Family Details
Matthew Mason was born 11 September 1895,[1]the son of William and Mary Mason. There were 10 children, 8 born at Evenwood: [2]
- William born 1880 at St. Helens Auckland
- Margaret born 1882 at Tunstall, Sunderland
- Caroline born 1883
- John Joseph bc. 1886
- Albert bc.1890
- Matthew born 1895
- Thomas bc.1898
- Mabel bc.1900
- Richard bc.1902
- Randolph bc.1905
In 1891, the family lived at the Oaks, Evenwood, William worked as a coal miner. He and Mary moved to Evenwood from Tunstall, Sunderland about 1882/3 before Caroline was born.[3]
1 June 1894: Tragically, 14 years old William was killed in a mining accident, [probably at Randolph Colliery which started drawing coal in 1893] when coming outbye and riding the limbers, his head was crushed between a tub and the roof. He was 14 years old. [4] Matthew was born the following year.
By 1901, they lived at Chapel Street, Evenwood. Both 41 years old William and his 15 years old son, John were recorded as coal miners, working as a “shifter” and “on bank”, respectively.[5] By 1911, the family still lived at Chapel Street. William was then recorded as a “deputy overman” but John was not recorded at the property. Two sons, 21 years old Albert and 15 years old Matthew were both coal miners, being recorded as a “colliery braker” and a “colliery driver”, respectively.[6]
1918 21 September: Matthew Mason married Elizabeth Robinson.[7] His new home address was given as 4 Victoria Terrace, Cockfield.[8]
Military Details
The service details of Private Matthew Mason have not been researched. They have not been traced and it is assumed that they were lost during the Second World War when the building in which they were stored suffered fire damage as a result of an air raid. The following account is derived from a number of sources and can only set the scene surrounding his military service.
1914 8 September: 3 days before his 19th birthday, Matthew Mason enlisted into the 14th [Service] Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry [14/DLI] and was given the service number 14645.[9] He was subject to a medical and being 5’9½” tall, weighing 138 pounds, he was considered to be of good physical development.[10] Later, probably after he’d recovered from a wound, he was transferred to the Labour Corps being allocated the service number 605000.[11]
The Evenwood Parish Magazine compiled by Reverend G.J. Collis provides a comprehensive account of events of the Great War as it affected individual parishioners and families. In April 1915, following an initial attempt at compiling a roll of honour, Mr. William Gray of Evenwood Gate in his capacity as secretary of the local Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Fund provided a comprehensive list of recruits to His Majesty’s Forces. Matthew Mason was included on both lists – it was recorded that he was unmarried and lived at Chapel Street, Evenwood and had joined the 14th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry.[12]
The 14/DLI was formed at Newcastle in September 1914 as part of Kitchener’s call to arms, Kitchener’s Third Army [K3] and initially came under the orders of the 64th Brigade, 21st Division.[13] Units which originally formed the 64th Brigade were:[14]
- 9th Bn., the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry [KOYLI]
- 10th Bn., KOYLI
- 14th Bn., DLI left November 1915
- 15th Bn., DLI
Details of 14645 Private M. Mason’s first 7 month’s service is given below:[15]
- 9 September to 24 September 1914: Newcastle
- 24 September to 3 October 1914: Aylesbury [billets] From 4 to 9 October, Matthew was admitted to Aylesbury Rivet Works Hospital with influenza. After 6 days’ treatment he was cured and discharged to duty.[16]
- 3 October to 27 November 1914: Halton Park [a training camp]
- 27 November 1914 to 19 April 1915: High Wycombe
- 19 April 1915: Halton Camp E
Rifles were received in June 1915 and in July, the battalion moved to Witley Camp. Advance parties embarked for France 2 September and the main body of the Division began to cross the channel from 7 September and concentrated near Tilgues.
1915 11 September: Private M. Mason disembarked in France.[17]
The Battle of Loos: 25 September – 8 October 1915
The Battle of Loos formed a part of the wider Artois-Loos Offensive conducted by the French and British in autumn 1915, sometimes referred to as the Second Battle of Artois. The Artois campaigns comprised the major allied offensive on the Western Front during 1915. Along with the attack against Loos by the British, French troops launched offensives at Champagne (the Second Battle of Champagne) and at Vimy Ridge near Arras. [18]
The strategy involved:
- A four-day artillery bombardment of the German positions
- Full scale infantry attack in the area between Loos and the La Bassee Canal
- Diversionary attacks to the north at Bois Grenier and Pietre (between Armentieres and La Bassee Canal).
