Tuesday 11th April 1916

Front line trenches west of Angres

The weather turned wet. Conditions remained largely quiet with little activity, although Tunstill’s Company did come under fire, as it was reported that the Germans “sent a number of rifle grenades and trench mortar shells into the left Company lines without meeting with success”. However, “in the afternoon we had four men wounded by the premature bursting of one of our rifle grenades”. The four men wounded were Ptes. James Dibb (see below), Sargent Ellis (see below), Bertie Legg (see 4^th October 1915) and and Arthur Wellock (see 24^th December 1915). It would appear that all four were evacuated to 69^th Field Ambulance. Pte. Ellis would die of his wounds the following day. One of his officers (unnamed) would later write to the family: “Pte. Ellis was very plucky and stood the pain very well. We were hoping that his pluck and constitution would pull him through. He was very popular among his comrades, as he was always cheerful and bright, and he was liked by all the officers. I particularly have always had a soft spot in my heart for him. He was as brave as a lion under fire”. Pte. Legg had suffered a compound fracture to his right upper arm; he would be evacuated via 69^th Field Ambulance to 23^rd Casualty Clearing Station at Lozinghem and from there, two days later, to 2^nd Canadian General Hospital at Le Treport. Pte. Wellock was posted back to England but this has not been established for certain in the case of Pte. Dibb; beyond this, the details of their wounds and subsequent treatment are unknown.

James Dibb was a 21 year-old miner from Allerton Bywater; Sargent Ellis was a 22 year-old miner from Hunslet. Both men had been original members of the battalion.

Pte. Sargent Ellis

Pte. Willie Parkin (see 21^st March), who had been wounded three weeks previously, was evacuated to England; on arrival he would be admitted to Springburn and Woodside Central Hospital, Glasgow.

Pte. James Barker (12288) (see 7^th March), who had been in England since having been wounded in February, was discharged from 3^rd Northern General Hospital in Sheffield and posted to 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffs.

The original commander of Tunstill’s Company, Maj. Harry Robert Hildyard, (see 19^th February) appeared before a further Medical Board, convened at Brocton Camp, Cannock Chase, Staffs., where he was serving with 11DWR. The Board found that he was, “suffering from nervous exhaustion … there are fine tremors of fingers when hands are extended, there is still aphonia and he suffers from insomnia. He is unable to concentrate his thoughts. He is nervous and restless. He has been medically treated during the last five weeks for aphonia and neurasthenia’. He was declared permanently unfit for general service but fit for home service.

At home in Bradford, Emmie Jowett, wife of Pte. Frank Jowett, gave birth to the couple’s second child, a son, who would be named John Russel Townend Jowett. Frank Jowett had been an original member of the Battalion; he was from Great Horton, Bradford, and had enlisted in Halifax in September 1914, aged 21 and working as a porter at the Midland Hotel, Bradford.