Wounded solders at Desford

[Bob Davies]

Are your two above the same as this chap below Jane?

 

He is from this picture.

Edited 28 February by Bob Davies

[Bob Davies]

23 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

I wonder what they’d have thought of vaping Bob. 😂

I have a feeling I know what my Grandad would have said about it, he being a smoker.

"What the bloomin' heck is this then!"

A statement,  rather than a question from him

and a bit more colourful language.

Then I was trying to picture my Grandpop riding his horse, rolling a cigarette with one hand whilst driving cattle and sheep

over the expanses of Australia prior to joining up.

[FROGSMILE]

3 minutes ago, Bob Davies said:

I have a feeling I know what my Grandad would have said about it, he being a smoker.

"What the bloomin' heck is this then!"

A statement,  rather than a question from him

and a bit more colourful language.

Then I was trying to picture my Grandpop riding his horse, rolling a cigarette with one hand whilst driving cattle and sheep

over the expanses of Australia prior to joining up.

Yes it’s a funny old world Bob, that’s for sure!

[Jane Hayward]

Bob, I was thinking the older chap with the moustache is a member of staff who's in several pics.  Not sure though. So many moustaches around!

[Bob Davies]

3 minutes ago, Jane Hayward said:

Bob, I was thinking the older chap with the moustache is a member of staff who's in several pics.  Not sure though. So many moustaches around!

Yes Jane I too was thinking that.

I am not sure at the moment, standing man has his hair parted in a different way to sitting man.

It is parted on the opposite side, I think.

One I need to look at further.

My first thought was that this group were Staff of the home pictured together.

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, Bob Davies said:

Are your two above the same as this chap below Jane?

 

He is from this picture.

Similar eyes and mouth, but very different ears I think so probably not the same man in this case I think Bob.

[Jane Hayward]

Yes, you're right about the ears. I still think 98/175 is the man I have the postcard from who was there sometime in 1915.

[PRC]

Picture 9 is rather lacking in detail but just in case the work on the other pictures makes it possible to have a decent guess at who is present, (apart from 210 Sister Harper), here is a numbered version.

No new IP is claimed for the above and all image rights, if any, remain with the current owner.

Not sure if there is much value in adding numbers to picture 14 as the identify of three out of the six is well established, two more are on the nursing staff and have cropped up on earlier pictures, and the other is our mystery man. I would say from the composition of the group that he might be someone on the management committee. The piece in the Leicester Evening Mail for January 25th, 1916, which references an entertainment at Desford, and has a Mr. J. Gipson Clarke, chairman of the Finance Committee of the Leicester and County Saturday Hospital Society presiding would seem to present a possible candidate. Trade directories from before and after the war list a J. Gipson Clarke & Co Ltd operating in Leicester as a canvas shoe manuafacturer and John Gipson Clarke as a director. Newspaper reports on BNA link him to pre-war fund-raising for the proposed Leicester Saturday Hospital. Other thumbnails from that source reference a funeral and will of someone of that name with a Leicester connection who died in 1920. The death of a John Thomas Gipson Clarke aged 53 was recorded in the Leicester District in Q1 1920. His entry in the 1920 Probate calendar refers to him as a J.P. Unfortunately can't find any pictures online, and it may not neccesarily have been him. Does the man in picture 14 look like he could be in his late forties \ very early fifties?

No new IP is claimed for the above and all image rights, if any, remain with the current owner.

I'm not planning to number any more of the images at this stage as they are probably either pre-war or Belgians and I suspect the men already numbered will need to be investigated fully before moving on to those.

Cheers,
Peter

[Jane Hayward]

Just seen your lovely photo of Major Kelly at The Grange with his children, Bob and in a very summery flat cap. Looks idyllic there in pre-war years.

[TEW]

Nurse 23, 64, 118.

I think is named on the reverse of photo 1 as AED. One of the newspaper articles mentions Miss Dawson, Miss Davies and the Misses Dawson as part of the audience. Possible link?

Not sure why she only has the apron red cross in photo 2 & 14 and not in 1 & 3. Is it a change in rank or duties and a pointer to photo chronology?

TEW

 

[Jane Hayward]

Picture 1

Date of photo: Later than 29 December 1915, see Vickers. Earlier than around 12 Jan, see Peter's writing on Harry Webster. Christopher Quearney posted to Dublin Fusiliers depot 3 January 1916. Busby had a foot amputation in February but this was perhaps after he had been in Desford a while. 

 

1 Frank Horton (Pte), 1670, 7th London Regiment. Horton signed up to the Territorials a month before his 19th birthday in May 1914. His pension records show that he was in France from 8 March 1915 until 3 October 1915, when he was sent back to England for treatment for a 'slight' gunshot wound to the left foot, inflicted on 25 September. He was discharged as no longer medically fit for service on 11 October 1916.

2 Thomas Walker Leith (Pte), 18296, Royal Scots Fusiliers. Leith entered service two months before his 18th birthday on 5 February 1915. He disembarked in France on 12 July, and was reported wounded in the Official Casualty List in The Times on 14 October 1915, having likely been injured on or around 25 September*. Leith returned to England, his records showing that he had suffered a gunshot wound to the left leg. He was discharged on 28 August 1916.

3 Harry Addy (Pte), 13186, 264135, King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Labour Corps. Born in 1892 and from Lockwood near Huddersfield, Addy arrived in France on 10 September 1915. He was discharged on 20 November 1917. His pension records show that in 1920 he was granted a payment of 5s 6d per week for a disability judged as less than 20 per cent, which was discontinued the following year.

4 Wilbourne, 1475  Notts & Derby 

5 John McIntosh (Pte), 12553, Royal Scots Fusiliers (also Corp 180947 and Wr/256917 Royal Engineers). Born in 1894, McIntosh enlisted on 2 September 1914 and disembarked in France on 3 December. His service records show that he was wounded in action while with the 1st Battalion on 25 September 1915.  He featured on a casualty list in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer dated 16 January 1915 (1916?). A later disability claim form from 1919 clarified his injury as gunshot wounds to the left lower calf and both knees, causing "pain in the left knee after much walking", and mentioned treatment at the Royal Infirmary, Leicester. Following his recovery, McIntosh was posted to the 3rd Battalion on 6 March 1915. On 30 May 1916 he was transferred to the Royal Engineers where he served first as a fireman, then as an engine driver, and was promoted to corporal. He was discharged on 15 April 1919, aged 24.

6 John William Sutcliffe (Pte), 2995, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. Enlisted in October 1914. 5th Battalion so a good chance he is from Bolton. Landed in France on 12 February 1915. He was discharged on 22 (altered number) November 1916 suffering from hepatitis

7 Charles Urquhart Willox (Pte), 15873, 12 Royal Scots (Royal Regiment). Willox disembarked in France on 11 May 1915 with the 12th Battalion. A National Archives document shows that he was admitted, aged 20, to the 5th Northern General Hospital In Leicester during the 17 November 1915 - 20 January 1916 period. His condition was bronchitis with the details given: "Patient gassed 25/09/1915 at Loos. Discharged on sick furlough". Willox was discharged on 22 October 1916 due to bronchitis

8 Harry Webster (Able Seaman) Z/4114, R.Naval Div. Webster was recorded as 18 years old at his enlistment. On 14 October 1915 he was drafted from the 5th Battalion to the 2nd Reserve Battalion at Blandford. His records show that on 11 January 1916 he was described as having "run" (deserted) - possibly because his hospital stay had gone uncommunicated - but he was present at Blandford on 17 January, and the "run" was removed from his records on 4 February. He was reported missing, assumed killed in action on 23 April 1917 when with the Hood Battalion. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial

9 George Edward Taylor,  2934, 240795 5th York and Lancs. Taylor enlisted on 27 June 1914. He landed in France a year and a day later, on 28 June 1915, as part of a replacement draft for the 5th Battalion, who had been in France for some months. He appears as wounded on the Official Casualty List in The Times on 12 January 1916, having likely been injured on or around 19 December*. Taylor recovered, and was discharged on 25 March 1919. Check contradictory dates, see PRC's note

10 Charles Henry Seamarks (Pte), 17970, Northamptonshire Regiment. Seamarks enlisted on 25 April 1915, and landed in France on 28 July. He suffered a gunshot wound to the lower jaw and head, and was listed as wounded in the Official Casualty List in the 1 November issue of The Times. Seamarks was discharged on 29 October 1917 and judged 20 per cent disabled in 1921, when he was awarded 8s a week plus extra money to support his two children. 

