Sunday 24th June 1917

Le Coq de Pailie, close to Berthen

L.Cpl. Israel Burnley (see 27^th November 1916) was admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance to 23^rd Division Rest Station, suffering from myalgia; he would be discharged and return to duty after ten days.

Capt. Bob Perks DSO (see 22^nd June), now in command of ‘C’ Company, wrote home to his father.

My dear Dad

Thanks very much for an extra long Monday letter.  I am glad you appreciated the letter of a young Company Commander busy preparing for the first successful battle of the war.  What?!  (I may add too quietly that all his preparations were successful - very quiet that thought.)  

I am awfully sorry to cause you alarm but I thought I should be able to get a letter off before they telegraphed.  Two things spoilt it – first and chiefly they kept us in the line extra days and second our HQ passed it on very quickly.  I nearly did not report myself (I had to report myself as OC Company) but I remembered promising Mother to go to the doctor as soon as anything was the matter, and it might have gone wrong – I had not stopped to examine it thoroughly by then.  Yes I was commanding A Coy when I got the hits and the command was no small part of the strain. (Perks had suffered a minor wound in action on 7^th June and an official War Office telegram had been sent to his parents)  I don’t think I can say much more of the Push than in the letters you must have read now.

I am getting awfully keen on riding (or rather learning to) in my spare time now.  Yesterday I went for a ride with two other Coy Commanders from about quarter to six til eight in the evening.  And this morning I actually got up for an hours ride before breakfast.  It was ripping once you were up.  

Allow me to congratulate you Sir on being the first to accede to my repeated requests for information of the pig.  Now I know her name and abode, I am still curious as to her attendants.  I suppose she more or less looks after herself until Jack can attend to her.  Is her sty another of your triumphs?

Congratulations on the toothache, but I hope further congrats will be unnecessary.  Didn’t know the Hills were out;  20 Lincs. Terriers I suppose?  We had the thunderstorm too and now it is a little cooler.  

My best love

Bob

P.S.  Just as I finished I was fetched out (11.10 pm) to see Bosche aeroplanes dropping bombs quite near our anti-craft guns and search lights.  Quite a show.     RCP .

(I am greatly indebted to Janet Hudson for her kind permission to allow me to quote from Bob Perks’ correspondence).

 

Capt. Bob Perks DSO

Image by kind permission of Janet Hudson

Pte. Arthur Sutcliffe (see 30^th January), who had been in England since leaving 10DWR five months previously, was deemed fit enough to be posted to 3DWR prior to returning to active service.

Pte. Robert Wilson Irving (see 6^th July 1916), who had been in England for the previous 14 months after suffering shellshock, was transferred to the 360^th Labour Company, Labour Corps. 

He was one of a number of original members of the Battalion who are known to have been transferred to the Labour Corps at around the same time, although, for most, the exact date is unknown. Among these were Ptes. George Frederick Ford (see 1^st March), who joined the non-combatant Labour Corps, and Archibald Louis Norris (see 1^st March), who, like Irving, joined 360^th Labour Company.

For the others who were transferred to the Labour Corps, in the absence of their surviving records, it has not been possible to determine when they had left 10DWR or whether their departure was due to wounds, illness or other causes. They included Cpls. Thomas Flaxington (see 21^st January) and Richard Alexander Oliver (see 15^th April 1916); and Ptes. Charles Harwood (see 6^th April 1916), William Hartley (see 24^th December 1915), Percy Houldsworth (see 5^th July 1916), Edward Hogan (see 19^th June 1916) and Anthony Mullaney. Pte. Mullaney was a married man, and had been an original member of the Battalion, enlisting in 1914 aged 36; he was originally from Ireland but had been living in Bradford where he had worked as a gas stoker. The others known to have been transferred were Ptes. Frederick Fuller, Thomas Hart, Frederick Marston, John Nunn, Harry Rowe, George Smith (12330), George Liversley Smith (12340), Fred Wainman (see 24^th May 1916), Harry Frederick Walton (In the absence of their service records I am currently unable to make a positive identification of these men).

Pte. Walter White (see 3^rd February), who had served briefly with 10DWR in 1915, was also transferred to the Labour Corps at around this time, but again the details are unknown.

A memorial service was held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Earby in memory of Pte. Tom Greenwood (see 22^nd June) and another local casualty, Airman Frank Waddington. The Rev. A. Bradfield gave what was regarded as, “an impressive and very appropriate address” on 'The Christian's Hope.' Both men had been active members of the Wesleyan Guild.  

Pte. Tom Greenwood