Tuesday 17th April 1917

Trenches in the Hill 60 sub-sector, opposite the Caterpillar

Again a quiet day, with nothing to report as repairs continued to be made to the trenches. There were rain and hail showers throughout the day, turning increasingly to snow overnight.

Pte. James Slinger (see 16^th January) was briefly admitted to hospital (details unknown), but would be discharged next day.

Pte. Richard Palliser (see 16^th January) was evacuated to England (details unknown); he was suffering from a prolapsed rectum.
Pte. James Edward Simpson (see 26^th March), serving in France with 2^nd/6^th DWR, was wounded in action; he suffered shrapnel wounds to his arm and would be admitted via 44^th Casualty Clearing Station to 13^th General Hospital in Boulogne and from there, on 20^th April, evacuated to England onboard the Hospital Ship St. Andrew.

L.Sgt. Mark Allan Stanley Wood, (see 24^th January) who had applied for a commission whilst stationed at the West Yorks. Regimental Depot, having been treated for nephritis (inflammation of the kidney), was posted to 3^rd West Yorks. in preparation for his office training. He would later be commissioned and serve with 10DWR.

Monday 16th April 1917

Trenches in the Hill 60 sub-sector, opposite the Caterpillar

Another largely quiet day, fine for much of the day but with rain in the evening, with repairs and improvements still being carried out. However, at least two men were wounded in action. Pte. Michael Edward McCuen (known as ‘Teddy’) (see 12^th November 1916) was severely injured by a shell explosion, suffering wounds to his face, right leg and a compound fracture of his right forearm; he was treated first at 4^th London Field Ambulance before being evacuated to 2^nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Remy Sidings, Lijssenthoek. Pte. Alfred Whittaker (see 23^rd March) was also wounded; he suffered shrapnel wounds to the head and would also be admitted via 4^th London Field Ambulance to 2^nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station.

L.Cpl. Harry Smith (12240) (see 16^th July 1916) was promoted Corporal.

2Lt. Frank Wilkinson arrived in France, en route to join 10DWR; I am, as yet unable to make a positive identification of this officer.

Maj. Stephen Minchin Mercer, ASC (see 19^th March), who had taken a prominent role in raising recruits in the Craven area in the Autumn of 1914, was declared permanently unfit for service (reason not stated).

Capt. William Norman Town (see 5^th March), recently transferred to 3DWR from 3^rd Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, appeared before a further Medical Board convened at Tynemouth. The Board found him now to be fit for general service.

A pension award was made in the case of the late Pte. John Whitaker Fennell (see 24^thFebruary), who had been killed in October 1916; his widow, Kate, was awarded 18s. 9d. per week for herself and their daughter.


A pension award was made in the case of the late Pte. Charlie Wilman (see 29^th March), who had been killed in action in October 1916; his widow, Elsie, was awarded £1 2s. 11d. per week for herself and their two daughters.

Sunday 15th April 1917

Trenches in the Hill 60 sub-sector, opposite the Caterpillar

A miserable, cold day, with rain falling almost throughout. Conditions were generally quiet although much repair work was still needed as, “The line had been badly knocked about and there was practically no shelter. The left of our line was not continuous and was held only by posts”. Brig. Genl. Lambert (see 5^th April) visited the front line.

Pte. George Bernard Hardy (see 16^th January) reported sick and was admitted to 70^th Field Ambulance, suffering from influenza.

Pte. Charles Edward Lund (see 11^th March) who had spent the previous month at 34^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples was posted to no.5 Convalescent Depot at Bayeux; he was to be ‘attached temporarily for instruction’.

The troopship SS Cameronia, en route from Marseille to Alexandria, was torpedoed by a German submarine, U-33, about 150 miles east of Malta. The ship had been carrying approximately 2,650 soldiers and, although the ship sank in just 40 minutes, remarkably only 210 men died; most of the crew and embarked soldiers were picked up by the escorting destroyers HMS Nemesis and HMS Rifleman. Among those rescued was Pte. Johnny Smith (see 14^th July 1916). He had been wounded in the actions around Contalmaison in July 1916 and, having been treated in England, had not been posted back to his Battalion but was now en route to Egypt, from where he was to go on to join 1^st Battalion West Ridings in India. Johnny was soon able to write home to reassure his family of his safety:

 “You will be glad to know I was one of the lucky ones amongst the saved from the big boat torpedoed on Sunday night, April 15th, at half past five. There were over 3,000 (sic.) 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 added some thoughts about his arrival in Egypt:

“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”. 

Pte. Johnny Smith

L.Cpl. Rennie Hirst (see 19^th December 1916), who had been in England since December 1916 having suffered from trench foot while serving in France with 8DWR, was posted to 3DWR at North Shields.