- Once the German positions fell, reserves aided by cavalry, would pass through the gap and attack the German second line.
The 21st Division took part in the first major British action of the war, the Battle of Loos. It was an appalling experience. After being in France for only a few days, lengthy forced marches brought the Division into the reserve for the British assault near Loos. The Division was too far behind for it to be used usefully on the first day 25 September but it went into action the next day, 26 September, whereupon it suffered 3,800 casualties for little gain.[19]
14/DLI War Diary is scant on detail:[20]
“Loos Hill 70 26.9.15 4.30AM: 64th Brigade had instructions to go into action – objective ANNAY via HILL 70 in support of 62nd and 63rd Bdes. About 9AM the Bn deployed and attacked HILL 70 but the whole Bde was driven back on reaching the crest of the hill. They reformed and again attacked the hill but were again driven back and occupied the original first line English trenches and went into bivouac.
Casualties 2 Officers killed 14 wounded
8 men killed 263 wounded.”
Captain Wilfred Miles summarised the action and confirmed that: [21]
“the losses of the Durhams were very heavy. In the 14th, Lieut. W.T. Thompson and 2nd Lieut. F.E. Burkett were killed and Lieut.-Col. A.S. Hamilton who had led his men well, died of his wounds. [He then names 12 officers who were wounded]. Losses in the ranks amounted to 277.”
Captain W. Miles then moves to 15/DLI casualties and names officers killed or wounded and states there were no less than 450 casualties in the ranks. Later research records that between the 25 and 30 September 1915, 14/DLI lost 4 officers and 51 Other Ranks killed in action or died of wounds. The worst day was 27 September when 3 officers and 31 ORs died.[22] And between 25 September and 8 October, 15/DLI lost 3 officers and 100 other ranks, killed in action or died of wounds, including 1 officer and 69 other ranks killed in action 25 September.[23]
Private Matthew Mason fortunately survived unscathed but another Evenwood man, Serjeant Edgar Towers from Rochdale Street involved in the same action, serving with 15/DLI, was reported as “missing” together with 2 other local men Private William Brown from West Auckland and Private Fred Thompson from Butterknowle, both 15/DLI. It is highly likely that Matthew Mason and Edgar Towers would be known to each other.
News about Edgar Towers was reported in the Evenwood Parish Magazine: [24]
“I have also heard from Percy Brass, who with several others of our local lads, viz. G. Featherstone, J. Carling, E. Towers, A. Bainbridge, Lands and others who I cannot mention for certain, have taken part in a battle, probably the big battle began on September 25th, in the region of Loos… Edgar Towers is also believed to be wounded and has not been heard from (by his friends at home) for several weeks. However, there has not I am told been any official confirmation of anything worse having befallen him. I trust and pray that Edgar’s friends will soon have their anxieties relieved by hearing more cheering news of him.”
No news was forthcoming by December and the following update was given:[25]
“Nothing, I am afraid, has been heard lately of Edgar Towers. He is known to have been wounded. The best that we can look for in his case, I think, is that he is a prisoner of war and that in due course he will return home again safe and sound. Uncertainty of course is dreadful but this at any rate is uncertainty which leaves room for hope.”
The anguish for his family and friends continued and the April 1916 edition of the Parish Magazine makes the following reference: [26]
“Our sympathies and prayers must be with him (Joseph Bowman) and his people too. Also with Edgar Towers who has not been heard of since last September.”
31 August 1916: It was recorded that Serjeant E. Towers was, “Regarded for official purposes as having died on or since 25 September 1915”.[27]
Sunday 17 September 1916: The congregation of St. Paul’s Church, Evenwood held a Memorial Service for Edgar Towers. It was reported as follows: [28]
“On Sunday, 17th ult., we had another stately and solemn Memorial Service. This time it was for our young friend Edgar Towers, who was one of the first of our local recruits. He is officially presumed to have fallen at the Battle of Loos, on September 25th last year. For many anxious months after that battle friends had not heard from him but as nobody seemed able to give any definite information to what had become of him, we all hoped that he was alive, though we thought he must be a prisoner of war in Germany. However, the official information received quite recently, although giving no particulars of his fate, reported him as presumably dead, so I’m afraid we must accept the fact a definite. How the sympathy and love of the people of Evenwood and round about, went out to his sorrowing relatives, was plainly shown by the great congregation that assembled at the service in spite of inclement weather. There was a very deep solemnity about proceedings and many evidences of sincere and heartfelt sorrow for one whom nearly all of us knew and liked. The Evenwood Sliver Band was with us helped by the West Auckland Band also by the Boy Scouts under the charge of 2nd. Lieut. P. Brass D.L.I who enlisted about the same time as Edgar, did his training with him, was himself at the Battle of Loos and was probably one of the last people to see him alive. The choir of course was at the service and Mr. Bird presided ably at the organ. The Dead March in Saul by a combined Bands and the Last Post sounded on the cornet were unusually impressive items of an impressive occasion. The service was in every respect similar to the Memorial described in the July Magazine.”
