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Key dates over May 1918

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Lives lost on this day: 2

24th May 1918 - Railway Fatality Near Evesham

Rolling casualty count: 9738

War Front:

1st Batt: Batt moved to Brigade Support and relieved the 2nd Sherwood Foresters. Two Coys were sent to Berryauvre under the orders of the 25th Infantry Brigade for tactical reasons.

2nd Batt: Batt marched at 5am via Poperinghe and St Jean fer Biezen to a new camp with good conditions. All men very wet from the march. MO Capt Boag RAMC relieved by new MO, Lt MAC Datson.

3rd Batt: Batt in training at Vandeuil.

4th Batt: At 2am our special Coy RE liberated over 1000 drums of gas by projectors on targets in front of our posts. Z Coy was relieved from the Front Line by 2nd Hants and moved to Swartenbrouck, relieving a Coy of 1st Border Reg. An untrained draft of 54 OR joined the Batt from ASC and remained in the Transport Lines.

Home Front:

City Police Court – A Bad Case – Margaret Grimshaw, 17, Dolday, was charged with being drunk in the New Road. P C Sparkes said defendant was so drunk that it was necessary to take her to the Infirmary in an ambulance. The Chief Constable cited two other cases of drunkenness against the defendant. Ald. Cook in imposing a fine of 10s, said that it was the Court’s usual maximum, but the Bench were seriously considering the raising of this maximum, as had been done in many courts. Up to the present month nearly as many cases of drunkenness had been before the Bench as during the whole of last year.

Railway Fatality Near Evesham – Ganger Killed – Mrs Mary Pethard, The Leasome, Offenham, said that the deceased was her husband and he was 66 years of age and a ganger in the employ of Great Western Railway Company. On Saturday he left home to go to work at Honeybourne early in the morning and was in his usual health. He came home just before two o’clock and said “let me sit down, I’ve had a fall, it pains me across the back and elbow”. He took his boots off and had a cup of tea and sat down very quietly and seemed ill and in pain. He afterwards told her he had been knocked down by a railway engine.

Information researched by The Worcestershire World War 100 team