Wednesday 1st December 1915

Jesus Farm, Erquinghem

The Battalion continued to find working parties to support the Royal Engineers alongside a continuation of the Brigade training programmes. The Brigade War Diary commented on, “special attention being devoted to bomb throwing and the training of machine gunners”.

The weather remained wet and cold over the following days and the mud and water made conditions increasingly difficult. It was reported by 2^nd Northants (billeted at La Rolanderie Farm) that “ground is in such a bad state only arms drill is possible”.


Pte. William Knox (see 28^th November) began another letter to his wife, Ethel, although he would not complete, and post it until 3^rd December (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters).

My Dearest Ethel

(1^st December) 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. My cold has got quite better again now Dear. What sort of weather are you having at Sheffield? We are having it very wet and cold. We are just about perished to death. I used to think that we had it cold in England but it is three times colder out here. We don’t half fight shy in a morning when we have to go and have a wash for we have to break the ice before we get the water and I should think soldiers have washed themselves in the same water for months. It is an old pond and it stinks. It is a wonder some of us have not caught the fever before now. I think if we can stand this lot we need never fear anything else.

Well Darling I wish you could have been here on Sunday afternoon. With it being a nice clear day the aerial department were very active. We saw as many as thirty in the air at once and we saw two or three duels in the air. Our airmen brought two German planes down not so very far from where we are billeted.

We are still out of the trenches. We go into the firing line on December 6^th until the 14^th, then we come right back again for a six weeks rest to a place called Fort Rompu. We have got a very good name in our Division for the good work we have done while we have been in the trenches. Our General came to inspect us yesterday and he told us that we have done more work to the trenches than any other regiment. So you see we have got a good character.

I have just received your letter dated 26.11.1915, also papers. Was very pleased to hear that you were quite well again but sorry to hear that you are so very downhearted again. Do try and cheer up Love as it will not make it any better. I am afraid this war will last a nice lot longer yet.

The Germans are going to make a very big attempt to capture a large town where we were billeted before we went into the trenches the last time but it will be God help them if they ever do as we have got a tremendous lot of artillery close at hand and they will just about swipe them off of the earth. We have heard today that Romania and Greece has come in on our side. I hope that it is true. It will make a tremendous lot of difference. It will end the war a lot quicker. I wish to God it was all over. I am just about sick and tired to death being away from you Dear for I love you ever so much more than ever I did. In fact I really cannot tell you how much I do love you Dearest Sweetheart, but I hope the days are not too far off when I can show you. When we get into a home of our own I will try and make you one of the happiest women in all the whole wide world. We won’t half make a fuss of one another. It will take something to make me leave you again but still I am only doing my duty and I know you will be a lot prouder of me if I ever live to come back to you Dear, which I pray to God I shall do and very soon too.

I received another parcel from Grace again Monday night. She sent me the old usual 2/- but I am saving it to buy you some more of those postcards. I cannot buy any here as it is only a small village of about a dozen houses in it so I do not go and see anybody here. No Dear I do not see the woman now who used to give us the chips. I think you must be getting jealous in your old age aren’t you Dearest. But they always say it is not true love without a little bit of jealousy. You need not fear me running off with any of them. There is only one girl for me and that is the one I have made my own sweet precious wife. I have got as good a wife as any man could ever wish to have and I hope I prove worthy of such a love. It will be my first aim to make you as happy as ever I can and I see no fear of us not being happy together for I have been far more happy since I knew you than ever I was before. The four years as we courted was the best time of my life. I will leave off writing this letter for tonight as it is lights out now, bedtime”.

Pte. Benjamin Wilson (see 6^th November), who had been at 2^nd General Hospital at Le Havre since having suffered a gunshot wound to his left knee, resulting in compound fractures to both his femur and tibia, on 6^th November, had his leg amputated. 

A memorial service was at St. Andrew’s Church, Sedbergh, during which special mention was made of L.Cpl. Noel Bennett (see 26^th November). The service was reported in a subsequent edition (3^rd December) of the Kendal Mercury:

“On Wednesday at St. Andrew's Church there was a large congregation at the memorial service to those who had fallen in the war, with special reference to L.-Corpl. Bennett who was killed in France on the 19th November. The Vicar, Rev. J.M. Cadman, took the major portion of the service, and the lesson was read by Rev. H.F. Donaldson, Selby. The special hymns were 'Fight the good fight,' and 'On the Resurrection Morning.' The Vicar said Corporal Bennett was the first of their men whom they knew to have fallen. Speaking from Jeremiah i., 17, "There is hope in thine end saith the Lord," the Vicar said they were tempted to deny this in these times of national sorrow when, filled with a sense of loss and desolation, they grieved over the shutting off of a bright young life, full of promise, brave, cheerful, willing, thoughtful for others, who had endeared himself to his comrades and won the respect of his officers. The qualities which he had showed there as a Boy Scout had developed in degree. Without Christianity they could not go further, and could derive no comfort, but Christianity had brought life and immortality, therefore they were able "to pluck the rose of hope from the nettle of despair," because it was not the end. They hoped for the fuller development in a brighter sphere and that life would unfold itself in the higher activities of service beyond, and did not lose its influence here. The devotion to duty and the self-sacrifice of the dead was a type and reflection of the great self-sacrifice. Therefore they must not sorrow as those who had no hope. A life of full service, however brief, crowned by a death of willing sacrifice, was one which they might envy.”

Charles Archibald Milford (see 22^nd October), who had been a leading figure in Tunstill’s original recruitment campaign and who had also been involved in the on-going campaign to raise funds for the Company, completed his attestation papers, under the 'Derby Scheme', to join the Army. He was placed on the Army Reserve rather than being immediately posted to training. Milford was thirty-nine years old and had been working as a Divisional Clerk for West Riding County Council Education Committee. He was a married man with three children and was living at South Parade, Settle.

Tuesday 30th November 1915

Jesus Farm, Erquinghem

Training continued.

