Tuesday 22nd December 1914

Pte. William Fitzpatrick, a 32 year-old labourer from Bradford, having been admitted to Connaught Hospital in Aldershot a few days earlier (exact date unknown), was transferred ‘D’ Block at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley. It would be reported that he had been admitted to Connaught Hospital “with a history of having been peculiar for some days. Patient is of a morbid disposition. Has delusions that people point to him and say that he is a German spy. He is nervous and frightened”. After two days’ observation it would be concluded that, “Patient is nervous and has a pale, anxious appearance. States he has been worried lately through overwork. He does not hear voices. I am of the opinion that, with the least excitement, this man would soon have another breakdown”. It was recommended that he should be discharged as medically unfit due to neurasthenia. He would be discharged from hospital on 29^th December and formally discharged from the Army with effect from 8^th January 1915.

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”.