The events of January 1916
The main story as the war stretched into another year, a year those of us with hindsight know was to be one of
the bloodiest in the history of warfare, was the introduction of conscription in all but name. And inevitably that
brought plenty of discussion including whether the government were right to include Conscientious Objectors
in the categories of people who could appeal against call up.
As usual the newspaper carried each week stories of life at the front line gathered mainly from letters home.
There was tragedy and triumph, fear, injury and heroism.
Women doing men’s jobs was still a novelty and still met with a mixed reaction with some people shocked that
women should be filling roles like taxi drivers.
The war had stretched on far longer than anyone had expected and the government was urging everyone to be
more economical and waste less. Inevitably harder times meant that the distress funds were among those
hardest hits as earlier subscribers started to drop away.
But there were also signs that all was not doom and gloom. A new cinema opened in Baildon and was
immediately popular and cricket fans could look forward to the new season knowing that even more of the
game’s biggest names would be plying their trade locally.
The links below will take you to a digest of stories from the Shipley Times & Express, exactly 100 years after they
first appeared. The headlines only represent a few of the stories covered.
7 January 1916
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- Conscription moves nearer
- Spurning retirement to set an example
- Crowds flock to new Baildon cinema
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Council snooping on workers’ drinking
- Tramcar blown over in gale
- A Baildon romance
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Shipley soldier loses toes to frostbite
- Yorkies stand firm against gas attack
- Fewer finicky soldiers after the war
14 January 1916
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- Rosse St preacher defends conscience
- Coroner investigates opium-based medicine
- Falling slate injures six-year-old boy
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- The case for women taxi drivers
- Reformatory heroes resolve old debate
- ‘A reight sooart for a parson’
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Soldiers turn down £20 for lucky cat
- Wading waist-deep to get treatment
- Praise for front-line doctors and chaplains
21 January 1916
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- MP has solution for Conscientious Objectors
- Workhouse care costs rise
- River’s revenge for industrial degredation
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Inquest into death of two young boys
- Nurse’s favour costs a woman dear
- Egg display to boost troops’ funds
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Missing man confirmed KIA
- Baildon’s first D.C.M.
- Field Street decked out to welcome hero
28 January 1916
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- Costs end Victoria Hall cinema plans
- League defend cricket in war time
- Motor men take over from cyclists
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Drunken weaver cheerfully chooses jail
- Mill worker killed by anthrax
- Saltaire pastor calls for more effort at home
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Rough seas, submarines and eating sand
- Idle’s youngest soldier in tune
- D.C.M. for eavesdropping sergeant