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

Killed                                     15
Accidentally killed                6
Died of wounds                     1
Wounded                             57
Accidentally wounded       40

10DWR had again sustained higher casualties than any other Battalion:

Killed                                     9
Accidentally killed              4
Died of wounds                   0
Wounded                           17
Accidentally wounded     30

These figures appear to take no account of the two men from the Battalion who had died of illness (see 7^th November and 13^th November).

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

Killed                                     16
Accidentally killed                 4
Died of wounds                     2
Wounded                              61
Accidentally wounded        32

Monday 29th November 1915

Jesus Farm, Erquinghem

Training continued, despite heavy rain falling throughout the day.

An order was issued for CSM Harry Dewhirst (see 24^th November) to report to Rouen, pending a decision in whether he was to be sent back to England.

Pte. Charles Binns arrived in Egypt to join 8^th Battalion West Ridings; he was the elder brother of Pte. George Binns (see 21^st August) who was serving with Tunstill’s Company.

Sunday 28th November 1915

Jesus Farm, Erquinghem

The extreme cold of the previous few days intensified even further, with the Battalion War Diary referring to ‘twenty degrees of frost', (which is equivalent to 12^oF or -11^oC). The men were issued with ‘fur jackets’ to help combat the conditions.

This postcard image of a man wearing one of the fur jackets issued in the Winter of 1915-16 was preserved in the album kept by Geraldine Tunstill. The identity of the soldier is unknown, but it should be noted that the image was taken by Horner & Sons photographers of Settle. For more information on the photographers, see http://www.northcravenheritage.org.uk/nchtjournal/Journals/2005/Horners/horners.html

 

Pte. John William Smith (11986) departed for England on one week’s leave; he was a 43 year-old builder’s labourer from Addingham and was married but had no children.


Pte. William Knox (see 25^th November) again wrote to his wife, Ethel, apparently somewhat underplaying the current extreme cold (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s 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. My cold is a lot better than what it was. We are having it very cold out here just now. It was snowing a bit on Friday but I suppose you had a heavy snowfall in England. We are still out of the trenches as yet and expect to be out another week before we go into the firing line again.

Did that gas explosion do very much damage? Poor old Mrs. Airey would not half get a shock. She would think that the Zeppelins had come to Sheffield.

I have just received your parcel and thank you so very much for it. The cake is extra. I will write to Mitchells as soon as I receive the other stuff as you asked me to do. I was very pleased to hear that you were a lot better. Yes Dear I take nearly all the parcels into the trenches with me as you can always buy something to eat when you are in billets. I shall have to be careful what I put in Joe’s letters in future if he sends them home for you to read. I am very pleased to hear that he has got into the wheelwright’s shop because it will keep him in England. I hope he never has to come out here. He will be alright getting a pass every month. I think I shall have to put in a weekend pass shan’t I Dear?

Fancy Edith Mitchell wanting to go into munitions work. Not much difference to typewriting. If anyone else tells you that you ought to be making shells just tell them that you have got someone who is out here and instead of making shells he may have to stop them. If people would only mind their own business it would look better of them.

We have been pitching some canvas tents this afternoon while ours get replaced so I expect it will be pretty cold but they have issued us with another blanket so it will be a lot warmer than with one”.

Saturday 27th November 1915

Jesus Farm, Erquinghem

As training continued, so too did the extreme cold of recent days.

2Lt. John Clarence William Redington (see 11^th April) reported for duty with 10^th Battalion. He was the younger brother of Frank Hubert Caudwell Redington who was already serving as one of Tunstill’s fellow officers.

Sgt. Arthur Manks (see 23^rd October) was transferred from hospital in Boscombe, Hants. to the convalescent hospital at Woodcote Park, Epsom.

The weekly edition of the Keighley News published news of the death of Pte. Barker Stott (see 13^th November).

LOCAL CASUALTIES

News was received yesterday of the death in France of Private Barker Stott (20), of 14 Gladstone Street, Keighley. He died from lockjaw as a result of getting a rusty nail into his hand. He enlisted in the 10^th West Riding Regiment in September 1914 and went out to France with that regiment two or three months ago. His mother has died since his enlistment.

Pte. Barker Stott

Farrand and John Kayley enlisted, in Skipton, in response to the ‘Derby Scheme’, with 1st/6th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s. They were brothers of Job and James Kayley, who had been among Tunstill’s original recruits (see 9th and 14^th September 1914). Farrand and John were among a group of six Long Preston men who volunteered together. One of the six, Arthur ‘Snippy’ Throupe,  was originally rejected because of his height (he was only five feet two inches tall) but when the others refused to join unless they were all allowed, ‘Snippy’ was signed up. One of the six, Edgar Mellin Kayley (no direct relation) was transferred first to the Machine Gun Corps and later to the Military Foot Police, but the other five were all were posted to France in March 1916. Of the five, one, William Metcalfe, would be killed and three, John Kayley, ‘Snippy’ Throupe and Bob Slater, were wounded in action. The fifth surviving Kayley brother, Harry, had attested for service by the end of the year and later served in the Royal Garrison Artillery.

I am most grateful to the late Robert Slater who provided me with much information on the Long Preston volunteers and was a source, not only of information, but also of great encouragement.

Friday 26th November 1915

Jesus Farm, Erquinghem

The Brigade’s programme of training now began in earnest, with platoon, company and battalion training and machine gun and bombing classes.

Cpl. Arthur Edward Hunt (see 5^th May) was admitted via 70^th Field Ambulance to 4^th Stationary Hospital in Arques for investigation into his ‘defective vision’; he would be discharged to duty the following day.

The weekly edition of the Craven Herald carried news of the death of L.Cpl. Noel Bennett (see 21^st November), which had occurred a week earlier:

SEDBERGH

WAR ITEMS - Much sympathy is being expressed in the Sedbergh district with Mr. W.E. Bennett, stationmaster at Sedbergh, and Mrs. Bennett, in the great bereavement they have sustained by the death of their only son, Lance Corporal Noel Bennett, of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, which occurred on the 19th inst. The melancholy intelligence reached them on Wednesday morning in a letter from Corporal H.L. Mason, stating that the unfortunate young soldier had been killed on the 19th inst. when he had gone out of his trench to fetch in a wounded man. He was shot through the head by a German sniper and died instantaneously. He was 19 years of age.

