Tuesday 16th January 1917

Winnipeg Camp

The weather was much colder and there was a light dusting of snow. The Battalion made its now familiar journey back to Ypres, marching to Vlamertinghe and by train at 6.10pm from there. Billets on this occasion were in the Infantry Barracks and the Battalion’s numbers were swelled by a further draft of 109 men from the Base. These men were part of a larger draft from England, others of whom were posted to different battalions of the Dukes, notably 9^th Battalion.

A number of the men from this draft have been identified. The majority of them had been called up in August and September 1916 and had trained with 3DWR before being posted to France in early January. Cpl. Albert George Ashton was a 31 year-old musician from Halifax; he had previously served 13 years as a regular soldier with 2^nd Battalion Royal Warwickshires. Pte. Nathaniel Bather was 32 years old and from Baildon; he was married, with one daughter. Pte. Stanley Barker was a 26 year-old mechanic from Bradford; he was married with one daughter. Pte. Herbert Bayfield, 33 years old, was originally from Stockton-on-Tees but had lived for many years in Bradford, where, in 1902, he had married Alice Bottomley. The couple had one son, Alfred, who was 13 years old. Prior to being called up to the Army, Herbert had worked as a grocers’ assistant. Pte. Joe Arthur Bentley was a 35 year-old married man with two children; he lived in Huddersfield, where he had worked as a boiler firer. Pte. Sidney Best was a 31 year-old labourer from Uppersmill; he was a married man but had no children. Pte. Christopher Smith Birch was a 30 year-old confectioner and baker from Huddersfield. Pte. Ambrose Birdsall was a 36 year-old publican from Otley; he was married with one son. Pte. John Blackburn was a 33 year-old winding machine fitter from Keighley; he was married with three children. Pte. Joseph Blackburn (29722) was a 39 year-old postman from Mold Green; he was married with one one daughter. Pte. Ronald Bray was a 19 year-old clerk from Huddersfield. Pte. Leonard Briggs was a 31 year-old mason from Bailiff Bridge, near Brighouse; he was a married man, but he and his wife, Rachel, had no children. Pte. Robinson Butterfield was a 34 year-old textile worker from Bradford; he was married with one daughter. Pte. Thomas Caton was a 23 year-old weaver from Barnoldswick. Pte. Robert Cheshire was 39 years old; he was also from Bradford, was unmarried, and had worked as a postman. Pte. Harold Clarkson was 19 years old and from Ilkley where he worked as an apprentice motor mechanic. Pte. James Frederick Coldwell was a 23 year-old glazier from Meltham, near Huddersfield. Pte. George William Corby was a 22 year-old ‘cloth finisher’ from Holywell Green, near Halifax. Pte. Willie Cowgill was a 31 year-old cotton weaver from Kelbrook, near Colne; he was married with two children. Pte. Henry Downs was a 23 year-old railway carriage cleaner from Newcastle upon Tyne; he had had a temporary exemption from service due to his occupation, but this had expired and he had been called up in September 1916. Pte. Ernest William Evans was a 40 year-old commercial traveller from Bradford; he was a married man with five children and his wife, Agnes, was pregnant with their sixth child. Pte. Walter Evans was a 32 year-old dyers’ labourer from Bradford. Pte. Robert Fiedler was a 35 year-old warehouseman from Bradford; he was married with four children. Pte. John Foster was a 31 year-old wool warehouseman from Bradford; he was married but had no children. Pte. Willie Davenport Frame was a 33 year-old draper’s assistant from Huddersfield; he was married with four daughters and his wife was pregnant with their fifth child. Pte. John Straton Graham was a 40 year-old builder’s labourer from Bradford; he was married with four children. Pte. Arthur Greenbank; in the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to make a positive identification of this man. Pte. Arthur Greenwood was a 24 year-old silk dresser from Halifax. Pte. George Bernard Hardy was a 31 year-old married man from Bradford; he had been working as a tobacconists’ salesman before being called up. He had married Sarah Ann Garforth in 1911 but the couple had no children. Pte. Richard Harold Haresnape was a 34 year-old motor mechanic from Sedbergh. Pte. Fred Hargreaves (29267) was a 37 year-old stonemason from Sutton-in-Craven; he was married with two children. Pte. Joseph Harpin was a 19 year-old butcher from Newsome, near Huddersfield. Pte. Fred Heap was a 27 year-old master shoemaker from Halifax.  