (details unknown) been transferred from 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffs. To 3DWR at North Shields, was reported as ‘absent off parade at 9am’; he would be confined to barracks for two days.

A payment of £59 12s. 6d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late of 2Lt. Henry Herbert Owen Stafford (see 6^th November).

A payment of £5 12s. 5d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Sgt. Ephraim Smith (see 20th September), who had been killed in September; the payment would go to his widow, Mary.

A payment of £2 18s. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. William Ogden (see 6^th October), who had been killed in action in October; the payment would go to his father, Holland.

Wednesday 20th December 1916

Winnipeg Camp

In the evening a party was again despatched to Ypres, by train, to work with the Royal Engineers.

Pte. Arnold Crossley (see 17^th July) was sentenced to 14 days Field Punishment no.2; the nature of his offence is unknown.

Pte. Edward Grayshon (see 4^th December) was discharged from hospital and re-joined the Battalion, following treatment for influenza.

2Lt. Tom Pickles (see 13^th December), formerly of Tunstill’s Company, but currently on home leave while serving with 9DWR, was taken ill. He became, in his own words, “severely indisposed”. He then saw his local doctor, who advised him to see the Military Medical Officer at Keighley. A Colonel in the RAMC at Keighley advised him to go back to his own doctor, but would not give Pickles a medical certificate.

L.Cpls. Harry Clark (see 1^st September) Arthur Gill (14980) (see 1^st September), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, were reduced to the rank of Private (details unknown).. 

L.Cpl. James Barker (12288) (see 10^th October), who had been in England since having been wounded in October was discharged from the Military Hospital, Sycamore Road, Nottingham; he would have two weeks’ leave before reporting to Northern Command Depot at Ripon.

John Widdup, younger brother of 2Lt. Harry Widdup (see 16^th December), who had attested ten days earlier, passed his Army medical at Keighley.

2Lt. Robert Aubrey Hildyard, serving with 1^st King’s Own Royal Lancasters, was killed in action on the Somme; he was 19 years old and the only son of Maj. Harry Robert Hildyard (see 6th June) 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. Both Robert Hildyard and 18 year old 2Lt. Godfrey James Wilding, who was killed alongside him as they sheltered in a dug-out, were buried in marked graves close to where they had fallen; in 1920 their remains would be exhumed and re-buried at Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt. The original grave marker from Hildyard's grave was returned to England and is now in the parish church in his home town of Hythe, where there is also a memorial window, erected by his parents.

A payment of 17s. was authorised, being the first instalment of the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late L.Sgt. William McLoughlin (see 5^th July), who had been killed in July; the payment would go to his married sister, Aggie McQueen.

A payment of £3 3s. 4d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. James Thomas Coughlin (see 29^th July), who had been killed in action on 29^th July; the payment would go to his widow, Ethel.

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. William Hindle was a 36 year-old auctioneer's clerk from Halifax. 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.

A/Cpl. Arnold Freeman (see 29^th July), who had been in England since having been severely wounded in July, was formally discharged from the Army as no longer physically fit for service on account of his wounds; he would be awarded the Silver War Badge and an Army pension.

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.

Monday 18th December 1916

Winnipeg Camp

In the evening a party was again despatched to Ypres, by train, to work with the Royal Engineers.

Pte. John Smith Hodgson (see 22^nd July) was reported as having a “dirty tunic and badly fitted equipment”; on the orders of Capt. Frank Redington MC (see 16^th December), he was confined to barracks for three days.

Pte. Cuthbert Dyer (see 25^th March) reported sick, suffering from influenza, and was admitted to hospital.

Sgt. Robert William John Morris (see 28^th November) was evacuated to England from 13^th General Hospital in Boulogne travelling onboard the Hospital Ship St. Denis; he was suffering from bronchitis, but the details of his treatment in England are unknown.

Pte. Harold Rushworth (see 6^th April) was evacuated to England; at the time, although formally still serving with 10DWR, he was actually attached to 176^th Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers. It appears that he had been taken ill and may have been treated at first in France before being now posted back hospital in England.

Pte. Edwin Baldwin (see 1^st November), serving with the Motor Transport Section of the Army Service Corps, was ordered to be confined to barracks for five days having been reported as ‘gambling in the barrack room’.