Thursday 25th November 1915

Jesus Farm, Erquinghem

According to the Brigade War Diary the day was spent, “Settling into and improving billets. Preparing programme of training”.

The first round of leave to England began, as J.B. Priestley had anticipated in a letter to his family (see 7^th November); four men from 69^th Field Ambulance were noted as having been the first to depart. 


With more time available, Pte. William Knox (see 21^st November) wrote a long letter home to his wife, Ethel. (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s letters).

My Dearest Ethel

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, excepting for a bad cold which I think we have all got out here as it is so very cold. We have come out of the trenches again. Came out on Wednesday night. We had a decent time of it this time as we had a lot better arrangements and we got plenty of sleep as we had plenty of good dugouts and they made a very great difference. We lost over eighty men this time, nearly all of them in one day, but only 12 in our Company. It is an awful sight to see men fall down after they have just been shot. Two of us were on sentry in the same bay and one chap was hit by a sniper and killed straight out. He never even moaned once. We buried him during the night just behind the firing line. We have had plenty of that sort of work. We buried 15 all in one day and the Parson was there. All they were wrapped in were just a blanket each and four in a grave.

Well Dear Love we have started coming home on leave but at the rate they sent them this week it will take us just about two years to go right through the whole Battalion so you must not expect seeing me just yet. But married men are to go first so that will make a lot of difference. We are going right back away from the firing line for a month’s rest so they say. I hope it is true then we shall be able to spend Xmas very well. I wish I was going to be with you. It would be quite a change wouldn’t it Love. I am getting a little bit downhearted now. I am always thinking about my own Sweet Precious Darling at home, wondering what she is doing. I wish I could see you once more Love. It is awful being out here when the one you love so much is waiting for you all along. I know the suspense must be awful for you Darling but be a brave old sweetheart and we must trust to God to bring me safely through this awful war.

The shells are bursting over my head while I am writing this. They are ours but I expect we shall soon be having some back in returns, but while they send one we can send ten. They are making a lot of talk about being short of ammunition but we are a jolly sight better off than the Germans. They are using shells made as late on as October 1915 so they must be getting very low down with their old stock.

They gave us a very hot time last Thursday morning at Armentieres where we were billeted. They had a bust up for they sent over six hundred shells but half of them were what we call duds, as they never exploded. But on Friday our artillery gave them hell. They dropped shell upon shell on their parapet and we could see sandbags flying right up in the air and I expect a few Boshes as well. I saw a few on the parapet this time. We had another try to catch their patrol last Sunday night but they never came out or else it would have been God help them as we were going to give the devils a few bombs. I expect you would see it in the papers about the Canadians making a surprise attack and when they got to the German trenches they gave themselves up. They absolutely refused to fight so you may guess what is up with them. They are just about fed up of it all. Over 800 gave themselves up and we have been in the same lot of trenches as the Canadians were in; we relieved them.

I should just like you to see me just now. I look just like the Eskimo. You would kill yourself with laughing. We have all got skin coats on. I have got a black one and I don’t know but I think it is a goat skin by the smell of it and it is very high with it. It has a lot of black hair on it but they are very warm Just what we want out here but it is something to keep our feet warm. I have not known what it is to have warm feet now for over three weeks. They are always like a slab of ice. You wouldn’t half rave at me if I was in bed with you and I put them on your legs.

I received your parcel quite safe and thank you so very much for it. The cake is A1. It is so good I could eat the lot. You need not send me any more candles or soap until I tell you Dear as I have got 18 candles and 5 tablets of soap. The Stores sent me a dozen so they will last me a long time. I am on guard now so I am going to have the sardines for my tea. Ask Wings if she remembers having to share the tin of sardines between five of us.

The stoves that you sent me are no good Dear. I put about a pint of water in my canteen and it was done for before I got the water boiled, so don’t send any more Dear as it is a waste of money. None of our chaps will use them. It only burnt about five minutes. Do not send any more cheese as we get tons of it every day. You will begin to think that I am grumbling about my parcel but it is no good you sending what is not needed is it Dear. (I hope you are not vexed over it, as though you would be). Tell Lizzie her Scotch was very nice; the coconut makes it taste grand.

Where we are now is just close to a village but nobody lives there now. The houses are all knocked down. It is a shame and there is ever such a lot of beautiful furniture in some of the houses but nobody is allowed in the houses as they are liable to be shot for looting and they are very strict in that out here. I nearly forgot to thank you for your photograph. I have nearly kissed it all away. It made tears come when I saw it. It made me feel very downhearted. I do wish the war was over so I could get back to you and get settled down in a home of our own. I bet you I will never part from you again in a hurry, but still I am only doing my duty and when it is all over I shall be able to say that I done my little bit with a good heart.

I have had one Christmas Box already. It was from the Daily Chronicle. You will have seen in the paper that they were going to give a parcel to the troops. And what do you think we got? One cigarette and one sweet each man. So you know we did not make a beast of ourselves. I changed my cigarette for a sweet. No Dear I have not got a moustache now and another thing is I have got that curl again; just as it used to be before. So you know now that I am getting quite a Knut out here. I am going to have my photograph taken while I am out of the trenches if I can find a place. Then I will give it to one of our chaps home on pass to post it for me. So if you receive a letter from anyone don’t be surprised.

I shall have to knock off for a little while as I am just going to do an hour’s sentry go and then have my tea.

I will now try and finish this small letter.

I have just finished my hour’s sentry go and am off for two hours now. I have enjoyed my sardines. They were extra. I can’t send you one or else I would. You said in your last letter that you had not received my long letter up to last Thursday. Didn’t you receive a letter in a green envelope the day after I sent you those cards? But I think you would receive one either Monday or Tuesday. It is a job to write while we are in the firing line especially just now as there is plenty of work to keep the parapets in anything like condition. Yes Dear I will wear that body belt that you made me. I have worn one now ever since I came out of the trenches the first time. But they were flannel ones and they issued them out to us. How is it that you set about to do any knitting, for I know you are not so very fond of the job?

