Thursday 14th February 1918

Front line trenches on the Montello, between roads 14 and 19.

The weather turned colder and more wintry.

L.Cpl. Frederick William Warner (see 4^th February) re-joined the Battalion after two weeks in hospital (cause unknown).

L.Cpls. Robert Hitchen (see 27^th October 1917) and Victor Race MM (see 16^th August 1917) and Ptes. James Butterworth (see 4^th December 1917), Richard Harrison (see 24^th ) Thomas Fielden (see 4^th July 1917), William Ley (see 29^th October 1917) and Arnold Robson (see 27^th August 1917) departed on two weeks’ leave to England.

Pte. Joseph McDermott (see 20^th September 1917) was admitted via 70^th Field Ambulance to 23^rd Division Rest Station; he was suffering from ‘ICT’ (inflammation of connective tissue) in his right leg.

69^th Brigade football team played a second replay against 70^th Brigade following their first two matches having been drawn (see 10^th February); on this occasion 70^th Brigade won, 3-1.

Pte. Hiram Tasker (see 5^th February), who had spent ten days at 23^rd Divisional Rest Station suffering from “P.U.O.” (pyrexia, or high temperature, of unknown origin), was transferred via 24^th Casualty Clearing Station to 11^th General Hospital at Genoa, with a diagnosis of ‘trench fever’.

Pte. John Nunn (see 5^th February) was transferred from the Labour Centre at Northern Command Depot at Ripon to 480^th (Home Service) Employment Company, Labour Corps.

The former Battalion Chaplain, Rev. Wilfred Leveson Henderson MC (see 21^st November 1917), who had been severely wounded in the attack on the Messines Ridge on 7^th June, appeared before an Army Medical Board at Yorkhill War Hospital, Glasgow. The Board found that, “He has made progress since his last Board. He has been walking considerable distances with sticks and never uses his crutches. The pain has become less. He can walk about the house without the aid of sticks and the pain has greatly decreased in his legs. His special boot is acting admirably”. He was granted a further months’ leave before being re-examined.

Four days after confirmation was given that 2Lt. Maurice Tribe MC (see 10^th February) was unfit for any medical category higher than CII, making him fit only for garrison duty at home, notice was issued that Tribe was to undertake a course in metallurgy in the Technical Department at the University of Sheffield, under the Ministry of Munitions, in lieu of regimental duty.

Pte. William Johnson (13081) was was formally discharged from the Army as no longer physically fit for service; he was suffering from epilepsy; he would be awarded the Silver War Badge and an Army pension. He was a 35 year-old egg and yeast merchant from Bradford and was married, with two children (two other children had died in infancy). He had been an original member of 10DWR and had subsequently (date and details unknown) been transferred to 2DWR. In the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to establish any further details of his military career.

A payment of 5s. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. James Scott (235412) (see 24^th September 1917), who had died of wounds on 24^th September 1917; the payment would go to his executors, his mother, Jane.

Letters of administration were granted to Mrs. Alice Taylor, widow of the late 2Lt. William Taylor (see 18^th September 1917), who had been killed in action on 18^th September 1917; his estate was valued at £451 3s. 6d. She would also, in due course (date unknown) receive a payment of £56 14s. 2d., in respect of a war gratuity and the amount outstanding on her late husband’s account.

Wednesday 13th February 1918

Front line trenches on the Montello, between roads 14 and 19.

Another fine day.

Pte. Andrew Davidson (see 21^st January) re-joined the Battalion.


L.Cpl. George Holmes (10794) (see 13^th January), serving in France 8DWR, was transferred to 9DWR; a week later having been found guilty on a charge (details unknown) he would be deprived of his Lance Corporal’s stripe and reduced to Private.

Pte. Eber Casson Sykes (see 14^th May 1917), serving in France with 54^th Company, Labour Corps was transferred to 298^th Reserve Labour Company, also in France.