11 Walter Victor Drake, 2324, W Yorks (later 88133 and post-war 4525720). Drake first landed in France on 16 April 1915, and appeared in the Official Casualty List in the 10 January 1916 issue of The Times. He was likely injured at Ypres around 19-21 December*. Drake stayed in the army until 1920 and qualified for the General Service Medal with clasp for Kurdistan. Note: his record may shortly be with the National Archives.

12 George Vickers (Lance Corporal), 1415, 34166 York & Lancs. Vickers signed up for four years service with the Territorial Force on 11 January 1912. He entered France on 13 April 1915, and his service records show "wounded - gas" by the date 22 December 1915. After treatment at a field hospital, then at Abeele (Abele) in Flanders and Étaples, northern France, Vickers returned to England on the hospital ship Copenhagen on 28 December 1915. He left for France again on 11 July 1916. Vickers' records describe him as wounded and missing 9-12 April 1917, then declared dead. He is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. 

13 David Ashton, Gs/6347, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment. Ashton enlisted on 1 May 1915.  He landed in France on 11 October 1915, most likely part of a replacement draft for the 8th Battalion.  There is no information about Ashton's war experience until 31 October 1916, when he appeared on the official list of Absentees and Deserters in the Press Gazette. He went missing on 13 October from Fort Darland (which was at Kent's Chatham Dockyard and home to the Middlesex Regiment). His description: simply that he was 5ft 21/2in tall.

D Dog

14 Harry Wright (Pte), 9818, York & Lancaster. Wright was born in Eccleshall in 1893, and joined the York & Lancaster Special Reserve aged 17 on 16 August 1910. His records show that he was in India between 3 March 1913 and 19 November 1914 before returning back to England. On 12 January 1915, he appeared on a Deserters and Absentees list, which described him as a 22-year-old from Eccleshall, Yorkshire, with brown hair and blue eyes, 5ft 61/2in with two large scars on one shin. It recorded that he had been serving with the 1st Battalion and gone missing from Winchester on 1 January. Presumably the listing did the trick as he disembarked in France on 15 January 1915. According to his service records he received a gunshot wound to his left ankle on 27 April. He returned home on 1 May 1915, and stayed in Britain until he was discharged with wounds on 30 May 1917. 

15 Ernest Busby (Pte), 13082, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. Busby entered France on 21 May 1915 - the date that the 1/5th and 6th Battalions landed. A Leicester newspaper recorded that he was one of the "severely wounded" soldiers on aa Great Western Red Cross train that arrived on 11 July 1915. A National Archives document dated as post-11 July 1915  shows that 23-year-old Busby was admitted to the 5th Northern General Hospital, Leicester, with a compound ankle fracture: the left tibia, fibula, os calicos and astragalus. An amputation of the foot was carried out in February 1916. "Outcome not stated." Busby was discharged on 13 September 1916

16 Arthur Clark (Pte), 3456, 20th London Regiment (Blackheath and Woolwich Rifles). Born in 1893, Clark enlisted on 13 April 1915. He arrived in France on 9 October 1915. His medical record shows that he suffered concussion on 18 October, and the next day travelled by motor ambulance convoy to Saint-Omer Hospital where he was treated for "DAH (shock)". On 23 November he was at the 23rd General Hospital in Étaples, still suffering from DAH and returned to England on 4 December. Clark was transferred on 31 January 1916, which perhaps marked the end of his hospital treatment. On 31 March 1916 he was discharged as no longer medically fit for service and awarded 20 shillings a week (the amount give for 50 per cent disability to a private). 

17 Thomas McDonald/Macdonald (Pte), 8724, 1st Battalion Notts & Derby (Sherwood Foresters). The spelling of his name is marked 'correct to Macdonald' in a note on his MRI. A regular soldier who had enlisted in 1902, Macdonald returned to England from Bombay, India, landing in Plymouth on 2 October 1914. Under the orders of the 24th Brigade in the 8th Division, he disembarked at Le Havre on 5 November 1914. On 8 February 1915 he appeared in the Official Casualty List published in The Times on 8 February 1915. He was discharged on 6 July 1917 with wounds that made him unfit for service. 

18 George Albert Naylor (Pte), 2457, York & Lancaster Regiment. A Sheffield man who was discharged on 11 December 1917. In 1920 he was awarded an 8s per week pension - plus 2s to support his wife -  for a 20 per cent disability. The Roll of Honour that appeared in the edition of the Newcastle Journal dated 14^th December 1915 included Private A. Naylor, 2457, 4^th York and Lancs. 

19 Sister Fanny Harper, assistant matron 1912-1917

20 Major Thomas Gordon Kelly, RAMC, medical officer throughout the war

21 Matron Lucie Maud Havers, ran Desford Convalescent Home/Auxiliary Military Hospital throughout the war. In August 1918 she was recognised by the War Office for valuable nursing services

22 Reverend William Townshend, rector of Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire, 1908-23, and ex county cricketer

23 AGD nurse 

24 Joseph Williamson (Pte) 1971, 18th York and Lancaster Regiment (Also 209627 1/8 West Yorkshire Regiment). Note: Find My Past's transcript has put the regiments the other way around as has the National Archives which has them marked as incomplete. Disembarked on 16 April 1915. Disembodied 23 February 1919.

25 Alfred William Flack (Pte), G or GS/ 5621, Royal West Kent Regiment. Flack enlisted at Finsbury Barracks on 30 January 1915. He disembarked in France on 1 June 1915, and returned to the UK at the end of November, most likely wounded. His records show that he was punished in April 1916 for 12 days unauthorised absence, possibly having overstayed his furlough after recovery. He was posted overseas again on 21 July and discharged on 28 June 1917 with a six-month award judged on 100 per cent disability then no further awards, which suggests recovery.

26 George William Hubbard (Pte), 4360, 5th Leicester Regiment. Hubbard enlisted on 26 May 1915. His medical report stated that he was 5ft 10 1/2in tall with a 32in chest, and "poor" development "but will improve". However, that proved not to be the case. His discharge report reveals that he had suffered pneumonia and pleurisy as a teenager, and had been left with lung damage. While with the Leicesters he had nine attacks of pleurisy possibly exhibiting TB, and only managed to do a single week's drill. He was described as unable to undertake any physical exertion, and discharged as physically unfit after 241 days service. 

27 Robert Henry Connole (Sergt), 4498, 10th York & Lancaster Regiment (also Durham Light Infantry and the Labour Corps - possibly using the numbers 15925 and 35295 - and 77987, Royal Welsh Fusiliers). An army pensioner who was born in Cork, Connole had previously served 20 years in the York & Lancs, having signed up in 1883 at the age of 14. On 26 September 1914, he was called to attest in Sheffield and promoted to sergeant. His service records show that he was 44 years old and 5ft 81/2in tall with grey hair.  Connole disembarked in France with the 10th Battalion on 9 September 1915, returning home on 27 December 1915 and was posted to depot two days later. His condition was not detailed. He was reposted on 8 April 1916 to the Durham Light Infantry, and although didn't return abroad his army career continued until 1930.

28 George Carson (Sgt), (B)21420, Highland Light Infantry. Carson disembarked in France on 5 October and was discharged on 7 March 1916 with "VDH" (vascular disease of the heart).

29 Harry C Ball (Pte), 2728, 20th Londons.  Later No 630909. Entered France on 9 March 1915; discharged 24 December 1918.

30 Stephen Mongan (Pte), 8348, 3/8348, Prince of Wales’ Own West Yorkshire Regiment. Mongan arrived in France on 24 September 1914 to serve with the 1st Battalion. He went right through the war with one recorded gunshot wound in his left side and was transferred to Z Class on 24 April 1919. 

31 John  Hamer (Pte), R9685, King's Royal Rifle Corps. Hamer enlisted on 26 January 1915, disembarked in France on 1 October 1915 and was discharged as a result of wounds on 23 September 1916

32 Harry Faulkner (Corp), 16472, Worcestershire Regiment. Faulkner, from Selly Oak in Birmingham, enlisted on 10 September 1914, and entered France on 19 July 1915 serving with the 10th Battalion. After suffering a bomb wound to his right elbow at some point, he was discharged aged 24, on 4 December 1917.

