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Key dates over August 1916

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Lives lost on this day: 7

7th August 1916 - Military funeral for Joseph Smith, drowned in the Severn

1st Batt: Heavy enemy shelling doing much damage to Bethune.

2nd Batt: Batt assembled at 1.30am and marched to the trenches at High Wood, relieving the 6th Seaforth Highlanders. Batt had a busy day deepening the shallow trenches.

4th Batt: Working parties improving the defences of the Crater during the day. 2 patrols out at night and reconnoitred north of Foresters Lane with a view to making a raid on the german Front Line.

7th Batt: Bathing for the rest of the men. Major Whitfield took over as 2nd in Command of Batt.

8th Batt: Patrol by C Coy to enemy`s wire, 2men killed and 4 wounded.

10th Batt: Batt moved to Longpre and entrained for Bailleul at 2.0pm. Men then marched to Drancourt where billets were in tents.

On the Home Front:

Military Funeral at Astwood Cemetery – The funeral of Joseph William Smith, sailor who drowned in the Severn on Thursday in remarkable circumstances took place this afternoon and was attended with military and naval honours. It was attended also with demonstrations as remarkable in its way, as the circumstances of his death. There were hundreds of people (one estimate placed the number at 2,000) present at the cemetery. Along the route people lined the roads three of four deep and they thronged the cemetery.

Suicide by Strangulation – Pershore Workhouse Inmate’s End – On Monday evening Mr G Foster, Coroner held an inquest into the death of Charles Lait, 74, Labourer, an inmate of the Pershore Workhouse, who committed suicide. Mr A Haines, Master of the Workhouse, said that Lait was admitted an inmate in November 1915. Witness did not know much about him. He did not even know if he was a married man. There was no record kept of the men who came into the House as Lait did. On July 27th Lait left the Workhouse without leave, but was brought back the following day by Miss Reynolds of Little Comberton, which village Lait had lived in. Witness said that Lait had a fight with other men in the House, who did not know what the fight was about, but found Lait on the floor. Lait had recently said he was not well and was under the delusion that he had internal trouble.

Information researched by the WWW100 team.