Friday 16th June 1916

Billets at Camblain Chatelain

The Battalion formed up at 9.45am and marched eleven and a half miles via Berfay, Bellary and Estree Blanche, to Enquin-les-Mines. The march was duly completed with the Battalion arriving at 3pm. 2Lt. Henry Dawson (see 24^th May), accompanied by an NCO from each Company, had been detailed to follow in rear of the Battalion in order to “pick up any stragglers”. The War Diary reported, “To say the Battalion had such a trying time during the last few days and that only 12 men fell out during the march, it is a very creditable performance”.

The Divisional Trench Mortar Battery, having arrived on the Somme the previous day, began preparing themselves for the part they would play in the British bombardment of the German lines; over the next few days they selected their gun positions in the Auchonvillers sector and began to dig in their guns and carry up large quantities of ammunition.

Cpl. Vincent Edwards (see 3^rd April) serving with 28^th (Reserve) Battalion Royal Fusiliers, having been wounded in February, received a mention in dispatches. He would later be commissioned and join 10DWR.

The weekly edition of the West Yorkshire Pioneer carried an extended report on the recent death of Sgt. Kayley Earnshaw, DCM (see 10^th June).

SERGT. KAYLEY EARNSHAW, D.C.M., KILLED

News was received on Wednesday that Sergt. Kayley Earnshaw, D.C.M., of 10th West Yorks. (sic.), had been killed in action by a trench bomb. The news was received by Sergeant Earnshaw's wife, who resides at Scosthrop, near Airton, and when it became known in Malhamdale great sympathy was expressed for the widow and family. The following letter was received from Captain Tunstill:- "It is with very great sorrow that I have to tell you that your husband was killed yesterday in doing his duty as a brave man. He was taking his machine gun team to the trenches when a trench mortar hit him, and he was killed on the spot. I knew nothing about it until today, and this evening it has been my duty to see him buried. There was no man in this Battalion more respected than your husband. He was one of the few who had won the D.C.M., and he had won the respect and admiration of every officer and man of the Battalion. It is difficult for me to tell you what I think, but I feel his death more perhaps than any other N.C.O. of this Battalion. I remember him as a civilian, and I knew him as a soldier, and you have my sympathy in losing a husband who was a very brave and valiant soldier. I have tonight seen him buried. He is buried some few hundred yards behind the firing line between two little woods. There were not many of us there, but those who were there grieved to lose a man who could be ill spared, and the thought of those there were with you."

Mr. Harry Foster, a machine gun office, wrote:- "No words of mine can adequately express the sympathy which I, and indeed the whole machine gun section, wish to convey to you in your loss. Earnshaw was one of the finest men and the best soldier in the Battalion, and was respected by officers and men alike, and no man had more thoroughly earned the medal which was recently conferred upon him for distinguished conduct in the field. Sergt. Pickles has collected the articles of personal value which he had with him, and is sending them on to you in due course. I cannot say any more to you, except to tell you that he died instantly (I was there just after he was hit), and without suffering any pain, and I can only hope the thought that he died while doing his duty to his King and country, like the man he was, will be some slight comfort and consolation to you."

Sergeant Earnshaw, who enlisted in Captain Tunstill's troop from Airton, went through the Boer War, serving as gunner attached to the 63rd Battery. He was drafted home as an invalid after suffering from fever. He joined the Leeds Royal Artillery at Leeds at the age of 18. He sailed from Bristol in the transport 'Ismore', and the vessel was wrecked off Columbia Point, about 90 miles from Cape Town. After spending some days on land, two gunboats were sent down from Cape Town, but they could not get within 12 miles of the spot, and a transport had to be requisitioned to take the men off. Sergeant Earnshaw was in at the capture of Spion Kop and the relief of Ladysmith.

Before joining Captain Tunstill's troop, Sergt. Earnshaw was under gardener for Mr. Dudley Illingworth at Hanlith Hall. He was highly respected in the district and his wife and two children live at Scosthrop. He earned the D.C.M. in April last. We quote from a report given at the time:- "Sergeant Earnshaw, after his machine gun had been blown up by a shell, succeeded in digging it out, and then got it into working order, all the time being heavily shelled by the Germans, who were only 60 yards away. He also rendered great aid in bandaging up the wounded."

