William GILL (1)

17 September 1915

GILL – August 21st, killed in action in the Dardanelles, Pte. Wm. Gill, 8th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, formerly of Silsden.

17 September 1915

SILSDEN SOLDIER CHUMS KILLED AT DARDANELLES

Information was also received from the War Office on Saturday that Private Wm. Gill, of the 8th Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, was killed in action on August 21st at the Dardanelles. Private Gill, who was 25 years of age, was a Silsden young man and formerly resided with his mother at 9, St. John’s Square, Silsden. He enlisted in the same regiment at about the same time as Private Hustwick, and both lost their lives on the same day. Prior to the outbreak of war Private Gill had seen four years’ service in the 2nd West Yorkshire Regiment, getting his discharge previous to that regiment being drafted out to India. He had only been in the firing line about eleven days before he was killed.

In a recent letter to his mother he stated:– “Just a line to let you know how I am getting on. We have landed on the Greek Island and have been here seven days to get acclimatised. Tomorrow we go into the firing line to have a pop at the Turks. It is red hot here; it is simply burning me black. The men who have been used to working indoors their skin is peeling off like shavings. There are all kinds of fruit grown on this island, melons, marrows, figs, greengages, tomatoes, lemons and grapes by the ton. The inhabitants here are peculiar people; they are about a thousand years back in their farming. Instead of threshing machines, they gallop their ponies round the corn, and some of their houses are made of mud and stone. There are some peculiar flies out here; they are like our grasshoppers, but about ten times as large. They all whistle together at night like a tin whistle band. I would like to send you a few Greek coins, but we have not to fill our letters up and they might get lost. When you write back please send some twist as we cannot get it here and I would rather have it than cigarettes. You must also send a local paper as we do not see much English news over here. So goodbye all until I write again.”

In his last letter to his mother he said he had never been in as hot a corner in all his life. He had had comrades shot down on all sides of him, and bullets even passed through his own clothing. Bullets were coming from the enemy like hailstones. They had to fall back or there would not have been a man left to tell the tale. He said that on one occasion the Turks nearly surrounded them. They had killed a lot of the Turks off during the night time and thought of finishing them the following morning, but to their surprise the Turks had got considerable reinforcements during the night with the result that the numbers were about 20 to 1 in their favour.

[Second half of an article referring to both Ernest Hustwick (10993) and William Gill (11105).]

17 September 1915

SILSDEN – MEMORIAL SERVICE IN MEMORY OF FALLEN SOLDIER – Seven Brave Men from Silsden

On Sunday morning a memorial service was held at the Silsden Primitive Methodist Church in memory of the late Gunner Edward Lund, of the 90th Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, who died from wounds sustained at the Dardanelles. Gunner Lund, who formerly resided at 67, Bolton Road, Silsden, was wounded on August 10th, and died in No. 15, General Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt, on the 17th of August. There was a good congregation which included a number of deceased’s relatives, Mr. C.H. Fletcher (military representative at Silsden), and Privates J. Brear, J. Bond, J. Gill, T. Hardcastle, Sheldon, junr., Sheldon, sen., Whiteoak, W. Summerscales, C. Summerscales, J. Inman, W. Clarkson, W. Tillotson, Calvert, Locker and Atkinson, of the various West Riding Regiments who were home on leave.

Rev. Wm. Dickinson (pastor) during the service said he was sure he voiced the feelings of the members of the congregation when he said it was with deep regret that they had received the sad intelligence during the last few days of three of their townsmen who had died on the battlefield. They were all exceedingly sorry to hear of the death of Gunner Edward Lund, who died as a result of receiving severe gun shot wounds. Gunner Lund was associated with that Church, and they sympathised with his relatives and friends and prayed that they might be comforted in that their time of great sorrow. He, with others, had laid down his life for his King and Country. There was now a loss of seven brave men from Silsden who had given their lives for the defence of our home and country. The first one was Private Harold Snoddin, [Snowden] who was killed on guard duty, and then followed Private Ben Hodgson, Private Isaac Wade, Private Rhodes Spence, who died on the field in Flanders, and now they had in addition to Gunner Edward Lund, the loss of Private Ernest Hustwick and Private Wm. Gill. The above had been either killed in action or died of wounds. The latter three had been at the Dardanelles. And in addition to those whom they knew who had gone from that little town of Silsden, we had very many brave men who had laid down their lives for King and Country. Some had found a grave in the waters of the great deep, and there could be no marked places as to where they had gone down, and many were laid in unknown graves on the Gallipoli Peninsula, and also on the fields of Flanders. We were thankful for their devoted and self-sacrificing services, and very gratefully paid honourable homage to them as true warriors for their King and for their country.

