Tuesday 2nd January 1917

Trenches east of Armagh Wood

Sporadic trench mortar fire continued but conditions were generally quieter.

Battalion C.O., Lt. Col. Robert Raymer (see 20^th November 1916) took temporary command of 69^th Brigade with Brig. Genl. Lambert going to England on one months’ leave (see below) and Major Ashton St. Hill (see 10^th December 1916), took temporary command of the Battalion.

Brig. Genl. Lambert, in his diary, noted, “Left Ypres and crossed to Calais … good passage and journey … arrived about 7pm”.

(I am greatly indebted to Juliet Lambert for her generosity in allowing me to reproduce extracts from Brig. Genl. Lambert’s diary and letters).

Pte. Vernon Barker (see 11^th December) re-joined the Battalion from 34^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples.

Pte. Joseph Simpson (see 1^st September 1916), serving with 14^th Training Reserve Battalion having been wounded when with 10DWR in September 1915, was appointed (unpaid) Lance Corporal.


Pte. William Henry Thornton (see 27^th November), serving at Northern Command Depot at Alnwick, was admitted to hospital in Alnwick, suffering from gastritis, caused, it would later be stated, by ‘rough living and privations endured in France’. The details and duration of his treatment are unknown.