33 Robert Angus Ross (Pte), S/11370, Cameron Highlanders. Ross enlisted on 2 September 1914. In a letter from Ross to his commanding officer dated 22 July 1916, he wrote: "Previously I was out in France with the 5th Battalion where I got wounded at Loos 25 Sept." The 25th was the first day of the Battle of Loos, an attack on German defences which saw the 5th Battalion suffer horrific losses. Ross had been released on 29 March 1916 for munitions work in Glasgow, but now wrote, "As I am quite fit again I would like very much if I was called back again to the Regt." A request for Ross' release to his employers The Mirrlees Watson Company duly followed but was refused. He was discharged on 14 December 1918 and awarded 5s and 6d based on 20 per cent disability until further notice.

34 Joseph Gilbert Childs (A/Bomb), 22456, Royal Field Artillery. Childs enlisted at Mill Hill on 4 September 1914, He disembarked at Le Havre, France on 3 September 1915. On 18 November, he was admitted to a field hospital suffering from "debility". Then, on 26 November he was returned to England on the Belgian hospital ship SS Stad Antwerpen. For nine weeks he was treated in hospital before travelling to his regiment's base in Athlone, Ireland. His records show that he continued to receive treatment, suffering from myalgia in the shoulders, back and thighs, anaemia, debility, and poor sleep - "the result of exposure to active service"-  but showed "no obvious improvement". He was discharged on 11 August 1916 when his condition was described as "total incapacity" expected to last 12 months. It was noted that Childs was of "very good character"

35 George Walter Ferry (Gunner), 21094, A Battery 75th Royal Field Artillery. Ferry disembarked in France on 13 July 1915, likely with the 79th Brigade. He was admitted to 51 Field Ambulance with influenza on 21 October 1915 and released the same day. A report held by the National Archives shows that on 25 October he was admitted to No 24 General Hospital in Étaples suffering from anaemia and influenza, having had symptoms for two weeks. He was transferred to Evington Hospital, Leicester, where he complained of "sharp pain shooting through chest at intervals. Transferred to convalescent home. Discharged on sick furlough." Note: the full medical case sheet is at Kew. Ferry was killed in action 7 September 1917, aged 21, and awarded the Military Medal that year.

36 James Webster (Pte), S/6815, Black Watch. Webster disembarked in France on 23 August 1915 and appeared on the list of the wounded of the 9th Battalion of the Black Watch in The Times' 29 October edition. He was discharged 13 September 1917 with disabilities described as a gunshot wound to his right buttock with damage to the sacrum and rectum.

37 Andrew D Colville (L/Corp), S/18173, Cameron Highlanders. Multiple gunshot wounds causing disability judged at 30 per cent were recorded on Colville's pension card in 1919. An Edinburgh man, he had disembarked in France on 1 October 1915. Lance Corporal A Coalville appears among the wounded of the 5th Battalion in the Official Casualty list printed in The Times' 31 December 1915 edition. Those reported killed in his battalion on the list were reported to have died on 7-8 December and buried around Zillebeke, Belgium. Colville was transferred to Class Z Army Reserve on 7 February 1919

38 Albert Edward Ryder (Corp), L/6161 Middlesex Regiment. (Also 592757 and 6351 3/18th London Regiment.) Ryder entered France on 23 September 1914 as part of a replacement draft for the 1st Middlesex Regiment. He appeared among the wounded in The Times 20 October 1915 edition although he had already returned home on 5 October 1915. Those reported killed on the same - very long - list were said to have died on 25 September, and were buried at the Cambrin Churchyard Extension in France. He went back to France a second time in 1916 and a third time in 1917. See Peter's description of the day's fighting.

39 Henry Charles Knight (note: sometimes recorded as Henry Thomas Knight) (Pte), 3066 London Regiment and 550318 Labour Corps (433 Cy). Knight enlisted in London on 14 September 1914. He disembarked in France on 9 May 1915. After suffering from frost bite Knight developed ‘trench feet’, first noted on 30 October 1915. He received treatment at 20 General Hospital Camiers, then was brought home to England on 5 November 1915, and admitted to North Evington Hospital, Leicester, on the same day. His records show that he had the first toe amputated on each foot and continued to suffer with pain and 'hammer foot'. Knight returned to his regiment on 21 January 1916, then ended the war in the Labour Corps doing agricultural work in Bedfordshire and Essex. He was disembodied in 1919.

40 James Noon (Pte), 16651, 9th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). Noon disembarked in France on 12 May 1915 - the day the 9th Battalion is recorded as landing in Boulogne. He appeared on the Official Casualty List in The Times' 20 October 1915 edition - from other entries he was likely shot around 3 October.  He was discharged 26 August 1916.

41 indecipherable.

42 John Price (Pte), 3042, Black Watch. Price disembarked in France on 3 April 1915. Under the headline Casualties Among Dundee Men, the 19 October 1995 edition of the Dundee Courier reported that Price was admitted to St Omer. On 22 October, the Courier said "3042 Private J. Price - to England, ex Lahore [a hospital at Calais], shot wound, face". On the 23rd, it stated that he was "admitted Leicester, wounded (severe)". Those men recorded as killed from the same Battalion were said to have died on 25 September, so he was likely wounded on or around this date. Price's pension record confirms that he suffered a severe gunshot wound to the face causing 90 per cent disability. He was discharged on 4 December 1916

43 Robert Wallace (Pte), 10635 Lancs Fusiliers. Wallace was almost 25 when he enlisted on 1 or 2 October 1914. His records contain a telegram sent on 25 November 1915 that told his family he was dangerously ill in Boulogne with a perforated gastric ulcer. A railway warrant was arranged for his mother and sister and it's recorded that they rushed to Folkestone. He travelled back to England on 12 December 1915 and was discharged on 7 April 1916

44 John Shaw Gardner (Pte), 10148 North Staffordshire Regiment and 43132 South Staffordshire Regiment. Gardner was an old soldier who was asked to return to the forces - in 1886 he had taken part in the Anglo-Egyptian campaign while serving with the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (1036).  He signed up with the South Staffordshire Regiment in Birmingham on 7 September 1914. Although his attestation form says he was 44, his marriage record says he was born in 1865 and his census details imply he was actually 49. Gardner disembarked in France on 24 August 1915. On 2 December 1915, he suffered a gunshot wound in the abdomen and was returned to England. After recovery (he was reposted on 9 March 1916), he went back to France twice more and was finally demobilised to Class Z on 23 February 1919.

45 John Forbes (Pte), 1746, Yorkshire Regt (later Later 401428 RFC/RAF). Forbes  signed up on 1 May 1913. He disembarked in France on 16 April 1915. His RAF records show that he suffered a gunshot wound to the scalp, treated on 25 April 1915. Then he was hit by gunshot in the arm which was treated first at 26 General Hospital Étaples on 24 October 1915, then at 5th North General Hospital, Leicester from 10 November 1915. Forbes was transferred to the RAF Reserve on 11 March 1919.

46 Ernest George Miller (Corp), 7152, Essex Regiment (Also 17845 13th Essex Regiment and 449888 Labour Corps. Miller, from Chingford in Essex, disembarked in France on 17 November 1915. He was transferred to Class Z on 27 February 1919.

47 George Mitchell (Pte), 7288 Scots Guards (also 98686 Northumberland Fusiliers and 436778 Labour Corps). Mitchell disembarked in France on 5 October 1914. On 16 May 1915, while with the 2nd Battalion (R Flank?), he was took a gunshot wound to the left humerus. His medical records show he suffered a comprehensive fracture with secondary haemorrhaging. The following day, he was admitted to the 18th General Hospital in Étaples and sent back to England on 1 July with care at Leicester mentioned as starting on the 2nd. On 18 October 1917 he was transferred to the Labour Corps and put to work in the 436th Agricultural Company. He was discharged on 30 January 1919.

48 John James Johnson (Sgt), 367 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters). (Also 265020 1/3 City of London Yeomanry and a 2nd Lieut in the Norfolk Regiment.) A shrapnel wound to the eye causing traumatic iritis brought Johnson, aged 28, to Leicester's 5th Northern General Hospital on 28 October 1915, according to a document in the National Archives. Johnson had disembarked in Egypt on 14 April 1915, where the 3rd London Yeomanry fought at Gallipoli. After recovery, he was discharged on sick furlough on 16 March 1916. Johnson was commissioned to the Norfolk Regiment in 1918.

49 Sydney Arthur Bailey (Pte), 13461, Suffolk Regiment. Bailey enlisted on 7 September 1914 and arrived in France on 31 August 1915. He appeared on the Official Casualty List printed in The Times' 6 December 1915 edition among the wounded of the 9th Battalion. He was discharged on 1 August 1916, recorded as having suffered a fractured right femur.

