Saturday 19th October 1918

Billets at ‘Villa Bloot’.

On another very wet day the Battalion marched ten miles north-east, via the outskirts of Treviso (according to Pte. Harold Charnock (see 15^th October), “skirting the picturesque old walls of Treviso), to Limbraga, between Treviso and Lancenigo.

Pte. Charles Henry Russell (see 10^th October) was reported by Sgt. John William Binks (see 10^th October) as having ‘having dirty equipment on 10.40am parade’; on the orders of Lt. Vincent Edwards MC (see 6^th October) he would be confined to barracks for seven days.

The recent rise in the number of men reporting sick with influenza and other complaints continued.

Ptes. William Hill (see 29^th October 1917) and Michael Newton (see 24^th August) were admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance and 9^th Casualty Clearing Station to 38^th Stationary Hospital in Genoa; both were suffering from diarrhoea.

Ptes. Jesse Richard Cooper (see 29^th October 1917), John Henry Fidler (see 26^th June) and Samuel Richards (see 7^th July) were admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance and 39^th Casualty Clearing Station to 51^st Stationary Hospital; Cooper suffering from diarrhoea and influenza, Fidler from diarrhoea, and Richards from myalgia and bronchitis.

Ptes. John Thomas Damant (see 28^th July) and Fred Sutcliffe (see 17^th August) were admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance and 9^th Casualty Clearing Station to 11^th General Hospital in Genoa; Damant was suffering from influenza and Sutcliffe from diarrhoea.

Pte. Edward Henry Chant (see 5^th September) was admitted via 69^th Field Ambulance and 9^th Casualty Clearing Station to 29^th Stationary Hospital in Cremona; he was suffering from influenza.

Pte. John William Mallinson (see 22^nd September) was transferred from 62^nd General Hospital at Bordighera, near Ventimiglia to 81^st General Hospital in Marseilles; he was suffering from “I.C.T.” (Inflammation of the connective tissue) to his face.

Pte. Stanley Sykes (see 28^th September) was transferred from 62^nd General Hospital at Bordighera, near Ventimiglia to 67^th General Hospital in Marseilles; he was suffering from jaundice.

Pte. John William Kirby (see 5^th October) was discharged from 51^st Stationary Hospital and posted to the Convalescent Depot at Lido d’Albaro.


Pte. John Sunderland was admitted, sick, to Keighley War Hospital; in the absence of a surviving service record I am unable to make a positive identification of this man or to establish any details of his illness, his evacuation to England or his service, beyond the fact that he had only ever served with 10DWR. 

Lt. John Robert Dickinson (see 16^th September), serving with 3DWR at North Shields, was admitted to hospital (details unknown); he would be discharged a week later.

Pte. George Edmund Childs (see 8^th September 1917) was formally discharged from the Army on account of wounds suffered in action; in the absence of a surviving service record it has not been possible to establish when or under what circumstances he had been wounded, or when he had left 10DWR.

A payment of £13 11s. 5d. was authorised, being the amount due in pay and allowances to the late L.Cpl. Smith Hesselden (see 10^th July), who had died of wounds on 10^th July; the payment would go to his widow, Lily. She would also receive a parcel of her late husband’s personal effects, comprising of, “six coins, letters, addresses, photos, 2 pipes, 2 notebooks, 2 religious books, dictionary, 2 wallets, cards, watch, leather chain, mirror, purse, toothbrush, belt, pencils, flash light top, films”.

The weekly edition of the Keighley News published a further report regarding the escape of Pte. Arthur Metcalfe (see 12^th October) from a prison camp in Germany; Arthur Metcalfe was the elder brother of Pte. Albert Mawer Metcalfe (see 20^th November 1914).

INCIDENTS OF AN ESCAPE FROM GERMANY

Bandsman Arthur Metcalfe, who returned to Cowling last week, after escaping from Germany, tells some stories of his escape which are not without humour. He and two companions, an Englishman and a Canadian, made their escape together. In the course of their long march of 115 miles in seven days the party almost ran into a sentry box, but the sentry was engaged in conversation with a girl. He left his box to inspect them, but when the escaped prisoners saw his attitude they started singing “The Watch on the Rhine”. Then he appeared satisfied, and he returned to his fair companion and remarked that they were good patriots. On one occasion they crossed a great swamp, which took them five hours, being many times up to their armpits in mud and water. In their emaciated condition this was a most trying experience. Whilst journeying on a country road they were overtaken by a German cyclist who seemed to view them with suspicion, passing and re-passing them several times. The last time he greeted them with a “Good Morning”. Bandsman Metcalfe answered his greeting in German. The cyclist then rode away, but as the party felt somewhat alarmed, they went into hiding. Apparently their alarm was justified for, in short time, the cyclist returned, accompanied by a policeman on a bicycle, who, after making a hasty search, went away, apparently satisfied that their suspicions were false. The party passed through one town, and here they became alarmed, for they were followed by two policemen, accompanied by a savage dog, but after a close scrutiny they were allowed to pass on without molestation. Bandsman Metcalfe said he specially wished to thank those who had sent parcels of food, clothing etc. to the British boys who were unfortunately still in Germany and to the British government, at whose instance the conditions of the prisoners had been improved. He was sure that if the people only knew how their generosity and efforts for the prisoner’ welfare were appreciated – and often enough these meant the difference between life and death – they would be amply rewarded.