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In September 2020, Haydn Boothroyd ” discovered ” this website and contacted me. As a Netherthongian , who had left the village in 1956 to go to University, the site enabled him to travel back in time to his youth. Reading the various chapters acted as a catalyst and he started to pass on many of his memories of the village as well as supplying great photographs. Initially the information was about his grandfather, John Edward, who had been a master baker at the Deanhouse Institution and later on had his own bakery in Outlane.

All the memories and photos he sent I put into the appropriate chapters, but I then decided , as Haydn continued to supply more information, that a separate chapter of the three generations comprising his grandad, his father and himself, would be more appropriate. There will be some duplication as I will include information from other chapters.

The following photograph, taken in 1947-48, shows the three generations at Blackpool ( see the tram in the background). Haydn, aged 11-12, is on the left with Grandad, John Edward, in the centre, and father William on the right. Haydn told me that he still has his grandad’s walking stick .

I will start with Grandad John Edward Boothroyd. He was born in 1883, probably in Almondbury, and died in 1955 aged 72. He worked at Deanhouse Institution as a master baker, see photograph below ( 1910s-1920s). He is the gentleman in the middle, sitting on a box with arms crossed, surrounded by other workers. Next to him is a young apprentice and the man on the far left with his cap and watch was probably the foreman. I have included an enlargement of John below the main photograph.

In October 1915, John made an application requesting permission to join HM Forces and the request was referred to the Workhouse Guardians Committee. I could not find any report on what  decision was reached but, in my chapter on soldiers who fought and survived WW1, his name does not appear, which indicates the Committee managed to make a case for his exemption.

His grandson, Haydn, said that at some date after the war, his grandfather was the owner of a bakehouse in Outlane and Haydn sent me his memories of the bakery.

  ” I can’t vouch for the previous owners of the bakery in the 30s, nor do I know when “Baker Boothroyd” took over. Growing up through the 40s, it seemed always to have been in the family. And in those days we never asked questions and the “old ones” didn’t talk a lot. I remember loaves, brown and white, baking in the oven – coke fired. Also teacakes – plain and currant and hot cross buns at Easter. With a weighed portion of dough, grandad  could mould a teacake, with a rotary motion, in each hand. The doughs were allowed to leaven before being baked. I can still feel the heat as the oven doors were opened to see how a batch was getting on. Perhaps they were put back for a bit or moved to a higher oven to finish off. Currant pasty, jam pasty and biscuit cake were the sweets of the day. Cream was not readily available. Bread rationing was still on in those days and I can remember going round the village and Deanhouse selling bread from a large flat basket and cutting the coupons from the ration books. The bakery also made meat and potato pies, with a crust, in white basins which we took down to “the mill” ( Deanhouse) for workers’ lunches. My Auntie Kathleen ( nee Boothroyd ) worked in the bakery until its closure. Later she served in the Co-op, mainly in the drapery section and she was a member of the WI. At this time in the 50s, Pontefracts in Holmfirth was a somewhat larger bakery and when Baker Boothroyd retired he sold his concern to them.”

The following photograph, probably dating from the 1930s, shows John holding the reins of a horse. The location is unknown but Haydn has vague memories that his grandad owned ” a leg in a racehorse ” but was never sure whether it was true or simply ‘family badinage’.

The above photograph is of John Edward Boothroyd, in the early 1950s, just outside the front door of Fox Farm where he lived. The little lad is Edward Roebuck, who was four to five years at the time. The contraption on the right was a hand pump which raised water from a well. Haydn said he used to be fascinated at the time, because after heavy rain water would appear in the cellar and climb 18″or so up the cellar steps and it was lovely and clear.

The young boy with John unfortunately drowned in New Dam. The report is in my chapter titled ” The family history of the Roebucks ” but I have reproduced it here because of the Boothroyd connection.

“A family death  occurred in September 1952 that shocked the whole village. A six year old boy, James Edward Roebuck, son of Mr. & Mrs. John Roebuck of Ox Lane Farm was drowned in New Dam. An unsuccessful attempt to save him was made by Norman Hobson of Holmroyd Nook Farm who dived into the water several times without being able to locate him.

Along with his brother, John Keith, they had been playing near the dam and, when he fell into the water, John ran home across the fields to tell his mother. Mrs.Roebuck and a neighbour, Mrs.Eveline Kaye, of Moor Lane who ran to the dam but could not see the boy. Mr. Gerard Hobson and Mr. Norman Hobson had also run to the dam and with Mr. Albert Briggs of Sands Farm tried to find the boy using a hay rake and a farm drag. Mr. Norman Hobson stripped off and dived into the water several times but as the water was very dirty he could not find the boy. In the meantime Mrs. Kaye had run to the village to ring for the police. When they arrived they eventually recovered the boy after dragging for two hours. Haydn remembers it was a Saturday afternoon and he had been to ‘Town’ and got off the bus at the top of the hill where the road narrows. In those days there was a lane which led behind the farm , across two fields, to the dam. It was obvious from all the vehicles that something had happened and of course it transpired that Edward had died.