Pte. John Roebuck (see 28^th October) was discharged from Edmonton War Hospital, where he had spent eight weeks being treated for ICT (inflammation of connective tissue) in his buttocks and thighs. He was granted ten days leave before joining 83^rd Training Reserve Battalion at Gateshead.

Lt. Paul James Sainsbury, (see 4^th December) serving with 3DWR at North Shields was again examined by a Medical Board assembled at Tynemouth, just two weeks after his previous examination; the Board now found him fit for general service.

Lt. Paul James Sainsbury

Messrs. Martineau & Reid, solicitors, acting for the Harris family, wrote to the War Office enclosing letters of administration for the estate of Lt. Harry Harris (see 7^th December) who had been killed at Le Sars. They requested payment of any amounts outstanding.

Lt. Harry Harris

Sunday 17th December 1916

Winnipeg Camp

In the evening, a party of one officer and 41 other ranks marched to Vlamertinghe and were then taken by train to Ypres, where they worked overnight under the supervision of the Royal Engineers, returning at 2.30am. This same exercise would be repeated on each of the next three evenings.

More men departed to England on ten days’ leave; they would spend Christmas Day at home with their families before leaving on Boxing Day to return to the front. Among them are known to have been Q.M.S. Frank Stephenson (see 8^th December), Cpl. John Matthewson Richard Grieves (see 24^th September); L.Cpl. Ellis Watson (see 12^th March) and Ptes. William Frederick Ackrill (see 10^th October), James Arthur Heap (see 16^th September) and William (Billy) Hoyle (see 9^th October). In the absence of Stephenson, some of his responsibilities as CQMS passed to Cpl. Fred Swale (see 16^th December). Pte. Harley Bentham (see 27^th October) was also home on leave over Christmas; he had been granted a month’s leave on the expiry of which he would begin an Officer Training course in preparation for his being commissioned. Another of Tunstill’s original recruits to be at home was Pte. Sydney Hoar (see 24^th November); he had been in hospital in Glasgow, after contracting trench fever, but was now fit enough to spend Christmas with his family.

QMS Frank Stephenson

Image by kind permission of Henry Bolton

Cpl. Fred Swale

Image by kind permission of Joan Rigg and family

Pte. Harley Bentham

Ptes. Harry Barraclough MM (see 8^th December) and Donald Stewart (see 6^th October) were formally transferred to 69^th Machine Gun Company, Machine Gun Corps.

Pte. Keith Sagar Bain (see 10^th December), who had recently arrived in France, completed his application for a commission, giving his present address as No.14 Camp, 7^th Infantry Base Depot, BEF, France.

Pte. Joseph Chandler (see 17^th October) was posted from the Regimental Depot in Halifax to 3DWR at North Shields.

Saturday 16th December 1916

Winnipeg Camp

Two NCO’s and fifty men and two NCO’s were attached for eight days to work with the Royal Engineers.

More men departed for England on leave; among them was Pte. Tommy Harding (see 8^th September 1914). On his arrival back at home, according to his pal Cpl. Fred Swale (see 3^rd November), “Just as he (Tommy) was going towards home he met his Father, going to post a parcel off to him”.

 

Cpl. Fred Swale

Image by kind permission of Joan Rigg and family

Pte. Arthur Sutcliffe (see 17^th October) was found to have been “absent from camp at roll call”; he was reported by Cpl. Henry Markham (see 15^th April) and ordered, by for Capt. Frank Redington MC (see 16^th December) to be be confined to barracks for four days.

Pte. John William Henry Bower Clark (see 5^th July), serving in France with 8DWR, was killed in action; he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing.

2Lt. Harry Widdup, (see 11^th December), serving with 9DWR near Meaulte on the Somme, was taken ill, suffering from ‘myalgia’ (general debility), with specific reference to pain in both lower limbs and wrists. He was evacuated to 14th Casualty Clearing Station.

Pte. Patrick Sweeney (see 12^th December), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, underwent his medical examination to confirm his fitness for service overseas.

Pte. Walter Robinson (15117) (see 4^th October), who had been in England since having been wounded in October, was posted to 83^rd Training Reserve Battalion at Gateshead.