50 George McIvor (Pte), 20621,King's Own Scottish Borderers. (Later 651177, Labour Corps.) Disembarked in France on 14 October 1915???

51 Harold Tunnicliffe (Pte), 23012, 1st and 9th Notts & Derby Regiment. Born 1892, Tunnicliffe entered the war at Gallipoli with the 9th Battalion on 28 August 1915. At some point he suffered a gunshot wound in the right thigh. He was transferred to Class Z on 28 March 1919

52 Christopher Quearney, 9065, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, later 2076 RAMC. Quearney signed up to the Special Reserve in 14 August 1913. He arrived in Gallipoli on 14 May 1915 with the 1st Battalion as part of a temporary unit known as 'the Dubsters'. A letter sent by "his loving mother" to his regiment in mid-June asked for information on his whereabouts as she'd not heard from his for six weeks since he was at Camp Sittingbourne in Kent. Quearney returned to France with the 8th Battalion on 31 May 1916. He was discharged on 26 March 1919 as no longer fit for war service.

* based on date of death and location of grave given for other men in the same battalion on that day's Official Casualty List

Edited 1 April by Jane Hayward

[Bob Davies]

35 minutes ago, Jane Hayward said:

Just seen your lovely photo of Major Kelly at The Grange with his children, Bob and in a very summery flat cap. Looks idyllic there in pre-war years.

It certainly does Jane, for those who have not seen it back on page 7, here it is again as I added it as an edit to keep Major Kelly in one post as it were.

One thing that did occur to me is,

Are the pictures of nurse 68 and 114 the Majors wife, Emily Annie ne Carrington?

Screenshot courtesy of https://www.desfordheritage.org/brief-history

[Jane Hayward]

Picture 2

Date: Between 11 June (see Dalby) and 24 July 1915? See Sherwood and Westacott's records. Cleary left 9 July but may have returned? Main reposted 19 July - check that. Budd deserts on 1 August - doesn't return after furlough?

53 James Haynes (Pte), 19868, Notts & Derby regiment (later 47674, West Yorkshire Regiment). From Widnes, Lancashire. Enlisted on 3 September 1914. He disembarked in France on 16 March 1915 and appeared on a casualty list in June 1915. A local paper recorded his arrival in Leicester "severely wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May 1915. He was discharged from the West Yorkshire Regiment with wounds on 7 November 1917, aged 27. Note: medal card has been indexed with Ancestry as 69868. 

54 Percy Murray (Pte) 7026 2nd Gordon Highlanders. Enlisted on 17 September 1914. He  joined the 2nd Battalion in the field, arriving in France on 20 October. His records show that on 12 May 1915 he was treated for a gunshot wound to the right foot in the 26 Field Ambulance, then taken to hospital in Boulogne. The following day he sailed back to England on the HS St Patrick. A local paper recorded him arriving in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train late that night. After recovery, he joined his depot in Aberdeen on 18 July 1915. In June 1916 Murray transferred to the 1st Battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders and was involved in the Salonica Campaign. Discharged with 'general debility'. Note: records are inside those of Patrick Percy, Gordon Highlanders. 

55 Ernest Leslie Pattison, 3037, 5th North Staffordshire Regiment. Pattison enlisted 8 September 1914 and arrived in France on 5 March 1915. He was discharged with wounds on 10 March 1916, and nearasthenia is marked as a disability on his pension card. 

56 William Christie Main, 3488 Gordons. Enlisted on 15 February 1915. The injury that led to his Desford stay was recorded as a gunshot wound to the arm and collar bone that he suffered on 22 May 1915, 20 days after disembarking at Boulogne. He was transferred to England on Hospital Ship Anglia on the 26th and a Leicester newspaper recorded him arriving on a hospital train, "slightly wounded" at 3am on the 27th. He remained in the UK until 19 July 1916. Main returned to France several more times and stayed in the army until 25 March 1919.

57 Westley Russell Cooper (Pte), 2839, 6th London Regiment (also 147870 Machine Gun Corp). Arrived in France on 17 March 1915. A local newspaper recorded him as "sick" on board a hospital train that arrived in Leicester on 27 May 1915. Disembodied 12 May 1918.

58 Charles Linton (Pte), 8975, 3rd and 4th King's Royal Rifle Corps (transferred to Labour Corps as 448673. First disembarked in France on 20 December 1914. A local paper recorded him as arriving in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May 1915. In the Labour Corps until 11 April 1919 when he was transferred to Z Class.

59 Hubert Bowen (Pte), 9567, King's Royal Rifle Corps. CL date of June 1915. Bowen entered France with the 4th Battalion on 20/26 December 1914 and appears on a casualty list in June 1915.

60 George Allen Dale, 2209, 23rd London Regiment (Later a/sgt 2209 and 700395). Dale signed up to the 23rd Battalion at Clapham Junction on 20 August 1914. He disembarked in France on 14 February 1915. His records show that he suffered a gunshot wound to one knee at Le Touret on 30 April 1915. He was returned to England on 10 May. A local newspaper report records his arrival in Leicester "severely wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May. Dale’s later army service included a stint in the Record Section at 3rd Echelon, the General HQ in France. He was also part of the Syren Force in Murmansk.

61 Bernard Cleary, 9190 East Yorkshire Regiment. Cleary, aged 24, arrived in France on 15 January 1915. According to records in the National Archive, he suffered a gunshot wound to the left shoulder with fracture on 16 February 1915. and was admitted to hospital in Rouen with septic wounds. After an operation there, he was transferred to Desford some time after 22 April. He improved and left for Base Hospital, Leicester on 9 July 1915. Further treatment continued into 1916. He was discharged from wounds on 15 June 1916. 

62 HURD 9190 E Yorks - see conversation 

63 Hugh Crae McKail (Sergt), 1165, Highland Light Infantry (also or rather 1166 9th Highland Light Infantry and 5th Highland Light Infantry 330037). Qualifying date for 1914 Star: 5 November 1914. A local newspaper recorded him as arriving in Leicester "sick" on a hospital train at 3am on 27 May 1915.

64 Nurse

65 Sister Fanny Harper, assistant matron 1912-1917

66 Major Thomas Gordon Kelly, RAMC, medical officer throughout the war

67 Matron Lucie Maud Havers, ran Desford Convalescent Home/Auxiliary Military Hospital throughout the war. In August 1918, recognised by the War Office for valuable nursing services

68 Nurse

69 Ernest Gordon Wright (Sgt) 7525, 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment. Wright arrived in France on 6 November 1914. A local paper recorded him as arriving in Leicester "severely wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May 1915. He was commissioned to the Buffs - East Kent Regiment - on 13 August 1918.

70 BURROWS 5352 Leicesters

71 Morris Cohen (Sgt), 10458, 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Born in Aston, Warwickshire, around 1891, Cohen can be seen on the 1911 Census at Tournay Barracks, Aldershot, as a 20-year-old corporal in the 2nd Battalion. He disembarked in France on 14 September 1914 and a local newspaper report dated 14 May 1915 shows him arriving in Leicester "seriously wounded" on a hospital train.

72 Reginald Frank Owen (Corp), 3067, 12th (Prince of Wales's Royal Lancers. Enlisted at Woolwich on 24 October 1910. He served for a year in South Africa before arriving in France on 15 August 1914. After receiving a "severe" gunshot wound to his right hand - documented in the National Archives - Owen was returned from France, arriving on 19 May 1915 and was treated at No 5 Gen Hospital in Leicester. A local newspaper recorded him arriving "severely wounded" on a hospital train at night on 19 May. He appeared on a casualty list with a report received on 27 May 1915. 

73 Henry Hammersley, (Pte) 2264, 3rd London Regiment (earlier  in the Territorial Force with 7th Middlesex; later 172340 Labour Corps). Born in 1889, Hammersley was embodied into the 3rd London Regiment on 2 September 1914. He arrived in France on 6 January 1915. His medical record records two gunshot wounds, one to the head on 13 March 1915; one to the head and neck on 9 May 1915, which records him as home on 14 May 1915. A local newspaper recorded his arriving in Leicester "severely wounded" on a hospital train late on 13 May. On 3 August 1915 he was transferred and either then or on 28 April 1917 was transferred to the 312th Labour Corps. 

74 Charles 'Chas' James Scott (Pte), 3865, Rifle Brigade (also 2nd Garrison Northants Battalion and 48696 Royal Defence Corps). A regular soldier who arrived In France from 2 April 1915. He took a gunshot wound to the neck on the 9th and was back in England on the 10th. A local newspaper report records his arrival in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May. He was transferred to the Royal Defence Corps on 10 September 1917. Still suffering from head and neck pain - and also appendicitis - he was discharged as no longer fit for service on 16 November 1917.

