Friday 31st December 1915

Billeted in huts near Rue Marle

The recent improvement in the weather continued, as conditions remained dull, but dry, and generally quiet. 

Much of the days’ activity was focussed on preparations for trench raids which were to take place overnight. These raids were a relatively new aspect of trench warfare and had been in the planning for some time. The objectives were stated to be: “1. To kill Germans; 2. To capture prisoners; 3. To destroy important work in the trenches”. The British artillery had already been employed for some days in cutting the German wire at designated points and also in targeting key machine gun positions in the German lines. On this occasion there were to be two simultaneous raids against salients in the German line. Since 14th December, two officers (plus others to join on their return from leave) and one hundred men from each of 10th Northumberland Fusiliers and 9th Yorkshires had been preparing for such an operation. They had been in training near Croix du Bac, where they had “been billeted together and have had continuous training in their respective duties”. One raiding party, from 10th Northumberland Fusiliers, was to enter the German lines opposite Farm Grande Flamengrie and the other further left near what was known as German House, on the eastern edge of Rue de Bois. This latter raid, to be undertaken by 9th Yorkshire Regiment, was to be launched from a section of the British lines which was barely 100 yards from the German line. This raid was the one for which 10DWR was tasked to provide support if necessary. However, plans for the raids were disrupted by an accidental explosion which occurred whilst the Royal Engineers were preparing charges to be used by the raiding parties; one officer and four men were killed and 28 others wounded; as a result the objective of destroying sections of the German trenches by the use of explosives was abandoned.

For 10DWR, the planned raid created an expectation that they might be required, at short notice, to reinforce the defence of the Bois Grenier line in the event of any German attack, and detailed orders were issued to be followed in the event of the alarm being raised. If they were called forward, HQ was to be established at the entrance to the communication trench known as Park Row Avenue, while ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘A’ and ‘B’ Companies respectively were to be positioned along the Bois Grenier line from the road from Chapelle d’Armentieres to Lille in the north as far south as La Guernerie. Tunstill’s Company was allocated a section in the centre, running from Farm Desplanques south-west to Dogs Leg Road. Each Company had responsibility, if it became necessary, for blocking off, in their section, the communication trenches which ran from the front line back to the Bois Grenier Line. For Tunstill’s Company this meant that one NCO and six men (two of whom were to be trained bombers) were to be placed in each of Salop Avenue and Railway Avenue. If the alarm were to be raised, then the Companies were to move off from Rue Marle immediately, whilst detailing one subaltern to go to Battalion HQ for further instructions.

During the day, working parties were provided, with fifty men delivering mortar bombs to the Divisional Trench Mortar Battery in their positions near Rue du Bois, from where they would be firing in support of the trench raids.

In the late evening the Battalion received orders that they were to “stand to arms” at 1.25am the following morning in support of the raids. 

Pte. James Leonard Bloomer (see 26^th September), who had been in England since having been wounded three months previously, was sufficiently recovered to be posted 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffs, en route to a return to active service.


L.Cpl. William Murphy (see 10^th October), who had been in hospital in England since having been severely wounded in September, was formally discharged from the Army as no longer physically fit for service on account of his wounds. He was assessed as having suffered a 70% disability and was awarded an Army pension of £1 8s. per week.

A payment of £2 15s. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Albert Flitcroft (see 24^th September), who had been killed in action in September; the payment would go to his widow, Elizabeth.

The weekly edition of the Craven Herald carried news of a recent injury to Capt. Gilbert Tunstill (see passim):

ACCIDENT TO CAPTAIN TUNSTILL

Captain H.G. Tunstill, of the 10^th West Riding Regiment, met with a nasty accident in France last week. Owing to the muddy ground, his horse fell and rolled over him. Luckily no bones were broken, but he is in hospital suffering from a badly-sprained leg and bruised from head to foot. He is going on as well as can be expected.

The weekly edition of the West Yorkshire Pioneer published an extract from a letter written by Pte. Reuben Smith (see 10^th December):

ADDINGHAM SOLDIERS' LETTERS

Pte. R. Smith writes:- "Your most welcome parcel to hand. Don't forget to thank all the Addingham people for us. It is getting quite a hot shop out here. The shells are coming over from morning to night, and they make it quite uncomfortable for us, for they shell poor Tommy's trenches. But you cannot blame them, as our men also do the same to them-but it is no picnic, I can tell you. The trenches are in a bad state, and the parapets fall in without anyone touching them. It is awful going into them for water; we have to keep the pumps going all the time."

Pte. Reuben Smith

69^th Brigade War Diary recorded casualties for the Brigade for the month of December:

Killed                                     5

Accidentally killed              1

Died of wounds                   2

Wounded                           34

Accidentally wounded       4

10DWR’s casualties were recorded as:

Killed                                     1

Accidentally killed              0

Died of wounds                  0

Wounded                             9

Accidentally wounded       3

These figures would appear to exclude the death of Sgt. Williams (see 5^th December).

The official cumulative casualty figures for the Battalion since arriving in France were now:

Killed                                     17

Accidentally killed                4

Died of wounds                     2

Wounded                             70

Accidentally wounded       35

Thursday 30th December 1915

Billeted in huts near Rue Marle.

A generally quiet day, although the Battalion did provide a 60-man working party in the morning.


Pte. William Knox (see 25^th December) again wrote to his wife, Ethel (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters).

“I now sit down and write you a few lines hoping they will find you quite well as I am very pleased to say that it leaves me very well at present. I am still out of the trenches as yet but we go into the firing line on Sunday for four days and then four days in reserve and then the firing line again for four days. We have twenty four days to do so we shall have had enough before we have finished. I hope the weather will keep like it is just now as it is nice and dry and very warm. I will now take the opportunity of thanking you for your parcels which I received quite safe and they were very nice. The one you sent me for Xmas came just right. It arrived in time for tea. I had given it up as lost. It must have cost you a lot of money as it was such a large one. I bet you thought that you would feed me up didn’t you Love? I was feeding on sweet cake for about a week. I had nothing else but cake. I had a very decent time of it as my pal (Sgt. Billy Oldfield, see 25^th December) and me shared all our parcels with one another. He is a very decent chap. He has just been promoted to Sergeant and he does not drink at all and he will not go out without me. We are just like the Siamese Twins. A lot of the other chaps do not like it, but they can go to Hell to what I care.