You say you want some more of those silk postcards. I will send you two more when I get to a place where I can buy them. But you must wait until I get my photograph taken in my Teddy bear coat, I tell you what, I look like a great big old black tom cat. My knee has got quite better now Dear. It has not left a mark at all. Yes it was a very lucky escape. If it had been one of their high explosive shells we should have been blown to pieces. Old Franks was in the same dugout and you would laugh to hear him telling people about it. He is as nervous as a kitten. He has gone to the Bomb School to learn bomb throwing.

You said you were anxious to know how we go on for a crap. It is damn rotten as they often send a shell or two over every day. They seem to know where the latrines are and they put a good many bullets in them. They have caught a good many bending.

The letter case is very good. You are getting quite a genius aren’t you Dear? I have just received your letter and also papers. I am very sorry to hear that you are not very well but hope that you are better by now. You tell me not to worry about it Dear but how can I help it when you are more precious than all the world to me.

PS You might send me some envelopes in your next parcel; about a dozen at a time. I have plenty of writing paper.
Goodnight and God bless and keep you safe.

Cpl. Thomas Walsh (see 1^st October) who had been wounded two months earlier and been undergoing hospital treatment in England was posted to 11^th (Reserve) Battalion, DWR at Brocton Camp on Cannock Chase. 

William George Wade signed his attestation papers at Newcastle-on-Tyne to join the Army Cyclist Corps; he would later be commissioned into 10DWR and would serve as a Lieutenant with ‘A’ Company.  He was 28 years old when he volunteered and had been born in Norfolk. However, the family had moved to Northumberland, where William’s father, James, worked a coal miner. William himself had qualified as a schoolmaster at Durham University School of Education and had been working at Weetslade council elementary school, not far from the family home at Seaton Burn. 

Pte. Thomas Farley Seaman was formally discharged from the Army under King’s Regulations 392, vi, on account of “having made a mis-statement as to age on enlistment”. He had enslisted in September 1915, aged only 15 (born 25^th December 1898). He had been posted to France with the Battalion in August 1915 but, in the absence of a surviving service record, the exact sequence of events leading to his discharge is unknown.

Wednesday 24th November 1915

‘A’ Company in the Bois Grenier Line; ‘B’ in billets at Chapelle d’Armentieres; ‘C’, ‘D’ and HQ in billets in Chapelle d’Armentieres.

At 6pm the Battalion left their billets  and positions in the Bois Grenier Line and marched, via Armentieres, Seche Rue and Erquinghem Bridge to their new billets at Jesus Farm.  

Lt. Col. Charles Turner, AAG, requested clarification as to whether CSM Harry Dewhirst (see 23^rd November) was to be sent home to England or whether he was to be posted to one of the base depots.

Pte. Fred Richmond (see 23^rd November), whose condition had stabilised after having been wounded on 11^th November, was transferred from 11 General Hospital, Boulogne, to hospital in Northampton for further treatment.

Tuesday 23rd November 1915

‘A’ Company in the Bois Grenier Line; ‘B’ in billets at Chapelle d’Armentieres; ‘C’, ‘D’ and HQ in billets in Rue Marle.

The increasingly cold weather continued with severe frosts overnight.

At Rue Marle ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies paraded for the presentation by Maj. Genl. Babington of the ribbon of the DCM to Pte. Sydney Wakefield (see 26^th October).

Pte. Sydney Wakefield DCM
Image by kind permission of Andy Wade and MenofWorth

Orders were received for the Battalion to be made ready to move, next day, to Jesus Farm.

Lt. Genl. Pulteney, commanding III Corps, endorsed the recent recommendation that CSM Harry Dewhirst (see 21^st November) be transferred to England.

Pte. Edmund Peacock (see 18^th November) was evacuated back to England for further treatment having been wounded by shrapnel; he was admitted next day to Cambridge General Hospital.

Pte. Fred Richmond (see 19^th November) who had been wounded on 11^th November, and had been treated in hospital in Boulogne was removed from the dangerously ill list.

Monday 22nd November 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

At 5pm the Battalion was relieved by 8^th Yorkshires. Following the relief,  ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies along with Battalion HQ returned to their former billets in Rue Marle. ‘B’ Company, however, went to billets in Chapelle d’Armentieres in immediate support to 8^th Yorkshires and Tunstill’s Company retired only as far support positions in the Bois Grenier Line.

Although the War Diary makes no mention of casualties, two men from the Battalion, neither of them from Tunstill’s Company, died. Pte.  Herbert Shackleton Proctor (15184) was officially recorded as ‘killed in action’ and is buried at X Farm Cemetery, La Chapelle d-Armentieres.

Pte. George Herbert Redgwick (15177), who was 20 years old and from Kirkburton, near Huddersfield, died in the care of 26^th Field Ambulance and was buried at Sailly-sur-la-Lys Canadian Cemetery; he was reported as having died after being ‘accidentally wounded’. The circumstances of his death were described in a letter to his parents, written by Lt. George Reginald Charles Heale (see 7th November): “A man was showing another man how to use a periscopic rifle and a loaded rifle was handed to him to fit into the stand. Of course all rifles are kept loaded in the fire trenches but this one happended to have the safety catch unapplied. One of the men nearby noticed this and remarked upon it. Whereupon the man who was handling the rifle placed his hand on the safety catch to apply it. In doing so he seems to have jerked the rifle causing it to go off. The bullet struck your son who was sleeping nearby. This is the most unfortunate and distressing thing that has happened since we have been out here. The men who were handling the rifle when it went off were devoted friends of your son and on their request I had taken him as one of the battalion snipers. Private Redgewick was in my platoon and always earned my highest opinion as well as the respect and esteem of all the Officers of the Company. His loss is mostly deeply felt by everyone in the Company and I leave to your imagination the extent of the distress on the part of his chums who were responsible for the accident. Three of them went to his funeral today. He is buried at Sailly. Please accept my deepest sympathies on your great loss”. 

