Thursday 14th September 1916

Billets at Henencourt Wood

As training continued on another cold and wet day, the Battalion was ordered to be made ready to move at short notice. This was in anticipation of a renewal of the British advance on the Somme, in what would become known as the Battle of Flers-Courcellette.

Pte. Frank Peel (see 1^st March) was reported by CQMS. Frank Stephenson (see 30^th July) and Cpl. John Stewart (see 23^rd August) for ‘insolence to an NCO’; on the orders of Lt. Col. Sidney Spencer Hayne (see passim) he would undergo 21 days’ Field Punishment no.1.

RSM John William Headings (see 10^th August), who had only returned to duty five weeks earlier following treatment for a bout of sciatica, was admitted to hospital, via 45 Casualty Clearing Station, suffering from myalgia.

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

Pte. Samuel Garside Hardy (see 17^th July) was admitted to 141^st Field Ambulance suffering from “ICT” (inflammation of the connective tissue) to both legs. He would be transferred via 45^th Casualty Clearing Station to hospital at Camiers.

Pte. John William Dean (see 31^st August) who had suffered gas poisoning two weeks earlier, was evacuated to England from 25^th General Hospital at Hardelot; he travelled onboard the Hospital Ship St. Patrick and on arrival would be admitted to Bermondsey Military Hospital.

Pte. Sydney Charles Nicholls (see 3^rd September), who had spent the previous two weeks in hospital, suffering from trench fever, was evacuated to England and admitted, next day, to 1^st/5^th Northern General Hospital in Leicester.

Cpl. George Wallace Fricker (see 1^st September), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, was severely reprimanded for “irregular conduct whilst in charge of a squad at gymnasium”.

Official notice was published in the London Gazette of the award of the Military Medal to four men from 10DWR. Pte. Thomas Robinson (16490) (see 21st August) had been recommended for the award for his courage in attempting to rescue a wounded comrade in November 1915. Pte. John William Beaver (see 2^nd August) had been recognised for his actions in July. It is not clear under what circumstances Cpl. James Shackleton (see 3^rd May) had gained his award. Pte. Myer Freedman, who had been on attachment to the Brigade Trench Mortar Battery, received his award for, “initiative and consistent good work in between the 16th May and 21st May, during which period he controlled and fired a mortar single-handed under trying circumstances with great skill”. He was an original member of 10DWR; he was from Huddersfield and had enlisted in September 1914, aged 21. He had originally worked with his Father as a tailor but had then become assistant manager of the Olympian Cinema in Langroyd Bridge before leaving Huddersfield to manage a cinema in Yeadon.

Pte. Thomas Robinson (16490), seated.

Image by kind permission of Gary Robinson

Cpl. James Shackleton

The application made two days earlier by Lt. Cecil Edward Merryweather (see 12^th September) for a transfer to the Royal Field Artillery was formally approved by the War Office, pending Merryweather’s recovery from the injuries he had sustained on 5^th July.

A Medical Board convened at no.2 Western General Hospital in Manchester reported in the case of Lt. Thomas Beattie, (see 23^rd August), the report stated: “The shrapnel was removed under anaesthetic on August 23^rd. The wound is clean and healing. He is still in hospital. Function is good. No important structure was injured”. He was reported unfit for any service for a minimum of six weeks.

2Lt. Sydney Charles Ernest Farrance, serving with 8DWR, was wounded during an attack on the German defensive position known as the Wonder Work, near Thiepval; he was evacuated to England and his injuries resulted in a complete loss of sight in his right eye. Despite his injuries, Farrance would later serve with 10DWR. Sydney Farrance had first enlisted on 12^th August 1914 with 4^th Royal West Surreys; he was then just 17 years old (born 30^th November 1896), the only child of Ernest and Louisa Farrance. His father was a fishmonger and poulterer in Sydenham. He had been swiftly appointed to a commission (from 22^nd September) and had been posted to Egypt to serve with 8DWR in December 1915, returning with them to France in July 1916.