We shall soon have the New Year here now and I hope it shall be the last one we shall spend apart from one another. I do wish this rotten war was all over so as I could get back home to the one I love so well. I always used to think that I loved you a lot but it was nothing to what I love you now. It is an old saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder and I am sure it is so with me. How I wish that I was near you now. I would not half hug and kiss you. In fact there would be nothing left of you when I had finished with you. So you may know what to expect when I come home on leave. I don’t care how soon the time comes as I am simply pining for some love. It seems ages since I saw you last darling but we must wait patiently for the time to come when we shall never have to be apart from one another. It has learnt me a lesson but still I am only doing my duty and I know that you are more proud of me than you would have been had I been forced to go. If I have good luck to come through this terrible ordeal I shall always be able to say that I did my duty when the country asked me to do so. I hope you received my parcel quite safe that I sent with that chap of ours that came on leave”.

Pte. Joseph Simpson (see 24^th December), who had originally served with Tunstill’s Company, but had been wounded and invalided home, returned (at 5pm) to Brocton Camp. Staffordshire, where he was serving with 11DWR. He had been absent for the previous six days (from 9.30pm on 24^th December); he was admonished and forfeited six days’ pay.

Wednesday 29th December 1915

Divisional Reserve at Rue Dormoire.

The recent drier weather continued as the Battalion was moved forward the four miles into billets in empty houses in and around Rue Marle in close reserve to the Bois Grenier line. Billetting parties from each Company left at 1.30pm to take over billets and stores and the move for the rest of the Battalion began at 3.25 pm and was completed by 6 pm. Pte. Job Kayley (see 27^th November) told his family that “The people have just left them (the houses) but plenty are living close up to the front line and won’t shift”. 

Pte. Reginald Jerry Northin was awarded ten days’ Field Punishment no.2; the nature of his offence is unknown. He was a 21 year-old twister (working for Ripley’s) from West Bowling, Bradford and had enlisted in September 1914.

2Lt. John Henry Hitchin, who had been the first man to volunteer to join Tunstill’s Company, and who had subsequently been commissioned (see 24^th December 1914) was reported as absent without leave from 11^th Battalion West Riding Regiment, based at Brocton Camp. Cannock Chase, Staffs.

At home in Middlesbrough, May Hermiston, wife of CQMS Andrew Hermiston (see 4^th December) gave birth to the couple’s second child; the boy would be named Maurice.

Tuesday 28th December 1915

Divisional Reserve at Rue Dormoire.

At long last there was some improvement in the weather, with the heavy rain finally abating and the strong winds, “having a good drying effect upon the ground”. Artillery, on both sides, remained active.

The Battalion received orders to be prepared to move, next day, back to their former billets in and around Rue Marle. It was noted that the new defensive scheme which had been issued two weeks earlier (see 13^th December), which provided for only two companies from each Battalion to hold the front line, would be temporarily suspended. For the time being, three companies from each Battalion would be in the front line “to cope with the work required to repair parapets etc”. This decision seems to have been taken in anticipation of specific offensive action which was planned for overnight on 31^st December/1^st January.

L.Cpl. Michael Kenefick (see 5^th December) departed for England on one weeks’ leave.

Confirmation was issued by HQ staff at Etaples that CSM Harry Dewhirst (see 27^th December) was not considered fit to be either Sergeant Major or QMS of a Base Depot.

Capt. Pereira of ‘D’ Company (see 24^th December), having recovered from the illness which had seen him invalided home, joined 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffordshire.

Charles Archibald Milford (see 1^st December), was posted to join 28^th Battalion London Regiment (Artists Rifles) which was an officer training battalion, based at Richmond Park.

Cpl. Edward Kent Waite, serving with 10^th East Yorks arrived in Egypt with his Battalion; he would later be commissioned and serve with 10DWR. He was 24 years old (born 9^th August 1890) and was the eldest of five children of Tom and Mary Ann Waite. The family lived in Willerby, Lincs., where Tom worked as a farm bailiff for Hull Corporation. On leaving school, Edward had joined the Civil Service as a clerk.

Monday 27th December 1915

Divisional Reserve at Rue Dormoire.

Heavy rain continued for yet another day and conditions were made worse by strong winds overnight.  

Pte. James Arthur Heap was charged with having been “absent from working party parade and breaking bounds”; he was ordered to undergo 14 days Field Punishment no.2. Heap had enlisted on 11^th January 1915 and been posted to 10DWR then in training in England. He had been 30 years old when enlisting, married with three children and working as a silk dresser.

Administrative staff at Etaples requested confirmation as to whether CSM Harry Dewhirst (see 29^th November) was to be sent home as being unfit for further service overseas. 

In the week after Christmas four new subalterns reported for duty with the Battalion. William Neville Dawson had been in the OTC at Radley College and had been training as a lawyer when war broke out. He volunteered for service in November 1914 and joined the ASC as a driver for the next three months, before being commissioned 2Lt. in February 1915. Maurice Odell Tribe had also been a cadet in the OTC at Radley College before going up to St John’s College, Oxford, where he had been studying when war broke out. He had immediately volunteered and had joined 5th London Field Ambulance (RAMC), with whom he had served until he was commissioned on 25th January 1915.  Walter Douglas Taylor was a former member of the Bridlington Grammar School OTC and had been commissioned 2Lt. in November 1914. The fourth 2Lt. to arrive was Frank Hubert Caudwell Redington (see 27^th November) who had served with the Battalion during training but whose departure from England had been delayed (reason unknown).

Pte. Harold Carey was killed whilst serving with 1^st/6^th Duke of Wellington’s; he was the older brother of Norman Carey, who had originally volunteered to serve with Tunstill, but had been rejected on medical grounds (see 17^th January). According to letters from his comrades, Harold was killed by a German shell whilst resting in a dug-out.

Sunday 26th December 1915

Divisional Reserve at Rue Dormoire.

On yet another day of heavy rain, conditions were generally quiet, although artillery exchanges continued across the front lines.