Ex-Tunstill’s Man, Dvr. Arthur Overend, now serving with the ASC at Maidstone, Kent, had his third brush with military discipline in less than three months (see 12^th November); on this occasion he was reported as having been absent from duty without permission. He was found guilty of the offence and ordered to be confined to barracks for four days.

Sunday 21st November 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

Orders were received from 69^th Brigade for the Battalion to be prepared to be relieved, next day, by 8^th Yorkshires.

However, before the relief, there was to be a major readjustment of the defensive line in the sector, with the front line now to be held with two divisions rather than three. Troops of 8^th Division were withdrawn from the front line and in their place, 23^rd Division’s front was extended 1,200 yards to the right and 20^th Division extended a similar distance to their left to cover the gap. For 10DWR this meant the Battalion extending to its right to take over trenches formerly held by 11^th West Yorkshires, with this battalion in turn extending to its right to take over trenches formerly held by 1^st Sherwood Foresters. Tunstill’s Company now held the section of the line south from trench I.15.1 as far as Rue du Bois (trench I.21.4). Battalion HQ was relocated from Farm du Biez, a little further south, to Orchard Post. The readjustment was to be carried out overnight and to be completed by 10.30am on the morning of 22^nd.  

The bodies of Pte. John Cardwell (see 19^th November) and L.Cpl. Noel Bennett (see 20^th November), having been recovered from no-man’s land, were buried at X Farm Cemetery, La Chapelle d-Armentieres. News of the service was reported to Bennett’s family by the Battalion Chaplain, Rev. Wilfred Leveson Henderson (see 18^th October) “Your son was buried in a little cemetery immediately behind the trenches. A small cross will be put up to the memory of him and the soldier who lies beside him, and the ground for ever kept sacred. The cemetery is in Northern France near the town of Chapelle d'Armentières. Both officers and men join with me in expressing their deep sympathy. Your son will be greatly missed by all, but that in you sorrow it may be some comfort to you to know that he died so nobly and that your sorrow is shared by others”. They also received letters from another of Bennett’s comrades, Cpl. Harry Lyddington Mason (see below) who told them, “He was a good soldier and a good pal, always bright and cheerful even under the most trying conditions. I shall miss him greatly because we have been pals ever since I joined A Company”. Another man (unnamed) who was with Mason at the funeral added that the name Noel had been crafted in red brick and placed on the grave; the family also received a letter of sympathy from Pte. James Tuddenham (see 19^th November) who had attempted to rescue their son from No Man’s Land.

Harry Lyddington Mason was the only son of John and Fanny Mason. He had been born and brought up in Sedbergh, where his father worked as a school caretaker, while Harry had been working as a watchmaker when he enlisted, aged 25, on the outbreak of war. He had not been among Tunstill’s Original recruits, but had been posted to ‘A’ Company whilst the Battalion was in training.

L.Cpl. Noel Bennett

Pte. John Cardwell (standing), with Pte. Thomas Robinson (16490), seated.

Image by kind permission of Gary Robinson

Pte. William Knox (see 17^th November) also referred to the deaths of Bennet and Cardwell, amongst other things, in his latest letter home to his wife, Ethel. (I am most grateful to Rachael Broadhead and family for allowing me access to William’s 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. We are in the firing line once again but it is a lot better than where we were last time and not quite so cold, although plenty cold enough. You ought to see me now. You would not half laugh at me as I have got a skin coat and it has long black wool. I wish I could have my photograph taken so as I could send you one. We had another lively time of it last Thursday when we were in billets. I should think the Germans sent over 500 shells in about two hours but they did not do so very much damage. We never heard of anyone getting killed.

We came into the firing line last Thursday and I have heard that we go into the reserve trenches tomorrow, Monday, for a couple of days. We have lost one of the chaps that came from Lichfield with us (Pte. Ernest Holland, see 20^th November). He got killed on Saturday and was buried the same day with two more of our men (L.Cpl. Noel Bennett and Pte. John Cardwell, see above). It is an awful sight to see them carrying the dead away on the stretchers. One of our men had a bit of bad luck. He went out in between the two lines of trenches to dress one of our snipers that had been wounded but he got hit as well and killed (L.Cpl. Noel Bennett).

Our Battalion has started coming home on leave this week but of course it will take a decent long time to go right through the whole lot of us. I came across some Sheffield men who I knew. They are in the same town as we were. Two of them were in the Gower Street shop. They have been out here about sixteen weeks now. I received a letter from Sergeant Major Abslom this morning and it was a very nice one too. They are at Brockley, two miles from Stafford. He said that they are having a good time of it. They have not got a Sergeants’ Mess so of course they go to Stafford every night as you may guess what a time they are having.”

The recommendation of Lt. Col. Bartholomew, endorsed by Brig. Gen. Derham, that CSM Harry Dewhirst (see 17^th November) should be sent home from France to serve in England, was further endorsed by at Division level by Maj. Genl. Babington.

Pte. Joseph Fitzgerald (see 25^th September), who had been in England since having been wounded in September, was posted to 11DWR at Brocton Camp.

Saturday 20th November 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

The day’s entry in the War Diary gives a clear statement of the increasingly difficult conditions occasioned by the approach of severe Winter weather, “Weather began to get very cold. The trenches were in a very muddy condition, but considering the bad weather, were in an exceedingly good state of repair. The danger of 'frost bite' and 'trench foot' has been brought out. Many precautions such as changes of socks, application of whale oil are insisted upon, and have very satisfactory results”.

