Wednesday 26th April 1916

Beaumetz-les-Aires

The men were given breakfast at 5.15am and made ready for their planned return to Hersin, as ordered the previous day. The Battalion transport, under the command of Lt. Hammond (see 25^th February) was first to depart at 6am, travelling by road; the remainder of the Battalion formed up at 7am. The day soon became “scorchingly hot” and the twelve-mile march from Beaumetz to Pernes, via Laires and Sains, completed in just four hours, took its toll, with 44 men falling out. However all of them had re-joined by 11.50 am when they boarded, 40 men to a truck, the train which was to take them on to Barlin. The train was to carry two and a half Battalions and the Brigade HQ. As a result, precise instructions were issued as to the arrangements for boarding:

ENTRAINING & DETRAINING ORDERS

OC Coys will halt their respective Coys by whistle opposite the trucks allotted to their Coys.
On 1st Whistle sounding: Coys will turn facing the train in fours.
2nd Whistle: Sections of fours to enter the train commencing from the left section.
Each party of 40 will be kept closed up towards their respective trucks as much as possible.
There is to be no talking or noise of any description during entrainment. Arms to be slung. No man is to leave his truck once he has entrained.
On arrival at Hersin on whistle sounding Coys will fall in outside their carriages and await orders.

Officers’ horses were not boarded onto the train but were instead taken by road to Hersin, with each in the care of their individual grooms and the whole supervised by L.Cpl. Thornton.

The train journey proved to be somewhat convoluted and it took more than two hours, via Bours, Bryas, Houdain, Hallicourt and Bruay, to cover what was actually only twelve miles as the crow flies. On arrival at Barlin the men were marched off the final two miles to billets at Hersin.

Prior to their departure, Lt. Dick Bolton (see 22^nd April) had re-joined the Battalion having been released from 70^th Field Ambulance, following four days’ treatment for influenza.

Cpl. Arthur Edward Hunt (see 19^th April), who had been suffering from ‘dental caries’, was discharged from 4^th Stationary Hospital at Arques and posted for duty at 23^rd Infantry Base Depot at Etaples.

After spending three days at 18^th General Hospital at Camiers, Pte. Harry Smith (see 23^rd April) was evacuated to England for further medical treatment; he travelled onboard the Hospital Ship Brighton. On arrival in England he was admitted to Endell Street Military Hospital in London where he had a number of teeth extracted as part of his treatment.  

Pte. James Leonard Bloomer (see 10^th March), who had spent the previous eight weeks at 17^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples, having originally been due to be posted to 9DWR, was instead attached to the Base Details Battalion and would remain at Etaples.

2Lt. Harry Thornton Pickles (see 25^th April), who had originally served with Tunstill’s Company before being commissioned, was killed in action while serving with 9^th Battalion West Ridings, in front line trenches near Houplines. He was killed by killed by the concussion from a shell explosion whilst going through the trenches to see that his men were alright. It was reported that he “was not struck by the projectile nor disfigured in any way, and that had he stuck to his dugout he would doubtless have come through scathless”. The bombardment was the precursor to an assault by German troops against the sector held by 9DWR, which they were able to repel.

2Lt. Harry Thornton Pickles

John Henry Hitchin (see 24^th April) appeared before a Medical Board convened at Queen Alexandra Military Hospital, Millbank, London, and was found to be making a satisfactory recovery from acute appendicitis, following an emergency operation. He was granted three weeks’ leave. The members of the Board were clearly unaware that Hitchin had in fact been absent without leave since 29^th December 1915 and had been stripped of his commission in February. Hitchin had clearly revealed nothing to the Hospital staff; he had, two days’ previously, told his father that he would give a full account of his case, but to his former CO. He would be discharged from hospital the following day.