At some point around Christmas (the precise date is unknown) Capt. Gilbert Tunstill (see passim) suffered injuries in an accident; the news was reported in the Craven Herald on 31^st December, “Captain H.G. Tunstill, of the 10^th West Riding Regiment, met with a nasty accident in France last week. Owing to the muddy ground, his horse fell and rolled over him. Luckily no bones were broken, but he is in hospital suffering from a badly-sprained leg and bruised from head to foot. He is going on as well as can be expected”.

Sgt. James Leach (see 3^rd May; it is unknown when he had been promoted) was evacuated to England having at some point (date and details unknown) suffered a wound to his hand.

Pte. William Kendall was posted to France and would join 10DWR. He had been an original member of the Battalion, having enlisted in September 1914 aged 32; he was married, with three children, and had worked as a wet fish salesman. In the absence of a surviving service record it has not been possible to establish the reason for his delayed departure for France.

Saturday 25th December 1915

Divisional Reserve at Rue Dormoire.

For the vast majority of men not fortunate to be home on leave for Christmas (see 23^rd December) there were still attempts to brighten the festive mood despite the difficult conditions, which included considerable artillery exchanges on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Parcels from home were distributed in large numbers and it was said that “the Battalion are all making as merry as possible under the circumstances”.  CQMS Henry Briley (see 7th May 1915), wrote that: “The gifts show us that our friends at home do not forget us at the Front. In spite of the mud and water we managed to have a fairly enjoyable time at Christmas”.  On the evening of Christmas Day a concert was presented in a large barn close to the billets which had been decorated for the occasion. The entertainment commenced at 5 pm and included twenty songs and recitations performed by the men of the Battalion. Two of ‘Tunstill’s Men’ performed; Sgt. Billy Oldfield (see  11^th December) sang while L.Cpl. Albert Dury (see 7th September 1914) duetted with Pte. Dudley of ‘C’ Company; unfortunately the titles of their pieces were not recorded. There were also football matches played and an unexpected bonus when German shells landing in the Erquinghem Canal killed large quantities of fish which in turn provided many men with meals of fish and chips.



Pte. William Knox (see 21^st December) again wrote to his wife, Ethel (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters). As this letter was to be posted in England, courtesy of a man who would be home on leave, Pte. Know was able to identify place names, which would not have been possible in his usual, censored, letters.



“I hope these few lines will find you quite well as I am very pleased to say that it leaves me very well at present. Now Dear I can tell you more in this letter as I have got one of our men who is coming home on leave to post it for me. I wish it was me that was coming home. What do you say Lovey Dear? This is Christmas Day and I can tell you I feel more discontented than ever I have done since I came out here. I do wish that it was all over so that I could come back home to you.

You would have laughed at us yesterday. We had four large plum puddings sent to our Platoon and we cooked two of them and we boiled them for two hours and they were extra. We made some sweet sauce. I made it all by myself. I got a quart of milk, some flour and some sugar. So you see we can make a decent dinner. I am getting quite a good cook. I have got the job of cooking the puddings today and also making the sauce.

Well Dear I am at a place called Erquinghem, about six miles from the firing line, so we are away from shells. They talked about there going to be a truce but it does not look like it as the guns are sending the old Kaiser his Christmas boxes in the form of shells. We have fifteen large Batteries round here and a Battery has four large guns and they have got over a thousand shells for each gun, so they are going to give them plenty to go on with. But they are shelling Armentieres like mad, but they are nearly all duds. You can always tell how we are going on as we are always at the Armentieres line or the Bois Grenier line. That is the part of the line our Division holds but we have been to Laventie to relieve another division. You can take it from me that this war will not be over for nearly another twelve months at the rate we are going on. The trenches we are in now have been in our possession since last January, so you can tell what little progress has been made. But of course we are the foremost part of the line. It is just like a horseshoe. We can go for miles and miles of a night but we can always see the flare lights all around us. You must not take any notice of what the papers say. They do not tell you half what is happening out here. We are a lot more advanced than they make out to be. If the Germans would come out and have a good fight it would soon be over but the devils will not fight at all.

I will tell you now about a little battle on the 18^th (Sunday). It had been expected that they would make an attack at Ypres, which they did do. And they knew about it for our lot cut them up altogether. I think it was the Northumberland Fusiliers that caught them. And when they make an attack at one certain point they mostly make a smaller one just a little way from there as well, just to keep our men from going to the point they are attacking. I was asleep at the time we first discovered them cutting our front line of barbed wire. So they jolly soon had us woke up and ready to go over the parapet. We went with a tremendous lot of bombs and we lay in wait for them. Of course it takes a long time to make a passage through as there as many as twenty to thirty rows of wire between our lines and theirs (commonly called no man’s land). So when they got within twenty yards of us when we let go with our bombs and you should have seen them poor devils. They showed a little bit of fight for about ten minutes but of course they could not get near us for our bombs. And when they tried to get back they found out that they were surrounded and they started yelling “Hoch, hoch”, but we gave them plenty of bayonet. My bayonet was all covered with blood and my clothes were just about the same. There was only half our Company went out to meet them, about 120 altogether. We did not wait for our officer to give us the order to go over to meet them, we were at grips when he came. And our Colonel came out to meet us about an hour later and complemented us on our good work. No doubt you will have seen it in the papers. It would be an attack on the Bois Grenier line.

I am sending you those buttons which belong to Sgt. Major Abslom. Also, some others off my old tunic. I have got another new rigout. The beads are for little Lizzie and the bit of shell is a bit off that shell that blown our dugout all up and set it on fire when I got my knee all burned. So you will have just a little idea of what it is like when a shell burst near you and a shell will send about two hundred pieces like that.

Well Dear Sweetheart I have just received your parcel; just in time for tea Xmas Day and it is a very nice parcel. I really do not know how much to thank you for it but I hope, before so very much longer, to be able to show you. I won’t half hug and kiss you. Well Dear if I have good luck and all goes well I may get my leave in about eight or ten weeks’ time as I have heard from a good source that the married men in the new draft goes on leave next to the married men in the Battalion. I had a great surprise today (Xmas). We have had another draft from the 11^th and we have got Sugden and three or four more as I know. And what do you think, Sgt. Majors Rollinson and Abslom and Mayman have gone up to Earsdon and they have to come out here. It would be a shock with them. The 11^th are in Derby now in private billets.