Saturday 14th April 1917

Scottish Camp, south-west of Brandhoek

At 7.40pm the Battalion left their billets to relieve 8^th Yorks and Lancs in the front line trenches in the Hill 60 sub-sector, opposite the Caterpillar, south of the railway cutting. The main body of the Battalion met their guides at 9pm near Kruistraat, south-west of Ypres and the detachment who had been based for the previous three days at Zillebeke Bund (see 11^th April) were guided in directly from there. On arrival, two Companies, ‘A’ under Capt. Dick Bolton (see 10^th March) and ‘C’ under Capt. Alfred Percy Harrison (see 11^th April) went into the front line from the railway cutting south west to I.34.b.7.8. ‘B’ Company was in close support in the sunken road at I.28.d.3.3 and ‘D’ Company was held in reserve with two platoons at Railway Dugouts (I.28.d.9.9) and two at what was known as SP9 (I.28.a.6.4). The relief was not completed until 3.15 am on 15^th.

Pte. Richard Marsden (see 19^th November 1916) reported sick, suffering from influenza. He would be treated first at no.10 Casualty Clearing Station, before being transferred, via 133^rd Field Ambulance, to no.32 Stationery Hospital at Wimereux.

Pte. Edwin Wood (see 14^th February), who was in England having been wounded, was married, in Halifax, to Amy Lumb.

After spending the previous seven weeks at 3^rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth being treated for a corneal ulcer to his left eye, Pte. Frederick William Wilman (see 22^nd February) was discharged. He was allowed ten days leave, on the completion of which he would report to 3DWR at Tynemouth.

Frank Hird, Church Army Commissioner, Third Army and elder brother of Lt. Frederick Hird (see 19^th October 1916) who had been killed at Munster Alley in 1916, wrote to the War Office regarding the administration of his late brother’s estate. No payment of Frederick Hird’s outstanding pay and allowances had yet  been made due to the uncertainty over Hird’s marital status. Frank Hird now told the War Office,

“My late brother, Lt. Frederick Hird, was divorced by his wife in 1914, before he entered the Army … The address in his papers is that of my own house which, after his divorce, was my brother’s home in England, and which he asked permission to put down in the War Office papers as his address. He also told me that he had entered his name upon his enlistment in the Coldstream Guards in August 1914, as unmarried, he then being divorced … Since he died intestate, I am his heir and the only surviving member of his family”.

Friday 13th April 1917

Scottish Camp, south-west of Brandhoek

Training continued. The weather turned milder, but wet.

Pte. Edward Grayshon (see 8^th April), who had only re-joined the Battalion five dayspreviously, following treatment for “I.C.T.” (Inflammation of the connective tissue) ‘general’, was readmitted to hospital, suffering from I.C.T to his foot (‘trench foot’). He was admitted via 71^st Field Ambulance and 46^th Casualty Clearing Station to 16^th General Hospital at Le Treport.

Pte. Fred Stokes (see 4^th April) was evacuated to England; he had reported sick (date unknown) and had been diagnosed as suffering from chronic nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys).

Pte. Abraham Sunderland (see 11^th January) was admitted to 69^th Field Ambulance suffering from myalgia; he would be discharged to duty six days later.

Pte. Herbert Hodgkins (see 4^th April) re-joined the Battalion; he had spent ten days at 7^th General Hospital at St. Omer, with a suspected case of german measles.

Pte. Patrick Conley (see 29^th March), serving with 83^rd Training Reserve Battalion at Gateshead, appeared before an Army Medical Board. The Board rejected the report which had been compiled three weeks previously, and found, instead, that Conley was suffering from no disability; they declared him A1 and fit for general service.

Pte. John Arthur Atkinson was discharged from the Army as no longer physically fit for service due to sickness; he had been an original member of 10DWR and was from Huddersfield, but, in the absence of a surviving service record, I am unable to make a positive identification of this man.

A payment of £4 4s. 9d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late L.Cpl. John William Parker (13991) (see 6^th October 1916) who had been killed in action in October 1916; the payment would go to his widow, Ann. She was also awarded an Army pension of 13s. 9d. per week.

Image by kind permission of Any Wade and MenOfWorth

An article in the weekly edition of the Craven Herald reported that official acceptance of the death of Pte. Clifford George Unwin (see 28^th July 1916) had now been notified by the War Office. Unwin had been officially missing, presumed dead, since the actions around Contalmaison nine months previously.

SKIPTON SOLDIER'S DEATH CONFIRMED

In our issue of July 28^th last year we recorded the fact that news from an unofficial source had been received of the death of Private Clifford George Unwin, son of Samuel Unwin, formerly of Skipton, but now of Keighley. This news, which was contained in a letter from another Skipton soldier named Pte. John William Atkinson MM (see 6th October 1916), whose home is at 29, Cavendish Street, has this week been confirmed by the War Office. Before joining the Army on his 22nd birthday in September 1914, Pte. Unwin was a twister and loomer for Messrs. Rose, Hewitt, and Co., and lived with his married sister, Mrs. McEnnerney, in Dawson Street, Skipton. He enlisted in the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment, and had been at the Front several months.