75 William Thomas Dickens (Pte), 6004, 1st (1915) and 2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps (also L/Corp 41275 Rifle Brigade). Disembarked in France 13 August 1814 serving with the 2nd Battalion. A local paper records him arriving in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May 1915.  He appeared in the Official Casualty List in The Times on 14 June 1915. Another casualty on the list indicate that he was wounded around 9 May when his Battalion was part of the 1st Division, which was part of the Battle of Aubers on that day. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission shows 89 fatalities for the 2nd Battalion on that day.

76 Harry Pocock, 8291, King's Royal Rifle Corps. Enlisted in 1907. and spent time in Crete and India before the war. Posted to France on 20 December 1914. He was sent home on 13 May 1915 with a "slight" gunshot wound to the back of his shoulder. A local newspaper recorded him arriving in Leicester on a hospital train "slightly wounded" that night. He appeared among the wounded of the 3rd Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps on the Official Casualty List in The Times dated 14 June 1915 - other casualties on the list indicate that he was wounded around 10 May. At that time his battalion was part of the 27th Division, which was involved in the Battle of Frezenberg (8-13 May). He stayed in England until 8 December 1915. Pocock was killed in action on 10 April 1917. 

77 Richard Burnell (Pte) 11039, The King's (Liverpool) Regiment (also 591280 Labour Corps. Entered France 9 February 1915. A local newspaper recorded him arriving in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 19 May 1915. Transferred to Class Z on 3 April 1919

78 Arthur Percival Barry (Pte), 1909 1/9th London Regiment. (from 24 February 1917 a Second Lieutenant in Special List (censor staff). Barry, from Paddington, West London, entered the war (theatre not specified) on 4 November 1914 and returned to England on 15 May 1915, appearing on a casualty list in June. 

79 George William Poland (L/Corp), 8616, The King's (Liverpool) Regiment. Poland was born in 1894, and enlisted on 24 October 1911. He entered France on 4 March 1915 serving with the 4th Battalion. A local newspaper report records his arrival in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May. He was discharged on 28 July 1918, and his pension record shows deafness attributable to his service.

80 Percy Warren, 9110 Suffolk Regiment. Killed in action 13-16 September 1916.  He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme which says he died aged 32 and that his family name was John Warren Percy. A local newspaper report records his arrival in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May.

81 Charles Henry Dalby, 2422, 10th (Prince of Wales’s Own Royal) Hussars. Enlisted 14 April 1914. One of the wounded soldiers who visited Enderby Hall, reported in the Illustrated Leicester Chronicle 28 August 1915. He was shot in the shoulder at Ypres according to his record in the National Archives, and arrived in Leicester on a Red Cross train from Southampton on 10 November 1914, as reported in the Leicester Evening Mail on the 11th: “2422 Pte CH Dalby, 10th Hussars, A Co”. The train carried the most serious cases of the war so far, according to the report which said all were taken to the 5th Northern General Hospital. Dalby's record in the National Archives states that he was admitted to Desford 11 June 1915, then transferred to Base Hospital, Leicester, on 3 September 1915 for a further operation. Discharged 4 April 1916.

82 Samuel Harold Sherwood, 16471, Canada. Canada Personnel Records show that on 4 June 1915 he received treatment at Evington Hospital, Leicester, for shrapnel wounds, then moved to Monks Horton Canadian Convalescent Hospital in Kent (a tented construction, possibly in the grounds of Horton Park) on 24 July 1915. Wounded by a gas shell and discharged 1917

83 J Tilbury, 54809, Royal Engineers. Disembarked 23 October 1914. He ended the war as an officer. On Page 3740 Supplement to the London Gazette, 19 April 1917 Company Sergeant Major John Tilbury R.E. was listed to now be a Temporary Lieutenant on the General List with effect from the 17th March 1917. The January 1918 British Army Montly List, (page 59b) shows him as a Railway Transport Officer and so graded as a Staff Lieutenant, 2nd Class. Seniority was from the 17th March 1917. https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/123132501

84 John Ross (L/Corp), 9750, 1st Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. Disembarked in France as a private on 27 November 1914. A National Archives record shows that on 12 May 1915 he was admitted to No3 Casualty Clearing station at Bailleul, near Arras, with a wound in his left hand. A second record shows him in 18th General Hospital at Camiers at some point between April 26 1915 and August 31 1916. A local newspaper recorded him arriving in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train early early on 16 May 1915.

85 Willey/Willy/Willie Brown, 2251, Yorks. Confusing records which may be mixing up several people with details for 210405 Hampshire Regiment and 210405 Labour Corps.

86 Charles Goodbrand, 1344, Highland Light Infantry. Goodbrand signed up to the 9th (Glasgow Highland) Battalion on 24 March 1911. His embodied service began on 5 August 1914 and he disembarked in France on 7 November 1914. His service record shows that he was wounded in the shoulder and left arm by a shell on 17 May 1915, and returned home on the 27th after initial treatment abroad. A local newspaper recorded him as arriving in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train that arrived at 3am on that day. Goodbrand was discharged on 23 March 1916, at the end of his five years service.

87 R McNeil (Pte), 1560, Highland Division. A local newspaper reported that Pte R McNeil of the 4th Cameron Highlanders arrived in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 19 May 1915. At this time his battalion was with the 21st Division and fought at the Battle of Festubert (15-25 May 1915). The Official Casualty List in The Times 15 June 1915 showed him among a long list of the wounded of the 4th Battalion - those killed died on the 17th.

88 George Radford (Pte), 7498,  2nd Highland Light Infantry.  (Later 19441 Royal Highlanders (Black Watch)). Radford arrived in France on 23 November 1914. He appeared on two casualty lists, the first in March 1915 and the second in June 1915, and at that time he was transported back to England. A local newspaper recorded him arriving in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 19 May. On 5 March 1919 he was transferred to Class Z.

89 Thomas Wate, 935, 2nd Seaforth Highlanders. Wate enlisted on 6 December 1911 at the age of 18. He disembarked in France on 3 September 1914. A record in the National Archives shows that on 22 May 1915, he was gassed at Ypres. A Leicester newspaper recorded that on 28 May he arrived in town on a hospital train,  "sick with gas". He was treated at 5th Northern Hospital, Leicester, where his age was noted as 22, then "transferred to convalescent home" and discharged on furlough. He was discharged on 1 June 1918 with sickness, noted as neurasthenia on his pension record. 

90 Herbert Westacott, 42418 Canada. Canada Personnel Records show that he was woundedon 28 May 1915 . A Leicester newspaper recorded his arrival in town on a hospital train on 28 May - "slightly wounded". His records show he was  treated at the 5th Northern General Hospital, Leicester on 28 May and on 6 June was recorded as at Evington Hospital (same hospital) being treated for "GSW shrapnel thigh". He was moved to Monks Horton Canadian Convalescent Hospital in Kent on 24 July 1915. The following year, Westacott married Leicestershire girl Bertha Cooper at Enderby, as reported in the Leicester Evening Mail in an article dated 23 February 1916, which mentions that he was wounded at Ypres and spent part of his convalescence at Desford. He was wounded and gassed, and at No 5 General Hospital Rouen on 6 September 1917, and discharged on 19 October 1917.

91 Frank Arthur Budd, 9350 2nd Sussex Regiment. Budd desembarked in France on 12 August 1914. A local newspaper report recorded his arrival in Leicester "severely wounded" on a hospital train on 11 May. On 1 August 1915 he deserted. On 28 August 1915 he was in Ontario, Canada, signing up with the Royal Canadian Dragoons in the name of Frank Arthur Barnes and claiming on his forms not to have served previously with a military force. He served in France and was discharged on 11 June 1919. His records show that a request made for his medals in the 1930s was processed under a restitution list, and references to his desertion have been scored through. Note: his family name on pre-war records is Barnes.

92 Arthur Day (Pte), 1st Hertfordshire Regiment (Later 240089 11th Bedfordshire Regiment.) Disembarked in France on 16 February 1915. Discharged, aged 28, on 5 October 1917.

93 Unnamed - foreign soldier?

94 Thomas Beevers (Lance Corp), 2841, North Staffordshire Regiment. From Tatenhill, Staffordshire. The IWM Bond of Sacrifice has a photograph of Beevers (https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205290368) and records him as Lance Corporal Thomas Beevers 2841/240622. Unit 1st/6th Battalion, North Staffordshire Regiment. Death 1 July 1916, Somme, Western Front. Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. A local newspaper recorded that Pte T Beeven [sic], 1/6 North Staffs arrived in Leicester "slightly wounded" on a hospital train on 28 May 1915.