We have just had an order that we are to be on picket in Erquinghem tonight from 6.30 until 12.30 as there was some disturbance on Christmas Eve. Remember me to Lizzie and Kiddie. Hope they are both quite well. Hope you have all enjoyed yourself this Xmas. I shall have to come to a close now as the chap is nearly ready for coming. So will now close with fondest love and kisses”.

Heavy rain came on yet again in the evening and continued through the night.

Friday 24th December 1915

Divisional Reserve at Rue Dormoire.

With heavy rain continuing to fall, conditions were by now so bad that it was reported that even simply “to walk about is difficult”.

Pte. Reyner Sutcliffe was ordered to undergo ten days’ Field Punishment No. 2; the details of his offence are unknown. He was a 22 year-old labourer from Elland and had been an original member of the Battalion having enlisted in Halifax in September 1914.

J.B. Priestley wrote home, enclosing an embroidered handkerchief as a gift for his sister, Winnie, “it comes from a little town only three miles from the trenches, a little town that is often shelled by the Germans. If I could have got to one of the larger towns further back I could have got some very pretty souvenirs, though they are expensive".

The Brighouse Echo published extracts from letters which had been received from a number of men which had been sent in acknowledgement of having received parcels from the Brighouse Committee. The parcels had contained, “A Christmas cake, packet of sweets, tin of toffee, two packets of chocolates, gingerbread biscuits, apples, parkin, café-au-lait, packet of cocoa, tin of Zam-Buk, two handkerchiefs, nuts, Oxo, cigarettes, tin of sardines, tin of crab and a Christmas card”. Pte. George Frederick Barkham (see 14^th July) had written, “Just a few lines to let you know that I have received a parcel from the Brighouse Christmas Fund. It is very good of the people to think of the boys who are out here. I wish you all every success”. Pte. Frank Butler (see 11^th September 1915) had written, “I am now again in the firing line after spending four days in reserve (written on 14^th December). The weather has been very wet lately and the trenches are worse than they otherwise would have been. I am in fairly good health and am looking forward to getting my leave”. Pte. William Hartley (see 11^th September 1914) had written, “The parcel is a heavy one and there is not a thing that is not useful. They could not have sent anything better. As for the spice loaf, I must congratulate the person who made it. I gave some of my comrades a share of it and they are all of the same opinion as myself. There are some of the Brighouse men in this Battalion who have not got a parcel yet, but I expect they will do so in their turn”. Pte. Joseph Dent (see 11^th September 1914) had written, “The parcel arrived safely to hand a few days ago and I quite enjoyed the contents. We are having it very wet, but simply do our best and soldier on. It is very nice to know that we are not forgotten out in the foreign land this Christmas time. Am pleased to say I am keeping well and hope to continue so during the whole campaign”.

Pte. Albert Henry Nutter (see 6^th November) had also recently written home, extracts from his letter were published in The Todmorden & District News; “Pte. Albert Henry Nutter said he got the parcel just when he came out of the trenches for a few days rest, and it was a God-send, as he had nothing to eat, and when one was wet to the skin and no dry things to put on they wanted something to eat to keep the cold out. He was in the best of health and hoped to come and thank them sometime in the New Year. It was grand to think that although in the trenches up to the knees in mud and water one was not forgotten by those left behind”.

Pte. Albert Henry Nutter

Pte. Albert Edward White (see 6^th August) was reported by Sgt. Henry Herbert Stroud (see below) as ‘absent off 2pm parade’; on the orders of Capt. John Atkinson (see 5^th October) he would be confined to barracks for four days. 

Henry Herbert Stroud was an original member of the Battalion. However, in the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to make a positive identification of this man or establish any further details of his service.

Ptes. James Baines, Albert Bateson, John Tempest Colyer, John William Dawson, James Gordge, William Hampton, James Heaton, David Long and Arthur Wellock joined the Battalion, having been posted to France on 13^th December. Albert Bateson was a 24 year-old drayman from Bradford; he had served with the Dukes’ territorial battalion from 1907 and had been called up in August 1914 and posted to 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffs., before being posted to France to join 10DWR. James Gordge was a 38 year-old boiler fireman from Huddersfield; he was married and had seven children. He had enlisted in August and had trained with 11DWR. James Heaton was a 19 year-old wire dresser from Halifax; he was one of 14 children of Sam and Minnie Heaton.

Pte. Joseph Simpson (see 27^th September), who had originally served with Tunstill’s Company, but had been wounded and invalided home, was reported missing from Brocton Camp. Staffordshire, where he was serving with 11DWR. 

Capt. Pereira of ‘D’ Company, who had been taken ill in October and subsequently sent back to England (see 12th November) was examined by a Medical Board meeting at Caxton Hall and declared fit for general service.

Thursday 23rd December 1915

Divisional Reserve at Rue Dormoire.

Heavy rain continued to fall making living conditions increasingly difficult. Conditions even in the rest camps could be extremely difficult. Lt. Dick Bolton (see 12^th November) described how, “Some of the rest camps were poor and uncomfortable. One consisted of painted canvas sheets slung over rails with a little straw underfoot. The ends of these homes consisted of sacks, boards or any other material that the temporary inhabitants could find. Biscuits were often issued as part of the bread ration. Many men used them as fuel to burn in braziers, whilst themselves buying yard-long French loaves to eat”. 

There was, however, some consolation for some of the officers and men. For a lucky few there was the prospect of leave to England, which had recently been introduced for the first time since the Battalion had arrived in France in August (see 5^th December). Lt. Daniel William Paris Foster (see 24^th February), RSM John William Headings, (see 3^rd December), CQMS Frank Stephenson (see 31^st August) L.Cpls. Josias Bailey (see 20^th August) and Matthew Best (see 16^th May) and Pte. Albert Nixon (see 5^th September), are known to have been home for Christmas, having been granted one week’s leave from 23^rd December. The issue of leave would become a cause of significant discontent, especially as there was a major discrepancy between the opportunities open to the men as opposed to the leave enjoyed by the officers of the Battalion. Capt. Tunstill himself had been home on leave in early December; Lt. Bolton was to be granted a week’s leave from 2^nd January and Maj. Hildyard went home on 7^th January, whereas as late as June J.B. Priestley would complain to his family, “Ten months out here and no signs of a leave; it’s a shame! Some of the officers have been three times”.

