Saturday 12th February 1916

Billets at Fort Rompu.

After the heavy rain of the previous day, drier conditions returned and the Battalion again provided a working party, this time of one officer and fifty men.

Pte. John Dinsdale (see 7^th January) was admitted to 18^th General Hospital at Camiers, suffering from “I.C.T.” (Inflammation of the connective tissue) to the fingers of both hands.

Pte. Arthur Holt was admitted to 13^th General Hospital at Boulogne, suffering from ‘myalgia; the details of his treatment are unknown, but he would re-join the Battalion. He had been original member of the Battalion, having enlisted in January 1915; he was a 34 year-old married man with one child and had previously worked as a dyer’s labourer in Rastrick.

Pte. Mark Beaumont wrote to the mother of Pte. Harry Iredale who had died of wounds four days earlier (see 8^th February). Beaumont had been one of the stretcher bearers who had evacuated Harry from the trenches;

"Just a few lines to convey to you the sad news of your son's death, which I am sure will be a terrible shock and loss to you. I was one of the stretcher bearers who helped to carry him to the dressing station, where his wound was quickly attended to. I will try to give you the details as near as I can. He was getting up on to the fire step when he was struck by a bullet in the head. Seeing he was in the same platoon to which I belonged, I thought it my duty to express our sympathy with you. I am sure he will be missed, for he was a true soldier and friend to all who knew him. The platoon sergeant carried him on his back to the communication trench, and then we carried him forward to the dressing station. From the time he was hit, about 6 in the morning of the 8^th inst., until reaching the hospital there was no time lost. Along with the section I again express our deepest sympathy with you in your loss.”

Pte. Harry Iredale

Second-in-Command of 10DWR, Major Lewis Ernest Buchanan (see 30^th January) went home to England on one weeks’ leave. Cpl. Arthur Edward Hunt (see 26^th November 1915) also departed for England on one weeks’ leave.

Cpl. George Liddemore (see 3^rd December 1915) reverted to the rank of Lance Corporal. 

Pte. George Edward Bush (see 28^th January) wrote home to a friend, “I am in the best of health, feeling as fit as the proverbial fiddle and that is something to be thankful for as the only sympathy a chap gets here when ‘seedy’ is one of the Medical Officer’s no.9 pills which are ungrudgingly dished out for all complaints, from toothache to a sprained ankle. You will no doubt be better informed yourself than I am as to how the war is progressing. As far as we are concerned it is the same routine day after day, but I expect there will be a general wakening up as the better weather arrives. It was the Kaiser’s birthday recently and our Battalion got to know about it too as the Huns opposite decided to celebrate it by giving us a particularly lively day. They commenced early, about 4am, by ‘strafing’ us severely with ‘whizz bangs’. These are very spiteful little shells, as they arrive without any warning and only just skim the parapet. Of course, it’s the same for both sides, but very unpleasant for the poor infantryman in the front line when the artillery have these mad half hours. We are powerless to act in any way. All we can do is lie low and be pelted with Krupp’s ‘instruments of hate’.  The other day one of our aeroplanes, while flying over the enemy’s lines, was hit with a shell from one of their aircraft guns. It at once burst into flame and came toppling to earth. Both the occupants either fell or jumped out but what riled our men most was to hear the Huns cheering. If our chaps had been allowed to go across just then there would have been ‘something doing’. I am hoping to get home on leave soon. I think it will be some time in April or May if things go alright”.

Pte. Fred Haywood (see 28^th January), who had been wounded two weeks previously, discharged from 4^th Stationary Hospital in Arques and would re-join the Battalion; he had undergone treatment for detail caries in addition to treatment for his wounds.

Having arrived home on leave Sgt. Tom Pickles (see 11^th February) was married to Nora Leach, of 3 Calder Street, Colne, at the Baptist Church, Colne. Witnesses to the marriage were Henry Pickles (Tom’s father) and Frank Widdup, who was the elder brother of L.Cpl. Harry Widdup (see 2^nd January), who was a colleague of Tom’s in Tunstill’s Company. 

A payment of £4 10s. 6d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. James Bradley (11737) (see 4^th November 1915), who had been killed in action in November 1915; the payment would go to his grandmother, Mary Markham.