Monday 25th October 1915

Billets at Estaires

The weather remained very wet as the Battalion again provided large working parties.

Two men from Tunstill’s Company were transferred to the Army Service Corps. Pte. James Wilson (see 15^th April) had been a chauffeur before the war and the Army now took advantage of his skill and he became a lorry driver with the Motor Transport Section. He continued to serve in France until April 1917. Pte. Ernest Jobling (see 16^th September 1914) was also transferred to the same section; he remained with the ASC for the rest of the war. A third man, Pte. Harry Martin, was also transferred to the ASC. He had also been an original member of the Battalion, but, in the absence of a surviving service record, I am unable to make a positive identification of this man or establish any details of his service.

Ernest Jobling (standing), with his younger brother, Joseph, who served in the Royal Navy

In a letter to his family at this time J.B. Priestley commented, with more than a hint of irony, on the dissatisfaction felt by many in the infantry about what they considered the ‘soft’ nature of some other jobs (including the ASC), as compared to the lot of the infantryman. “It is a grievance with our fellows and the infantry generally, the number of men out here with well paid, soft jobs; these bases are full of them – tradesmen of the ASC, AOC and APC men, and many of the RAMC and RE men. However we get the ‘glory’ out here, and these fellows acknowledge their indebtedness to the Infantry”.

 It may have been this contact with the ASC which prompted an entry in the War Diary a few days later, lamenting some of the difficulties the Battalion had experienced in securing appropriate transport;

“In all the moves the Battalion has undergone, the transport has proved the difficulty. If each Battalion was given four motor lorries, the whole of the work would be done more easily, and quicker. Although the initial outlay would be heavy, in the end it would be cheaper than the present system in that it would save forage for some 50 animals. Also it would relieve about 40 men for the fire trenches”.