The events of July 1916
“Men sprang to the parapet and were at once in the zone where machine
gun bullets swept like rain. Here and there a man dropped back into the
trench. Others fell in swathes on the parapet. A few struggled further. I
think the furthest would hardly make more than a few dozen paces.”
J E Yates 1/6 West Yorkshire Regt
The bloodiest battle in the history of Britain started on 1 July 1916 on
the Somme. Although news of the casualties hardly reached the
Shipley Times & Express by 7 July, from then on the paper was
dominated by stories of local men who had been killed or wounded
or were missing. We have tried to replicate that coverage to give a
glimpse of the kind of impact it must have had on the community.
Of course at home normal life continued but it is hard to imagine that
the events in France were ever long out of people’s minds.
The links here will take you to pages containing stories published
exactly 100 years before. The headlines shown are only a taste of the
stories that appear on that page.
7 July 1916
- Windhill vicar writes from the Front Line
- Letters home from “Eccleshill Road”
- Serving men condemn striking miners
- Sunday School treat ended by storm
- Belgian pupils praised
- Court is lenient with respectable lad
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Time to clamp down on boys’ smoking
- Puzzle over national anthem origins
- Big hitting by Saltaire batsman Schofe
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- Emotional send off to the Somme
- Idle hears of first Somme casualties
- Naturalised butcher fights conscription
Among the first casualties of the ‘Big Push’
14 July 1916
- Churches combine to honour troops
- It’s worse when you know the lads who died
- Roll of Honour R-W
A gallery of casualties - the faces of 59 local
men killed, wounded or missing after the
Battle of the Somme
- Killed after just two days in the trenches
- Civilian distress shames ‘shirkers’ at home
- POWs give the view from the other side
- I’m glad I’m among the first ‘over the top’
- Saved by my bible and looking glass
- Roll of Honour A-E
- Tribunal hears conscience appeals
- Insight in working of local newsagent
- Council to go it alone on town planning
- Men did extraordinary things, the testimony
of a West Yorkshire soldier
- Roll of Honour F-P
Hardly anyone in the Shipley area would not have known at
least one of the men who featured in the Shipley Times &
Express’s Roll of Honour. In almost two years of war there
had been nothing to match to toll of casualties that followed
the fateful attack of 1 July
21 July 1916
- Isabel Salt on the lessons of the war
- Idle men urged to join Volunteer Force
- Committee formed to encourage saving
For the second week in a row the Shipley
Times & Express carried a gallery of photos
of casualties of the Somme
The newspaper also featured some of the
stories of the men who had been killed,
wounded or were missing.
- Thackley mill fire causes extensive damage
- Idle women take on counselling role
- Windhill Liberals celebrate coming of age
28 July 1916
- Conscientious Objector challenged
- Origins of the names Wrose and Idle
- Windhill’s ‘only clogger’ seeks exemption
A smaller gallery of Somme casualties this
week and only brief details
Rev Burdett on the price paid by women
- Two soldiers die, toiling in the sun
- From the trenches to the cricket pitch
- Sympathy but no cash for teacher’s family
- Many Rhodes lead to boost in funds
- Absent scholars hit council revenues
- Concerts lift spirits in France
