Thursday 31st December 1914

10DWR remained in training at Aldershot.

Pte. Joseph William Henley (see 25^th September), who has home on leave, was married, at Halifax Parish Church, to Lilian May Bentley.

Wednesday 30th December 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Aldershot.

A number of men were reported, having failed to return on time from leave.

Pte. Ned Metcalfe was officially reported as having ‘deserted His Majesty’s service’; in the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to establish any details of this event. He was an original member of the Battalion, 30 years old, married and from Bradford, where he had worked as a labourer.

Pte. Albert Nixon was also reported, by Cpls. Layburn and Robinson, as ‘absent off furlough from midnight’; he would not return until 9pm on 2^nd January and, on the orders of Col. George Rainier Crawford C.B. (see 15^th December), woul be confined to barracks for seven days. Albert Nixon was a 26 year-old shoeing smith from Leeds; he was married with one daughter.

Pte. Arthur Walton (see 8^th December) was also reported as ‘absent off furlough from 12 midnight’; he would not return until 3.30pm on 5^th January and, on the orders of Col. Crawford, he would be confined to barracks for ten days.

Writing from his home address at The Green House, Hebden, Skipton, Robert Clement (Bob) Perks (see 20^th December) wrote, clearly with some indignation, to the War Office regarding a concern which had been raised about his fitness for appointment to a commission.

Dear Sir

PE/319 (M.T.3)

Referring  to your letters of Dec 16^th and Dec 24^th,  May I ask whether I am considered as medically unfit because I am reported as suffering from severe varicocele (see 29^th December) or is any sign of varicocele enough to make me medically unfit?

If it is because of my varicocele is reported as “severe” might I suggest that there is possibly some mistake due either to one of your clerks or to the Oxford O.T.C. doctor who examined me and whose report you have.  I suggest this because this Oxford doctor, (an R.A.M.C. man of course)  whose report your first letter professes to quote, told me himself that my varicocele was very slight and would not, he felt sure, hinder me in obtaining a Commission.  I have since seen my family doctor (who is an army doctor) with a view to an operation and he does not advise one and says that it cannot be called “severe” but it is very slight.  Added to this I have never before or since your startling letter felt any signs of the slightest varicocele.  Therefore, while apologising for worrying a very busy department, may I suggest that if a mistake cannot easily be discovered, I be allowed to go to the nearest R.A.M.C.) man here and  get him to send his report on me to you?

If, on the other hand, any sign of varicocele prevents me from obtaining a commission I hesitate to undergo a totally unnecessary operation for a vaguely possible commission.  Could you tell me therefore whether I could have a commission in any other branch (eg. R.A.M.C.) or the Territorials except by applying to a Colonel; or if I could enlist; or finally supposing I underwent a successful operation have you, or are you likely to have, anything else against me (medical or otherwise) and by the time I am fit again, (about a month) will officers still really be needed?

I am Sir your obedient servant

Robert Clement Perks

(I am greatly indebted to Janet Hudson for her kind permission to quote from Bob Perks’ correspondence).

Bob Perks, left, with his older brother, Martin Thomas Perks, during their time at Oxford.

Image by kind permission of Janet Hudson

Tuesday 29th December 1914

Charles Belton Eyre (see 12^th September) was examined by Medical Officer Lt. J. Jack; his report indicated that Charlie Eyre, “has a bad varicocele, which gives him a lot of trouble” (a varicocele is 'an enlargement of the veins of the spermatic cord or those of the scrotum) and he recommended that Eyre be discharged.

Monday 28th December 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Aldershot.

Sunday 27th December 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Aldershot.

Saturday 26th December 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Aldershot.

Pte. William McEvoy, who was home on leave in Bradford, was married, at St. Patrick’s Church, to Sabina Kenny. William McEvoy was a 24 year-old labourer from Bradford and had enlisted on 9^th September 1914.

Friday 25th December 1914

Tunstill’s Company celebrated Christmas Day, as reported in the words of Lance Corporal William Oldfield (see 24^th December):

GRASSINGTON PALS’ THANKS

A Hearty Letter

Lance Corporal William Oldfield of the ‘A’ Company, 10^th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, Oudenarde Barracks, Marlborough Lines, Aldershot, writing on Christmas Day to the Editor of the “Craven Herald” says:

“Kindly allow me a little space in your valuable paper to thank, on behalf of the Grassington Pals in the Duke of Wellington’s – about 18 in number – Mr. James Boothman of Burnsall – one of our lads who had the misfortune to be discharged – for the goose you kindly and willingly sent us; also all the ladies and gentlemen of Grassington and district who supplied us with mince pies, cake, cigarettes etc.

Through the kindness of the caretaker of the Soldiers’ Home at North Camp we all sat down to an excellent dinner at the above-mentioned home at half past seven on Christmas Eve. The goose was excellently cooked, along with a roast of pork and, served with vegetables and potatoes, provided a splendid repast for those fortunate to be present. I can assure you that the ‘bhoys in blue’ (reference to the ‘Kitchener Blue’ uniforms still being worn by the men) did ample justice and rendered a good account of themselves.

After dinner, fruit and smokes were handed round and the proceedings were presided over by Pte. C.J. Kelly, who filled the post admirably.

Today being Christmas Day we all attended Church parade. We have all been very busy decorating our ‘hut’, which, now it is finished, looks very well indeed and we are all having a right good old fashioned dinner. We are each one entering into it with a right good spirit and we hope to show the remainder of the Company that the country lads of Grassington appreciate the kindness shown towards them by their officers at this festive season.

I must not forget to mention that all the men in the Company, through the kindness of Lieut. And Mrs. Tunstill, have had a present of a very useful nature.

All our lads join me in wishing every reader of your paper a very prosperous New Year and all are hoping to render a good account of themselves when the opportunity presents itself and so keep up the grand traditions of the regiment to which we have the honour to belong.