At the inquest the District Coroner, Mr.B.Little, recorded a verdict of ” Death by misadventure “.  Sergeant I. Williamson said that he was present when the body was recovered and that the New Dam was on the property of Messrs. Thomas Dyson and Sons, Deanhouse Mills, and was private property with no public right of way. He estimated that the depth of water where James fell in was about 20ft. The Coroner concluded that Mr. Hobson had made a very commendable effort to rescue the child and that it would be quite improper for him ( the Coroner ) to make any suggestion for added safety precautions as the dam was on private property.“

Haydn came across a family tree which must have come from the effects of his Auntie Kathleen and it shows Grandad had two younger brothers: The eldest was Crowther (b.1884)who lived in Berry Brow and had a son, George, who was married but had no children. In his day, George was an accomplished cricketer (bowler) playing for a number of clubs in the Huddersfield League and at that time a club was allowed one paid,” professional”, player and George was one such. I knew about him by reputation and can recall looking for his performances in the Huddersfield Examiner. The second brother was Charles Alfred ( 1890-1959) who lived in a lane in Deanhouse and had a son and five daughters.

William Boothroyd was born in 1904 and registered in Almondbury. On his birth certificate, his father wrote as his profession – ‘Bread baker, Journeyman’. In the photograph below, which dates from early 1910s, young William is on the left of the top row next to the girl with long black hair. Looks like there are seven teachers in the photo and the five children in the middle dressed in army uniform are intriguing.

Haydn’s mother, Nellie Wilkinson, was born in 1903 , and in the school photograph she is in the second row, 4th. from the left. The boy in the middle of the bottom row is holding a board saying ‘Netherthong Nat. School. Group A. The first photograph is an enlargement.

T. Dyson was a well-known and respected inhabitant of Netherthong and he gave lantern slides on a wide range of topics and used various local friends to operate the lanterns. In 1928 he gave a show at the Methodist Church titled “All about Yorkshire ” and William was one of his lanternists.

The Home Guard was operational from 1940 to 1944 and was set up by the British Army. It’s nickname Dad’s Army was due to the average age of local volunteers who signed up and were ineligible for military service usually because of age. They were originally called Local Defence Volunteers or LDV, and their role was to provide a local defence in case of an invasion. There was a Holmfirth Home Guard. Haydn Boothroyd told me his father, William, was a member from its beginning until it was disbanded – he did not pass his service medical exam because of severe varicose veins. The ‘battery’ was in a field alongside the lane behind the Ford Inn. His father told him he could throw a hand grenade the furthest in the squad. The photograph shows the volunteers with William on the far left in the top row. Others named in the photo are  Hildred Dyson ; Frank Dickinson ( officer) -( he was born in 1882 and died in 1958. He served in WW1 and achieved fame for singing to the troops in France. His name is on the WW1 Roll of Honour in the Parish Church).; Stanley Hepworth ; Clarence Daniel ; Stanley Turton : Harold Hinchliffe 😕 Ellis. Mr. Roberts ( he could be Herbert Roberts born in 1884 who was a private in WW1 and his name appears on the Roll of Honour in the Parish Church ). The second photo is an enlargement of William.

Once a year the Netherthong Co-Operative Society had a day outing for staff, committee members and their wives. Invariably they went to Blackpool or Bridlington. The photograph above was taken in the late 40s/early 50s and include both William and his wife Nellie. William is second in from the right on the back row wearing a dark suit. The fellow in the front with his hands crossed was Phillip Dixon, who with his wife lived in the house that was the Methodist Chapel at the bottom of Outlane. Nellie, with glasses, is just behind Phillip and on her side in the white cardigan, peeping round is Aunt Kathleen, who until her death lived in the big house at the top of New Road with the gable facing onto the War Memorial. I have also included two enlargements of the photograph showing William and Nellie in more detail.

The following photograph was probably taken at a Co-operative outing to Skegness. William and Nellie are in the front. Aunt Kathleen, William’s sister is walking behind him with her friend, Sheila Sykes. The gentleman on the right is Arthur Wild, who was the manager of the Co-op. The second photograph shows William and Nellie on holiday when the temperature was obviously much warmer( no coats ).

The next photograph shows father William and young Haydn on holiday c.1949. It is very interesting to note the formal ‘holiday ‘ attire with Haydn wearing a school-cap and tie.

In the 1949 Co-op Society report , it recorded that William was one of the three retiring committee members who were re-elected, which explains why he and Nellie went on the outings, There was no other reference to him. Haydn had a memory of “stock taking” at the Co – op which he thought took place in the spring – probably in time for the end of the financial year. The Co – op closed over the week – end. His father seemed to “draw” the drapery every year, and each item , with a price, got listed in a little book – thimbles, reels of cotton, vests, pillow cases, tea cloths, you name it, it was there. Then came the calculations ; 20 x 3/6, etc. etc.; half pennies and there may even have been some items priced in farthings. Then the adding up! Quite a carry on. One tried to be accurate but it was tricky adding up the pence.