Cpl. William Alfred Walmsley Gaunt (see 1^st June) was promoted Lance Sergeant.

Pte. Frank William Rabjohn was awarded seven days’ Field Punishment no.2; the nature of his offence is unknown. He was an original member of the Battalion, having enlisted at the age of 20 when working as a fitter’s labourer in Sheffield.

Pte. Thomas Ward (see 18^th December) was admitted to 69^th Field Ambulance, suffering from a mild case of ‘trench foot’; he would be discharged to duty five days later.

Wednesday 22nd December 1915

Reserve billets at La Rolanderie Farm.

At 3.45pm the Battalion began its march from La Rolanderie into Divisional Reserve at Rue Dormoire, two miles away. Conditions in the new billets were described as being in a bad state and would deteriorate still further over the following days as heavy rain continued to fall.

Pte. Frank Hargrave (see 5^th September), who had left 10DWR and returned to England more than three months earlier, was transferred from 3^rd Battalion to the Regimental Depot at Halifax, in preparation for a possible return to active service.

Tuesday 21st December 1915

Reserve billets at La Rolanderie Farm.

For two days there had been a slight improvement in the weather but from 21^st the heavy rain returned and continued unabated for the next week until it eventually turned drier on 28^th. In the meantime, further working parties were despatched, while conditions across the area remained quiet.

Orders were received for the Battalion to move back into Divisional Reserve next day.


Pte. William Knox (see 20^th December) again wrote to his wife, Ethel (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters).

 “I now sit down and write you a few lines hoping they will find you quite well as I am very pleased to say that it leaves me very well at present. We are still having awfully wet and cold weather out here but thank God we are out of the trenches now. We came out Sunday night. Well Dear we have had a little bit of a fight at last but I suppose you will have seen it in the papers by now. We were to be relieved on Saturday night but the Germans started sending some aerial torpedoes over so we could not get out but the regiment who should have relieved us had to stand to as the Boshes made a surprise attack. But we seen them coming so we went to meet them and we mowed them down just like skittles. It is an awful sight to see them fall in a heap, dead. I was just in my glory. They will not stand and fight against us at all. You should have heard them scream and shout mercy. But by God we gave them mercy. We gave them Hell and after we had driven them back our artillery opened fire on them and blew their trenches to blazes. They were firing all day long on Sunday. The old Kaiser is not expecting spending Xmas Day in London this year. They have been dropping pamphlets from aeroplanes to say that he was going to spend it in the same place where we are at present and what a hope he has got.

We are expecting a very big do on this part of the line before so very much longer. I received your letter dated 14.12.1915 and was pleased to hear you are quite well. Your Xmas card was very nice. You said in your letter that you had sent a parcel but I have not received it as yet but of course it may be here before you receive this letter. We have had some stock of stuff sent out here to us this last week. Every one of us received a parcel from Halifax and it contained a plum pudding, a cake, cigarettes and two tins of Riley’s toffee, so we were all eating toffee all day long.

We had a very nice concert Monday night. Our officers got it up. They are ever so good to us. They come into our huts and spend the night with us and we have a sing-song as well. You will no doubt be surprised to hear that I am next one here for a stripe, but it may be another month or two yet. I think I shall take it as we have a very good chance of getting promotion very quick out here. So you soon may be hearing of me being Sergeant (swank). I had a letter from home last week and they were all quite well. They are sending me a paper every week now. I also had a letter from Jenny Tuesday. She sent me a Xmas card and is sending me a parcel in a week or two’s time. So you see they are all beginning to think just a little about me at last.

Well Dear I hope you enjoy yourself this Xmas as much as ever you can. Do not worry over me on Xmas Day. I shall be twelve miles away from the firing line. We are going away back for twelve days rest, so I shall be out for my birthday as well. We were to have been in the trenches another eight days but our General sent word to our Headquarters that we were to have a good rest because we did so well on Sunday. He said it is marvellous for we always seem to get it hotter than the other regiments in our Division. So no doubt a bit in the papers about our good work out here.

Don’t you go and put yourself short of money to buy that watch for me Love. I don’t think you should send me a parcel next week Dear as I shall have more stuff than I can eat before we go into the trenches again and I should only have to give a lot of it away. And it costs you too much for that doesn’t it Dear.”

Monday 20th December 1915

Reserve billets at La Rolanderie Farm.

Large working parties, of some 65 men, were despatched, both morning and afternoon, to work on the Bois Grenier Line.


In a later letter home Pte. William Knox (see 18^th December) would tell his wife, Ethel, “We had a very nice concert Monday night. Our officers got it up. They are ever so good to us. They come into our huts and spend the night with us and we have a sing-song as well.”

Pte. Benjamin Wilson (see 1^st December), who had had his left leg amputated having been wounded in November, was evacuated to England from 2^nd General Hospital at Le Havre, travelling onboard the Hospital Ship St. Denis. On arrival in England he would be admitted to Eaton Hall VAD Hospital, Eaton, Cheshire.
A payment of £4 1s. 1d., being the amount owed on his army pay, was issued to the widow of Pte. Raymond Tilbrook (see 25^th September) who had been killed in action on 16^th September; she would also be awarded an Armay pension of £1 16s. 8d. per week.

Sunday 19th December 1915

Reserve billets at La Rolanderie Farm.

The Battalion remained at La Rolanderie and provided daily working parties supporting the Royal Engineers in the Bois Grenier line. There was little else to report other than there being heavy bombardments apparent in other parts of the line and considerable German shelling of Armentieres.

Pte. Edward Anderson (see 22^nd April) departed on one week leave to England.

Ptes. Joseph Alfred Formby, Patrick Larvin, Peter James Sheehan and Walter Maynard Willis joined the Battalion from 3DWR in England. Joseph Alfred Formby was 18 years old and from Waltham Abbey. Patrick Larvin was 28 years old and from Leeds, where he had worked in a linen mill. Peter James Sheehan was a pre-war regular soldier, having enlisted in the West Ridings in 1910, having previously served in a Territorial Battalion of the Royal Field Artillery; he was 25 years old and originally from Whitechapel, London. Walter Maynard Willis had enlisted in September 1913 and had served in France with 2DWR between November 1914 and February 1915 before being posted back to 3DWR. Before joining the army he had worked as a billiard marker in Bradford and in September 1915 he had married Jeannie Irving with whom he already had an illegitimate daughter, Florence, born in January 1912.