I am yours sincerely

LANCE CORPORAL WILLIAM OLDFIELD

Thursday 24th December 1914

Tunstill’s Company began their Christmas celebrations in their barracks at Aldershot. The events of the day were related by Lance Corporal William Oldfield (see 12^th December), who had enlisted at Grassington, in a letter published in the Craven Herald on 1^st January 1915:

“Through the kindness of the caretaker of the Soldiers’ Home at North Camp we all sat down to an excellent dinner at the above-mentioned home at half past seven on Christmas Eve. The goose was excellently cooked, along with a roast of pork and, served with vegetables and potatoes, provided a splendid repast for those fortunate to be present. I can assure you that the ‘bhoys in blue’  (reference to the ‘Kitchener Blue’ uniforms still being worn by the men) did ample justice and rendered a good account of themselves.

After dinner, fruit and smokes were handed round and the proceedings were presided over by Pte. C.J. Kelly, who filled the post admirably”.

There was particular cause for celebration for John Henry Hitchin, who had been the very first man to volunteer to serve with Tunstill (see 13^th December), as he was formally appointed to a Temporary Commission with the rank of 2^nd Lieutenant.  He left the Company and would take up his commissioned rank with 11^th Battalion West Ridings. 

On the other hand, another of the original recruits was dismissed from the Army as being, “medically unfit”, with no further details specified. Albert Midgley had volunteered at Keighley, signing his papers on 22^nd September. He was the son of Major and Sarah Midgley who had raised five children since their marriage in 1892. Albert himself had been working as a ‘doffer’ (a doffer being someone who cleared full bobbins or spindles holding spun fibre from a spinning frame and replaced them with empty ones) in the local textile mills. He had married Annie Stevenson at Keighley Register Office on 20^th September 1913; their first daughter, Lily, was born less than a month later. What happened to Albert after his discharge from the Army has not been established.

Pte. George Swift (see 18th November) was also discharged as medically unfit.

At St. Anne’s Church, Southowram, Sgt. George Thomas Bates was married to Emily Crabtree; he was an original member of 10DWR, though not of Tunstill’s Company. Born in Ireland, at Curragh Camp, he had previously served ten years in the regular army with 1DWR (1898-1908), being promoted Corporal and a further two years on the army reserve, rising to the rank of Sergeant. He had been working as a dyers’ labourer until re-joining the army on the outbreak of war. On the outbreak of war he had re-enlisted and been appointed Sergeant.

Wednesday 23rd December 1914

Tunstill’s Company returned to Aldershot at the end of their week’s leave. Writing many years later, the author of an anonymous memoir (almost certainly one of the Battalion officers) remembered that, “It speaks well for the keen and soldierly spirit of this Company that, although they had to return the day before Christmas (sic.), only one man was absent without leave”. (It has not been possible to identify the man who failed to return on schedule).

The Craven Herald (1^st January 1915) reported the departure of the men and the extensive list of gifts which they took with them. It is interesting to note that the whole Company, and not just Tunstill’s original Settle volunteers were included in the provision of the gifts:

THE SETTLE COMPANY’S RETURN
Captain Tunstill and the Settle contingent of ‘A’ Company 10^th West Riding Regiment returned on Wednesday 23^rd December to Oudenarde Barracks, Aldershot, after a week’s leave. Everyone was proud and delighted to see how fit and well they were all looking, in spite of a strenuous time and hard work. They were given a good send off by their various friends.

They took with them large sacks of Christmas gifts to be distributed on Christmas Day, and thanks to the help and kindness of friends Mrs. H.G. Tunstill was able to collect sufficient warm knitted articles, in addition to other gifts, to not only provide the Settle recruits with a parcel containing a body belt (or other knitted thing), handkerchief, socks (from Mrs. Sharp), cigarettes, chocolates, toilet soap, tobacco and spice or Christmas cake, but to give a similar parcel to each of the other 180 men who belong to ‘A’ Company. The following is the list of gifts given:

The teachers and children of Airton Council School: 8 pairs of socks, 6 belts, 6 mufflers;

Mrs. H.G. Tunstill (Otterburn), 20 socks, 30 mittens, 3 belts, 13 mufflers, 10 pairs of gloves, 96 handkerchiefs, 96 pieces of toilet soap, 1,200 cigarettes, 96 packets of chocolate, and a Christmas card for each man;

Mr. and Mrs. Sharp (Otterburn), 86 pairs of socks;

Mrs Yorke (Halton Place), 25 mittens, 10 belts;

Mrs. Frances Parker (Waddington), one pair of socks, 8 mittens, 7 belts, 4 mufflers, 1 pair of knee caps;

Mrs. Ecroyd (Armathwaite), 22 socks, 17 mittens, 4 belts, 15 shirts, 36 handkerchiefs, 500 cigarettes, 2 lbs. tobacco, 24 tins boracic ointment, 24 tins Vaseline;

Mrs. King-Wilkinson and the Slaidburn Working Party, 28 belts;

The Misses Hammond (Arncliffe), 3 mittens, 7 belts;

Mrs. Illingworth (Hanlith), 65 belts;

Mrs. Hubbard (Settle), 3 pairs socks;

Mrs. Atkinson (Settle), 1 pair socks, 1 pair mittens, 1 muffler;

Mr. Norman Illingworth (Woking), 20 lbs. tobacco.

 

A range of other gifts are also known to have been provided specifically for the Grassington recruits, including mince pies, cake and cigarettes (see 25^th December) and it is likely that the contingents from other parts of the District were similarly treated.

Tuesday 22nd December 1914

The Grassington recruits home on leave from Aldershot were entertained at Grassington Town Hall. The event was reported in the Craven Herald (1^st January 1915):

Entertainment

The children of Grassington School gave an entertainment at the Town Hall on the 22^nd, comprising the play “Dick Whittington”. The second part of the programme consisted of songs and recitations. The object was two-fold, viz. to give the Grassington recruits who were home on furlough a pleasant evening and buy them some comforts before going to the front. After paying for the panic bolts which had to be purchased before the license could be obtained, the proceeds were handed over to the Rifle Club Committee, who afterwards held a supper and dance. The money from both parties will be put together and wisely spent for the young soldiers. Corporal Eley, Lance Corporal Oldfield and Pte. Stubbs were on duty in the Hall.