Pte. Clifford George Unwin

Thursday 12th April 1917

Scottish Camp, south-west of Brandhoek

Training continued, with the weather remaining cold but fine.

Pte. Charles Smith (29004) (see 16^th January) was admitted to 69^th Field Ambulance at Landbouver Farm, north-west of Reninghest, suffering from myalgia; two days later he would be transferred to the Divisional Rest Station at Waratah Camp, south-east of Poperinghe.
Lt. Thomas Beattie, (see 26^th February), currently serving with 83^rd Training Reserve Battalion in Gateshead, appeared befiore a further Medical Board assembled at Newcastle-on-Tyne. The Board found his condition to be unchanged from his previous appearance and instructed him to resume his duties at home for a further month.

A payment of £8 10s. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Frank Sanderson Chatwin (see 11^th July 1916), who had been killed in action in July 1916; the payment would go to his father, Thomas.

A payment of £6 2s 1d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Frederick William Jesson (see 18^th February), who had been killed at Le Sars in October 1916; following recent correspondence between his sister and the War Office the payment would go to his mother, Sarah.

Wednesday 11th April 1917

Scottish Camp, south-west of Brandhoek

Training continued. A large party, comprising 340 officers and men, under the command of Capt. Alfred Percy Harrison (see 9^th April) was despatched to Zillebeke Bund, from where they would be deployed to provide working parties to improve the trenches in the Hill 60 sub-sector, where the Battalion was shortly to be deployed. The trenches had been badly damaged by the intense German bombardment and attacks of 9^th April. These movements took place despite the very cold weather and a severe snowstorm which continued throughout the late afternoon and evening.

Pte. William McEvoy (see 5^th March) was discharged from 4^th Stationary Hospital at Arques, following treatment for scabies; it is not known exactly when he re-joined the Battalion.

Pte. Herbert Greenwood Audsley (see 16^th March) was transferred from 34^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples to duties at 24^th General Hospital, also based at Etaples.

Pte. Joseph Chandler (see 31^st March), who had been held in detention after having been previously reported as having deserted while serving with 3DWR at North Shields, was tried by District Court Martial. He was found guilty of the lesser charge of being ‘absent without leave’ and was ordered to undergo three months’ detention; howver, the sentence would be remitted eight days later on his being posted back to France to join 8DWR. 

Pte. William Postill Taylor (see 29^th March), who had deserted from 3DWR two weeks earlier, was also tried and convicted; he was sentenced to three months detention. His sentence would also be remitted on being posted back to France; in his case to join 9DWR.

Frederick Ernest Green, who was the uncle of 2Lt. Maurice Tribe MC (see 29^th March), wrote to the Labour M.P. and member of the War Cabinet, Arthur Henderson, seeking his support. He outlined his nephew’s current circumstances as he understood them;

Barings Field

Newdigate

Surrey

To Rt. Hon. Arthur Henderson MP

“I want to appeal to your humanity and sense of justice. In the Battle of the Somme my nephew was picked up as dead. He has lost an eye, has had his head battered (there is still danger about the brain and the eye still exudes pus) and returned home with piles and rheumatism, aged 23. Just after being discharged from hospital the other day he went up for re-examination and to his amazement after being granted a pension of £100 a year, was passed for General Service and told he would have to go back to the firing line after a month or two at home. He mildly remarked to the stupid doctor that he had lost an eye, and this gentleman brutally responded that two eyes were now a luxury.

My nephew is not aware that I am writing to you, but I know that he feels very keenly about his incapacity to lead a bombing party with one eye, or to avoid hand grenades, but of course the stupid old doctor would not understand this. My nephew says he would be perfectly useless in the firing line, and knowing as I do how irritable he is I do not think all danger mentally has yet passed. Of course he thought he had done his bit and had finished with the army for ever; and so did everybody else until he experienced this taste of Prussianism. He does not complain about being used at home as instructor of machine guns for instance, but he does think it suicidal to send him to a post of danger and responsibility.

I might mention he won the Military Cross (and was decorated the other week by the King) for more than one act of heroism.

If you would follow up the matter I will send you on his name and that of his Battalion.

A payment of £4 12s. 9d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Arthur Goldthorpe (see 6^th October 1916), who had been killed in action in October 1916. In accordance with the terms of his will the payment was divided in equal shares between his brother, Alfred, and Miss Annie E. Langford, who may have been Arthur’s sweetheart.

Pte. Arthur Goldthorpe

A payment of £18 8s 5d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Edwin Isherwood (see 28^th December 1916), who had been killed in action at Le Sars in October 1916. In accordance with the terms of his will the payment was divided between his mother Hannah, who received £5 8s 1d, and his siblings, George, James, Albert and Mary, each of whom received £2 14s 1d. There was a similar payment also to his sister-in-law Sarah, wife of his brother Thomas.

Pte. Edwin Isherwood