Sergeant Earnshaw leaves a wife and young family, and for them, as well as for his mother and sisters, great sympathy is felt. His youngest brother recently went out to France, and a nephew, who belonged to Carleton, went down on the 'Defence' last week.

 

Sgt. Kayley Earnshaw, DCM

(Image by kind permission of Sue Lugton)

Thursday 15th June 1916

Billets at Camblain Chatelain

A quiet day, spent in cleaning kit and equipment and preparing for a further move next day.

Meanwhile, the Divisional Trench Mortar Battery was detached and sent to the Somme area to be made ready to participate in the bombardment of the German lines ahead of the planned ‘big push’; they would not re-join 23^rd Division until 18^th July.

Pte. Thomas Bulcock was evacuated to England (cause unknown). He was an original member of the Battalion, having enlisted in Skipton in September 1914, aged 29, married, though with no children, living in Lothersdale and working as a driver.


Pte. Robert William Bell (see 6^th June) was discharged from 4^th Stationary Hospital at Arques, following treatment for tonsillitis, and re-joined the Battalion.

Pte. Robert William Bell

Wednesday 14th June 1916

Billets at Sains-en-Gohelle (Coron Fosse 10)

The Battalion began the first of  a series of moves which would take them back into reserve and training where they could then be prepared for their role in the ‘big push’ which was being widely anticipated. The first stage was a ten mile march from Fosse 10 to Camblain Chatelain. The march took them over familiar ground, via Hersin and Barlin, arriving at 5pm. The men were then billeted and “made as comfortable as possible”.

Sgt. Henry Herbert Calvert (see 14^th February), serving at 16^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples, was posted to the Dukes’ Regimental Depot at Halifax.

The recent enquiries into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of 2Lt. Samuel Lawrence Glover in January (see 12^th June) elicited a response from the German government, via the American Embassy. The War Office now confirmed to Glover’s father that the information received was, “Died. Disc transferred from the Army Higher Command. No further details”

2Lt. Samuel Lawrence Glover

Pte. Edmund Peacock (see 5^th June) serving with 9DWR, but currently sick with trench fever, was transferred to 22 Field Ambulance, with a diagnosis of myalgia; he had originally been a member of Tunstill’s Company but had been invalided back to England having been wounded in November 1915 and subsequently posted to 9DWR.

Monday 12th June 1916

Trenches north of Souchez

The weather remained poor, with torrential rain during the evening, and there were further exchanges of rifle grenades and trench mortars. Orders were received for the Battalion to be relieved next day, as part of the relief of the whole of 23^rd Division by 47^th Division. However, the men of the Anson Battalion, were relieved overnight, 12^th/13^th and were re-united with their other Companies at Barlin.

L.Cpl. Robert Sydney Clapham (see 7^th April 1915) departed for England on one weeks’ leave.

Pte. Tom Darwin (see 9^th June), who had been absent without leave for four days, returned to the Battalion under circumstances which are unclear. It was ordered that he should be detained, awaiting trial on charges of desertion and losing his equipment.

L.Cpl. John William Dickinson (see 26^th January) was admitted via 6^th London Field Ambulance to 18^th Casualty Clearing Station at Lapugnoy suffering from ‘pyrexia’ (raised temperature).

Pte. William Kershaw (18282) joined the Battalion. He was a 20 year-old ‘cotton doubler’ from Millbank, near Huddersfield and had enlisted in December 1915 and trained with 3DWR before being posted to France on 24^th May.

Battalion Adjutant, Capt. Charles Bathurst (see 5^th September 1915), was invalided back to England and his post was taken up temporarily by 2Lt. Hugh Lester (see 5^th May), although his appointment would not be confirmed for some time.

Pte. Eli Bradley (see 13^th May) was transferred from a Convalescent Depot also in Rouen to 6^th General Hospital in Rouen; he was suffering from debility.

A further statement was taken regarding the disappearance of 2Lt. Samuel Lawrence Glover in January (see 30^th May). The informant on this occasion was Pte. John Edward Dolan, who had been wounded only a few days previously (see 9^th June) and was being treated at no.2 General Hospital, Le Havre: “Lieut. Glover went out on patrol with four others, and one of them tore up the barbed wire. They got to the German trench and when on the parapet Lt. Glover was seen by the Germans and had to fire his revolver. They shot him and three of the others. One man got back next day and told us. I cannot remember his name, but for two days he was off his head and then recovered. He is still alive and with the Regiment, but I don’t know if he is still with B Company. This happened at Armentieres”.