 

A social event for the returned soldiers was also held in Long Preston. The report in the Craven Herald is incomplete but it makes clear that, “In the interval Mrs. Shipman (wife of the Vicar), in the absence of Mrs. Sharp, who had prepared Christmas presents for the local recruits, handed the presents to about a dozen men from the 10^th Battalion West Riding Regiment. It had been intended to give each one a cardigan jacket, but the sample sent was not suitable. The whole company, joining hands, sang “Auld Lang Syne”, the gathering concluding with cheers for the soldiers”.

Monday 21st December 1914

The detachment of ‘A’ Company (including the recruits from Ilkley and Earby) who had remained in training at Camberley along with other men from the Battalion, returned to barracks at Aldershot. News of their progress was reported in the Ilkley Gazette:

THE ILKLEY MEN AT ALDERSHOT

The Ilkley men attached to 10^th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment are at present in barracks at Aldershot. They were billeted for a fortnight at Camberley in Surrey for field training purposes, and have now about completed their course, except musketry practice, which up to the present has been confined to indoor range shooting with the Morris Tube (the Morris Tube was an adaptation which could be added to a rifle to allow a smaller calibre round to be fired, thus allowing rifle practice to take place in more confined spaces). There are over 200,000 troops of all arms located at Aldershot and very strict military discipline prevails. Furlough is being granted for Christmas and the men of the West Riding Regiment are coming home in Companies. Corporal George Reginald Percy, the assistant surveyor for the Ilkley District Council, has recently been promoted to be scout sergeant, and Private J.B. Redfearn is also attached to the scouts, while Private Fred Turner is now one of the battalion butchers. Being close to the Farnborough aerodrome, aeroplanes are frequently seen in flight and, until a week or two ago, they were accustomed to see a good many German prisoners, both soldiers and civilians, but these have been removed to Southend.

George Reginald Percy had enlisted with the Ilkley contingent; he had been working as assistant surveyor for the local district council. He was a recent arrival in the area having been born in Windsor and had lived for some time in Twickenham. Both his father and grandfather had been piano tuners.

The photograph below, from the album kept by Capt. Dick Bolton, features Percy (in his uniform as Scout Sergeant) along with fellow NCOs, Sgts. Harry Dewhirst (see 18^th September), Samuel Collins (see 17^th December) and David Hanton (see below). None of these three were original volunteers to Tunstill’s Company but all had been posted to the Company whilst in training at Frensham; Collins and Hanton appear in Capt. Bolton’s list of his platoon (see 1^st November).

David Hanton was 29 years old and from Peterborough; in the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to establish exactly when he had been promoted.

For details on J.B. Redfearn (see 2^nd October)

The appointment of Fred Turner to be one of the battalion butchers would come as no surprise. Before enlisting at Ilkley he had been working as a district manager for the River Plate Meat Company. Aged 37, he was one of the oldest of the original recruits and had married only at the age of 34, to Maud Elizabeth Wood.

Sunday 20th December 1914

The Cowling recruits, home on leave along with other men from ‘A’ Company, were entertained at the United Methodist School. The event was reported in the Keighley News (24^th December):

COWLING

SOLDIERS ENTERTAINED

On the invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Watson Hartley, Sunnymount, the Cowling recruits from Aldershot, now on leave of absence, along with their wives and lady friends, and teachers in the Primary Department, about eighty persons in all, sat down to tea in the United Methodist School on Sunday last. A social followed. The Cowling Merrymakers provided many interesting items, and games were also indulged in. The Rev. C.E. Penrose presided. Privates John Hartley (see 15^th September) and Fred Hopkinson (see 15^th September) have been promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal.

George Clark (see 19^th December) reported for duty with the Motor Transport section of the ASC at the Depot at Grove Park, Greenwich.

Writing from his home address at The Green House, Hebden, Skipton, Thomas Probert Perks confirmed his permission for his son Robert Clement (Bob) Perks (see 31^st October) to apply for a wartime commission.

(I am greatly indebted to Janet Hudson for her kind permission to quote from Bob Perks’ correspondence).

Bob Perks (left), with his older brother Martin Thomas Perks, during their time at Oxford.

Image by kind permission of Janet Hudson

Saturday 19th December 1914

One of Tunstill’s original recruits, George Clark, of Settle, who had gone absent without leave from Frensham and subsequently been discharged from the Army (see 30^th October), re-enlisted, signing papers in Keighley to join the Motor Transport section of the Army Service Corps. Clark had worked as a chauffeur before the outbreak of war.

 

Friday 18th December 1914

The weekly edition of the Craven Herald carried the report of the death of local recruit Harold Greenhow (see 13^th December):

BOLTON-BY-BOWLAND - MR. TUNSTILL'S RECRUITS

Sorrowful news came to the village on Mondays that Harold Greenhalgh (sic. Greenhow), one of Mr. Tunstill's recruits, and footman for Mr. Massey, of Closes Hall, had died in camp at Frensham on Sunday. Deceased had contracted measles, after which pneumonia developed to which he succumbed. This is very disappointing, as it is the third case in Mr. Tunstill's recruits, but the first in our own parish, having a similar ending.

Thursday 17th December 1914

Cpl. Samuel Collins (see 23^rd September) was promoted Sergeant. Cpl. Arthur Manks was also promoted Sergeant. He was a 40 year-old millhand from Huddersfield and had previously served as a regular soldier with 2DWR. He had re-enlisted in September 1914 and had been posted to the newly-formed 10^th Battalion as a Corporal.
Home on leave from Aldershot, Pte. Bob Harrison, who had volunteered at Grassington, married Lilian Kidd, the service taking place at the church at Linton, near Grassington.