Sadly, his family were reluctant to accept the inevitable and a brief notice together with a photograph appeared in the Northern Echo, 23 November 1916: [29]
“Sergt. E. Towers (D.L.I) of 19 Rochdale Street, Evenwood missing. Any news of him will be welcomed by his parents.”
Returning to the Battle of Loos, the British suffered 61,000 casualties including 20,000 dead. 50,000 of these casualties occurred in the action between Loos and Givenchy and the remainder in the subsidiary attacks. German casualties were estimated at half the British total. Many New Army units such as 14/DLI and 15/DLI had taken part in an offensive action for the first time and suffered heavily. The typical attacking strength of a battalion at the time was 650-750 men, casualties were approximately 66%. The battle witnessed some significant “firsts”:
- the first “Big Push.”
- the first blooding of Kitchener’s New Army.
- the first use of poison gas by the British army.
It had been a costly failure and consequently, Field-Marshal Sir John French, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force resigned 10 December 1915. General Sir Douglas Haig was appointed as his successor. Little operational analysis was carried out and regrettably, many lessons of the failure at Loos were not learned. Many mistakes were repeated with uncanny similarity on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1 July 1916. [30]
Local casualties, Serjeant Edgar Towers, Privates William Brown and Fred Thompson are commemorated on the Loos Memorial located in Loos-en-Gohelle, Pas de Calais, France. The memorial commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave and fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay.[31]
Following the Loos catastrophe, a reorganisation took place and in November. 14/DLI was transferred to 18th Brigade, 6th Division. The Brigade comprised:[32]
- 1st Bn., the West Yorkshire Regiment
- 2nd Bn., DLI
- 1/16 the London Regiment which left January 1916
- 11th Bn., the Essex Regiment
- 14th Bn., DLI
- 18th Brigade Machine Gun Company formed February 1916
- 18th Trench Mortar Battery formed April 1916
The 6th Division was posted to the Ypres Salient where it remained until August 1916 where upon it moved south to take part in the Battle of the Somme which had been raging since 1 July.[33]
The Battle of the Somme 1 July – 18 November 1916 [34]
The Battle of the Somme was viewed as a breakthrough battle, as a means of getting through the formidable German trench lines and into a war of movement and decision. Political considerations and the demands of the French High Command influenced the timing of the battle. They demanded British diversionary action to occupy the German Army to relieve the hard pressed French troops at Verdun, to the south.
General Sir Douglas Haig, appointed Commander-in-Chief in December 1915, was responsible for the overall conduct of British Army operations in France and Belgium. This action was to be the British Army’s major offensive on the Western Front in 1916 and it was entrusted to General Rawlinson’s Fourth Army to deliver the resounding victory. The British Army included thousands of citizen volunteers, keen to take part in what was expected to be a great victory.
The main line of assault ran nearly 14 miles from Maricourt in the south to Serre to the north, with a diversionary attack at Gommecourt 2 miles further to the north. The first objective was to establish a new advanced line on the Montauban to Pozieres Ridge.
The first day, 1 July, was preceded by a week-long artillery bombardment of the German positions. Just prior to zero-hour, the storm of British shells increased and merged with huge mine explosions to herald the infantry attack. At 7.30am, on a clear midsummer’s morning, the British Infantry emerged from their trenches and advanced in extended lines at a slow steady pace over the grassy expanse of a No Man’s Land. They were met with a hail of machine gun fire and rifle fire from the surviving German defenders. Accurate German artillery barrages smashed into the infantry in No Man’s Land and the crowded assembly trenches. The British suffered enormous casualties:
- Officers killed 993
- Other Ranks killed: 18,247
- Total Killed: 19,240
- Total casualties (killed, wounded and missing): 57,470
In popular imagination, the “Battle of the Somme” has become a byword for military disaster. In the calamitous opening 24 hours the British Army suffered its highest number of casualties in a single day. The loss of great numbers of men from the same towns and villages had a profound impact on those at home. The first day was an abject failure. The following weeks and months of conflict assumed the nature of wearing-down warfare, a war of attrition, by the end of which both the attackers and defenders were totally exhausted.