95 Robert Everitt (Sergt)    (Sergt), 8142, 1st Leicesters. Everitt was named in a Leicester Chronicle article (28 August 1915) on Desford soldiers' visit to Enderby Hall, which said he was wounded at Rue de Bois. In an earlier article (Leicester Evening Mail, 28 August 1915) he was reported as proposing "hearty thanks" to car owners who'd driven soldiers from Desford to Leamington Spa for a day out that began in "glorious weather" and ended with cigars. He was discharged as unfit for war duty on 1 July 1917. Also pictured as No 123. 

96 William H Hill, 2595 London No, this can't be William H who is in his late 30s at enlistment and in Royal Horse Guards. No 96 looks very young. Could be Private Alexander Crecy/Creery Hill, 2596, 14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish). Disembarked 24 November 1914. Commissioned to the Gloucester Regiment  5 12 15 but can't see much info on him or any return from France in summer 1915. 

97 Unnamed - foreign soldier?

98 Unnamed. Clement Conti or Conil? can't read behind the postmark, a Belgian soldier/refugee who wrote in October 1915 from London to say thank you for his care at Desford 

99 Unnamed - foreign soldier?

 

Picture 3

Date: September/early October 1915. Garner came back to England on 5 9 15 and was treated at Leicester General Hospital. 150 Lovatt was signed fit for duty and his furlough was granted for 1-10 October. Could Cox's accident with reference to admission 1 October have occurred as he was leaving Desford rather than before his stay? 

 

100 Charles Henry Bignall (Sgt), 11250, Dorset Regiment (Also Wr/281138?, 310227, Royal Engineers (in the railway and transport dept). Enlisted 7 September 1914. A newspaper article reported that he was "severely wounded" and on a hospital train that arrived in Leicester on 14 August. Discharged 31 January 1919 as no longer fit for service.

101 Shaw, W Ridings

102 Leighton, 3488, 1488? Staff Yeo. TEW has a theory on him, page 13

103 Ralph Balderson (Pte) 21456, Durham Light Infantry. Also (Sapper) 360308, Royal Engineers. Disembarked in France on 27 July 1915. Discharged from Durham Light Infantry on 22 December 1917. A medical record in the National Archives for 12 December 1917 recorded him as 29; (birth year 1999) while he was being treated for gunshot wound with fracture to the elbow. Transferred to Class Z on 2 April 1919.

104 Albert Edward Taylor (Pte), 20716, 2nd King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. (Also 22608 Labour Corps). Disembarked 12 May 1915. A record in the National Archives sheds some light on Taylor's stay at Desford. It shows that he was admitted to the 3rd General Hospital, Sheffield, some time between 31 December 1915 and February 7 1916. His condition was a gunshot wound to the left clavicle with compound fracture and gunshot wounds to the arm and wrist. But this was not a new injury. The details say that he was wounded on 1 February 1915 at St Julien and was treated at Derby Infirmary and in Leicester for an operation. He was discharged on light duties on 7 December 1915, but the clavicle did not heal. He was tranferred again to a convalescent home on 6 January 1916, but returned on 4 February 1916 for “bad conduct”, by which time the wound had nearly healed and he was again put on light duties. At some point he was transferred to the Labour Corps, and discharged on 12 December 1917.

105 George Cook (Sapper), 12494, Royal Engineers. Cook, who was born in 1885, had a pre-war career in the Royal Engineers. Working as a bricklayer, he was with the 27th Battalion (Submarine Mining) in Bermuda 1904-1905. In 1912, while in the Reserves, he moved to Canada. He attested on 26 October 1913 and mobilised at Chatham on 12 August 1914, transferring to the 16th Co on 4 September 1914. In January 1915 he was working with the 11 Field Company. A casualty form in his service records details an accidental “explosion of explosive [material] - cause unknown” on 13 January 1915. A telegraph sent to Chatham on that day told that he was in a dangerous condition at No2 Stationary Hospital, Boulogne, with gunshot wounds (this perhaps was not literal?) to the thigh and right elbow and continues “…inform relatives”. On 23 January 1915 he was returned to England on the Hospital Ship St Patrick but no detail of treatment was given, although the Nottingham Journal (25 January) reported that he was on a hospital train that had arrived in town the previous evening and that the majority of soldiers were taken to the local General Hospital. Cook served in Egypt from 1916. A letter in his records shows that after the war ended he requested passage to Toronto, Canada, which was granted on 19 March 1919.

106 John Edward/Edward John Pennington (Pte), 16135, 2nd and 3rd The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire). Pennington enlisted at 19 on 17 September 1914. He landed in France on 26 May 1915. On 24 August, he was struck down with appendicitis in the field, and admitted to 52 Field Ambulance, then 17 Casualty Clearing Station, then Ilam General Hospital for a week - now also diagnosed with myalgia - before finally being evacuated to England on HS Cambria on 5 September. He arrived at Leicester on a hospital train on 6 September according to a local newspaper report. On 21 October 1916, He was recorded as killed in action, aged 20. He is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

D Dog

107 Matthew Pendleton (Pte), 2182, 1/9 The King's (Liverpool Regiment). (Also 330394 The King's Liverpool Regiment.) Pendleton enlisted on 5 August 1914. the day after war was declared. He arrived in France on 12 March 1915. A local newspaper reported that he was brought to Leicester on the No8 L&NWR Red Cross Service train carrying men from Boulogne. Pendleton was discharged with wounds on 22 August 1917. His pension records show he was awarded a sum to compensate for a 30 per cent disability caused by a ventral hernia which was aggravated by military service.

108 William Harcourt Smith (Pte) B/336, 11th & 13th Rifle Brigade. Smith died of wounds aged 21 on 14 March 1916. His grave is at Bailleulmont Communal Cemetery, near Arras. 

109 William Smith (Pte) A/3594 King's Royal Rifle Corps. Smith enlisted on 28 August 1914. He was issued with a Silver Badge on 21 December 1916. His pension record lists gunshot wounds to the right hand, left wrist and right knee.

110 John James Mohan (Pte), 10573, 4th and then 3rd The King's (Liverpool) Regiment. Born in 1897, Mohan enlisted on 24 July 1914. He disembarked in France on 31 March 1915 and was discharged on 30 January 1916. The disability (60 per cent) named on his pension card is a gun shot wound to the left knee joint.

111 John Ainley (Pte), 9522, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Having enlisted in 1908, Ainsley disembarked in France on 15 January 1915 and was discharged following damage from frostbite on 20 September 1916.

112 Robert Charles Bidgood (L/Corp), 5221, 4th Dragoon Guards. (Earlier 5478.) A gunshot wound to the right leg brought Bidgood into No 2 Canada Hospital at Le Treport on 13 June 1915 and North Evington Hospital in Leicester on 9 July 1915. A local newspaper reported that he had been brought into Leicester "severely wounded" on a hospital train that night. The injury ended a 15 year career in the army. Originally a gardener from the Exeter area with a 2nd class certificate of education, he had attested to the Cavalry of the Line in 1901, first joining the 19th Hussars. After his Leicestershire stay, Bidgood was reposted to Depot on 9 November 1915, and discharged with wounds on 17 June 1916.

113 Thomas Calder (Pte), 6362, 2nd King's Own Scottish Borderers. A reservist from Leith, Calder was 22 and on his second stint in France when he was shipped back to England in need of care, arriving on 20 August 1915. Although three injuries were recorded in his army records, none was inflicted at this time. A medical report, written on 30 July 1915, described his condition as "NYD - fever" (not yet diagnosed). A later entry read "Influenza". On 1 August he was taken to Le Treport, then back to England 19 days later. An article in the Leicester Evening Mail reports him as having arrived, listed as "Sick" on a hospital train the night of 20 August. A record in the National Archives with a date between 20 August and 1 October shows that Calder was admitted to the 5th Northern General Hospital, Leicester; diagnosis influenza. The details say that he was reported sick on 29 July near Ypres. He was transferred to Orchard Hospital, Dartford at some point before being discharged on furlough. Calder was posted to the 3rd Battalion on 12 October 1915, and demobilised to Class Z in 1919 when he was judged to be in medical category A1.