Saturday 18th December 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

The morning was quiet but as the Battalion made preparations to be relieved, there was some sporadic shelling by the Germans and a number of trench mortars were also fired against ‘A’ Company’s positions. The War Diary reported one casualty from ‘A’ Company. The subsequent relief passed off quietly and by late evening the men were back in their former billets in and around La Rolanderie Farm.

Prior to the relief Pte. William Knox (see 14^th December) again wrote to his wife, Ethel (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters).

“I now sit down and write you a few lines to let you know that I am keeping quite well. Hope you are the same. I received your parcel dated 8.12.1915. Also your letter dated 10.12.1915. Was so very pleased to receive the parcel. It came in just right as we came into the firing line next day.

Well Dear we are having an awful do again this time. We came into the firing line for the second time in a week. We do four days in the firing line, then four days in the reserves. We have another twelve days to do yet before we go back for a rest. So you may guess what we shall look like when we have done our turn. I have not had a wash for three days now and I am not having one until we go out into the reserves again. It will help to keep me warm. What do you say Love? I wish you could see me now. I have nearly grown a beard but that would not matter would it Darling Love. We are not getting very good food this time. We cannot drink our tea as it is rain water and not only that, the water from the urinals drain into the same water and it makes us sick every time we have any. It is a wonder that some of us has not had fever before now. I think if I ever live to get through this lot I shall be able to live on anything. It is no use turning your nose up at anything out here.

Well Darling we have had an awful time of it once more. We have been under heavy artillery fire now for twelve days and nights and it has made me nervous as a kitten. I could run into a mousehole when they start shelling. The only thing we can do is to lay full length on the floor in the fire bays and trust to God. I can tell you Dear it makes you think about many a hundred things while the shells are falling all around you. We are to have another dose this afternoon, from our own artillery. They are sending 650 shells over in an hour and then the Germans will let us have it. It is just like Hell with the lid opened. It seems a marvellous thing the regiment we relieved did not have one shell over all the time they were in but we have had it every day alike.

Our General came through our trenches on Thursday and he said ‘Well lads, you are having it very thick again’ but he said ‘you are about the best lot of lads in our Division and you will be the first lot to get your Divisional rest’. We are having a month’s rest and by gum we can do with it.

We are over knee deep in water where we have to sleep. We have no dugouts to sleep in so we have to sleep on the fire step. There are three of us in our bay and I can tell you we do not half cuddle up close together, as tight as we used to do when were courting. So you know how much that is. But I expect you will have forgotten by now. I hope it will be just like courting again when we get together again. I wish it was going to be this Christmas. We would not half enjoy ourselves. I had a parcel from Grace Thursday night. It had a cake, plum pudding, some mince pies and chocolates. I had the pudding for dinner today. Three of my pals had some as well; it was grand. We had to have it cold, but we knocked it down us.

I had a letter from home one day this week and they are all quite well. Also Gran; she was ever so pleased with her postcard. I sent her one and Mother and Dolly one each. They are sending me a parcel for my birthday. We shall be out of the trenches for that. Remember me to Lizzie and Little Lizzie. Hope they are both quite well. Now Dear I am going to ask you to send me one of those illuminated wrist watches. They cost from 12/6 to 15/-. Of course you buy it out of that money you got from the Stores. The reason I want one is I often get the job of relieving the sentries and it is awkward not having a watch to go by. They are similar to a ladies watch. Of course if you cannot afford to send one by all means don’t."

In subsequent letters to his wife Pte. Knox would also refer to an engagement with the Germans prior to the relief, although this is not mentioned in the official War Diary, “We were to be relieved on Saturday night but the Germans started sending some aerial torpedoes over so we could not get out but the regiment who should have relieved us had to stand to as the Boshes made a surprise attack. But we seen them coming so we went to meet them and we mowed them down just like skittles. It is an awful sight to see them fall in a heap, dead. I was just in my glory. They will not stand and fight against us at all. You should have heard them scream and shout mercy. But by God we gave them mercy. We gave them Hell and after we had driven them back our artillery opened fire on them and blew their trenches to blazes”. In a later, uncensored, letter, he would give even more detail, “I will tell you now about a little battle on the 18^th (Sunday). It had been expected that they would make an attack at Ypres, which they did do. And they knew about it for our lot cut them up altogether. I think it was the Northumberland Fusiliers that caught them. And when they make an attack at one certain point they mostly make a smaller one just a little way from there as well, just to keep our men from going to the point they are attacking. I was asleep at the time we first discovered them cutting our front line of barbed wire. So they jolly soon had us woke up and ready to go over the parapet. We went with a tremendous lot of bombs and we lay in wait for them. Of course it takes a long time to make a passage through as there as many as twenty to thirty rows of wire between our lines and theirs (commonly called no man’s land). So when they got within twenty yards of us when we let go with our bombs and you should have seen them poor devils. They showed a little bit of fight for about ten minutes but of course they could not get near us for our bombs. And when they tried to get back they found out that they were surrounded and they started yelling “Hoch, hoch”, but we gave them plenty of bayonet. My bayonet was all covered with blood and my clothes were just about the same. There was only half our Company went out to meet them, about 120 altogether. We did not wait for our officer to give us the order to go over to meet them, we were at grips when he came. And our Colonel came out to meet us about an hour later and complemented us on our good work. No doubt you will have seen it in the papers. It would be an attack on the Bois Grenier line.”

Pte. Thomas Ward (see 9^th October) was ordered to forfeit seven days’ pay; the reason for the punishment is unknown.