The Battle of the Somme can be broken down into 12 offensive operations:
- Albert: 1 – 13 July
- Bazantin Ridge: 14 – 17 July
- Delville Wood: 15 July – 13 September
- Pozieres Ridge: 15 July – 3 September
- Guillemont: 23 July – 3 September
- Ginchy: 9 September
- Flers-Courcelette: 15 – 22 September
- Morval: 25 – 28 September
- Thiepval: 25 – 28 September
- Le Transloy: 1 – 18 October
- Ancre Heights: 1 October – 11 November
- Ancre: 13 – 18 November
Adverse weather conditions, the autumn rains and early winter sleet and snow turned the battlefield into morass of mud. Such intolerable physical conditions helped bring to an end Allied offensive operations after four and a half months of slaughter. The fighting brought no significant breakthrough. Territorial gain was a strip of land approximately 20 miles wide by 6 miles deep. In terms of casualties, the cost was enormous – British and Commonwealth forces were calculated to have suffered 419,654 casualties (dead, wounded and missing) of which some 131,000 were dead. French casualties amounted to 204,253. German casualties were estimated between 450,000 to 600,000. In the spring of 1917, the German forces fell back to their newly prepared defences, the Hindenburg Line, and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918.
The Battle of Flers-Courcelette
15 September: The next big attack was launched. It was the last chance of winning the war in 1916. It was a major Allied thrust with 3 corps of the Fourth Army [III. XV & XIV] the Reserve Army, the Canadian Corps and the French Army all involved. Ten British Divisions led the attack with odds of 2 to 1 in their favour.[35] In the 3-day preliminary bombardment 828,000 shells were fired from a field gun every 10 yards and medium/heavy gun every 29 yards of the front achieving a concentration of fire twice that of 1 July.[36] The territorials of the 50th Northumbrian Division were in action on the first day of this offensive. They struggled manfully and took their first objective, Hook Trench.[37] Units of the 6th Division from 16th Brigade attacked a heavily fortified position known as the Quadrilateral but failed. At night, a second attack by 18th Brigade including 2/DLI also failed.[38] The breakthrough was not achieved but the decision was made to hammer on. 18 September: Another push, the third attempt was made, involving 18th Brigade units 1st Bn., West Yorks and 14/DLI. The objective was again the Quadrilateral, backed by a strong preliminary bombardment and an effective creeping barrage, the Quadrilateral was taken – not a breakthrough but a tactical objective achieved.[39] It carried the line to within striking distance of Morval and Lesboeufs. 14/DLI lost 4 officers and 31 NCOs and men killed, 5 officers and 161 NCOs and men wounded.[40]
A resume of 14/DLI action is given below. [41]
11 September 1916: The 6th Division took over the front east of Guillemont
12 September: 6am, General bombardment of the German lines began. 14/DLI moved up from Sand Pit Valley to the Citadel, south of Fricourt. Later in the day, the 18th Brigade rushed into the Quadrilateral from the flanks and 2/DLI entered a trench called Low Road, bombed it down for 100 yards and held on. At night 14/DLI were sent forward from Guillemont to consolidate a position where the railway crossed the Ginchy-Leuze Wood road. The trenches were full of dead and wounded Norfolks and Suffolks.
13 September: dawn patrols sent out to locate troops on the flanks. Further fighting to the north where the Guards attacked Lesboeufs. 14/DLI began work on an assembly trench in front of their position for another attempt upon the Quadrilateral.
14 September: early morning, heavy enemy barrage, counter attack expected, did not happen, resumed work on the trench.
15 September: work on another assembly trench 70 yards further forward. 24 men were wounded before the actual attack started.
18 September: intense bombardment of the German positions by the British artillery. Rain began to fall. At 5.50am, 14/DLI climbed out of the wet trenches and plodded forward following the creeping barrage. On the right and the centre, the line made good progress but on the left, “German machine-gunners maintained a galling fire”. Rifle grenades were used and the machine guns were soon in British hands. The Straight and the Quadrilateral were taken, the advance pressed on. North of the railway, 14/DLI bombed out dug-outs and reached the forward slope in view of Morval. The battalion dug in. The expected enemy infantry counter attack did not materialise but German gunners opened fire on the new positions. At night, the whole brigade was relieved and 14/DLI reached billets at Meaulte, the following day.