Pte. George Edward Chapman (see 8^th September 1917), who was back in England after serving just one week with 10DWR in June 1916 before suffering shellshock, was posted from 517^th (Home Service) Labour Company, Labour Corps to 3DWR at North Shields.

At home in Wheatley, Halifax, the infant son of L.Cpl. Fred Wilson Fawcett (see 16^th January) died; Stephen Fawcett was 19 days old and his cause of death was stated as being ‘convulsions’.

Pte. Oswald Bolton (see 5^th July 1916) was formally discharged from the Army as no longer physically fit for service having had his right arm amputated as a result of wounds suffered in July 1916; he was awarded an Army pension of 28s. per week for life.

A payment of £2 17s. 6d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Luther Taylor (see 25^th May 1917), who had been killed in action on 25^th May 1917; the payment would go to his executors, his mother, Alice.

A payment of £1 5s. 11d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Walter Kenyon Whitehead (see 20^th September 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his executors, his father William and his married sister, Alice Arguile.

Tuesday 12th February 1918

Front line trenches on the Montello, between roads 14 and 19.

Another fine day.

It seems likely that it was during this tour in the line that a number of incidents occurred which 2Lt. Bernard Garside (see 27^th January) would later relate in the memoir he wrote for his young niece and nephew, 

“It was on the Piave too I first had bullets flying near me. I had gone down to the front line and was standing reading my map and looking round me on the top of the trench, for I loved maps then and do now. Suddenly I heard something twanging the wires just in front of me and heard an aeroplane up above. I realised pretty soon that our guns were firing and it and the bullets were dropping practically on me. You bet I soon got into the trench. Of course they would only have given me a nasty knock on my steel helmet, but still … Another incident shows you the kind of pranks soldiers can play on each other. Our Company Commander, going visiting our sentries in the front line one night, found a sentry from the next Company nodding. He cried, “Hands up!” and then showed him how neglectful he was. The sentry told some sort of yarn about this which made his Company’s officers think it was a dirty trick, so they were wild. Next night, our Company Commander had to go on a patrol and cross the shingle, and the Company next door knew this, so they pretended they thought the noise heard was the Austrians and fired their Lewis guns just over his head, scaring him badly. The Officer who did this was called Airey (2Lt. Stephen Brown Airey, see 9th October 1917), and came from Skipton and your Mummy knows him”.

L.Cpl. Ernest Gee (see 28^th December 1917), who had been in England since having been wounded on 20^th September 1917, was posted from Northern Command Depot at Ripon to 3DWR at North Shields.

Lt. Harold Lockhart Waite (see 12^th December 1917), who had served with the Battalion from its creation until being transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in May 1916, appeared before a further RFC Medical Board, having been wounded in August. He was declared unfit for active service for a further two months, but fit for home service, though with no flying. He was posted to duty at the Royal Flying Corps' No. 5 School of Military Aeronautics at Denham.

A payment of £2 14s. 3d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late L.Cpl. George William Foster (see 20^th September 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his father, Holmes. His father would also receive a parcel of his personal effects comprising of, “wallet, photos, cards, mirror”.

A payment of £2 11s. 11d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Thomas Henry Swift (see 20^th September 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his father, Thomas.

A payment of £2 1s. 8d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Arthur Thornton (see 21st October 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his widow, Edith.

A payment of £1 5s. 11d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. John Joseph Walker (see 20^th September 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his mother, Sarah.

Monday 11th February 1918

In billets between Crocetta and Biadene.

The fine weather continued.

Overnight 11^th/12^th the Battalion relieved 11WYR in the same sector of the front line, between roads 14 and 19 on the Montello, which they had occupied on their previous tour (see 3^rd February). Three Companies were positioned in the front line, with the fourth in close support.

L.Cpl. Robert Sylvester Downey (see 10^th July 1916), serving at the Regimental Depot in Halifax, was deprived of his Lance Corporal’s rank on account of “improper conduct” (details not specified).