114 Nurse

115 Sister Fanny Harper, assistant matron from 1912-1917

116 Matron Lucie Maud Havers, ran Desford Convalescent Home/Auxiliary Military Hospital throughout the war. In August 1918, recognised by the War Office for valuable nursing services

117 Major Thomas Gordon Kelly, medical officer throughout the war

118 Nurse - possibly Florence Maud Morley?

119 Reverend William Townshend, rector of Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire, 1908-23, and county cricketer

120 Walter Herbert Barnes (Rifleman), Z/1911, Rifle Brigade. After he disembarked in France on 27 December 1914, Barnes fought in the 3rd, 10th (1914 and 1916 Corps) and 2nd ( 1915 and 1917 corps) battalions. On Saturday 21 August 1915, the Leicester Evening Mail reported that he was on a list of "sick" soldiers brought in by hospital train the previous night and taken to Base Hospital. Later in the war he was wounded at least once - on 29 March 1917 the 31st Ambulance Train recorded his admission for a gun shot wound to the right arm, But he was fit and demobilised to Z Class. However, in October 1918, his death was recorded aged 25 at West Ham - not as a casualty of war but in the Civil Registration Death Index.

121 Stuart McAulay, 812, Royal Engineers. McAulay arrived in France on 30 April 1915. A Leicester newspaper article recorded that he arrived on a hospital train on 5 June suffering "severe wounds". His pension records show that he had a gunshot wound to the right leg.

122 Herbert W Garner (Pte) 17013, Suffolk Regiment (also 241320, 1/5 Suffolks) Note: on enlistment form it says 17103. Garner enlisted at Bury St Edmunds on 14 December 1914. He arrived in France on 25 July 1915. A gunshot wound to his right hand (with a fractured finger) was treated at Étaples on the 24 August and he was sent back to England on HS Cambria on 5 September. He was admitted to the General Hospital Infirmary in Leicester. The following February he was posted to Egypt, ending the war as an NCO on a Lewis gun. 

123 Robert Everitt (Sergt), 8142, 1st Leicesters. Everitt was named in a Leicester Chronicle article (28 August 1915) on Desford soldiers' visit to Enderby Hall, which said he was wounded at Rue de Bois. In an earlier article (Leicester Evening Mail, 28 August 1915) he was reported as proposing "hearty thanks" to car owners who'd driven soldiers from Desford to Leamington Spa for a day out that began in "glorious weather" and ended with cigars. He was discharged as unfit for war duty on 1 July 1917. Also pictured as No 95.

124 

125

126 Thomas Williams (Pte), L/7084, 1st East Kents. Williams was a Buffs reservist who'd been part of an expeditionary force to South Africa in 1907 and spent four years as an officer's servant and waiter. He disembarked in France on 7 September 1914, and was recorded as "severely wounded" arriving on a hospital train at Leicester's Midland Station on 14 August 1915 (Leicester Evening Mail). His service records show that he had suffered a severe gunshot wound to the left shoulder. After recovery, Williams continued with the Buffs, spending time in Hong Kong in 1917 

127 Bernard George Cox (Pte), 20222, 10 Leicestershire Regiment. A National Archives document shows Cox being admitted to 5th Northern General Hospital, Leicester in 1915. He had fallen out of a railway carriage and on to the platform, and was brought to hospital unconscious. On admission he suffered "with rigid muscles, convulsions and slight twitching of muscles. The diagnosis was traumatic neurasthenia and he was transferred to Base Hospital on 1 October 1915. "Outcome not stated."

128 Alexander Budge (Pte), 3533, Seaforth Highlanders. Gunshot wound to the left thigh. A local paper recorded that he was "slightly wounded" and on a hospital train that arrived in Leicester on 21 June 1915 with soldiers from the Newhaven hospital ship in Southampton. He was later made a sergeant. His pension record shows a gunshot wound to the left thigh.

129 Harold Barker, (Pte), 9870, 1st East Kents. 

130 Frederick Hubert Lake (Pte), B-2308, Rifle Brigade. Also 6066 Royal Sussex Regiment. Born in 1894, Lake was a Hampstead man who in 1916 gained a temporary commission (2nd Lieutenant) with the Royal Sussex Regiment. He arrived in France on 20 May 1915, suffered a gunshot wound to the calf on 31 July 1914 and was invalided to England on 15 August 1915. His pension record shows that he had suffered a gunshot wound to the back - which may refer to a WIA report for 31 July 1917 when he was with the Royal Sussex Regiment. 

131 Herbert John Empringham (Sergt), 8013, 1st Hampshires. A Leicester newspaper reported that Empringham was brought for treatment on a Great Western Red Cross train, "severely wounded", on the night of 12 July 1915. Named in the Leicester Chronicle article (28 August 1915) on Desford soldiers' visit to Enderby Hall, which said that he was wounded at Ypres. Awarded the DCM (3 October 1918)

132 Richard Anderson (Cpl), 857, 6th Scottish Rifles. Anderson was born in 1891. He arrived in France on 20 March 1915. He was discharged from wounds on 25 January 1916, and his pension records show that he had an 100 per cent disability resulting from a bullet wound in the head and fracture of the skull.

133 Frank Herbert Hole (Pte), 7599, 2nd Devons. Hole enlisted on 5 February 1914. He arrived in France on 6 November 1914  and was discharged on 22 June 1916. On his Silver badge document he is Frederick Herbert Hole, same regiment number different discharge date. Find My Past Frederick, same regiment number, with a 1901 enlistment date so something’s wrong. He looks late 30s or older in the pic. On Monday 25 January 1915, the Nottingham Journal reported that Pte F Hole, 2nd Devons had arrived in town the previous evening on a hospital train from Dover; most of the soldiers on board were taken to the local General Hospital.

134 Harold Buck (Pte), 3576, Staffordshire Yeomanry. (Also 614651 Royal Horse Artillery and 614657 Royal Field Artillery.) Born in 1897, Buck had signed up for the Territorial Force in 1910. He was a driver, and was based in Norwich for much of the war. He had no recorded injuries in his service record and was placed in the medical category A1 before demobilisation. A disability form mentioned the condition hydrocele as aggravated by war service, but the claim was dismissed.

135 Perkins

136 McNiel, ASC

137 Arthur Wicks (Pte), 14343, 10th and 11th Notts & Derby Regiment. Wicks, from Long Eaton in Derbyshire, first arrived in France on 14 July 1915. He died of wounds on 29 July 1916, aged 29, and is buried at Daors Communal Cemetery, France.

138 Arthur Widdowson, 3427, 2nd Notts and Derby Regiment. (Also 30080 (1st) and 30018 S Lancs Regiment). Widdowson first arrived in France on 11 November 1914.

139 H/Charles H Brant (Pte), 1725, RAMC. Brant disembarked in France with the Royal Medical Corps on 18 February 1915. He was reported as “severely wounded” and arriving at Leicester’s Midland Station on No8 hospital train on 20 August 1915 (Leicester Evening Mail, Saturday 21 August 1915 issue) from where he was transferred to the town’s Base Hospital.

140 Joseph William Constantine (Sgt), 1220, King's (Liverpool Regiment). Born in 1893, Constantine enlisted on 29 April 1915. Just over five months later, on 9 September 1915, he arrived at Leicester's Midland Station on a London & North West Railway Red Cross service from Boulogne, according to a report in the Leicester Daily Post the following day. He was on the Official List of "sick" soldiers rather than wounded. The following year he was treated at hospital near Salisbury for chronic dyspepsia; his rank was recorded as Company Quarter Master Sergeant. Constantine was discharged on 16 August 1918 with sickness (neurasthenia is recorded on his pension card).

141 Harold Wollatt/Woollat, 1687, RAMC. Enlisted September 1911, transferred (own request) September 1915 to Argyll & Southern Highlanders 3085/7575, then in October 1918 he was transferred to the RASC no. M/398458.

142 Richard Harry Quilter (Pte), 11964, 2nd Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment). He disembarked in France on 11 December 1914. A snippet on Find My Past records soldiers transferred to Hospital Ship St Patrick on 24 January 1915 including "11964 Quilter RH D.2nd Wilts" with the note "Frostbite". The Nottingham Journal (Monday 25 January 1915) reported that "Private RH Quilter, 2nd Wilts" was on a hospital train from Dover that had arrived in town the previous evening. Most of the soldiers on board were taken to Nottingham General Hospital. Quilter was one of three soldiers on the same train who were transferred to Desford at some point. He was discharged on 2 March 1916 due to sickness.