Casualties quoted at the time were, 4 officers and 31 men killed, 4 officers and 161 men wounded [including Private M. Mason] and 32 men missing. 106 Germans were captured and 6 machine guns. It is understood that Private M. Mason suffered a machine gun wound to the back.[42] It is likely that he received medical treatment 18 September either at a Casualty Clearing Station or a Stationary Hospital near the front line.[43] He would then have been taken back to the UK [Blighty] for further treatment at a military hospital. [See below]
Later research confirms that between 18th and 21st September, 14/DLI lost 4 officers and 73 Other Ranks killed or died of wounds, all 4 Officers and 69 ORs died 18th September.[44]
The battle continued and 14/DLI was to see more action during the Battle of Morval, as follows: [45]
21 September: a draft of 80 men was received before 14/DLI moved forward again relieving the 1st Guards Brigade in front of Lesboeufs. The night was spent in reserve between Trones Wood and Bernafay Wood.
23 September: evening, 14/DLI moved forward and relieved 2/DLI and 11/Essex, taking over the whole of the brigade front just south of Ginchy-Lesboeufs road. The Germans occupied Cow Trench on the left beyond the road. Hostile shell fire.
24 September: dawn, the German infantry advanced under intense bombardment. They did not reach the trenches of the 14/DLI. British gunfire prevented further enemy attacks but many shells fell short into the trenches of 14/DLI.[46] At night, the battalion was relieved by 2/DLI. Losses 1 officer killed and 10 men wounded.
25 September: the 2/DLI and 14/DLI participated in the attack along the whole Allied front from the river Somme to Martinpuich. The 1st West Yorkshire Regiment was successful in “making good” the village of Lesboeufs but 14/DLI was not called upon and sat in reserve positions all day under a heavy German bombardment – 1 officer and 2 men killed, 2 officers and 32 men wounded.
26 – 29 September:
“On the evening of the 26th the Durhams relieved the Yorkshiremen on the ground that had been won. All 4 companies were put in the front line which ran just east of the ruins of Lesboeufs and here the battalion remained until the early morning of September 29th when the 2nd Sherwood Foresters of the 71st Brigade took over the position. During this period German shell fire never ceased and losses amounted to 13 killed and 2nd Lieut. R.E. Bryant and 29 wounded. On the 28th an enemy aeroplane flew over the trenches and was driven off by Lewis Gun and rifle fire.”
It was during this action that Private William E. Earl who lived at Buckheads Farm, Evenwood was killed in action 27 September 1916. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme. The Memorial bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the UK and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.[47]
Returning to the Battle of Morval, it appears that the tactic of “bite and hold” was successful in this instance due to the effective preliminary bombardment, the “creeping barrage” which provided cover for the infantry and the relatively weak German defences. A concentrated attack with limited objectives was supported by a French offensive to the south which further occupied the German defensive cover. Thus the British edged forward as the Germans edged back and prepared new lines of defence.
Returning to Private M. Mason, he was out of action 24 September to 11 November 1916 when he was admitted to the City of London Homerton Hospital [?] and treated for gunshot wound to the back. After 48 days he was, “discharged to duty after furlough”.[48] It seems that an operation removed 3 bullets since a later report records that he had 3 scars on his back.[49]
The military postings of Private M. Mason from November 1916 to his discharge in March 1919 are largely unknown. He was transferred to the Labour Corps and given the service number 605000 but the exact date this took place is not known. The Labour Corps was established in April 1917 and its purpose was to supply drafts for Labour Companies serving overseas, to provide men locally for working parties as fatigues, to receive labour personnel returned from overseas and to deal with them according to their medical category.[50] It may be speculated that his wounds were considered to be too serious to warrant front line duty but would not prevent him undertaking physical duties as required by the Labour Corps. It is likely that he joined the Labour Corps in April 1917, or having regard to the following paragraph, June 1917.
30 April to 8 June 1917: Private M. Mason was admitted to the Military Hospital at Cannock Chase, Rugely Camp Staffordshire suffering from a football injury inflicted 19 April, to his left knee. He was discharged after 40 days.[51]
Given that 1917 saw major British offensives at Passchendaele [The Third Battle of Ypres] and at Cambrai, then the following year witnessed the great German Spring Offensive and the counter attack, known as the Last Hundred Days, the need for military engineering tasks was never ending. The work of the Labour Corps was essential, a point not missed by the Commander in Chief of the British Armies in France, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, as the following note infers.