Ptes. Stanley Bostock, Arnold Freeman, Andrew Green, Martin Haran, Thomas Hockey, John McGlynn, Cecil Stanley Pitblado and Eli Taylor were posted to France and would join 10DWR. Stanley Bostock was 20 years old and from Huddersfield and had been a pre-war regular soldier (enlisting aged 17 in 1913) and had been posted to France with 2DWR in September 1914. He had been evacuated to England in November 1914 having been shot through the leg. He had re-joined 2DWR in April 1915 and had been gassed in May but had remained with his Battalion. He had then been wounded in the right arm in September 1915 and had again been posted back to England. Arnold Freeman was 32 years old and from Oldham. Martin Haran was an 18 year-old spinner from Keighley; he had enlisted, under age, in September 1914 and had served with 2DWR in France from April 1915 until having been wounded (resulting in the amputation of a finger) in August 1915, since when he had been in England. Thomas Hockey was a 24 year-old canal boatman from Keighley. John McGlynn was a 34 year-old labourer from Leeds. Cecil Stanley Pitblado was a 33 year-old furnace man from Slaithwaite, near Huddersfield; he was married, with six children. Eli Taylor was a 33 year-old dyer’s labourer from Halifax and was married, with two children. I am currently unable to make a positive identification of Andrew Green.

Pte. Harry Hinchliffe was transferred to 10DWR from 2DWR. He was a 31 year-old labourer from Huddersfield and had enlisted in August 1914. He had been posted to France in April and had joined 2DWR. He had only served briefly with the Battalion before suffering from gas poisoning in early May and had spent some time (details unknown) at 12^th General Hospital in Rouen. He had remained in France prior to his transfer to 10DWR.

Sgt. Arthur Manks (see 27^th November) was discharged from the convalescent hospital at Woodcote Park, Epsom; he would have two week’s leave before reporting to 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffordshire.

Friday 17th December 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

After relatively dry weather over the previous few days, the rain returned in the afternoon and evening. However, it was reported that the level of the River Laies near ‘London Bridge’ had fallen from its peak of six feet (see 12^th December), down to four feet ten inches. Conditions for the Battalion remained quiet although significant artillery exchanges were noted further south. Overnight there was some German rifle fire against the British lines, but three salvoes from the British artillery supressed the German action. Orders were received for the Battalion to be prepared to be relieved next day by 8^th Yorkshires.

J.B. Priestley told his family, “We are still in the trenches and it is very miserable. I hope you will contrive to spend a merry Xmas, and don’t make yourself miserable on my account. I should be far happier myself if I thought you were having a jolly time. I should have a good time if I were at home. My chances of seeing Saltburn Place are very remote for a long while, unless I happen to get a ‘blighty’ … Things are very quiet here now and rather monotonous, save for an occasional bombardment by the artillery”.  


The condition of the trenches and the problems this presented for the care of wounded is clear from a report which would be recorded in the war diary of 69^th Field Ambulance:

“Right portion - Fire trenches fair to bad; wounded can be carried along behind fire trenches to the Le Bridoux – Bois Grenier road and so to White City Aid Post. This road looks dangerous but is said to be fairly safe. Queer Street is being made useable but Safety Alley is impassable. Aid Post at White City is ground floor room of house with no protection; dug-out had fallen in and is full of water. From Aid Post to ADS the only way is by road. A pneumatic-tyred wheeled stretcher carrier kept at White City would facilitate evacuation of wounded from this position very greatly.

Centre portion – Fire trenches bad; owing to sides bulging inward often very narrow. Communication trenches ditto, with mud in parts 2’ to 3’ deep. Owing to falling in of parapets, ground immediately behind fire trenches from Shaftesbury Avenue to front of Flamengerie Farm is exposed. Ground to left of Flamengrie Farm is under cover. Wounded being taken to Shaftesbury Avenue must be taken across the open either to the head of Shaftesbury Avenue or to the line of willows in front of Flamengerie Farm. Communication trench via Oxford Circus is impassable. Shaftesbury Avenue good except at fire trench end. Bridge at London Bridge has been washed away and a small detour and a new bridge to right (facing trenches) made. Dug-outs good. Aid post in good condition, but has no fireplace; a brazier burning coke being used.

Left portion – Fire trenches fair. To right of Park Row wounded can be carried behind fire trench to Burnt Farm. Ditto on left as far as beginning of salient. Here there are eight traverses through which it is impossible to get a stretcher and cases occurring beyond this are taken past the Estaminet Rue du Bois along the road to the aid post. Aid post at present in Burnt Farm; dug-out at College Green is being rebuilt. In my opinion it would have been better to have removed dug-out to head of Park Row immediately behind Burnt Farm. Park Row is almost impossible for stretchers owing to the slippery condition of the footboards which are placed longitudinally. It is suggested that the best way of evacuating wounded from this portion is by pneumatic-tyred wheeled stretcher carried down Dog Leg Road.

All three aid posts are provided with a tea urn, primus stove and oxygen cylinder. Shell dressings, iodine and ammonia ampoules are not kept in the aid posts; they are carried by RMOs (Regimental Medical Officers)”.

Thursday 16th December 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

The morning passed quietly, with some sporadic British shelling of the German lines. However, from 2pm the Germans opened up a significant bombardment of the British front line and Battalion HQ which lasted for some two hours. No casualties were suffered and the War Diary reported that “the men were all in dugouts, criticising the quality and weight and making notes where the shells had fallen so that the nose-caps could be procured”.  (There was a profit to be made by selling shell nose-caps in the ‘back areas’, although the practice was not without its hazards). The response from the British artillery was limited but it did continue at regular intervals through the evening and overnight.

 

Wednesday 15th December 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

Back again on familiar territory, despite the difficult conditions and with a period of relative quiet, some of ‘Tunstill’s Men’ found time to write home to offer their thanks for parcels received and to reassure loved ones about their welfare. Pte. John Dinsdale (see 12^th September 1914) told well-wishers; “I write to thank you for the splendid parcel I received a few days ago. You have good choice in sending stuff we like. The worst is it does not last long. I may say parcels are very acceptable and we all look forward to them, and to letters, very eagerly. I would also like to thank all the people who subscribed for the parcels. We have had some very wet weather out here; the trenches are knee deep in water and most of us have jack boots when we are in the trenches. The rain has damaged the trenches a good deal but still, in spite of water, mud and German shells, we keep in the best of health”.

Pte. Tom Swales (see 25^th August) also expressed his appreciation of gifts received and made light of the dangers in his letter, “Just a few lines to thank you for the parcel I received a few days ago. I am sure it is very good of you to put yourself to so much trouble for us, and I am sure you have good taste in what to send the boys in the trenches. Please also thank the people for their generosity in subscribing to your scheme. We have had some very wet weather lately, which has made the trenches very unpleasant. The rain has made a pond between the German trench and ours, so there is no fear of them advancing unless they swim across, which I don't think is likely".

