Thursday 23rd January 1919

Billets at Grumolo and Montecchia di Crosara

Ptes. Stanley Hirst (see 17^th May 1918) and Harry Orchard (see 8^th December 1918) completed and signed their ‘Statement as to disability’ forms, which were a precursor to their being posted back to England. The completed forms, which confirmed that they did not claim to have suffered any disability in service, were witnessed by 2Lt. Wilfred Frederick John Thomson MC (see 17^th January). Similar forms were completed and signed by Cpl. Stanley Arthur Bones (see 27^th October 1918) who was at 16^th Convalescent Depot in Marseilles, having been wounded on 27^th October 1918. 

CSM Edward George John Cooke (see 23^rd August 1918), serving in France with 43^rd Garrison Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, was posted back to England for demobilization.

L.Cpl. Edmund Peacock (see 18^th October 1918), serving in France with 1^st/4^th DWR, was posted back to England for demobilization.

Maj. Robert Harwar Gill DSO (see 20^th December 1918) appeared before a further Army Medical Board at 3^rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth; he was granted a further extension of leave, to 22^nd February, on the expiry of which he was to return to hospital. He was also awarded a gratuity of £375 in respect of the loss of his right eye.

Maj. Robert Harwar Gill DSO

2Lt. Frederick Griggs MM (see 8^th July 1918), who had been in England since having been kicked by a horse while serving in France with 2DWR, was formally released from the Army.

Pte. James Percival (see 10^th December 1918), who had been serving at the Infantry Command Depot at Catterick, was formally transferred to the Army Reserve Class Z.

L.Cpl. Joseph Simpson (see 3^rd January), serving in England with 52^nd (Garrison) Battalion, Notts. and Derbys., completed and signed his ‘Statement as to disability’ form as a precursor to his being demobilized. He stated two disabilities: ‘gunshot wounds’ and ‘heart trouble’. He had been wounded in France in September 1915, which had resulted in the ‘amputation of second and terminal phalanges of the right hand’. However, he was now also suffering from ‘mitral valvular lesion, dyspnoea on exertion’.

A grant of probate was issued in respect of the late Lt. Col. Ashton Alexander St. Hill DSO (see 6^th January), C.O., 11^th Northumberland Fusiliers, who had been killed in action on 27^th October 1918; probate of his estate, valued at £1,182 10s. 2d. was granted to his widow, Lilian Jane Eva St. Hill. 

I also have a photo postcard, of Italian origin, featuring two DWR NCO’s, almost certainly of 10DWR, bearing the date 23^rd January 1919. However, I am, as yet, unable to identify the two men. Handwritten to the front of the card is “Sincerely yours, W. Town, Italy 23.1.19” and, on the reverse side is written an address, “Cpl. W. Town, 31 Keighley Road, Silsden, nr. Keighley, Yorks”. The card is not stamped and bears no message on the reverse. The ‘signature’ on the front (W. Town) is not that of Maj. William Norman Town (see 14^th January), who seems always to have signed himself ‘W.N. Town’ and whose signature is quite different. There are records of a Wilfred Town living at the address in 1911, and in the 1919 electoral register he is marked as an ‘absent voter’, suggesting that he was in military service at the time. However, I can find no evidence that Wilfred Town ever served abroad, as he appears to have no medal entitlement.