Friday 14 July 1916
First casualties of the Battle of the Somme
Pte Bert Rainbow, 16th West Yorks,
brother of Frank Rainbow, who used
to play with Idle Old Boys FC and
Mrs W Wilkinson, Clairmont,
Highfield Road, Idle, has been
wounded.
Pte T Richardson is the eldest of two
soldier sons of Mr James Richardson
of Back School St, Clayton. Pte
Richardson was wounded by a piece
of shrapnel entering the muscle of his
left leg.
Pte Joseph William Robinson, 16
Peverel Mount, Moorside Road,
Eccleshill, of the 2nd Bradford Pals,
has been wounded. He joined the
regiment in February of last year. He
was a member of the Baptist choir.
Pte Donald R Ross, Duke of
Wellington’s West Riding Regt, son
of Mr and Mrs I Ross of 49
Marlborough Road, Shipley, was
wounded on the third inst. and has
been admitted to the 5th General
Hospital in France.
In a letter to Mr and Mrs Ross, the
chief nursing sister at the hospital
says that Pte Ross is suffering from
gunshot wounds in the neck and
shoulder.
He had, at the time of writing,
undergone an operation and was
feeling fairly comfortable. The
wounds are not of too serious a nature
and there is nothing in his present
condition to cause undue anxiety. Pte
Ross attested soon after the Derby
scheme was initiated and was called
up with the early groups. He only
embarked for France on the 16th of
last month.
Pte Arnold Shackleton, Duke of
Wellington’s Regt, the son of Mr and
Mrs Walter Shackleton, 9 Oxford St,
Greengates, has been wounded. He is
19 years of age and before the war
was choirmaster at the Bingley Parish
Church.
Cpl Harry Smith, who has been
wounded, is the eldest son of Mr
Jowett Smith of Cambridge St.,
Clayton. He joined the 6th West
Yorks Regt.
Pte Ralph Stamford is the youngest
brother of Cllr T W Stamford. He
resides at No 3 Mount Terrace,
Eccleshill. He joined the 2nd
Bradford Pals a year last February
and has been with the regiment in
Egypt. In the great offensive he has
been wounded in the right arm and
chest and is now in hospital. Before
donning khaki he was in the employ
of Messrs Fattorini’s jewellers,
Westgate, Bradford.
Pte Fred Stead of Baildon Bridge is
reported to be suffering from wounds.
Pte H Stothart, of the 2nd Pals, and of
37 Southampton Street, Otley Road,
Bradford and formerly of Idle, has
been wounded in action and is in
hospital at Netley.
Pte R Thornton, of the Duke of
Wellington’s Regt, and late of Idle,
has been wounded in action. He is the
second son of the late Mr Thomas
Thornton.
L Cpl J M Todd, of Shipley, 2nd Pals,
has been wounded. He was a stretcher
bearer.
Pte Percy Walker, 2nd Bradford Pals,
son of Mr and Mrs Walter Walker of
Highfield Road, Idle, has received a
shrapnel wound in the foot. The
missile of which he was struck had
previously seriously wounded
another soldier. Pte Walker, who is
now in the Warrington hospital,
joined the forces early last year.
He is 19 years of age and previous to
joining the colours was a grocer’s
assistant. His brother, Pte Herbert
Walker, Duke of Wellington’s Own
West Riding Regt, is now at the front.
Cpl F Waller, of 11 Mint Street,
Undercliffe and of the West Yorks
Regt, has been wounded by shrapnel
and is now in hospital in Sussex. He
was formerly employed at Messrs
John Pilley and Sons, Union Mills,
Eccleshill.
Pte Leslie Waterworth, of 1 Back
Stone Hall Road, Eccleshill, has been
wounded in the thigh by the bursting
of a shrapnel shell and has been
conveyed to Southport hospital. He is
in the 1st Bradford Pals and is a
member of the Congregational
Sunday School.
Pte Willie Watmough, Leeds Pals,
son of Mr and Mrs L Watmough of
Wood End House, Carr Lane,
Greengates, has been wounded in the
head by shrapnel. He is an old
scholar of the Wesleyan Sunday
School.
Sgt Fred Whitaker, of the Bradford
Pals and of 22 Britannia Street,
Frizinghall, is at the base hospital in
France suffering from shell-shock.
He was formerly employed by
Messrs Rutherford, Hayburn and Co,
Bradford.
Pte Harold Willis, 3 Moorside
Terrace, Fagley, formerly of
Lynthorne Rd, Frizinghall, of the 1st
Pals has been wounded.