Wednesday 16th December 1914

The original Settle contingent of Tunstill’s Company, along with men from other parts of the District, were granted one week’s leave from Camberley and returned to their homes. They were the first men from the Battalion to be granted leave, with the remainder of ‘A’ Company and men from the other Companies following on a weekly basis.

Tuesday 15th December 1914

Pte. William Baxter (see below) was reported as having been “drunk in Lynchford Road about 1.40pm”; on the orders of Col. George Rainier Crawford C.B. (see 8^th December) he would be confined to barracks for seven days.

William Baxter was a 40 year-old foundry labourer from Bradford; he had previously served with the territorials and had enlisted in Bradford on 10^th September.

Two of Tunstill's original recruits, Ted Askew and Harry Metcalfe, who had been transferred to the Army Service Corps (see 7th October), because of their experience in civilian life, arrived in France on  active service.

Both Askew and Metcalfe served out the rest of the war as drivers in the ASC. Little has been established about Ted Askew, other than the fact that he was home on leave in November 1918, for the first time in almost three years. After the war he married Jane Lofthouse. Harry Metcalfe's story is also shrouded in some doubt due to a lack of documentary evidence, but evidence from the family does allow something to be said about his career and also his life after leaving the Army. I am indebted to Harry's grandson,  Alan Metcalfe, for the following information.

Harry Metcalfe (and almost certainly Ted Askew also) arrived in France on 15^th December 1914 to rendezvous with the 2^nd Indian Cavalry Division, which had left Bombay on 19^th November 1914 and arrived in France on 14^th December.  It has not been possible to verify Harry’s personal war service record but something can be said of the Division as a whole. At times during the war the division served in the trenches as infantry, each Cavalry Brigade once dismounted formed a dismounted regiment. The 2nd Indian Cavalry Division (which was renamed 5^th Cavalry Division from 26^th November 1916) served in France and Flanders until March 1918 when the Division was broken up and reformed in Egypt as the 2nd Mounted Division. 

What part Harry played personally and where exactly he served cannot be established, though some family anecdotes suggest that he may, at some point, have seen service in connection with the Canadian forces on the Western Front. What is clear is that Harry served throughout the war. He was home on leave when he was married on 23^rd January 1917 to Annie Ethel Wooler at St Mary’s Church, Long Preston. Harry returned to service and was not finally discharged to the Class Z Army Reserve until 21^st April 1919. 

Harry and Ethel Metcalfe (note the service chevrons on Harry;s right sleeve)

After the war Harry and Ethel set up home on Church Street in Long Preston and Harry worked as a goods porter on the local railways, most likely at Hellifield, until at least 1924. He later worked as head horseman for Mr. Robert Preston, who was a major local landowner in Long Preston, and also as gamekeeper. Harry and Ethel’s first son, Jim (James Henry) Metcalfe was born on 14^th April 1920. Two other sons followed: William Edward in 1922 and John Wooler in 1924. 

Annie died on 12^th April 1946 at the family home in Long Preston and Harry died on 17^th December 1956, aged 67, at Raikeswood Hospital in Skipton; they are buried together (along with their son Jim and his wife, Joan) in the churchyard at Long Preston.

Monday 14th December 1914

Tunstill's Company returned to barracks at Aldershot after seven days in training at Camberley.

Sunday 13th December 1914

Tunstill's Company suffered their third death in training, all of them arising from the outbreak of measles which had struck the Company whilst at Frensham (see 9th November). Harold Greenhow, who a few days earlier (see 11th December) had been reported as suffering from "a very bad attack" of pneumonia, died. He was 22 years old and had enlisted at Bolton-by-Bowland, where he had been working as a footman for Mr. Massey at Closes Hall. He was buried in the Military Cemetery at Aldershot.

Tunstill added his formal confirmation to the application of one of his original recruits, John Henry Hitchin, for a commission (see 5th December).

Saturday 12th December 1914

There were further promotions among Tunstill's Company. Another of the original Settle volunteers, Thomas Walsh,  became Lance Corporal as did Billy Oldfield who was one of the Grassington recruits. There were also promotions for two men who had joined the Company with contingents from other areas.

Frederick Griggs was promoted Lance Corporal. He had joined with the contingent from Burley-in-Wharfedale. He was originally from Suffolk and had served three years (1900-03) with 6th Dragoon Guards before buying himself out of the Army; he had subsequently served in the militia.

Albert Edgar Palmer was also promoted Lance Corporal. He had enlisted at Ilkley on 9th September, joining Tunstill's Company with the other Ilkley recruits on 21st September. Palmer was born on 13th October 1891 in Belper, Derbyshire; his father worked as a railway clerk and Albert followed his father into the same occupation. It seems likely to have been his work which had recently brought him to the Ilkley area (in 1911 he had been living with his parents and the rest of the family in Sheffield).

Ptes. William Alfred Walmsley Gaunt, Andrew Hermiston, Thomas Angus McAndrew and John William Wardman were all promoted Lance Corporal. None of them were members of Tunstill’s Company but were serving with other companies. Gaunt was a 25 year-old engineman from Leeds; he had enlisted in Leeds on 7^th September. Hermiston was a 28 year-old clerk from Middlesbrough; he was married, with one daughter. McAndrew had joined after enlisting in Huddersfield on 9^th September; he was 29 years old and was a self-employed dentist. Wardman was a 23 year-old railway porter from Keighley. He had married Annie Lambert in the Summer of 1913 and the couple had a daughter, Grace.

Sam Shuttleworth, one of the Cowling recruits who had been posted to Tunstill's Company, was found to have been "drunk and creating a disturbance in his billet after lights out", (the men were billeted in private houses whilst training at Camberley - see 7th December) as witnessed by his Cowling colleague, Lance Corporal Hopkinson, and by Corporal Knivett. Captain Buchanan dealt with the incident and Shuttleworth was formally recorded as having been admonished for his conduct, but no further action was taken.