Pte. Myers Atkinson (see 20^th September 1917), who had been in the UK since being wounded on 20^th September 1917, and had had his left leg amputated below the knee, appeared before an Army Medical Board assembled at 4^th Scottish General Hospital, Glasgow. The Board recommended that he be discharged from the Army as no longer physically fit for service. 

Pte. Thomas Bownass (see 16^th March 1917), appeared before an Army Medical Board which recommended that he be discharged as no longer physically fit for service.

A payment of £2 11s. 2d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Henry Thomas Lackey (see 21^st September 1917), who had died of wounds on 21^st September 1917; the payment would go to his widow, Hannah.

A payment of £3 3s. 11d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Harold Peel (see 20^th September 1917) who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his widow, Edith.

A payment of £12 12s. 3d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Sgt. Norman Wilson (see 17^th October 1917) who had been killed in action on 17^th October 1917; the payment would go to his father, Joseph.

Sunday 10th February 1918

In billets between Crocetta and Biadene.

The weather remained fine.

Ten days after suffering an accidental injury while in the front line, Pte. William Hewitt (25172) (see 1^st February) was admitted via 70^th Field Ambulance to 23^rd Division Rest Station for treatment to his sprained left ankle.

69^th Brigade football team played a replay against 70^th Brigade following their first match which had ended 0-0 (see 29^th January); the game again ended 0-0.

An Army Medical Board confirmed that 2Lt. Maurice Tribe MC (see 29^th January) was unfit for any medical category higher than CII, making him fit only for garrison duty at home.

Saturday 9th February 1918

In billets between Crocetta and Biadene.

The fine weather continued.

Pte. Fred Clayton (see 5^th January) was reported by CSM Ernest James Odell (see 10^th January) for ‘loss of jack knife’; on the orders of Lt.Col. Francis Washington Lethbridge DSO (see 25^th January) he was to pay for the lost item.

Ptes. Samuel Stansfield (see 8^th January) and James Stott (see 16^th November 1917) were reported by Sgts. Joseph Maddison MM (see 5^th January) and Herbert Wheyland (see 8^th February) for ‘loss of kit by neglect’; in Stansfield’s case a PH gas helmet but unspecified kit in the case of Stott. On the orders of Maj. Edward Borrow DSO (see 8^th February), commanding ‘A’ Company in the absence of Capt. Bolton (see 8^th February) both men were to pay for the lost items. 

Pte. Samuel Stansfield

Image by kind permission of Henry Bolton

Pte. Benjamin Fawcett (see 21^st January) was reported as having been ‘Absent from his billet without permission from roll call at 9pm’. He would be handed over to the guard of the 11^th Sherwood Foresters at 10.10pm the following day and would further be reported as drunk. On the orders of Maj. Edward Borrow DSO (see 8^th February) he would undergo 14 days’ Field Punishment no.1 and forfeit two days’ pay.

Lt. Ronald Ferguson (see 1^st September 1917) re-joined the Battalion from a temporary attachment to 69^th Machine Gun Company; it has not been established when he had joined 69^th Machine Gun Company.

Pte. Michael Langley (see 24^th January), who had been on leave to England, was reported as having overstayed his leave. 

Pte. Robert McCall (see 18^th October 1917), who had been severely wounded four months previously, suffering major chest wounds, was finally transferred back to the UK and admitted to Springburn Hospital in Glasgow.

Pte. William Walton (see 16^th October 1917), serving with 8DWR, was transferred to 9DWR.

Pte. James Duncan Foster (see 16^th January), serving with 2DWR, re-joined his Battalion following hospital treatment.

Cpl. Robert William Buckingham (see 19^th June 1917), serving at the Regimental Depot at Halifax, was reported for ‘Irregular conduct, ie quitting barracks whilst Company Orderly Sergeant’; he was ordered to be reduced to Lance Corporal.