2Lt. Samuel Lawrence Glover

Seven days after leaving Alexandria, the troopship, “Ivernia” arrived at Marseilles. Among the men aboard was Pte. Joseph Bell (see 5^th June), serving with 51^st Battalion, A.I.F. He was the elder brother of original Tunstill recruit Pte. William Irving Bell.

Lt. Col. Ernest Newton Heale died of blood poisoning in hospital at Le Treport; he was the elder brother of Lt. George Reginald Charles Heale (see 5^th May).

A payment of £3 7s. 2d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. Matthew Teasdale (see 1^st April), who had been killed in action in April; the payment would go to his widow, Elizabeth.

Tuesday 13th June 1916

Trenches north of Souchez

In the early morning of a dull and showery day a British mine gallery in the sector was located by the Germans and exploded, but without causing any casualties or any significant damage above ground. However, there followed an increase in German shelling and one of the shells did find its mark, making a direct hit on one the dugouts. Two men were killed, one wounded and five others admitted to hospital suffering from shell shock. One of those shell-shocked was J.B. Priestley. Writing years later he recalled, “One day it had to happen. It was June now, hot again, thirsty weather, a lot of chalk dust about, and we were in the front line on a beautiful morning*. The platoon rations had just come up. I sent Private O’Neill down the communications trench to bring up some water – and sixteen years went by before we saw each other again. I helped a young soldier, who had only just joined us out there, to take the rations into a dugout, not a deep dugout but a small one hollowed out of the parapet. In this dugout I began sorting out the bread, meat, tea, sugar, tinned milk, and so on, to give each section it’s proper share, a tricky little job. I had done it many times before, hardly ever to anybody’s complete satisfaction; but on this morning I suspect that it saved my life. After the explosion when everything had caved in, nobody was certain I was there, but several fellows knew the platoon rations were in there somewhere; that stuff would have to be dug out. There I was then, deciding on each section’s share, when I heard a rushing sound, and I knew what it meant and knew, though everything had gone into slow motion, I had no hope of getting away before the thing arrived. Just as on earlier and later occasions when I have thought all was up, the first shrinking terror was followed, as I went into the new slow time, by a sense of detachment. I believe from what I learnt long afterwards that the Minenwerfer landed slap in the trench, two or three yards away. All I knew was that the world blew up.”

*Priestley’s recollection of the weather conditions is very much at odds with the contemporary reports of conditions; it is hard to account for this as the date and details of the event are very clearly established.

Following his recovery, Priestley served out the remainder of the war in various administrative capacities and never returned to the Battalion.

The two men killed were Ptes. Harry Bower (see 11th September 1915) and Smith Hardaker; neither of them from Tunstill’s Company. However, Hardaker had lived in Crosshills and it fell to CQMS Frank Stephenson (see 23^rd December 1915) of Tunstill’s Company, who was from the neighbouring village of Cowling, to convey the news to Hardaker’s wife. News of Hardaker’s death, and the letters received by his widow, was subsequently reported in the Craven Herald (23^rd June and 7^th July).

CROSSHILLS MAN KILLED AT THE FRONT

On Sunday morning last Mrs. Smith Hardacre, of Milligan Fields, Crosshills, received news that her husband had been killed in the trenches in France. She has not received an official notification, but as the letter was written for one of his friends (Pte. Tom Ellison, of Sutton) who was with him at the time he met his death, there can be no doubt that the sad news is true. The letter is as follows:- "Dear Mrs. Hardacre, - I am very sorry to have to inform you that your husband, Pte. Smith Hardacre, has been killed in action whilst in the trenches, about dinnertime on the 13th instant. I cannot give any details of his death except that he died instantaneously and suffered no pain. You must excuse my writing, but I thought it would be best to inform you as early as possible. Private Tom Lister Ellison (see 2^nd June) brought the news to me and asked me to write to you. In all probability you will get more news from an officer of his company, but in the event of your not doing so I will make enquiries, and if you will just drop a line to me I will try to answer all you want to know. Wishing you all sympathy in your sad and sudden bereavement.

"Yours truly, Company Sergeant F. Stephenson, 10th Battalion, Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment, France."