Frank Hubert Caudwell Redington was commissioned Temporary 2nd Lieutenant to serve with Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment. He would join 10th Battalion and serve as on of Tunstill's fellow officers with 'A' Company. Redington was 22 years old and one of eight children born to Thomas and Mary Redington. Thomas ran a drapery business in Stonebroom, near Alfreton, Derbyshire. Frank had been working as a teacher before volunteering for the Army.

Friday 11th December 1914

The weekly edition of the Craven Herald published an update on the progress of Tunstill's Company;

THE DOINGS OF THE SETTLE TROOP

Our Settle and District readers will be interested to hear that the Settle Company of Kitchener’s Army – who are included in the 10^th Service Battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment – left Frensham Camp on the 2^nd December (sic. 1^st December) and went into the Oudenarde Barracks, North Camp at Aldershot. The men are well and contented and are working hard for their country’s cause. There are many civilians who do not even yet realise how much these men have given up and how cheerfully they face hardships in order that those at home, unable for various reasons to give their services, may still enjoy the comforts and undisturbed peace of their own homes.

The next move of the Regiment was on Monday (7^th December) to Camberley, where they remain for seven days, then back to barracks again. The men are in the midst of company training, and all ranks are doing their best to become efficient. K. Earnshaw, R. Coltswell (sic, Cresswell), J.H. Hitchin (Hitchin in fact had already been recommended for a commission - see 5th December) and N. Roberts have gained promotion, and there are many other Settle lads who are marked out for promotion in the immediate future. The last few weeks at Frensham were very rough, and the men found that it was no picnic to camp out in November. There are two invalids in hospital: Private C.P. Branthwaite, of Newsholme, who is very ill with pneumonia and Pte. Greenhow, from a very bad attack of the same disease.

 

 

In addition to the promotions of Settle volunteers, other men serving with Tunstill's Company had also been promoted. These included John Hartley and Fred Hopkinson who had volunteered with the Cowling recruits (see 20th September).

Thursday 10th December 1914

Tunstill's Men remained in Company training at Camberley.

Wednesday 9th December 1914

The Coldstream Guards confirmed they were prepared to discharge Frederick Hird (see 6^th December) if he were to be granted a commission. Hird would become one of the original officers of Tunstill’s Company.

Tuesday 8th December 1914

"Tunstill's Men" continued their company training at Camberley.

Pte. Arthur Walton was reported as having been ‘drunk in camp at about 2.40pm’; on the orders of Col. George Rainier Crawford C.B. (see 5^th December) he was to be confined to barracks for seven days. Arthur Walton was a 28 year-old labourer from Leeds; he was married with four children and had previously served with 3^rd Battalion West Ridings, rising to the rank of Sergeant.

Monday 7th December 1914

The next phase of training for the Battalion got underway with half the Battalion at a time being despatched from Aldershot to Camberley (ten miles away) for periods of one week spent in specific Company training. A Divisional training area had been established north of the canal extending north of the road from Basingstoke to Ascot and bounded on the north by the Reading-Wokingham-Ascot railway. Men from the Division were billeted locally to save travelling time.

Whilst at Camberley the men were billeted in empty houses. ‘A’ (Tunstill’s Men) and ‘B’ Company were the first to be sent to Camberley.

J.B. Priestley (serving with ‘B’ Company) wrote home on the evening of the move:

“We left our barracks at Aldershot this morning and marched to a place called Camberley, some miles away, where we are staying for a week for field work. There is only half the battalion here, the other half will come next week, when we return to Aldershot. We are billeted in large, empty semi-detached villas, about fifty men to each house, and as we have our usual blankets and mattresses, we should be quite comfortable. We shall have our lunch, which we take in haversacks, and have our dinners at night … We are getting very advanced in our training now, and when we have fired our course of musketry, we shall be nearly ready for the front”.

The Divisional History noted that, “Bad weather continued through December – waterlogged heath and moorland, flooding, made conditions very difficult”.

Sunday 6th December 1914

Frederick Hird (see 10^th September) made his application for a Temporary Commission; he would become one of the original officers attached to Tunstill’s Company. Hird’s application was endorsed by no less a figure than Lord Ronald Gower, a noted politician, sculptor, writer and socialite. Gower was engaged in a long-term relationship with Hird’s elder brother, Frank, a well-known journalist and author.



Portraits of Lord Gower and Frank Hird, both painted by Henry Scott Tuke.



Saturday 5th December 1914

Colonel Crawford, commanding 10^th Battalion, confirmed his recommendation of John Henry Hitchin (see 29^th November) for a Temporary Commission.

 

Henry Bolton, father of Lt. Dick Bolton, died, aged 59.

Henry Bolton was buried at All Saints. Broughton with Elslack, near Skipton

Friday 4th December 1914

In training at Aldershot.

In Brighouse, Agnes Hoddinott, wife of Sgt. Herbert Henry Hoddinott (see below) gave birth to the couple’s tenth child; the boy would be named Herbert Montagu Soames Hoddinott, after one of Sgt. Hoddinott’s Company officers, Lt. Herbert Montagu Soames Carpenter (see 17^th October). Hoddinott was a 44 year-old window cleaner from Brighouse. He had previously served 15 years with the Regiment, including serving in the South African War. On re-enlisting on 7^th September he had immediately been appointed Sergeant.

.

Thursday 3rd December 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at barracks in Aldershot.

Wednesday 2nd December 1914

Tunstill's Company spent their first full day in barracks at Aldershot.

Tuesday 1st December 1914

The whole Battalion, including Tunstill’s Company, at last left Frensham to march the seven miles to their winter quarters at Oudenarde Barracks, North Camp, Aldershot. The Battalion shared its barracks with 11^th West Yorkshires.
 