Pte. John Broadbent (see 4^th September 1917), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, was transferred to formally transferred to the Army Reserve Class W, to resume his civil employment as a dyer’s labourer with Messrs. John Shaw of Bradford.

Pte. Victor Hillam (see 4^th October 1917), who had been in England since October, suffering from pleurisy, was sufficiently recovered to be posted to 3DWR at North Shields.

A payment of £2 1s. 8d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Willie Priestley (see 20^th September 1917), who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his widow, Lilian. She would also receive a parcel of her late husband’s personal effects, comprising of “photos, card, disc, 2 safety razor blades”.

A pension award was made in the case of the late Pte. Ernest Arthur Carter (see 17^th January), who had been killed in action on 7^th June 1917; his widow, Eva, was awarded 13s. 9d. per week.

Friday 8th February 1918

In billets between Crocetta and Biadene.

Another fine day.

Capts. Dick Bolton MC (see 5^th January) and Paul James Sainsbury (see 7^th January) departed on two weeks’ leave in Italy. They would spend some time on the Italian Riviera, at the resort towns of Rapallo and Ruta, and would also visit Milan, as evident from photographs and mementoes kept by Dick Bolton. (Images by kind permission of Henry Bolton).

Ptes. Henry Grimshaw (see 21^st October 1917), George Allen Holroyd (see 17^th October 1916) and Ernest Townsend (see 23^rd August 1917) departed on two weeks’ leave to England.

Sgt. Lionel Vickers (see 5^th January) and Pte. Frank Dunn (see 29^th October 1917) were reported by, respectively, Sgt. Joseph Bell (see 20^th September 1917; it is not known when he had been promoted) and by Sgts. Joseph Maddison MM (see 8^th January) and Herbert Wheyland (see below) for “loss by neglect of kit”; on the orders of Maj. Edward Borrow DSO (see 22^nd January), commanding ‘A’ Company in the absence of Capt. Bolton (see above) they were to pay for the lost items.
Sgt. Herbert Wheyland had previously served with 2DWR, but, in the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to establish the date and details of his transfer to 10DWR or any further details of his military career.

L.Sgt. Thomas Bulcock (see 1^st December 1917), serving in France with 8DWR, was transferred to 2DWR. 

Pte. Hubert Crabtree (see 2^nd April 1917), serving in France with 8DWR, was transferred to 1^st/6^thDWR.

Ptes. Matthew Henry Jubb (see 30^th January) and Richard Marsden (see 30^th January), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, were posted back to France. They were initially due to join 8DWR, but would instead be re-posted to 1^st/4^th DWR. 

Pte. Daniel Brennan (see 26^th December 1917), who had been in England since having been wounded in October 1916, appeared before an Army Medical Board which recommended that he be discharged from the Army as no longer physically fit for service.

A payment of £2 12s. 2d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Thomas William Jones (see 20^th September 1917), who had been killed in action on 20^th September 1917; the payment would go to his mother, Harriet.

The weekly edition of the Craven Herald published news of the deaths of the two local men killed in the sinking of the troopship Aragon. Memorial services had already beeh held for both Cpl. John Henry Hitchin (see 3^rd February) and Cpl. Harry Wilkinson of the ASC; he was the brother of James Wilkinson jnr. (see 3^rd February).

LONG PRESTON SOLDIER' S FATE – A MILITARY MEDAL HERO

The letters 'R.I.P.', meaning so much to those near and dear to the dead, have once again to be added to the name of a Long Preston soldier - Lance Corporal John Hitchin, of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. John Hitchin, Prospect House, who received official information by telegram from the Records Office at Perth that Lance Corporal John Hitchin "was missing, believed drowned, 30th December 1917." A letter was received by them on Saturday confirming the telegram.