Private Hardacre enlisted in the Duke of Wellington's in January last year, and was for some time stationed at Folkestone, and afterwards at Bramshott Camp, from where they were drafted to France in July (sic. August) last year. He had seen considerable fighting, and was a bomber in the trenches, having been trained at a bombing school in France. At the battle of Loos he went into the German trenches with bombs, and for his work in this engagement he won a medal and bar. He was home on leave about two months ago, but was recalled by a telegram before his time of leave had expired, and was expecting to receive another leave before very long to make up for this.

Private Hardacre was thirty years of age, and leaves a widow and two children.

Mrs. Smith Hardacre of Milligan Fields, Crosshills, has received an official communication from the military authorities, confirming the news she had already received that her husband (Private Smith Hardacre of the 10th Duke of Wellington's Regiment) had been killed in Northern France. Pte. Hardacre's bombing officer, Lieutenant Keith Lavarack (see 30^th May), has written to Mrs. Hardacre and speaks very highly of his work in the Bombing Battalion, and expresses his sympathy with her in her bereavement. Company Quarter-Master Sergeant Frank Stephenson, a resident of Cowling, has written to Mrs. Hardacre telling how her husband met his death.

He says:- "He was one of the battalion bombers, and along with another bomber he was on guard over a stock of bombs in a dugout. The Germans sent a shell over, what is commonly called by the men as a Rum jar, that is a very big shell, and it went into the dugout, bursting the bombs and blowing up the dugout. A party of men at once cleared away the debris, and when he was wrapped in a blanket he was along with the other men taken and given a decent burial."

The Army Chaplain, Wilfred L. Henderson (see 26^th May), in expressing his sorrow for the loss of a brave soldier, says:- "We all sympathise with you. He was killed by a German shell, and we buried him on the same night in a little cemetery behind the lines. A cross and number will be put over his grave, and the grave and cross reverently cared for. Your feelings must also be mingled with pride. I think I am permitted to tell you that your husband's grave lies near the village of Noulette in Northern France."

In addition, Mrs. Hardacre has received a letter from her husband's Captain as follows:- "Dear Mrs. Hardacre, I have been meaning to write to you for several days to tell you how very much we all miss your husband, and how very sorry for you we are. Your husband was, of course, attached to the battalion bombers. He was one of the most popular men in my company and I have never known a more willing and cheerful worker. A man like your husband does his bit and a good bit over, and I am sure that all who knew him will agree with me in this. I hope it will be some consolation to you to know that he could not have suffered any pain, as death must have been instantaneous.

"Captain James Christopher Bull (see 5th June), Commanding D Company, 10th Duke of Wellington's Regiment"

Both Bower and Hardaker were buried at Bois de Noulette British Cemetery, Aix Noulette.

Pte. Smith Hardaker

CQMS Frank Stephenson

(Image by kind permission of Henry Bolton)

Among the men wounded were two who had only been with the Battalion for a week. L.Cpl. Harold William Crowther (see 6^th June) suffered only minor wounds and was treated locally before resuming duty. Pte. George Edward Chapman (see 6^th June), on the other hand, was shell-shocked and would be evacuated to England three days later. 

Overnight on 13^th/14^th the Battalion was relieved by 15^th London Regiment, returning to their former billets at Sains-en-Gohelle.

Pte. John William Addison (see 9^th June) was discharged from 10^th General Hospital at Rouen and posted to 34^th Infantry Base Depot at Etaples. 

A payment of £10 8s. 11d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances to the late Pte. William Haste (see 23^rd March), who had been killed in action in March; the payment would go to his aunt and sole legatee, Mrs. Eliza J. Ward.

Sunday 11th June 1916

Trenches north of Souchez

A dismal day, with heavy rain falling for much of the day. There was little to report other than continued exchanges of rifle grenades. Two men from the Battalion were wounded overnight of 11^th/12^th whilst working on the defensive wire.

Pte. Clifford Lambert was admitted to 2^nd General Hospital in Le Havre; he was suffering from keratitis (inflammation of the cornea). Clifford Lambert had been an original member of the Battalion having enlisted aged 17; he was from Keighley and had been working in the textile mills.

L.Sgt. William Alfred Walmsley Gaunt (see 2^nd June) was discharged from 4^th Stationary Hospital at Arques and re-joined the Battalion.

Pte. Harry Hinchliffe (see 9^th March), who had been in England since having been wounded in March, was posted to 3DWR at North Shields.