Lance Corporal William Jones (see 4^th November), one of Tunstill’s most-experienced ex-regulars, was promoted Corporal.

Monday 30th November 1914

Plans for an imminent move to barracks at Aldershot were made even more urgent by a period of stormy weather and fierce gales which blew down many of the larger tents at Frensham and caused a considerable amount of damage. Writing some years later, an anonymous officer of the Battalion remembered the stay at Frensham rather more positively than would likely have been true of most of the men:

“The last week of November was very stormy and several of the larger dining tents and the hospital and post office tents were blown down so that the meals had to be issued in the men’s tents. This was a decidedly good experience for some of the men who, up to this time, had never taken the trouble to look after themselves. Throughout the whole period at Frensham the behaviour and keenness of all ranks was excellent. Many of the officers were South-countrymen and they had amusing experiences while trying to learn to understand the Yorkshire dialect. One such officer was somewhat non-plussed in his efforts to discover a particular man’s name as having entirely failed to make out what the man said, he was still further defeated by the fact that the man could not spell his own name and announced himself as a poor speller”.

 

Sunday 29th November 1914

Corporal John Henry Hitchin (see 12^th October), who had been the very first volunteer to respond to Tunstill’s appeal, completed his application for a temporary commission and passed his medical examination.

Saturday 28th November 1914

The weekly edition of the Keighley News carried a report of the efforts of three local young women  in supplying cigarettes to local recruits in training, including the men serving with Tunstill:

“Miss Mabel Rothera, Miss Doris Mitchell and Miss Cissie Stell, of Keighley, have sent 1,000 cigarettes to each of the following camps: 6^th Battalion West Riding Territorials at Trentham; 10^th Battalion West Riding Regiment at Frensham, Surrey; 8^th Battalion West Riding Regiment, Grantham; and a parcel to Aldershot. The young ladies are still collecting and will be glad to receive subscriptions, however small.

In a recent issue of the “News” it was stated that only one firm in the town could send tobacco and cigarettes free of duty to the soldiers at the front. A correspondent writes pointing out that any tobacconist can do this, the Government having granted the concession for the duration of the war. The only firm of tobacco manufacturers in the town are sending a large quantity of their goods direct to the front”.

Friday 27th November 1914

J.B. Priestley again wrote home, and, on this occasion, despite a renewal of very wet conditions, his letter suggested he was in rather better spirits, prompted, it seems, by his renewed optimism about a move for the Battalion away from Frensham.

“It is pouring down and has been practically all day. Indeed, we have had a lot of rain these last few days and now the camp is a sight for the gods. Mud, mud everywhere – nearly knee-deep in some places. Pools all over the place! It is a mess! Everything is wet and crowded.

We are going to Aldershot on Tuesday – half the battalion in barracks, the rest billeted out – and then, after a week or so, the two halves will change quarters*. I think there is no doubt about it this time and I certainly hope not. These last two or three weeks have knocked a lot of enthusiasm out of the men. Still we keep fairly cheerful on the whole and have our jokes and songs. It takes a great deal to dampen youthful spirits. It is very cold at night, we light a great number of candles and make the tents look a bit more cheerful”.

He also described the services provided at the YMCA tents as “magnificent work” – selling buns, coffee and the like and often staffed by wealthy ladies from the district.

*Priestley’s reference to half the Battalion being in barracks and the other half in billets would not be the case immediately but would indeed be introduced in mid-December when the Battalion began more intensive Company training.

 

Thursday 26th November 1914

Concerns over conditions for the troops stationed at Frensham reached the floor of the House of Commons when a parliamentary question was asked by Mr. Jowett, MP for Bradford West:

He “asked the Under-Secretary of State for War (John Tennant) if he is aware that recruits stationed at Frensham Camp are writing home to their friends complaining of the conditions under which they have to spend the long winter evenings in camp, without fires or seats, and therefore always miserable and often sick; and if he will take steps to remove the cause of these complaints?"

Mr. Tennant replied that:

“No complaints have been received from the friends of troops stationed at Frensham, and the medical reports as to their general health are very good. These troops will be moved into barracks in a few days”.

Whatever the truth of his comments regarding complaints, Tennant’s promise of a move away from Frensham would indeed be made good within the next week.

Wednesday 25th November 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Frensham.

Tuesday 24th November 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Frensham.

Monday 23rd November 1914

In a postcard written from Frensham Priestley reported that, "Orders for going to Aldershot have been cancelled and we are still at Frensham and may be here all winter. It is very cold but frosty weather is better than wet".

Ernest Cooper became the first of the original recruits to arrive in France for active service. He had enlisted with the Keighley recruits who had joined Tunstill's Company. He was 20 years old and had been working before the war as a clerk in a local worsted factory. Quite why he had been transferred is unknown but at some point during training he had been posted to 2nd Battalion West Ridings, which had originally arrived in France on 16th August. The Battalion had been engaged in heavy fighting since their arrival and had already suffered 250 men killed and many more wounded. Cooper was almost certainly among the draft of 201 men who joined the Battalion on 2nd December. The details of Ernest Cooper's subsequent service are unknown, but he was eventually transferred to the Labour Corps before being formally transferred to Class Z for discharge on 26th March 1919.

Sunday 22nd November 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Frensham.

Saturday 21st November 1914

10DWR remained in training at Frensham.

Lt. Herbert Victor Stammers (see 17^th October) was attached for duty with a Motor Machine Gun Battery (details unknown).

Friday 20th November 1914

The West Yorkshire Pioneer carried a report regarding Arthur Metcalfe; he was the elder brother of Albert Mawer Metcalfe, (see 27th August) one of the Cowling volunteers who had joined Tunstill’s Company.

