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Key dates over March 1917

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: 2

21st March 1917 - Prisoner of war died last August

Rolling casualty count: 5689

War Front: 2nd Batt: Batt was allotted the range all day for drill and platoon training and organization. Pte St Pier was awarded the Bronze Medal for Military Valour.

3rd Batt: Batt marched to Outtersteene area.

4th Batt: Batt training on the Y ground near Quesnoy. AllCoys were in the attack. The advanced guard practised on the way out.

2/8th Batt: Men working on the craters at the crossroads. 15 men evacuated sick.

10th Batt: Batt moved to Meteren.

SMD RFA: HQ moved to railway trucks at la Chappelette. A Coy came into the section in Eterpigny. All wagon lines moved forward to Station Yard at La Chappelette.

Yeomanry/Cavalry: The reg marched up to Rafa where it camped within the boundaries of the turks for the 1st time since Gallipoli.

The races took place on the Rafa battlefield that day. Capt MC Albright was seriously injured when his horse hit a guide post. He sustained concussion and was absent 2 months.

Home Front: Abstinence from Potatoes: Lord Devonport has issued the following appeal from the Ministry of Food: The stock of potatoes in the country is unusually short and no further supplies will be obtainable for the next three months. Had prices been left to the ordinary operation of supply and demand, they would now be higher than they have been for the last 30 years. Prices have been fixed so as to keep potatoes within the reach of the poorer classes, to whom they are a necessity of life. Potatoes are not a necessity to the well-to-do, who can command a greater variety of food. Many patriotic and considerate persons are already abstaining from the use of potatoes, and I confidently appeal to all who can to do likewise, so that such supplies as remain may be available for those who need them most.

Yeoman Prisoner’s Death: Official news has just been received that Lance-Corpl. W. Palmer, Yeomanry, who was taken prisoner by the Turks last Easter Sunday, died from fever some time last August at Bozanti. He was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. James Palmer, 30, Foregate Street.

Worcester Soldier Ill: Pte. A. Harrison, of Boughton Street, St. John’s, who belongs to one of the county battalions, has been invalided home from the Somme, suffering from trench fever, and is now at the Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital, Dundee. He is expecting to visit Worcester shortly for 10 days, and then to rejoin his battalion at the front. [see 23rd]

A Worcester Soldier: Mrs. E. Rea, of 7, Russell Terrace, Tybridge Street, has received the news that her son, Pte. S.G. Rea (22), of the Worcestershires has been killed in action in France. She was at first advised by the Records Office that her son was in hospital wounded, but later a comrade wrote saying that Rea had been killed, and the writer had helped to bury him. Before the war Pte. Rea was employed by Messrs. Ebenezer Baylis’s, enlisting about three months before Christmas. He had only been in France a short time.

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team