143 Massay, 6 Liverpool. TEW thinks this may be Bertram Sourke Murry. From an Aug CL casualty list.Got a commission in Nov 1915. May be photo of him.

144 George Sydney Hallum, 3099, 5th Seaforth Highlanders. Hallum enlisted on 7 September 1914 and  disembarked in France on 1 May 1915. On 1 July 1915, he was stretchered off the No4 Hospital Train at Leicester's Midland Station, recorded in the Seriously Wounded section of an Official List in a local newspaper the following day. He was discharged from wounds on 15 April 1916.

145 Smith, 4013 or 4073 Leicester

146 William Lear, 10051, 1st Cheshire Regiment. Embarked 18 December 1914. Wounded at Ypres, according to the Leicester Chronicle article (28 August 1915) on Desford soldiers' visit to Enderby Hall. A list of sick and wounded soldiers arriving in Leicester showed Lear on a hospital train with "severe wounds" on 5 June; he was taken to the Base Hospital. A record in the National Archives adds more detail: the 19-year-old was admitted to (presumably a different) unspecified hospital on 17 June 1915 suffering from septic gunshot wounds in the forearm and back. He had an operation to control haemorrhaging, and a second one to control further haemorrhaging on 24 June. He was transferred to Desford Convalescent Home on 2 August 1915 then discharged on sick furlough. Lear was discharged on 14 August 1918. 

147 Roger Toon, 16715, 1st Leicestershire Regiment. Toon, in his late 20s, arrived in France on 4 May 1915 and made it through the war to be transferred to Z Class on 25 June 1919. The National Archives holds a selection of cards showing three periods of treatment plus chain of evacuation including a gunshot wound to the left thigh and a gunshot wound to the right knee, visit only. He featured on the Slightly Wounded list of soldiers taken from a hospital train arriving at Leicester's Midland Station to the Base Hospital on 20 August 1915 (Leicester Evening Mail, 21 August).

148 Arthur Francis Terry (Rifleman), S/7884 8th and 3rd Rifle Brigade. Terry disembarked in France on 30 June 1915, and arrived in Leicester on a hospital train on 6 September 1915. He was reported missing then killed in action on 21 August 1916, aged 32. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial for the Missing of the Somme.

149 Frederick Bowyer, 2538, Leicestershire Yeomanry/255487 Corps of Hussars. The Friday 28 May 1915 issue of the Melton Mowbray Times reported that 2538 Private F Bowyer was part of B Squadron that had departed for Southampton on Monday as part of a draft to fill gaps in the Leicestershire Yeomanry caused by severe casualties. He disembarked in France on 27 May 1915. Discharged 1 August 1917.

150 Thomas Lovatt, 3436, 8th, 3rd Rifle Brigade. Lovatt was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme,  1 July 1916. He is buried at Serre Road Cemetery No2, Beaumont-Hamel. His service records show that he had attested on 1 September 1914, and was invalided to England 15 August 1915. A local newspaper article shows that he was on board a hospital train that arrived in Leicester on 14 August shortly before 11pm. A furlough form dated 27 September 1915 signed by the officer in charge at 1/5H General Hospital Leicester, said he was fit for duty and granted furlough for 1-10 October before he returned to the Front.

Edited 14 April by Jane Hayward

[PRC]

Edited 29 February by PRC

[Jane Hayward]

On 21/02/2024 at 12:15, TEW said:

The National Archives have a series of Medical Sheets in series MH106, these are not available online. There are 21 records for wounded soldiers at Desford Hall. I may not have kept up with all the names and transcriptions as much as others here but I don't think there's any cross over so far.

What is apparent is that all 21 originated from 5th Northern GH or North Evington. The bulk of these men were at Desford in the 4th Qtr of 1915, then a smaller spread 1917-1918. None in 1916 for some reason.

They were all Transferred to Desford Hall prior to discharge or furlough which makes me think that 16471 Sherwood in BarbaraG's example may have been discharged from Desford 7/8/15.

I would wonder if an RAMC Major would be in charge of a convalescent VAD hospital. Could he not be from 5th Northern GH or Northern Command abnd perhaps have a number of VAD hospitals under his wing?

I suspect someone's noted this already but the VAD Redcross site has four records for Desford.

TEW

I had a look at the National Archives today, remembering your post, now that more of the names have been deciphered and found three records that match - Dalby, Lear and Cleary. 

[TEW]

Jane, that's some good matching up. My search was based on "Desford Hall" and omits Dalby. Desford Aux Hospital obviously picks up more patients.

His MIC shows discharged 4/4/15. It now seems he wasn't admitted to Desford until June 1915 but is seen in uniform which must be unusual.

TEW

 

[Jane Hayward]

Are the pictures of nurse 68 and 114 the Majors wife, Emily Annie ne Carrington?

Bob, That would make a lot of sense. I'm hoping the Record Office will have her in their named staff pics. 

[Jane Hayward]

5 minutes ago, TEW said:

Jane, that's some good matching up. My search was based on "Desford Hall" and omits Dalby. Desford Aux Hospital obviously picks up more patients.

His MIC shows discharged 4/4/15. It now seems he wasn't admitted to Desford until June 1915 but is seen in uniform which must be unusual.

TEW

 

I just did 'Desford' and waded through in the hope of picking up random scraps of info. I don't understand the early discharge/treatment/uniform situation.

Edited 29 February by Jane Hayward

[TEW]

His late treatment could fit in with his discharge date bit I'm also struggling to explain the uniform.

Discharged soldiers were sent back to military hospitals for later treatment.

TEW

[Bob Davies]

23 minutes ago, Jane Hayward said:

Are the pictures of nurse 68 and 114 the Majors wife, Emily Annie ne Carrington?

Bob, That would make a lot of sense. I'm hoping the Record Office will have her in their named staff pics. 

Best of luck with that Jane, you are 'our feet on the ground'

Best I can do with number 72 Owen Lancers 3065.

Corporal Reginald Frank OWEN, 12th Lancers. Regiment No: 3067.

Nature of Disability: gun-shot wound to right hand.

Link to his National archives description.  https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3395891

[Jane Hayward]

Brilliant find, Bob. The confirmation's in the photo isn't it, the way he's holding his hand, poor lad.

[Bob Davies]

3 minutes ago, Jane Hayward said:

Brilliant find, Bob. The confirmation's in the photo isn't it, the way he's holding his hand, poor lad.

He signed up on 11/11/1910 at Woolwich (according to his papers which are online via Ancestry, under pension records.)

age 19, so plus 6, makes him 25 years old in the picture.

12th Lancers. B squadron.

Wounded. No 5 N Gen Hospital Leicester 19/5/16

Discharged Dublin 24/4/16

These two dates are a bit odd. On his MIC it says discharged 14th 4th 1916.

' Honest sober and trustworthy, a hardworking NCO.'

It has to be him I am sure.

[Jane Hayward]

The wounded date should be 19/5/15 to work - they might have put the wrong year in there because that would then make sense with the 1916 discharge date? 

[TEW]

Owen is on a Casualty List with a Report Received date of 27/5/15. I'd take a week off that which matches Jane's working date.

From his pension file the phrase Wounded. No 5 N Gen Hospital Leicester 19/5/16 should read 1915.

I suppose he may have relapsed and been admitted to 5th NGH 19/5/16 but it would be a massive coincidence.

TEW

[Bob Davies]

4 hours ago, Jane Hayward said:

The wounded date should be 19/5/15 to work - they might have put the wrong year in there because that would then make sense with the 1916 discharge date? 

 

3 hours ago, TEW said:

Owen is on a Casualty List with a Report Received date of 27/5/15. I'd take a week off that which matches Jane's working date.

From his pension file the phrase Wounded. No 5 N Gen Hospital Leicester 19/5/16 should read 1915.

I suppose he may have relapsed and been admitted to 5th NGH 19/5/16 but it would be a massive coincidence.

TEW

Thank you both for the continued support.

I have found the WD aka War Diary for the 12th Royal Lancers part of the 5th Cavalry Brigade, 2nd Cavalry Division.

Link is here;https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7351496

Only the first part of the download is needed for these dates.

A quick look through, the writing is easy to read and numbers of killed/wounded are mentioned, though as usual very few ORs names.

One man is shot in the arm, I have to re read as I forgot to put the date in my notes.

At this stage of the war, what would be the time taken for a casualty of this nature to be evacuated back to the UK?

5 weeks in early 1917 for a man with a serious GSW head, that I do know thanks to @TEW

One more link for the 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales)

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.505984/page/n299/mode/2up

Regards, Bob.