The hymns, ‘Jesus lover of my soul,’ ‘Just as I am,’ ‘Rock of ages,’ and ‘O God our help in ages past,’ were sung, and the choir sang the anthem ‘Pass thy burden upon the Lord.’ At the close of the service the organist (Mr. Bernard Longbottom) played the ‘Dead March,’ while the congregation remained standing.

29 October 1915

A SILSDEN SOLDIER IN THE DARDANELLES – INTERESTING LETTER FROM SUVLA BAY

Sergeant Fred Smith, of the 8th West Riding Regiment, who was formerly employed at the Silsden Dye Works, and whose home is at present in Bradford, writing to a friend at Silsden from the Dardanelles, says:– “What an age it seems since I saw you and what a host of experiences I have had since then. It is really wonderful to realise that I have come through it all and am still alive and well. We were a portion of the Army that effected a new landing at Suvla Bay about which you have no doubt heard so much. For nearly three weeks after landing it was simply one daily round of slaughter; talk about carrying fire and sword into the enemy’s country – my word, that has been the case here.

“One shudders to think how many thousands of good lads have gone to their last account within sight of where we are; but still one has no time to ponder over these things, and it is the fortune of war. Our progress since then has been rather slow; we have been consolidating our positions. We have lost most heavily during the operations, but that is not a matter for surprise. When you come to consider the difficult nature of the country, amid the terrific resistance of the Turks, you do not wonder.”

Turks not Cowards

“The Turks are not cowards by any means, and their snipers especially are very clever indeed. During the last attack in which we took part I lost a young fellow named Gill, of Silsden. I think he lived in John’s Square, near the Dye Works. I had all the addresses and next of kin of my platoon, but unfortunately have lost them or should have written to some of the relatives of my fellows who have gone under. Referring to Gill, we were advancing under fire and I was leading the platoon, and before we got the order to extend, Gill, whom I had placed in charge of the leading section, was just behind me. When we got about 1,000 yards off the enemy we extended and advanced a little later by short sharp rushes, taking what cover we could, until we were about 250 yards away. Then, on account of the terrific fire that poured into us, we sheltered behind a low ridge for a short time. When the fire had abated somewhat our Captain gave the order to advance, and the Sergeant in charge of the next platoon and myself jumped up and called to our respective platoons to advance.

“That was the signal for another terrible burst of musketry and machine gun fire from the Turks. The Sergeant on my left – Sergeant John Robinson, of Keighley – immediately fell dead with a bullet through his throat, although I did not know until an hour afterwards. A few yards further on a Captain fell badly wounded; now I was left with a couple of platoons. Anyway about half of us crossed a large open area in front and opened fire from another ridge, and I did not see Gill again, so concluded that he fell during the last rush. Whatever his fate he was a good soldier and did his duty well.

“We are now in reserve whilst being re-enforced from England, and are in dug-outs near the beach. We get shelled several times a day with varying luck. I was unlucky enough to get a bullet through the fleshy part of the back of my neck about six weeks’ ago, fortunately just missing the skull. It is now all right after five weeks’ dressing, and I discarded the bandages last week. I did not go into hospital for we were so short of N.C.O.’s, and I was able to keep to duty without much inconvenience, so you won’t have seen my name in the casualty list.