At 11am a German shrapnel shell burst directly over one of the bays occupied by ‘C’ Company, killing one man outright, and wounding fifteen others, one of whom died shortly afterwards. The man who died of wounds was Sgt. Irvine Ellis (see 2^nd May), whom J.B Priestley described as, ‘my best chum in the Battalion’.  Priestley himself had been away from the Battalion, having been temporarily seconded to a clerical post at III Corps HQ (see 18^th November), but on his return he learnt of his pal’s death from the wounds he had received. His subsequent letter home (written on 3^rd December) gives some sense of the feeling of loss which was such a constant feature of life for men in the front line;

“When I got here on Wednesday, I suffered an enormous shock in learning that Irvine Ellis, my best chum in the Battalion, had been killed while I was away. A shell landed in the middle of a group, wounding fifteen and killing two. Ellis was not killed on the spot, but died a few hours later. Poor Irvine! He enlisted at the same time that I did, and we were together all the time; his cheery companionship helped to lighten many a dark hour. I had a very pathetic letter from his sister last night – there is only his mother and sister at home – saying they had received no official statement but had heard rumours that he had been killed. They couldn’t believe it though and asked me to give them some news. I have written to her this morning.”  

Irvine Ellis (12402) was buried at Sailly-sur-la-Lys Canadian Cemetery, near Estaires. The other man killed was Pte. Ernest Holland (17409); he was buried at “X" Farm Cemetery, La Chapelle d’Armentieres.

Newspaper cutting reporting the death of Sergt. Irvine Ellis. The cutting was included in an album of photographs and press clippings kept by Mrs. Geraldine Tunstill.

Those identified as having been wounded were:

Pte. William Ackroyd; he suffered shrapnel wounds to his right thigh. He was a 31 year-old joiner from Keighley, married with four children; he had been an original member of the Battalion.

Image by kind permission of Andy Wade and MenOfWorth

Pte. Walter Blamires; the details of his wounds are unknown. He was an 18 year-old wool comb maker from Bradford and had been an original member of the Battalion.

Caulfield

Smith 15656

Smith 13042

All five men were admitted via 70^th Field Ambulance to 3^rd Casualty Clearing Station at Bailleul and from there onboard no.14 Ambulance Train to Boulogne (details unknown).

2Lt. Harry Harris (see 6th October) wrote to the family of L.Cpl. Noel Bennett with news of their son’s death (see 19^th November); “It is with the deepest regret that I have to tell you of your son Noel's death. It was yesterday morning that it happened. There was one of our men out sniping in front of our lines, when the other man out with him returned to tell us he had been hit. When your son heard this, he was out after him, but as where the man lying wounded was in a very exposed position, they saw him, and, poor chap, he was hit through the head, and death was instantaneous. Words of mine are inadequate to you in your terrible loss, but he died like a man and a soldier, trying to rescue a wounded comrade. Your son had been in my platoon ever since he joined the battalion. He was always a good worker and always of good cheer. In him I have lost one of my best men. I shall always remember him as a fearless lad. He was always one of the first to come forward on any work that was at all risky. I myself used always to want him, because he could be relied on. He was most popular with everybody. The chaplain will write and tell you where he is laid to rest. May I take this opportunity of conveying to you, his parents, my deepest sympathy and condolences”.

L.Cpl. Henry Markham (see 17^th May) was promoted Corporal.

A Brigade order was issued for all bombs, other than those of ‘patterns 3 and 5’ were to be withdrawn from all units; this decision followed a serious accident a week earlier at the Brigade bomb school (see 15^th November).

Friday 19th November 1915

Front line trenches east of Bois Grenier.

The first full day in the trenches was reported in the War Diary as largely quiet, although it was acknowledged that “enemy MGs traversed our parapet frequently”. In fact, two men from ‘A’ Company were killed. The circumstances of their deaths were described in great detail by Lt. Robert Stewart Skinner Ingram (see 17^th September) in a letter to his brother Jim, which he would write two days later:

“Friday was rather a tragic day, and Friday night up till late was more than exciting and interesting for me and my 2 patrols. This is what happened. In the No Man’s Land in front of these particular trenches there are various ditches and willows. Some of the ditches are four feet deep in water, and ice on top, though quite thin. At Dawn on Friday, four of our Company snipers went out in pairs to lurk out in front all day and come in at dusk. They had their day’s rations with them. One pair were out all day, and, with due caution, did well, and came in at dusk; with this pair we have no interest. Pair number 2 were altogether too rash and got absurdly near the Bosch lines. Just here the lines are about 400 yards apart. Well, as was only naturally the case, one of these two, a man named Cardwell (Pte. John Cardwell, see 11^th September), was wounded badly, right out there, not more than a hundred yards from the Hun. The man with him (Pte. Thomas Robinson (16490), see 11^th September) got him back a little way till the pain became so bad that Cardwell asked to be left. Why Robinson was not also killed will always be a mystery. Robinson got back by some miracle to a certain ditch and thence back to our lines through a sap. On his way to Company HQ to report Cardwell wounded, he told L.Cpl. Bennett (L. Cpl. Noel Bennett, see below), our Company NCO sniper, what had happened. Without orders and without permission, Bennet at once went out with a man named Tuddenham (Pte. James Tuddenham, see below). They got to the ditch before mentioned. From that part out to where Cardwell lay wounded there was not cover for a rabbit, as I discovered late in the afternoon when it was more or less dark and quite safe (needless to say). Bennett must have known the spot was being watched with eagle eyes from opposite, but nevertheless he set out to crawl to where he imagined Cardwell to be. He hadn’t crawled 7 yards before he was killed, shot right through the temples. The man with Bennett got his body back to a tree in a certain ditch and then came back. The sad part was that Bennett’s idea of where Cardwell lay was entirely wrong. Cardwell was 200 yards further south. Bennett had mistaken the tree from which the direction as to Cardwell’s position had been given by the first survivor.

Can you follow all this? I’m afraid you can’t, and if you can follow, I hope it is not boring you frightfully. These little things go to make up trench life, and “on the Western Front there is nothing to report”. The sequel will be of more interest to you. When I get home I’ll draw you a little plan of that bit of No Man’s Land, and explain what happened that evening.