Before joining the Army he was employed in the Settle Branch of the Bank of Liverpool. It will be remembered by many who knew him that he was wounded in the leg whilst fighting in the Arras district in May last year. Whilst acting as messenger he was buried to the neck by shell burst and suffered internal injury, but carried out his task for which he was awarded the Military Medal. After being invalided home he was sent to a convalescent camp at Ballykinlar, near Newcastle, in Ireland. He was on his last home leave in November, and then proceeded to the Ripon Camp, and from there started for the East, the last letter received from him being dated 23rd December, and probably sent from some port of call in the Mediterranean. It is supposed, and almost a certainty, that he was one amongst the many on the ill-fated 'Aragon', torpedoed in sight of Egypt on 30th December.

On Sunday night a memorial service was held in the Long Preston Parish Church, when the local Volunteers were present in uniform, and the church was completely filled by relatives and sympathisers. The Vicar, Rev. R. Shipman, in his sermon, said he thought Lance Corporal John Hitchin was the first to join Mr. Tunstill's Company when recruiting at the beginning of the war. He tried to make good and rose to the opportunity when he won the Military Medal, which was not an easy matter. In his last letter to his father he had said if he did not come back they would know he was trying to do his duty. They could picture him on that boat from which 800 lives were lost, brave to the last. The Dead March was played on the organ, and the Last Post sounded. The flag on the Church tower was at half-mast.

L.Cpl. John Henry Hitchin MM

BOLTON-BY-BOWLAND CORPORAL SUPPOSED DROWNED

On Saturday morning last Mr. J. W. Wilkinson, of the Coach and Horses Hotel, received word that his eldest brother, Corporal H. T. Wilkinson, was missing, supposed drowned on December 30th, and that word to that effect had been received from the Headquarters of the Army Service Corps. Private Wilkinson joined the A.S.C. soon after the outbreak of war and had his first leave last October. He returned for Alexandria at the end of November, and was probably, unfortunately, on the 'Aragon'. Corporal Wilkinson was a very popular lad and many friends will be very sorry at the sad news. He leaves a widow and one child, and was 36 years of age.

A memorial service was held in the Bolton-by-Bowland Church on Sunday morning for Corporal H. T. Wilkinson and Private Dawson Parkinson. The Rector, in referring to the loss said:- "Death, after all, is the common lot of everyone, but to each one death is the entrance into a newer fuller life. The sadness is not the death, but the incompleteness and unsatisfactoriness of our lives. God meant each life to be perfect, therefore He must have some method of completing elsewhere that which is imperfect here. So we shall leave that which is imperfect to enter that which is perfect, and to those who realise what death really means; the entrance into possession, into fuller powers, and wider life, is but the lifting of a latch which opens the door into the bright light beyond. This is what those of whom we are thinking today are experiencing. They both fought for their country - one became a prisoner of war, with all its hardships, the other lost his life on a transport. Now they are at rest." The Dead March was then played by the organist.

Cpl. Harry Wilkinson

There was also a report regarding the ‘adoption’ by the villagers of Gisburn of a prisoner of war in Germany to be supported by donations from the village, the previous recipient having died. The man selected was Pte. John Preston, of 2DWR, who had been taken prisoner during the Battle of Arras in the Spring of 1917; he was the younger brother of Cpl. Joseph Edward Preston (see 29th March 1917), who had been one of Tunstill’s original recruits and had been killed in October 1916.

GISBURN - PRISONER OF WAR

The prisoner of war newly adopted by the village in place of Pte. Parkinson is Pte. John Preston, of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, who is now in camp at Gustrow in Mecklenburg, Germany, and whose home is in Caton, near Lancaster. The sum of £2 13s. has been sent to Halifax for the month's parcels for him, and it is hoped to hear very noon that they are being safely received. The balance sheet of the fund from September, 1917, when the Knitting Guild's first gift of £4 was sent to Halifax for Pte. Parkinson, to Jan. 31st, 1918, shows the receipts to have been £22 14s. 11d., and the expenditure £19 18s. 2½d., leaving a balance in hand of £4 16s. 8½d.