Pte. Arthur Heeley was 25 years old and one of 12 children of Elliott and Sarah Jane Heely of Thongsbridge, near Huddersfield. Before being called up to the Army Arthur had been working, along with most of his siblings, in the local woollen mills. His younger brother, Pte. Harold Heeley, had been killed in action in September 1916 while serving with10^th Battalion King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Pte. Thomas Hemingway was a 24 year-old grocer from Liversedge. Pte. Smith Hesselden was a 29 year-old warehouseman from Bradford; he was married with three children. Pte. John Hirst was a 33 year-old married man from Barnoldswick. Pte. Herbert Hodgkins was a 20 year-old woolcomber from Bradford. Pte. Joseph Hirst (29641) was a 33 year-old fitter’s labourer from Milnsbridge; he was married with one daughter. Pte. James Edward Hollingworth was a 34 year-old bobbin turner from Meltham; he was married but had no children. Pte. Norman Holmes was a 26 year-old carter from Hepworth near Huddersfield; he was a married man but had no children. Pte. Walter Horne was a 21 year-old cotton weaver from Sowerby Bridge. Pte. Menhell Hudson was a 33 year-old gardener from Thackley, Bradford. Pte. George William Jameson was a 33 year-old joiner from Huddersfield; he was married but had no children. Pte. Henry Jarratt was a 37 year-old window cleaner from Huddersfield; he was a married man with one stepson. Pte. Matthew Henry Jubb was a 29 year-old textile worker from Huddersfield; he was married but had no children. He had been reported absent without leave for three days off his final pass before embarking for France and had been confined to barracks for three days. Pte. William Kay was a 30 year-old quarryman from Idle, Bradford. Pte. Joe Kaye was a 30 year-old accountant’s clerk from Huddersfield. Pte. Fred Kershaw was a 19 year-old machine boot finisher from Huddersfield. Pte. Will Lee; in the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to make a positive identification of this man. Pte. Arthur Leeming was 33 years old and had been working as a labourer in Huddersfield. He had married Elizabeth Ann Lindley in 1909 and she was now pregnant with their first child. Arthur had been confined to barracks for three days in November 1916 having been smoking on parade. Pte. Arthur Lund was a clerk for a textile merchants; he was 19 years old and from Bradford. Pte. Charles Edward Lund was a 20 year-old clerk from Bradford. Pte. Lewis Lunn was a 32 year-old weaver from Marsden, near Huddersfield; he was a married man with one son, Stanley, aged nine months. Pte. Clifford Mackrell was 18 years old and had worked as a ‘motor body builder’ in Halifax. Pte. Walter Mallory was a 19 year-old butcher and farmer from Kirkburton, near Huddersfield. Pte. James Arthur Markinson was a 19 year-old labourer from Leeds. Pte. John Thomas Mason was a 19 year-old iron turner from Huddersfield.  Pte. Joseph McDermott was a 34 year-old bricklayer from Bradford; he was a married man with four children. Pte. Frederick McKell was a 25 year-old assistant chemist (working for Taylor’s Drug Stores) from Undercliffe, Bradford. Pte. Richard Metcalfe was a 29 year-old bobbin turner from Bradford. Pte. Basil Middleton was a 34 year-old gardener from Yeadon; he was married but had no children. Pte. Albert Moore was a 32 year-old grocer from Bradford. Pte. Norman Moorhouse was 25 years old and had been working as a manager for a cardboard box manufacturer in Meltham, near Huddersfield. Pte. Fred Morrell was a 33 year-old labourer from Idle; he was a married man with one son and his wife was pregnant with their second child. Pte. Ernest Needham was a 31 year-old weaver from Halifax. Pte. Richard Nelson was a 20 year-old paper maker from Otley. Pte. John Thorp Newsome was a 28 year-old piano and organ tuner from Huddersfield; he was married but had no children.  Pte. Herbert Newton was a 24 year-old iron planer from Otley. Pte. Charles Oldham was 33 years old and from Meltham, where he had worked as a ‘bobbin turner’; he was married but had no children. Pte. James Frederick Palmer was a 20 year-old woollen blender from Mirfield. Pte. Harold Pape was 19 years old and from Bradford, where he had worked as a bookbinder’s apprentice. Pte. Reginald Parish was a 19 year-old warehouseman from Halifax. Pte. Walter Pedley, from Saltaire, was a 33 year-old married man with a two year-old daughter. He had been reported absent without leave from his final pass before being posted to France and had been apprehended by the Military Police and returned to barracks at Tynemouth. Pte. Luther Pickles was a 28 year-old gardener’s labourer from Bradford; he was married, with two children. Pte. Edward Shaw Powell was a 33 year-old upholsterer from Bradford; he was a married man but had no children. Pte. John Myles Raw was 30 years old and from Dent, near Sedbergh. Pte. Martin Reddington was a 27 year-old yarn warehouseman from Huddersfield; he was married but had no children. Pte. Oliver Rhodes was a 33 year-old fireman from Greenfield, near Oldham; he was married but had no children. Pte. Charles Frederick