All day, as we feared, Cardwell had been lying out wounded, but the M.O. said, when he saw the wound later, that he could not have lived at all long, which is something to be thankful for. At 3.45 in the afternoon, as it was beginning to get dusk, I went out with 3 picked men, but it was too light to do much. The only way, as far as we knew, was via a ditch four feet deep in ice, water, mud and barbed wire on bottom and overhead. It’s a long story how the four of us were nearly scuppered by a very strong Bosch patrol. The Bosch does not love patrolling, and when we fell back to a ditch they seem to have thought that we were merely retiring to the rest of our party, and wouldn’t come on. Two of us had bombs, one man a revolver and another a rifle. The correct line of action at once became clear. Leaving the bodies to take their chance, I got my three men back to our trenches. With the permission of the C.O. my Company, I got 15 picked men together and we went out, determined to blow a Hun or two to pieces if we could. Couldn’t find them, but they seem to have been watching us, as a patrol from another Company saw them late in the night, though a long way away.

It’s rather fascinating controlling a large offensive patrol, ie a patrol out for blood, and not merely to reconnoitre. We worked on a definite plan, but unfortunately the Hun didn’t give one a chance to test the little bit of tactics. I knew these 15 men could protect us against any 30 Huns, so I personally was quite safe. Bodies act as an irresistible magnet to both sides. That Hun patrol was sweeping for these bodies just as much as we were, and had they been a little more daring on the first occasion, when it was a case of probably 15 Huns v. four of us, they must have got both bodies, and the four of us as well. But the Hun is compelled, and I believe they seldom risk an officer. Even second rate patrollers will go anywhere as long as an officer is with them. 

Each of these two patrols were out about two hours. The first located L.Cpl. Bennett’s body, after about two hour’s search and crawl out. With two men of the second patrol, the three of us came on Cardwell’s body, only about 100 yards from the Hun parapet. He was quite dead, and one can only hope he died quite soon. After four hours, the original four of us were nearly dead with cold, and some while before we could come in, we all got cramp, quite painful. Have you ever had cramp of the stomach? But we got in our dead, which was what we were after. 

The whole Company had wanted to try to get in the wounded man at once, but after one splendid man had lost his life trying to do so, the O.C. ‘A’ Company, and later the C.O., refused to allow anybody else to try till evening. And quite right too, though at the time neither the subalterns nor men of the Battalion knew what an awful place the body was in, and grumbled accordingly.

After getting out at night to where the body lay, I can say that, by daylight, there was not even a million to one chance of getting the body back. It was 150 yards from even enough cover for a rabbit. So two gallant men died, one trying to save the other, though it was, in a sense, madness to try. L.Cpl. Bennett has been recommended, I believe, for high decoration. It may be some little comfort to his people. No man could possibly have died better. You can have no idea how nearly we were surrounded by that strong Hun patrol sweeping for the bodies. The trouble of getting to a body which has been perhaps visible from their lines is that they may have an Emma G (machine gun) trained on it which they pop off occasionally. The only thing to do is to wait until one Hate is over, and then rush in and get the body, and drag it away. On such occasions I’m afraid there is very little reverence shown to the dead. It’s not possible.

I got a double ration of rum for each man who had been out with me, and soon braziers and hot tea were the order of the day, and there was considerable satisfaction that ‘A’ Company had not been the first to allow the hated Alleyman to collar their dead.

It’s surprising how sleepy one is after being out for even a few hours, especially as their Machine Guns were fairly playing havoc all round, and a few feet over us again and again, firing at our parapet, but from low down. Then our artillery saw fit to burst a few shrapnel shells over the Bosch front line and one burst rather prematurely and … well, on the whole, it certainly was pretty good hell. And so life goes on out here, and on the whole a jolly good life too. In Summer it must be a grand life. You would love it. I do wish you were in our Div. Train. But just now being soaked up to the chest in iced water for four hours is not guaranteed to make one very cheerful just at the time, but nobody is any the worse. And the Hun didn’t get ‘A’ Company’s dead, which is the chief thing, and I lost none of either of my two patrols last Friday evening.

I’m afraid this letter is all about only one little incident, but the way Bennett died is by far the finest thing I’ve seen yet, and it made rather an impression on me, in fact on the whole Battalion”.

Pte. Thomas Robinson would subsequently be awarded the Military Medal for his courageous attempt to save his friend Pte. Cardwell, and Thomas Robinson’s recollection of the incident (very kindly shared with me by his grandson Gary Robinson, to whom I am most grateful) adds some fascinating personal detail to Ingram’s account, 

“I have spoken separately to both my father and mother about the incident and they both recalled in detail what my grandfather told them. Both told me that my grandfather was told he did not have to go back out into no man's following his exhaustive effort to get Pte. Cardwell back whilst all the time trying to remain alive himself. However, he volunteered to go back out with part of the larger patrol in the evening, having informed his officer that they would never find Pte. Cardwell's body without him.

My grandfather recalled the story to family members on very few occasions but when he did, he always stated that John (Pte. Cardwell) had had a little too much rum and was feeling a bit braver than perhaps he should have been. It was this that had caused him to attempt to move further forward from an already exposed and vulnerable position. My grandfather actually had to move forward to stop him and it was at that moment they were spotted and John was shot. 

Thirdly, and perhaps something that people may raise an eyebrow to but it is somewhat of a legendary story within the family. My grandfather told family members when he returned home that during the incident he saw an angel, an angel that protected him and guided him safely back to the British lines. That angel had the face of his young sister Isobel. She had recently died of meningitis and we think he may have been completely unaware at that time that she had died”.

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

Image by kind permission of Gary Robinson

Noel Bennett was the only son of Walter Everard Bennett and his wife Mary Elizabeth. Walter Bennett was Station Master at Sedbergh and Noel was a railway clerk at Carnforth. He had volunteered in January 1915, aged eighteen, and had joined the Battalion during training in England.

James Tuddenham (known as ‘Tudd’) was one of the original members of ‘A’ Company, having been one of the Earby recruits who were added to Tunstill’s original contingent. He was originally from Dumfries but, as a child, he had moved to Earby, where he lived with his married sister, Isabella, and her husband, John Squires. He had volunteered aged eighteen and had previously been working as a weaver at Grove Shed (Messrs. R. Nutter and Co.'s.), Earby. 

