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 was also discharged as medically unfit; he was a 23 year-old miner from Castleford. He had enlisted, along with his younger brother, William Swift, aged 19, in Castleford on 6^th November.

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.