COWLING

A PRISONER OF WAR

Mr. Arthur Metcalfe, son of Mr. and Mrs. T. Metcalfe, Woodland Street, Cowling, is a private in the 2^nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers. He served 8 years and was a bandsman. He has been two years in the reserve and has held positions in the Bradford Fire Brigade and latterly in the Bradford Police Force. He was called up at the beginning of the war, and was taken prisoner in the retreat at Mons. He is at Sennelager, Germany. He reports the treatment of prisoners as satisfactory.

A similar report appeared next day in the Keighley News.

 

Thursday 19th November 1914

Pte. Harry Harris (see 10^th November) was commissioned Temporary Second Lieutenant and joined Tunstill’s Company.

Wednesday 18th November 1914

The statement by Priestley in his letter of 15^th November that the Battalion would into barracks at Aldershot proved unfounded as they remained at Frensham.

Tuesday 17th November 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Frensham.

Monday 16th November 1914

Pte. Carl Parrington Branthwaite, (see 6^th November) one of Tunstill’s original Settle recruits, who had been taken seriously ill in October and had been treated for some time at Thornhill Isolation Hospital, Aldershot, was formally transferred to 11^th (Reserve) Battalion. He would remain in England and continued to be treated for his illness.

 

Captain Lewis Ernest Buchanan (see 19^th September) was promoted Major and became second-in-command (under Colonel Crawford) of 10^th Battalion.

Sunday 15th November 1914

J.B. Priestley again wrote to his family. He assured them that he was himself feeling rather better after his recent bout of illness (see 11^th November). However, he remained contemptuous of the doctor he had seen, referring to him as “an ass”, who prescribed only “medicine and duty” and referred to the death of one recruit who had died just hours are having seen the doctor and being sent back to duty.

He also relayed information which he had received from ‘a reliable source’ that the Battalion would move on Wednesday (18th November) to Oudenarde Barracks at Aldershot. He reiterated his belief that he would be home on leave before the end of the year; “I feel sure we shall get leave at Christmas or New Year, and I shall come home, of course”.

 

Saturday 14th November 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Frensham.

Friday 13th November 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Frensham.

Thursday 12th November 1914

James Boothman, who had volunteered at Grassington on 12th September, was formally discharged from the Army on the grounds that he was 'not likely to become an efficient soldier', with no further detail recorded. He had been a member of number 4 platoon, under the command of Lt. Dick Bolton (see 1st November). He returned to the family farm at Fell View, Burnsall.

(James Boothman married Esther Lister in 1925 and they had two sons. Esther died in 1972 and James in 1975).

Christopher Frederick Tate (known as ‘Fred’) was also discharged, again with no details specified other than that he was ‘not likely to become an efficient soldier’. He was one of the Ilkley recruits who had joined Tunstill’s Company prior to their departure for Halifax on 21^st September.

The fact that many young men lied about their age in order to join the army under-age is well-known. It is less well-known and acknowledged that other men under-stated their age in order to enlist. Fred Tate is one such case. When he completed his attestation at Ilkley on 9^th September Fred declared himself to be aged 34; in actual fact he was then 44 years old and too old to join. It is of course impossible to be certain of Fred’s motivation for concealing his true age, but the relative financial security of life in the Army may well have played a part. Fred had been lodging in various towns across Yorkshire for the last twenty years and making a living firstly working in dyeworks, and more recently as a slater. In 1914 he was living in Bolton Bridge Road, Addingham.

According to subsequent proceedings recorded when Fred was attempting to claim a pension from the Army, he had suffered some degree of ill-health since his late twenties, when he had begun “to have a cough and pain in his right side and became short of breath”. However, Fred claimed that he “was in a perfectly healthy condition when he joined the Army, but, during the short time he was in the Army he took a severe chill owing to being kept for a considerable period in his wet clothing without a change of any kind”. He further claimed that when he “reported sick he was not taken to hospital but discharged”. His obvious discontent at the standard of medical care, echoes the comments made by Priestley (see 11th November).

Having been discharged, Fred returned home but was soon admitted to Otley Union Infirmary where he was treated and found to be suffering from TB; he was to remain in hospital for the next year.

Lance Corporal Robert Cresswell (see 12th October) was promoted Corporal. Before the war he had been a policeman at Giggleswick and was clearly held in some regard.

Wednesday 11th November 1914

Conditions in the tented camp at Frensham were becoming increasingly difficult (see 28th October) with heavy and persistent rain through the early part of November. What must have been the general disaffection among the men was reported in a letter home by J.B. Priestley. He had himself been ill and was highly critical of the camp medical staff for in his view simply dispensing 'pills and powders'. He went on to describe conditions;

" I feel wild with the authorities for keeping us here so long … It is miserable in camp during the evening; the YMCA tents are good in their way for reading and writing, but they are vastly overcrowded. So on these cold, drizzling nights, we sit huddled in our tents, and often the prospect is so dreary that we lie down in our blankets about 7 o’clock and try to sleep … They have no right to keep us here so long. I don’t think there is a camp in England treated so badly. Some days ago I read in the ‘Daily News’, an article complaining in no measured terms about keeping recruits in camp”.

Priestley had been told that there were plans for a move to barracks at Aldershot on 22^nd November.

Tuesday 10th November 1914

Harry Gilbert Tunstill was promoted Captain (from Lieutenant) and Dick Bolton promoted Lieutenant (from Second Lieutenant).

Capt. Harry Gilbert Tunstill, dated December 1914

There were also promotions for other officers of 10th Battalion. James Christopher Bull was promoted Captain ('D' Company) and Second Lieutenants Leonard Hammond (Transport Officer) (see 18th September) and Alfred Percy Harrison ('B' Company) were both promoted Lieutenant.

Harry Harris, then serving as a Private in the Public School's Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, was passed as medically fit in accordance with his application for a temporary commission (see 9th November). He was to become one of the original officers with Tunstill's Company.

 

 

At the Conservative Club in Settle the Rev. A.J. Whyte of Hellifield delivered a lecture entitled "England's Danger from the German Menace"; the meeting was chaired by Thomas Brayshaw, who had done much to support Tunstill in his recruitment drive.