Charles Archibald Milford (see 28^th December 1915), who had been a leading figure in Tunstill’s original recruitment campaign, was commissioned Second Lieutenant with the West Riding Regiment, following his training with 28^th Battalion London Regiment (Artists Rifles).

L.Cpl. Lawrence Tindill, serving with 1^st/5^th Yorkshires (see 15^th May) began to receive the pay of his rank (he had previously held the rank unpaid ); he would later be commissioned and serve with 10DWR. 

Cpl. Archibald (Archie) Allen, serving with the Army Service Corps in France, was admitted to no.2 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station at Remy, near Poperinghe; he was suffering from tonsillitis. Archie Allen would subsequently be commissioned and would serve with 10DWR. He was born 25^th June 1890 in Hockley, Warwickshire, and had been working as a clerk when war broke out. He had joined the ASC in August 1914 and had been promoted Corporal six months later. He had been in France since May 1915 and had spent four days in hospital after suffering an earlier bout of tonsillitis in January 1916.

Saturday 10th June 1916

Trenches north of Souchez

This sector contained two notorious saps, Solferino and Sevastopol, which extended out to within thirty yards of the German line and early in the morning both came under heavy fire from rifle grenades and trench mortars. The Battalion replied with more than one hundred 60lb trench mortar shells, “which succeeded in quietening the enemy for a time”. However, there were continued, sporadic exchanges over the course of the day and, as a result, “We applied for assistance which was immediately given”. Conditions were made much more difficult by heavy, thundery showers during the morning and heavy rain for much of the rest of the day; it was reported, somewhat laconically, that, “Dugout accommodation is very poor & consequently things are very unpleasant”.

As things became quieter in the evening, Capt. Tunstill wrote to the widow of Kayley Earnshaw (see 9^th June),
"It is with very great sorrow that I have to tell you that your husband was killed yesterday in doing his duty as a brave man. He was taking his machine gun team to the trenches when a trench mortar hit him, and he was killed on the spot. I knew nothing about it until today, and this evening it has been my duty to see him buried. There was no man in this Battalion more respected than your husband. He was one of the few who had won the D.C.M., and he had won the respect and admiration of every officer and man of the Battalion. It is difficult for me to tell you what I think, but I feel his death more perhaps than any other N.C.O. of this Battalion. I remember him as a civilian, and I knew him as a soldier, and you have my sympathy in losing a husband who was a very brave and valiant soldier. I have tonight seen him buried. He is buried some few hundred yards behind the firing line between two little woods. There were not many of us there, but those who were there grieved to lose a man who could be ill spared, and the thoughts of those there were with you”.

Sgt. Kayley Earnshaw DCM

(Image by kind permission of Sue Lugton)

Image by kind permission of Sue Lugton

2Lt. Harry Foster (see 27^th August 1915) an officer with the machine gun section, also wrote to Mrs. Earnshaw,

"No words of mine can adequately express the sympathy which I, and indeed the whole machine gun section, wish to convey to you in your loss. Earnshaw was one of the finest men and the best soldier in the Battalion, and was respected by officers and men alike, and no man had more thoroughly earned the medal which was recently conferred upon him for distinguished conduct in the field”.

He also confirmed that Sergeant Tom Pickles (see 25^th February) had collected together Earnshaw’s personal effects and would send them on to the family. The loss of so popular and experienced an NCO as Earnshaw must have been a major blow to the Battalion as a whole, and especially to the morale of Tunstill’s Men.

Following Earnshaw’s death, Cpl. John Hartley (8^th December 1915) was promoted Sergeant.

Sgt. John Hartley

2Lt. Harry Foster, who was one of the Battalion’s original officers, has not been positively identified.

69^th Field Ambulance carried out works to improve casualty evacuation from the front line trenches (see 19^th May). Their War Diary reported that “New evacuation trench completed from RAP to junction of Morocco North and Labordie Trenches to avoid use of Bully Trench (up trench); advanced ambulance post, 1 NCO and 6 men, placed at this junction”.

Pte. James Pickering (see 19^th April), who had been in England for two months after suffering from haemmerhoids, was posted to 11DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffs.

Pte. Sam Shuttleworth (see 7^th June) who had been taken ill, suffering from tooth decay, some days earlier, was transferred from no.6 Casualty Clearing Station at Bruay to 4^th Stationary Hospital at Arques. Pte. Thomas Barber Dudley (see 22^nd May 1915) was also admitted to the same hospital, also suffering from dental caries.