Riddial was a 23 year-old textile worker from Huddersfield. Pte. Harry Robinson was a 29 year-old warehouseman from Little Horton, near Bradford. He was married and had one son, Leonard, who had been born in May 1914. Pte. Francis Seed was a 38 year-old labourer from Dunsop Bridge, near Clitheroe; he was a married man and his wife had given birth to their second child in October 1915. Pte. Samuel Sharp was from Wibsey, Bradford. He was 31 years old and married to Alice (nee Willman); the couple had a six year-old son, Jack. Sam had been working as a wool sorter before for Messrs. F. Ripley & Co., Thornbury, and was a well-known rugby player, having played for both Buttershaw and Stanningley. Pte. Alfred Shaw was a 36 year-old print works labourer from Oldham; he was married but had no children. Pte. Fred Slater was 27 years old and had previously served three years in the territorials. He had been working as a stoker in the electricity works in Keighley. In October 1915, whilst in training, he had married Elizabeth Butterfield. He had attested under the Derby Scheme in December 1915 and had only been called up in October 1916. Pte. James Slinger was a 21 year-old labourer from Lunds, near Hawes. Pte. Charles Smith (29004) was a 33 year-old warehouseman from Bradford; he was married to Ann (nee Holmes) and the couple had a five year-old son, Gilbert. Pte. Clarence Smith was a 32 year-old mohair cloth weaver from Huddersfield; he was married but had no children. Pte. Ernest Smith (29167) was a 21 year-old textile worker from Huddersfield. Pte. Edward Somers was a 30 year-old warehouseman (working for J. Cawthra & Co.) from Great Horton, Bradford. Pte. Selwyn Stansfield was a 24 year-old cotton mill worker from Sowerby Bridge. Pte. Fred Stokes was a 32 year-old married man from Huddersfield; his wife, Mary Emma, was pregnant with their first child. Pte. Charles Arthur Stott was a 32 year-old clerk from Skipton; he was married, with a five year-old daughter. Pte. Herbert Stott was a 28 year-old weaver from Marsden, he was married, but had no children. Pte. Harry Sugden was a 30 year-old ‘fettler’ from Keighley. Pte. James Sugden was a 19 year-old cotton piecer from Salterhill. Pte. Albert Sunderland was a 25 year-old chimney sweep from Bradford. Pte. Ellis Sutcliffe was a 23 year-old labourer from Halifax. Pte. Ernest Taylor (29168) was a 29 year-old railway goods porter from Huddersfield; he was married with five children. Pte. Joseph Barber Taylor was a 32 year-old woollen trader from Huddersfield; he was married with three children. Pte. Luther Taylor was 24 years old and one of four children of Arthur and Alice Taylor who had farmed land in Bradshaw, near Halifax. When Arthur died the family had moved in to Gibbet Lane, Halifax, the home of the West Riding Regimental Depot; before being called up Luther had been working as a ‘horse driver’. Pte. Bertie Thurling was a 19 year-old spinning overlooker from Keighley. Pte. John Edward Varley was a 31 year-old weaver from Huddersfield; he was married, but had no children. Pte. William Edward Varley was a 27 year-old butcher and cattle drover from Earby; he was married, with one son. Pte. Harold Wall was a 34 year-old twister from Stainland; he was married with one daughter. Pte. Edwin Waterworth was a 37 year-old railway platelayer from Denholme, near Bradford. Pte. Isaac Wells was a 19 year-old butcher from Halifax. Pte. Henry Percival Widdop was 24 years old and from Bingley. Pte. Albert Victor Wilcock was a 26 year-old dyers’ labourer from Bradford; he was married with one son. Pte. Victor Alexander Wildman was a 19 year-old farm worker from Skipton. Pte. Ernest Wilson (28985) a 36 year-old married man, with two children; he had been working as brewer’s drayman in Halifax. Pte. Herbert Wood was a 21 year-old twister from Rastrick.

Pte. Fred Hargreaves (29267)

Image by kind permission of Patrick Hargreaves

Pte. Herbert Stott

Image by kind permission of Barry Gartside

Pte. Fred Hird (see 10^th December 1916), serving in France with 2DWR, departed on ten days’ leave to England.

Pte. William Hissett (see 23^rd December 1916) re-joined 9DWR from 34^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples.

Pte. John Whitham (see 27^th September 1916), who had been in England since having been wounded in July 1916, was transferred to 1^st Garrison Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. He would be posted to India (details unknown).

A final payment of £1 0s 4d was authorised on the account of the late Lt. Harry Harris (see 29^th December 1916) in final settlement of pay and allowances due.

 

Lt. Harry Harris

A payment of £1 16s. 4d. was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Cecil Rhodes (see 6^th October 1916), who had been killed in action in October 1916; the payment would go to his father, James.