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Key dates over January 1916

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Lives lost on this day: 1

26th January 1916 - Australian Soldier's praise for Battenhall Hospital

Rolling Casualty Count: 2721

At the Front:

3rd Batt: Settled down to a period of training.

10th: Back in billets at Robecq for rest and training. Bitter weather caused much sickness and Col AG Chesney was obliged by ill health to relinquish the command of the Batt he had raised and trained.

On the Home Front:

A Herefordshire surgeon has sent to the Editor of “The Church Army Review” a gift of warm woollen comforts knitted by himself, to be given to soldiers, sailors, and minesweepers, upon whose behalf the “Review” had pleaded for such articles.

Memories of Battenhall: The following extracts are from a letter received by Mrs. Bunting, Commandant of Battenhall Hospital from an Australian, a former patient, and bears testimony to the care and kindness bestowed on the wounded soldiers received there: “Dear Sister, just a few lines to let you know that at last I am at home. Battenhall is a place I can never forget, nor can I forget the splendid treatment and care which I received at the hands of everyone connected with it. When I have told my wife how I was looked after there I have seen the tears come into her eyes; and I am not ashamed to admit that whenever anyone asks me how I was treated whilst in England, I always feel my heart filling when I mention how well I was looked after in Battenhall… Now I am home with my wife and little children I don’t think they will send me back to the front, though they are talking of operating on me to straighten my jaw, but my wife doesn’t want me to have it done, so I have a month’s furlough in which to consider it. Needless to say my wife and children were delighted to see me again, and they say that they will not let me go back to the war. I have a brother, a cousin, and a brother-in-law there, so I think our family have a fair share there now.”

The North Ledbury Foxhounds: Friday, Suckley Green: Found a fox in a small patch of gorse belonging to the Masters. Had a fast twenty minutes, just touching the High Wood and back over Suckley Hill, near Black House, to ground close to where he was found; killed him. Bolted a traveller from the same earth, and, with fair law, he made the best of his way along the top of Lulsley Warren, crossed the railway just above Knightwick Station, and over the road into Croome country and Rosebury Rocks. Four couples of hounds marked a fox to ground here, and were found by the second whipper-in half an hour later, just as they had scratched their fox out and killed him unaided, unfortunately smothering one of the hunt terriers, which was running loose, during the process.

Information researched by the WWW100 team.