 

(Image courtesy of Giggleswick School)

 

Monday 9th November 1914

The family of Joshua Crossley received a letter from Gilbert Tunstill giving details of their son’s funeral, which had taken place at Aldershot five days previously (see 4^th November).

Harry Harris, then serving as a Private in the Public School's Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, secured the endorsement of his Commanding Officer in support of his application for a temporary commission (see 5th October). He was to become one of the original officers with Tunstill's Company.

Pte. Patrick Conley reported himself as having suffered a strained muscle in his left leg; on investigation by a Medical Officer, the injury was declared to be ‘trivial’. Conley was not a member of Tunstill’s Company but, like many of Tunstill’s Company, he was from Keighley, where he had enlisted on 7^th September. He was 32 years old and originally from Hyde; he was married, with four children, and had been working as a slater.

Sunday 8th November 1914

A memorial service for Pte. Joshua Crossley, who had died on Tuesday 3^rd, was held at Holden Congregational Chapel, near the family home at Cottams Farm, near Bolton-by-Bowland. The event was reported at some length in the Craven Herald:

“A service was held at the Holden Independent Chapel in memory of Private Joshua Crossley, of A Company, 10th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Crossley, of Cottams, Bolton-by-Bowland, whose death at Frensham Camp occurred last week. There was a crowded congregation and Mr. Knight, the pastor, based his remarks on Samuel II., 10th chapter and 12th verse - 'Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God; and the Lord do that which seemeth Him good.' He said the four striking thoughts in the text were courage, sympathy, reverence and resignation. By courage we understood prompt action in the face of great danger. The nation called in the hour of danger for men of courage. Joshua Crossley like all his comrades loyal to his King and Country responded to that call and gave his life. By sympathy we understood that which forgets self but thinks and acts for others. Was not that the sympathy that had prompted the young men of to-day? They did not say, "I hope someone will help," but "I will do my own part." Then let those who cannot go to the front do their part and show our sympathy at home by our prayers and practical support. The choir very touchingly gave the special hymn entitled 'For the men at the front' by John Oxenham.

Holden Congregational Chapel

Writing in the Slaidburn Parish Magazine (December 1914), the Rector, Rev. J.C. Garnett, remembered both Joshua Crossley and Walter Isherwood (see 31^st October);

“You will know that two of the young men who left this valley for the service of their King and country have died while in training. Walter Isherwood and Joshua Crossley are names which we will never forget. They were both keen to do their best, and were imbued with the right spirit, and, had they been spared, they would have proved themselves good and brave soldiers. God, however, called them away and we must bow to His will. They both deserve any honour we are able to give them. We gave Walter Isherwood, as far as we could, a military funeral, and the many who attended it did so out of real sympathy. Joshua Crossley had a military funeral at Aldershot. Many wreaths were sent in both cases. They were two fine lads and both were members of my Men’s Bible Class. They were always bright and cheerful and we are poorer in their death. We can ill afford to lose such. To their loved ones and friends we offer our very deep sympathy. May God bless them and comfort them in their sad hour”.

Saturday 7th November 1914

Tunstill's Company remained in training at Frensham.

Friday 6th November 1914

News of the deaths of both Pte. Walter Isherwood (see 27^th October) and Pte. Joshua Crossley (see 3^rd November) was reported in the weekly edition of the Craven Herald:

THE SETTLE COMPANY - Two Deaths

“We regret to record that the Settle Company of Lord Kitchener's Army (formed by Mr. H.G. Tunstill) has lost two good men in Pte. Walter Isherwood, of Newton-in-Bowland, and Pte. Joshua Crossley, of Bolton-by-Bowland. Both were in No. 1. platoon of the 'A' Company of the 10th Service Battalion, and none were more appreciated or will be remembered with more pride. They have sacrificed their lives for their country's good just as much as if they had fallen in the fighting line. They died of pneumonia and measles. There have unfortunately been four cases of measles in the Settle Company, but with the exception of two men in hospital suffering from this disease, the health and spirits of the men are excellent. It is almost inevitable that in a body of men some will succumb to the disease, and the unfortunate result named above is much regretted. With these exceptions the Settle Company has had a wonderfully good bill of health. The Company is still at Frensham Camp, Farnham”.

 

The other two men reported to be still in hospital were Harold Greenhow and Carl Parrington Branthwaite. Greenhow had volunteered at Bolton-by-Bowland (see 14^th September) and Branthwaite had also been among the earliest recruits to the Company, enlisting at the meeting held at Hellifield (see 8^th September). 

On the same day the Craven Herald also carried news of a consignment of socks and mufflers delivered by Geraldine Tunstill to the recruits at Frensham. This would be just the first example of an on-going fund-raising and support effort which was to be co-ordinated by Geraldine and a group of local supporters and would continue to provide a range of ‘comforts’ to the men over the following months.

GIFTS FOR THE SETTLE LADS

Mrs. H.G. Tunstill has taken down for distribution to the O.C. West Riding Regiment at Frensham Camp nearly 300 beautifully made socks and knitted scarves. The men were most grateful and greatly appreciated not only the articles, but the kindness of those who had made them for their use. The gifts included – Settle War Relief Fund, 100 pairs of socks; Miss Atkinson (pupils at Technical School, Settle) 25 mufflers; Mrs. Abbott, Settle 4 pairs of socks; From Otterburn (per Mrs. H.G. Tunstill) 11 pairs of socks and 53 mufflers; from Hanlith and Kirby Malham (per Mrs. Illingworth) 38 pairs of socks and 22 mufflers; from Slaidburn (per Mrs. King Wilkinson) 18 mufflers; Arncliffe and Littondale (per Miss Hammond) 8 pairs of socks and 8 mufflers; Hellifield (per Miss Russell) 5 mufflers; total 161 pairs of socks and 131 mufflers.