Saturday 11th September 1915

Billets between Vieux Berquin and Oultersteene.

The Battalion remained in billets.

At 7pm the ‘other’ half of each of 11^th West Yorkshires and 9^th Yorkshires exchanged places with the men from the same units who had spent the previous twenty-four hours being instructed in trench warfare.

A large draft of men joined the Battalion, having been posted out to France on 29^th August. A number of these men have been identified. A/Cpl. Wilfred Hall was 29 years old and from Huddersfield and was married with one son. He had joined the West Riding Regiment in 1909 and had been posted to France to join 2DWR in November 1914. He had been wounded in April 1915 and evacuated to England, where he had, once recovered, served with 3DWR. Pte. William Peter Allen was a 33 year-old slater’s labourer originally from Patricroft, Manchester; he had enlisted in Keighley in May and had trained with 3DWR. Pte. John Edward Atkinson was a 37 year-old brickyard labourer from Halifax; he was married with four children (two other children had also died in infancy). Pte. James Beatty; in the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to make a positive identification of this man. Pte. Frank Butler was a 27 year-old labourer from Rastrick; he was married, with one daughter. Pte. Algie Clarkson was a 36 year-old bricklayer, originally from Keighley, but had lived for many years in Middlesbrough; he was married with five children. Pte. Thomas George Coates was 28 years old and originally from Hatfield, but had been working as a quarryman in Hampole, near Doncaster; he had enlisted in March and had been in training with 3DWR. Pte. William Cox was 19 years old and from Aston, Birmingham. Pte. Joseph Crabtree was a 28 year-old agricultural labourer from Keighley. Pte. Joseph Dent was a 31 year-old silk dresser, originally from Leeds but had been living in Brighouse. Pte. Edward Flaherty was from Bradford; he was only 15 years old (b.9^th December 1899). He had failed in his first attempt to enlist but had been accepted in May 1915. He was the younger brother of Pte. Robert Flaherty (see 24^th April). Pte. James Albert Garbutt was 19 years old and from Hebden Bridge. Pte. Ellis Gill was a 19 year-old brass moulder from Bradford. Pte. William Hartley was a 37 year-old wood sawyer, originally from London but had been living in Brighouse; he was married, with four children. Pte. James Hatton Kershaw was a 41 year-old labourer from Rastrick; he was a widower with two children. Pte. Walter Lee was a 21 year-old core maker from Brighouse; he was married with two children. Cpl. Richard Alexander Oliver; he was 36 years old and before the war had been ‘Labour Master’ at the Bradford Workhouse. Pte. Willie Parkin was a 20 year-old millhand from Huddersfield. He had enlisted in November 1914 and had trained with 3DWR until having been reported as a deserter in March 1915. He had been apprehended by the police in May 1915 and, following a trial by court martial, had served two months’ detention (of an original four-month sentence) before re-joining 3DWR. Pte. Frank Peel was a 27 year-old miner from Bradford. Pte. George Slater was a 31 year-old labourer from Royton near Oldham; he was married with three children. He had enlisted in February and had been in training with 3DWR. Pte. Arthur Smith (14204) was from Halifax.  Pte. Joseph Wilkinson was 19 years old and from Linthwaite, near Huddersfield;  he had enlisted in April 1915 and had trained with 3DWR. Pte. Benjamin Wilson was a 32 year-old labourer from Hunslet; he was married with four children.

Image by kind permission of Andy Wade and MenOfWorth

Another group of those posted were men, from all over the country, who had initially volunteered for service with the RAMC. They had volunteered in October 1914 and had trained with the RAMC in Sheffield before being transferred to 3DWR on 1^st June 1915; a number of these men have been identified. Pte. William Frederick Ackrill was a 20 year-old jeweller from Ladywood, Birmingham. Pte. Harry Gordon Binns was a 20 year-old farm servant from Sunderland. Pte. Harry Bower was a 20 year-old miner from Leeds. Pte. John Cardwell was twenty years old and from Sunderland; he was the younger of two sons of John and Mary Cardwell, and had been working as an apprentice engineer before the war. Pte. Joseph Chandler was a 20 year-old miner from Rotherham. Pte. Ernest Arthur Crookes was a 20 year-old millhand from Huddersfield. Pte. Cuthbert Dyer was a 26 year-old miner from Sunderland; he was married with one son and his wife, Edith, was pregnant with their second child. Pte. Robert Emson was a 21 year-old labourer from Repton, Notts. Pte. Harry Hey (15995); he was a 36 year-old waggoner (working for the Co-Op) from Cleckheaton and was married with four children. Pte. William Hissett was an 18 year-old miner from Houghton-le-Spring. Pte. Edward Isger was a 27 year-old carter from Melcombe Regis. Pte. Amos Ibbotson was a 38 year-old weaver from Brierfield; he was a married man with three children. Pte. William James Jakeway was a 21 year-old textile worker; he was originally from Aberdare, but the family had lived for several years in Keighley. Pte. George King (16475) was 28 years old and originally from London, but had been living in Yorkshire. Pte. Bertie Legg was an 18 year-old blacksmith from Dorchester; he had claimed to be 19 when enlisting though actually only been 17 at the time. He had already accumulated a list of offences whilst in training, being sanctioned for: ‘reporting sick without cause’; inattention in the ranks’; ‘being absent from parade’; ‘using obscene language’; ‘making an improper remark to an NCO’; ‘refusing to obey an order’; and ‘having a dirty rifle’. Pte. Robert Moody was a 20 year-old fishmonger from London. Pte. John Dennis Moss was a 20 year-old miner from Gateshead. Pte. William Munday was a 19 year-old confectioner from York. Pte. Leonard Pankhurst was a 21 year-old dyer’s labourer from Leeds. Pte. Levi Randle was a 30 year-old machinist from Poole, Dorset. Pte. Thomas Robinson (16490) was 19 years old and from Silksworth, near Sunderland; he had been working as a miner before enlisting. Pte. James Thomas Sagar was a 37 year-old married man from Bradford, with four children. Pte. James Edward Simpson was an 18 year-old warehouseman from Burnley; he had enlisted in Keighley in September 1914, clainming to be 19 although he was then in fact only just turned 17 and had trained with 3DWR. Pte. Fred Smith (15149) was a 34 year-old farmer from East Marton, near Skipton. Pte. Jacob Sweeting was 21 years old and had been working as an apprentice plater with the Sunderland Shipbuilding Company; he had spent two weeks in hospital in January/February 1915 being treated for bursitis. Pte. Matthew Teasdale was a 26 year-old miner from Hetton-le-Hole; he was married, with one child. Pte. Tom Jackson Tindall was a 20 year-old sailor from Middlesbrough. Pte. Alfred Edward Wybrow was 19 years old and from Bromley-by-Bow, London; he had attested in February 1915 and had trained with 3DWR at North Shields. Pte. Norman Lancelot Young was a 22 years old from Sunderland and had worked as a mechanic at Dawdon Colliery.

Pte. George Henry Hansford had also arrived in France with this draft but was posted to one of the Transport Depots for ‘a course of transport’; he would not join 10DWR until January. He was a 19 year-old farm labourer from Gillingham, Dorset; he had originally joined the Dorsetshire Regiment, but had been transferred to the RAMC.

Ptes. John Cardwell (standing) and Thomas Robinson (16490), seated.

Image by kind permission of Gary Robinson.

L.Cpl. William Johnson Simpson (see 6^th February) arrived in France with 12^th West Yorks; he would later be commissioned and serve with 10DWR.