It was also during this tour in the trenches, though the exact date is unknown, that Pte. William James Jakeway (see 11^th September) wrote to his brother (an extract from the letter would be published in the Keighley News on 23^rd December), “We can’t get any sleep as our artillery is bombarding the German lines and, of course, they are replying with a few. They sent a shell over the other day and it dropped among a dozen of our lads, killing four and severely wounding the others. I daresay you wil have seen by the papers that a lad of our Battalion has won the DCM (Pte. Sydney Wakefield, see 23^rd November) and that one of our officers has won the Military Cross for bringing in wounded under fire (Lt. Leslie Guy Stewart Bolland, see 10^th December). To say that all our Battalion are Kitchener’s Men we are not doing so badly. We have been served with fur coats, mackintosh capes and Wellington long boots, so you see they are doing all they can to keep us warm and dry. We are in the same trenches at present as we were on the morning of the big bombardment of September 25^th and they are in a mess. Talk about mud-larking – you would would think we had been having a game of rugby and throwing each other about. Mud from head to foot; even the food we eat has mud on. But all we can do is laugh at one another and think ourselves lucky we are living. … I hope the band has a good time this Christmas (Pte. Jakeway had been a bandsman with the Savation Army). The only bit of music I have heard since I left England was a band which the Germans had in their trenches one afternoon. So when I come home I will blow that instrument of mine straight”.

Image by kind permission of Andy Wade and MenOfWorth

L.Cpl. Arthur Halstead, serving in France with the ASC, and attached to 1^st Cavalry Division, submitted his application for a temporary commission; he would subsequently join 10DWR as a Lieutenant. Arthur Halstead was born on 28^th December 1893 in Halifax, the second son, though he also had six older sisters, of Elijah and Sarah Ann Halstead. His father had worked as a labourer in a wire mill, but Arthur himself had been working as a clerk in the offices of the Halifax Guardian when he volunteered on the outbreak of war. He was in France by 26^th August 1914, which strongly suggests that he prior military experience, most likely with the Territorials.

Tuesday 14th December 1915

Reserve billets at La Rolanderie Farm.

Preparations began for the relief of 8^th Yorks in the front line and the Bois Grenier line. Company commanders with representatives from each platoon took over trench stores, the Machine Gun Officer took over the machine gun emplacements (four in the front line and two in the Bois Grenier line) and the Signalling Sergeant took responsibility for communications from 10 am. Battalion HQ did not begin its move until 4.15 pm and the remainder of the Battalion followed, with Companies departing at five-minute intervals, and with one hundred yards between platoons. The relief, although carried out without incident or casualties, was not completed until 6.30 am the following morning. In accordance with the new Brigade defence scheme (see 13^th December) the front line would be held by just two companies. ‘A’ Company were again positioned on the far right of the Battalion front, as on the previous tour, by Farm Grande Flamengrie and opposite the German positions near Bois Blancs, which were little more than one hundred yards away in places. To their left was ‘D’ Company (supplemented by one platoon of ‘C’ Company); ‘B’ Company and the remaining three platoons of ‘C’ were in the Bois Grenier line, either side of Shaftesbury Avenue. However, these companies were under strict instruction to be ready at all times to support the front line.

The difficulties faced by Tunstill’s Company are clear from a report on conditions in this sector of the Battalion front recorded in 69^th Field Ambulance War Diary on 19^th December which confirmed that this was currently the most challenging section of the Brigade front. The report stated: “Fire trenches bad, owing to sides bulging inwards often very narrow; communication trenches ditto, with mud in parts two to three feet deep. Owing to falling of parapets, ground immediately behind fire trenches from Shaftesbury Avenue to front of Flamengrie Farm is exposed; ground to left of Flamengrie Farm is under cover. Wounded being taken to Shaftesbury Avenue must be taken across open either to head of Shaftesbury Avenue or to line of willows in front of Flamengrie Farm. Communication trench via Oxford Circus is impassable. Shaftesbury Avenue good, except at fire trench end … Aid post (by Jock’s Joy) in good condition but has no fireplace, a brazier burning coke being used. Bridge at London Bridge has been washed away and a small detour and new bridge to right (facing trenches) made … All these posts are provided with a tea urn, primus stove and oxygen cylinder. Shell dressings, iodine and ammonia ampoules are not kept in the aid posts, being carried by RMO’s”.

 

In anticipation of his return to the front line, Pte. William Knox (see 11^th December) again wrote to his wife, Ethel (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters).

“I now sit down and write you a few lines to thank you so very much for your parcel which I received yesterday, Monday. Also letter dated 10.12.1915 and was very pleased to hear that you were quite better and hope you continue to do so. I am very pleased to say that it leaves me very well at present. We go into the firing line again tonight for four days but I hope we have better weather than we had last time in. We had another very nice shelling on Monday. We went on a working party to fill sandbags and we had just knocked off for dinner when the Boshes started sending us a few over and they were bursting all around us and I can tell you it made us a bit nervous just for a time. I was very pleased to hear that you liked your postcards. I will send Lizzie one or two when I come out of the trenches.

You will have to excuse me for not writing to you very often just now as we have not had much time to spare to write. Your parcel has just come in right as it will be more use to me in the trenches than when we are out at rest. I am sending you this Christmas card to save for me as it is one that our Captain’s wife (Geraldine Tunstill, see 16^th October) has sent out here to us. We all received a parcel in our Company from her this morning. I am sure it was very good of her.

PS Will you send me some soap and three candles. You might send me a pat of soap every fortnight now again.”

Pte. William Hissett (see 23^rd October) was evacuated from 26^th General Hospital at Etaples to England, travelling onboard the Hospital Ship Dover Castle; he had been suffering from an infection to his middle ear and on arrival in England would be transferred to the Military Hospital at the Curragh Camp, near Dublin.

Pte. Walter White (see 5^th May), who had originally served with Tunstill’s Company but had been transferred to 2DWR in April 1915, was posted back England, having been taken ill (details unknown) and admitted to hospital in Torquay. He would not return to active service.