Wednesday 7th June 1916

Bouvigny Huts

Another dull day, with occasional showers. Again a quiet day, with a continuation of the training programmes of the previous week.

Cpl. Arthur Walton (see 1^st February) was placed under arrest on a charge of drunkenness; he would appear before a Field General Court Martial five days later and would be found guilty and ordered to be reduced to the ranks and to forfeit 28 days’ pay. (He had originally been ordered to undergo 28 days’ Field Punishment no.1 but this had been replaced by the forfeiture of pay on Brigade orders; presumably with an eye to forthcoming training and operations).

Pte. Sam Shuttleworth (see 20^th May) was taken ill, suffering from ‘dental caries’ (tooth decay). He was treated first at 69^th Field Ambulance and then transferred to no.6 Casualty Clearing Station at Bruay. He would not re-join the Battalion until February 1917.

A number of men departed on one weeks’ leave to England. Among them are known to have been was RSM John William Headings, (see 23^rd December 1915) who may have been allowed leave especially because of the birth of his daughter Marjorie (13^th May). Pte. Israel Burnley was another of the men going home on leave; he was an original member of the Battalion. He had enlisted aged 41 and was a widower who had been working as a coal miner in Castleford. Also on leave was Pte. George Mitchell, who had been one of the Keighley recruits added to Tunstill’s original Company in September 1914. George Mitchell had enlisted in Keighley on 15^th September at the age of 25; he had been born and brought up in Keighley and had been working as a colliery electrician before the war.

The three Headings brothers: from left to right, James Lawrence, John William (standing) and Henry George.
(Photo by kind permission of Jill Monk)

Pte. Robert Cresswell (see 2^nd June ) was transferred from no.22 Casualty Clearing Station at Bruay to no.2 Canadian General Hospital at Le Treport; he was suffering from haemorrhoids.