James WALSH

17 September 1915

EARBY LADS WITH THE 8th DUKE OF WELLINGTON’S

News of Comrades

Private James Walsh, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Walsh of 79 Colne Road, Earby, who is in the 8th Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, has written home some interesting war-jottings, in which he says:– “You will find me a different lad if I get home again. We have been in some stiff ‘does’ and have suffered heavily, 320 being left out of 1000 of us. Our brigade has done very well, but we have paid the cost. The General says he wished he had all his Yorkshire lads back. Our Brigade has been in front on all the big advances, and that is a big honour. I am afraid H. Burrows is badly wounded. I went out of the dug-out in the trenches at five o’clock on Sunday, the 22nd, to find water for myself and pals. I found some about 200 yards away. Before five at night there had been about thirty shot down going to that well, and we could see them all. It was rotten. Never mind, I have come through so far, and I may come through all right at the end. We had a service on the beach last night, and we sang the hymn, ‘Lead, kindly light’. Well it takes a bit to move me, but that made me cry. I have prayed above once. As I am finishing this letter H.T. Smith has just come in, having been missing three days. R. Hewtson, E. Smith, J.T. Illingworth, H.T. Smith, H. Spencer (tackler), L. Trotter and J. Walsh are all well. Both Clarkes are wounded.”

Another Earby lad, Private N[H].T. Smith, of the same regiment in the Dardanelles, writes:–“We made an advance on the 22nd and 23rd, but I am sorry to say we paid very dearly for it. We were cut up terribly, and the worst part of it was that we lost a lot of Earby lads. Some of them, I am afraid, you will never see again. This is not civilised warfare; it is simply murder. It simply rained bullets and shrapnel, but I am still amongst the survivors. I was cut off from my regiment for three days, but I managed to fall in with the Munster Fusiliers, and I might mention here that my name has been sent in for being dead whilst under fire with the Munsters. You will perhaps have heard of this before you get my letter. One of the Clarkes from Earby got a bullet through the eye, and another is wounded. Burrows is wounded. Stockdale, Aldridge, Cross, and T. Hargreaves of Barnoldswick are missing. Sam Rigby is alive but taken prisoner, so you may tell his mother not to be downhearted, because I am confident he is alright.

12 November 1915

EARBY NEWS

WOUNDED IN GALLIPOLI

Mr. Thos. Walsh, 79 Colne Road, has received information that his son, Pte. Jas. Walsh, of the 8th Battalion (Duke of Wellington’s) West Riding Regiment, was wounded in the thigh by shrapnel on October 28th. A letter received from another Earby soldier in the same hospital states that the wound is not of a dangerous character. Pte. Walsh has a brother in the same regiment.

12 May 1916

AN EARBY SOLDIER KILLED

A letter received from an Earby comrade last weekend conveyed the sad news that another Earby soldier, belonging the 9th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, had been killed in action. The letter ran as follows:–

May 4th, 1916.

“You must excuse me not writing before. We have been having a rough time of it lately. We lost about 100 last week. No doubt you will have heard about J. Walsh getting killed, and Lieut. Pickles (son of Mr. S. Pickles of Barnoldswick, whose death was reported last week) who used to be with our Allan. Well, dear mother, we went to see the graves of the boys we had lost last night. We are now out for a rest. It is a grand place where they are buried; Walsh and Lieut. Pickles are laid side by side. You must tell Mrs. Walsh I am getting some flowers to put on their graves, and shall see they are all right every time I come out of the trenches. Jim had not been with us long, but he was liked by all the Company. It was a blow to me when I got to know.”

Private James Walsh (9th Duke of Wellington’s), official notification of whose death has since been received, was the eldest son of Mr. Thos. Walsh, 79, Colne Road, Earby. He was 25 years of age, and unmarried. Originally attached to the Dardanelles Expedition, he was wounded at the Suvla Bay landing last summer, and after recovering spent four weeks at home before going to France two months ago. He was for several years a member of the Earby Brass Band.