Sapper James Wood,
The parents of Sapper
James Wood of 86
Victoria Road,
Eccleshill, were
informed on Friday by
the War Office that he
had been killed in
action on June 26th.
He joined the Royal Engineers on Dec
1st 1914 and has been in France nine
months. Before joining the army he
was very fond of athletics and won the
club championship at the Eccleshill
Congregational Gymnasium for the
years 1911 and 1914 and the Yorkshire
championships at Leeds for the high
jump in the year 1912.
Since donning khaki he has taken part
in the sports of the regiment and
carried off three money prizes in the
jumping contests, clearing the bar at
5ft 1½in. Sapper Wood was also a
member of the Congregational
Swimming Club and was included in
the list of prize winners. He was a
member of the East Bradford Cycling
Club. His death at 24 years of age is
greatly regretted.
2 Lieut J W Worsnop. West Yorks
Regt, is reported missing. He is the
second surviving son of Mr Edwin
Worsnop of Frizinghall and of
Larchmont, Clayton. Before joining
the army 2 Lieut Worsnop was a clerk
for Mr Eldred Oliver, the well-known
Clayton solicitor. His father was one
of the original members of the local
Military Tribunal but resigned on
leaving the district.
L Cpl H Reginald Wright, West
Yorkshire Regt, was wounded in the
arm on Saturday last and has been
admitted to hospital. He is the son of
Mrs E H Wright of 12 Victoria Road,
Saltaire. He is an old boy of the Salt
Schools, Shipley and previous to
enlisting was in the employ of the
London and Lancashire Fire Insurance
Company in Leeds. He is 22 years of
age. His brother, Gunner E Wright, is
in training with the Royal Field
Artillery (Howitzer Brigade).
R-W
Leaders of several local churches,
including Rev B Herklots of St Paul’s,
Rev W Maynard of Bethel Baptist
Church and Rev W Burdett of Rosse
Street Baptist Brotherhood, led an
open-air meeting in Crowgill Park on
the first Sunday after the Battle of the
Somme began. Music was provided by
the choir of Saltaire Road Primitive
Methodist Church.
In his speech, Rev Maynard touched
on the news from the trenches: “These
are great and, in some respects,
glorious days. Yet they are days of
intense solemnity, and for many days
of deepest sadness and sorrow.
“We are rejoicing in victory and the
advance of the Allied troops but the
truth is being brought home to us as
never before in the history of the
present war that victory is only
purchased a terrible cost.
“In Shipley and district there must be
many who are mourning the loss of a
brother, a son or a husband, who has
fallen in the service of King and
Country.
“We are living in such days when it is
a matter of intense relief to people to
discover in the list of the wounded the
name of a relative. It is so in
numberless cases today.
“We have reached a stage in the
history of the war that should compel
us to think, as perhaps we have not
yet thought before, with reference to
the great spiritual issues of life.
“Those men whom we honour and for
whom many hearts are filled with fear
are fighting not for material gain but
with a great spiritual purpose in our
daily life.”
Owd Abe gave his reaction to the early news from the Somme in his regular
dialect column.
I’m flayed I can’t write owt ‘at’s funny this week. I doan’t feel ta heve vary mitch
fun abaht ma.
Ta tell ya t’trewth, I’ve been as flat lat’ly as a bottle o’ ale ‘at’s hed t’cork aht all
t’neet. I’ve mourned quietly ta mo-sen over t’young chaps ‘at’s been killed lat’ly i’
t’wahr.
Of course, I knaw ‘at we can’t heve a wahr wi’ aht fowk bein’ killed, bud when ya
think abaht all t’grand young men ‘at’s been killed an’ wounded – chaps abaht
here ‘at we all knew, it fair mak’s yer belly wark.
Roar like a barn
It mak’s a gurt difference when ya knew t’poor lads so weel. I could roar like a
barn when I think o’ some on ‘em. As I said ta ahr Lisa Ann ta-day it mak’s ya
wonder who’s behn ta be t’next.
I’m noan a chap ‘at wishes onnybody onny harm – I’d a lot rather wish ‘em well –
bud them ‘at’s caused this wahr owt ta rot thro t’soil o’ the’r feet ta t’crahn ‘o the’r
head!
But I’m flayed there’s no punishment i’ this world ‘at they can ivver be made ta
suffer ‘at can meet t’crimes they’ve committed. An’ of that’s case, all ‘at I can say
is ‘at if there is a wharm shop hereafter, I hope wi’ all me heart at them ‘at’s
caused t’wahr will be rosted bit bi bit wol they’re no bigger ner a bumalbee!
Churches combine to honour troops
Casualty lists worse when you know the lads