Kind Remembrance from Turks

“We were in the trenches on Chocolate Hill at the time, and I and another Sergeant were sent in charge of fifty men to a detach post at the foot of the hill. We had to occupy it for four days, and it was on the morning of the second day that I got the above ‘kind remembrance ‘ from our friends, the enemy. Sometimes I have managed to get the local papers out here, which I read with great interest I can assure you, as the letters and papers we receive are the only things which remind us of civilisation. It is an awful country this, the ground is parched and hard as rock, and everything is dried up. You don’t see any cool green grass and nice country lanes here like there are at Silsden, and we shall all appreciate the end of the war and the consequent return to dear old England.

“I never loved the old country so much as I do now, and I could positively welcome a dirty Manchester fog followed by a heavy downpour of rain as a distraction from this eternal glare of the sun. You would hardly know the majority of us now, lean, bronzed and dirty as we are. What pleasant memories of the past crop up sometimes. I remember one particular time, whilst in the firing line, we had had nothing only half rations of bully beef and hard biscuits and could not get enough water to drink, and what we could get we had to crawl in many cases half a mile and then find it muddy. When night came on and it got cooler we used to get desperately hungry, and for my part I could think of hardly anything else except the pleasant meals I used to have with you at the close of a day’s work, and the comfortable feeling that comes to one on changing into slippers, and sitting by the fire side in a cosy chair. The longing for something pleasant to eat and drink is sometimes painful. It is all part of the game though, and we must not grumble.

“Everything here seems stagnant; even the birds are quiet. Yesterday was the first time I heard a bird sing, and there is either another or the same one singing now. It is something like the English lark, only not so sweet. We have a fine view of Suvla Bay from here in which are warships of all descriptions as well as transporters and food ships. It is rather interesting also at night to see the hospital ships lit up with long rows of green lights with a red cross in the centre of all, and to see the flashes of the guns from the battleships and the answering flashes from the Turkish Artillery stationed on the hills about four miles away. In addition there are searchlights playing about and star shells lighting up the country. Sergeant Cadman, of Keighley, was wounded early in the fighting and is now convalescent at Imbros, and may join us at any time now.”

24 December 1915

NINTH SILSDEN SOLDIER KILLED

Information has been received of the death of Private Nelson Holmes, of the 6th West Riding Regiment, and son of Mr. Timothy Holmes, of 67, Aire View, Silsden, which took place on the Western Front on December 14th. Second-Lieut. F. Longdon Smith, in a letter received by his father on Monday, states:– “I am very sorry to have to write and tell you that your son Private N. Holmes, of D Company, 6th West Riding Regiment was killed about noon on the day of December 14th. He was on periscope duty at the time, and was fixing his periscope, and must have exposed himself for a second or two and was shot in the head by a sniper. He lived for a few minutes and the stretcher-bearer dressed his wound, but he was never conscious, and from the first we knew there was no hope. On behalf of the Officers, N.C.O.’s and men, I wish to express to you my deepest sympathy in your great loss. Since your son joined us out here he has always shown plenty of pluck and fearlessness, and we are all sorry to lose him.”

Private Holmes, who was only eighteen years of age on the 14th of July last, enlisted on the first day of December of last year. He served a period of training at Skipton, Derby, Doncaster, York, and Thorseby Park, leaving the latter place along with about half-a-dozen Silsden soldiers to go to the Front at the end of June last.

Private Holmes has a brother serving in the same regiment, he going out to the Front along with him. The deceased was a former member of the 1st Silsden Troop of Boy Scouts. This makes the ninth Silsden soldier who has given his life for his country.

The names of the remaining eight are Private Harold Snowden, Private Ben Hodgson, Private Isaac Wade, Private Rhodes Spence, Private W. Gill, Private Ernest Hustwick, Gunner Edward Lund, and Private Jobey Faulkner.

10 August 1917

SILSDEN – A SECOND SON KILLED

Pte. Jonas Gill, West Riding Regiment, son of Mrs. Gill, 4, St John’s Square, Silsden, has been killed in action. Pte. Gill, who was 29 years of age, enlisted in May of last year, and had been in France about nine months. Before joining the colours he was employed by Mr. Arthur Green, Low Fold Farm, Silsden. A brother, Pte. Wm. Gill, of the West Riding Regt., was killed in the Dardanelles about two years ago, while two other brothers, Ptes. A. and M. Gill, are also serving their King and Country.