Friday 21 July 1916
Pte Harry Boardman
Eccleshill
Wounded
Cpl Henry Boldy
Eccleshill
Wounded
Pte Tom Cordingley
Idle
Wounded
Pte Joseph Firth
Shipley
Died of wounds
Pte Alfred Gawthorpe
Shipley
Killed
Pte Fred Hardaker
Eccleshill
Wounded
Pte Alfred Hardy
Eccleshill
Wounded
Pte Charles Hargreaves
Idle
Wounded
Sgt Thomas Hiley
Shipley
Missing
L Cpl F Hogwood
Windhill
Wounded
Pte Frederick Jowett
Eccleshill
Wins distinction
Gunner Fred Lee
Saltaire
Wounded
Cpl Henry Martin
Eccleshill
Killed
Scnd Lieut Thomas Mitchell
Shipley
Killed
Pte Alexander Robinson
Eccleshill
Killed
Sgt A J Seaton
Shipley
Wounded
Pte A Townend
Windhill
Wounded
Pte Herbert Walker
Idle
Wounded
Pte J H Willoughby
Eccleshill
Wounded
Sapper James Wood
Eccleshill
Killed
Pte John Wm Yorker
Shipley
Wounded
Somewhat surprisingly
there was far less in the
Shipley Times &
Express this week about
the casualties of the
Somme
Coverage was largely
restricted to this gallery
of men with only brief
details of their fate.
In his monthly message the Rev H W Burdett
reflected on the recent surge of casualties, victims
of the ‘Big Push’ and tries to make sense of the
suffering and the lessons that can be learned.
We had known that the war was expensive but the
cost of it has been brought home tragically to
Bradford and Shipley during the last week or two.
Day by day the news has reached us of the finest
of our manhood laid low and some of them we
shall never see again.
We thank God for those who have come through
safely or with slight wounds but the many sad
hearts all around remind us of the awful tragedy
of a world which can find nothing better to do
than to devour its own children.
Ocean of Blood
What we are feeling here is moreover what men
and women are feeling in all the warring nations.
All mankind seems to be standing by the side of a
great ocean and in the dim light of the sun’s
eclipse it can perceive that the ocean is of blood.
All honour to the brave women, the wives and
mothers who are bearing so nobly their burden of
anxiety and sorrow. It is they who know what war
means and perhaps it is they in time to come who
will rise up and from their bleeding hearts say that
this must no longer be.
Here are some verses that appeared in the
Westminster Gazette which help to show us the
price that is paid and who pays it.
Any Mother
Can he be gone – my little son –
He waits for me who thought to wait
Long years for him – shot down they say
Oh, babe of mine – Oh, man grown great!
I know not what those dear eyes met –
What glimpse of hell – what visions higher –
For bloody battles are but names
To women dreaming by the fire.
How brief are mother’s sweetest hours –
Once I could shelter him from harm
Within my arms – so strong to him,
What falls could hurt? What shapes alarm?
So short a way, I held his hand
To guide those steps – to still that fear
Until my care less needful seemed
And he had grown so big, so dear.
Ah, Mother Nature, gentle be
As I, once, by his little bed
Knelt lovingly. So care thou too
Since to your heart you take my dead.
And resting there he will not know
Such tears as mine, nor find such pain –
Maybe God sees that thus tis best
His time for sleeping comes again.
But even in the midst of these bewildering griefs
the higher voices speak.
1 We have to try to learn the lessons of sorrow.
“There is nothing the body suffers,” said George
Meredith, “that the soul may not profit by” and that
is true not of physical suffering alone. “Whom the
Lord loveth, He chasteneth.”
People say “Why does God permit this suffering?”
But it is plain enough that while there is sin in the
world, it is better that there should be suffering even
though the innocent suffer with the guilty.
This is a call to us to search out the hidden evil of
the world, drag it to the light and by the grace of
God, destroy it.
God must think something of us or He could not
take such trouble with us. If we will bow our heads
and listen we shall hear God’s voice of comfort
speaking in the dark.
2 We have to be worthy of the brave men who have
died. Extravagance, luxury, selfish living are
unpardonable. We must be better citizens, more
generous in spirit and more willing in service.
Declare war on war
We must learn too the virtues of endurance,
patience, cheerfulness and self-sacrifice as
wonderfully illustrated in the trenches and on the
battleship. These men are our friends and kindred.
Let us imitate their faith and courage.
3 We have to declare war upon war. The sacred duty
of every man and woman from this hour is to do all
possible to secure that this does not happen again.
We must think things out and study the relations of
states in the light of Christ. Whatever others may do
we must seek to act lovingly and generously with
everybody in the world.
The greatest cause is the cause of peace and the first
step towards it is for each of us to get into right
relations with God and men by welcoming into the
heart the peace and love of Jesus Christ.
Reflections on the
high price of war