Joshua Richmond travelled, via Folkestone, to Boulogne to visit his brother, Pte. Fred Richmond (see 18^th November) who was being treated in hospital there for serious shrapnel wounds.

The weekly edition of the Craven Herald published an extract from a letter sent home by Pte. Willie Waggitt (see 5^th November). Willie Waggitt would join Tunstill’s Company early in 1916.

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT - WOUNDED MAN'S THANKS

Private Willie Waggitt, who has been wounded in France, and has had to have one of his fingers amputated, writes from the War Hospital, Surrey:- "I got your parcel all right. It has been on the way a few days. This is the second hospital I have been in since I left Woodford on October 30th, but everything was quite good. Thanks very much for your kindness. I am getting on all right and expect to be home for a few days before long."

Thursday 18th November 1915

Billeted in huts near Rue Marle

There was heavy German shelling of Rue Marle and the southern areas of Armentieres, but it was reported that “A great number of the shells failed to explode”. However, at least one man from Tunstill’s Company was wounded in the shelling. Pte. Edmund Peacock had enlisted on 9^th September 1914 and had been one of the contingent of Ilkley volunteers who had been posted to serve with Tunstill’s original recruits. Edmund had been just nineteen when he signed up and had been working as a motor mechanic; his family lived in Nelson, Lancs, where Edmund had been born and it is unclear how Edmund came to enlist in Ilkley, although he may have been living and working in that area.

At 5pm the Battalion relieved 8^th Yorkshires in the same positions that they had occupied a month earlier (see 16^th October); as on the previous tour Battalion HQ was situated at Farm du Biez.

 

When the Battalion went into the trenches J.B. Priestley did not go with them; he had been transferred, temporarily, to work as a clerk at III Corps HQ. Despite the release from the rigours of trench life (see 7^th November) he later recalled that, “Though safe and dry for once, I hated this job and this place, and longed to get back to the men I knew, trenches, shellfire and all”.

A travel warrant was issued to allow Joshua Richmond, brother of Pte. Fred Richmond (see 17^th November), to travel to France to visit Fred who was dangerously ill in hospital in Boulogne.

Ellis Rigby signed his attestation papers in Halifax, but was placed on the Army Reserve, rather than immediately entering service. He was the younger brother (he was 21) of Pte. Thomas Rigby, who had been one of Tunstill’s original recruits (see 18^th September 1914). Like his elder brother, Ellis had been living on the family farm at Lawson’s House, Sawley, but he had been working as a sheet metal worker.

 

Wednesday 17th November 1915

Billeted in huts near Rue Marle

Orders were received from 69^th Brigade for the Battalion to be made ready to move into the front line trenches next day.


Pte. William Knox (see 15^th November) again wrote home 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 my weekly long letter which I hope will find you quite well as I am very pleased to say that it leaves me very well at present. I am very pleased to say that my knee is quite better again. I am still out of the trenches again but we are going into the firing line again on Thursday so you will think about your old love when you get into your cosy bed of a night. I can tell you it will be quite a treat when I get a chance to get into a comfortable bed …

… I also got another parcel last night from Grace with a cake, some apples and mint rock and 2/- so I am in luck’s way this week but it will all come in very handy when I get into the trenches. I shall want a horse and cart to take them to the trenches tomorrow if I get any more. … I am afraid the war will not be over yet for a while but I think myself that the Germans are absolutely fed up. Now we are like you; we can get to know nothing about the war excepting just about where we are. It was rumoured yesterday that Bulgaria had given in but I hardly believe it. I wish to God it was all over so we could all get back to the ones we love so well. It will all make us value our homes after what we have had to go through here but I don’t care what I go through so long as I can get home after it is all over… I have happened very lucky since I came out here. We are close to a very large house and the woman gave us an invitation to go to tea on Monday so of course my pal went and we had a ripping good time of it and we go every night. Her husband is fighting and she has only got one son and he is too young and he can speak English very well so we get on alright. There are no young ladies there so you need not be jealous will you Dear. My pal was twenty one on Sunday and he had five large parcels come on Monday. So on Tuesday we had a good tuck in. We share all our parcels between us; just us two and we both get one every week ... I forgot to tell you that that lady where we go makes us chips every night and they are champion. You cannot get any in Sheffield like them. I have given her the tobacco and pipe to send to her husband for a Christmas box. By the way do not go to the trouble of sending me a plum pudding as we are getting plenty sent out here and it is only making expense in sending it out here. It is rotten it takes all your money for my parcels what with stuff being so dear and then the postage. ... I have not received my Green Un (this was the nickname for the local Sheffield Saturday evening sports newspaper) as yet but it might be here by tonight’s mail. Did you receive those cards I sent you Dear? Hope so, as they cost me 1/3d. the two but I thought it would be nice to get a souvenir of France. I think they are very nice… We were to have gone to Church this morning and we were all ready when our Captain came up and said that the Church was full up. So of course we did not get in. I should very much like to have gone …”.

Pte. Richard Swallow (see 9^th November), who had suffered an accidental wound to his foot two weeks’ previously, was admitted to 5^th General Hospital at Rouen. He would subsequently (date and details unknown) be evacuated to England for further treatment.

Lt. Col. Bartholomew, commanding 10DWR, wrote to 69^th Brigade Headquarters, to explain recent events relating to CSM Harry Dewhirst (see 16^th November) and recommending that be considered for appointment as a Sgt. Major at a Base Depot or in a similar post away from the front line. Brig. Genl. Derham, commanding 69^th Brigade, in turn recommended that Dewhirst should be transferred either to a Home Service Battalion or to a Base Depot.

A telegram was received by the family of Pte. Fred Richmond (see 11^th November) informing them that he was “dangerously ill” in 11 General Hospital, Boulogne, having been wounded six days earlier, but also that he could be visited under “the usual procedure for cases at public expense”. The family immediately replied that Fred’s mother was too old to go (Martha Richmond was 65) but asking, by telegram, ‘can brother go instead; cannot afford to pay fare; quite unable to find the money”.