Following the Armistice, 11 November 1918, coal miners were needed at home and many were demobilised as a matter of urgency and it may be assumed that Private M. Mason would have been sent home immediately. However, he was not formally discharged until March 1919.
1919 5 March: Private M. Mason was discharged, the cause being “sickness under KR para 392 xvia.”[52]
Private M. Mason was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the War Badge [no. B291509].
Post War
1939: Matthew Mason lived at 5 Maud Terrace, Evenwood with his wife Elizabeth, son Joseph Mason [born 31 August 1922] and Margaret Hodgson [born 30 May 1894]. Matthew was recorded as a “Colliery hewer”, Elizabeth and Margaret as “Unpaid Domestic Duties” and Joseph as, “Colliery Pony Driver”.[53]
1957: Matthew Mason died aged 61.[54]
[1] England, Select Births and Christenings 1538-1975, England & Wales Birth Index 1837-1915 Vol.10a p.232 Auckland 1895 Q4 and 1939 England and Wales Register
[2] 1891, 1901 & 1911 census
[3] 1891 census & England & Wales Birth Index 1837-1915 Vol.10a p.231 Auckland 1883 Q3
[4] Family details and UK Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths Index 1878-1935
[5] 1901 census
[6] 1911 census
[7] England & Wales Marriage Index 1916-2005 Vol.10a p.538 Teesdale 1918 Q3
[8] Army Form W.3997 Discharge Documents, Form 90 Award Sheet
[9] Roll of Individuals entitled to the War Badge dated 1 September 1919
[10] Army Form B.178 Medical History
[11] Medal Roll Index Card
[12] Evenwood Parish Magazine February and April 1915
[13] https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/durham-light-infantry/
[14] http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/21st-division/
[15] Army Form W.3997 Discharge Documents, Table IV Service Table
[16] Army Form W.3997 Discharge Documents, Table II Only for admissions to hospital
[17] Roll of Individuals entitled to a Decoration [1915-15 Star] dated 21 October 1920 and Medal Roll Index Card
[18] www.firstworldwar.com/battles/loos.htm.
[19] http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/21st-division/
[20] 14/DLI War Diary September 1915
[21] “The Durham Forces in the Field 1914-18. The Service Battalions of the Durham Light Infantry”1920 Capt. W. Miles p.20-24 provides an account
[22] Officers Died in the Great War and Soldiers Died in the Great War [ODGW & SDGW]
[23] Officers & Soldiers Died in the Great War
[24] EPM November 1915
[25] EPM December 1915
[26] EPM April 1916
[27] Statement of the Services
[28] EPM November 1916
[29] Northern Echo 23 November 1916
[30] “The Great War: a History – Volume 1” F.A. Mumby et al p.52 and www.firstworldwar.com/battles/loos.htm and www.1914-1918.net/BATTLES/bat13_loos/bat13_oob.htm and Commonwealth War Graves Commission leaflet 1915 The Battle of Loos leaflet
[31] CWGC
[32] http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/6th-division/
[33] “Faithful The Story of the Durham Light Infantry” 1962 S.G.P. Ward p.363
[34] Various sources including www.cwgs.org/somme & “The Somme” Hart P.
[35] “The Somme” 2005 P. Hart p.377
[36] Hart p.370
[37] Hart p.384
[38] Ward p.369-370
[39] Hart p.409-410
[40] Ward p.370
[41] “The Durham Forces in the Field 1914-18: The Service Battalions of the Durham Light Infantry” 1920 Capt. W. Miles
[42] Army Form B.178a articles 15 & 16.
[43] Army Form B.178a article 17
[44] ODGW & SDGW
[45] Miles p.77-78
[46] Friendly fire!
[47] CWGC
[48] Army Form 33997 Discharge Documents Table 11 Admissions to hospital Note: Name of hospital – the writing difficult to decipher
[49] Army Form B.178a articles 15 & 16
[50] https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-labour-corps-of-1917-1918/
[51] Army Form 33997 Discharge Documents Table 11 Admissions to hospital
[52] Roll of Individuals entitled to the War Badge dated 1 September 1919
[53] 1939 England & Wales Register
[54] England & Wales Death Index 1916-2007 Vol.1a p.596 Durham South Western 1957 Q3
The Gaunless Valley in World War 1 