Haydn Boothroyd was educated in the village school and has shared some of his memories of his time there. “I’ve been reading  the School chapter, and Margaret Lax’s account of her years there tallies absolutely with what I recall, with one exception. In my day the school garden was a “going  concern”, all neat and tidy producing lots of vegetables. One lunch time, perhaps in my last year, a group of we lads had been sent to collect pea sticks ( on Miry Lane) and were walking back along Giles Street waving them in the air. Later in the afternoon, we were summoned by the Headteacher, Mr. Hinchcliffe, and caned for unseemly conduct and bringing the school into disrepute.

In 1941, and through all my time, Miss Wilson was the reception/infants teacher and Miss Johnson took Standards 1 & 2.

I had forgotten the Headteacher was a cricketer, but I now recall playing rounders in the yard and him “slogging” the ball into the rough ground alongside The Cricketers. In the winter we used to make slides down the playground from the high wall towards the school. Health and Safety eat your heart out! I don’t remember any broken bones or anyone stopping us from doing it.” ( Further to Haydn’s comment that no-one was damaged by sliding down the school yard in the frost, Margaret Lax wrote that she got a scar on her chin from one of the slides. Someone took me to Dr Meyer’s in Holmfirth, and he stitched me up – no anaesthetic in those days!)

The headmaster, Mr. Hinchliffe, was interested in amateur dramatics outside school and he “penned” playlets for the school concerts. The photograph below was taken in Dyson’s garden by Bray & Sons, the Holmfirth photographic studio, and shows Haydn playing the role of a ‘photographer’setting up a shoot of five fellow pupils. From the left they were Beryl Hinchliffe ( headmaster’s daughter ), Joan Hoyle, Beth Dufton, Ian Lancaster and Audrey Wood.

The second photograph , also taken in Dyson’s garden. is another playlet with Haydn in the starring role. He is all dressed up and wearing a bowler hat and surrounded by six ‘ladies’ with babies in prams and cots. From the left they are : Marie Singleton ; Yvonne Hinchliffe with pram ; Barbara Singleton ; Mary Buckley ; Beth Powell? ; Jean Beaumont with cot.

The photograph below has been in my possession for over seven year and Haydn was able to identify three of the fellows in it. On the far left was Morley Mallinson, who lived in Deanhouse. Third from the right was his uncle, Hubert Wilkinson, who later in life lived at 3, St.Anne’s Square, Outlane. Harold Wimpenny was on the far right.

Haydn supplied the following photograph, dated 1934, which showed four generations. The lady with the V-neck top is Haydn’s paternal grandmother, Jane Boothroyd, the wife of John the baker. The elderly lady in the centre is his great grandmother, Mrs. Woodcock, who lived in Holmebridge. The lady on the right in the flowered dress is my grandmother’s daughter ,Renee, my father’s elder sister and my aunt. She’s the mother of Derek, the baby, in the photo who is my eldest cousin.

The Deanhouse Mill was the major employer for the villagers , and the history of all the Mills in the area has its own chapter. Haydn has many memories about his family and relatives involvement with the mill. His father was a “tenterer”, which involved drying the pieces after they had been scoured. When the Mill closed, he ended up doing night work at a mill in Meltham. His mother had been a warper, readying the long threads to go onto the loom. My (half) brother was an ordinary weaver at this time and later became a skilled pattern weaver and my uncle (mother’s brother), Hubert Wilkinson, was  in charge of the department where the warp and weft were brought together to be woven on a loom . So at one stage there were four family members working in the mill.

Haydn mentions David Wilkinson as great uncle David ( brother of his grandfather Tom), who had been a hero of WW1, laying down his life for his country. He is remembered on the Roll of Honour in the village War memorial.

The photograph below is of a group of Deanhouse Mill ‘menders’. These were usually highly skilled ladies who mended any flaws, which they could detect from the weaving process when either the weft or warp threads broke. The photograph was taken outside the scouring department – it and the tenter room were either side of the boiler house to make maximum use of the hot water in the scouring process and the heat for drying the cloth. Haydn’s father is on the right with Mrs. Morley Mallinson sitting on his knee. The man in the centre with a cloth cap was Edgar Beardsell, who worked in the scouring department. The lady kneeling in the front wearing black overalls was Cissie Wild, sister of John Arthur Wild who managed the Co-Op.

The following account of Haydn’s holiday memories may ring a bell with people of a certain age who lived in Netherthong and the surrounding villages and remembered the Holiday Week.

As I recall holidays for us were a “must”. We always went away in the summer, perhaps it had to do with “recharging the batteries”. The week in August was governed by the Deanhouse mill closure which, in turn, was linked to the Huddersfield holiday week. Invariably we went to Morecambe one year or Bridlington the next. (My mother didn’t like Scarborough – “it was too hilly”). Day trips tended to be to Blackpool. In those days Baddeleys and Castles were the two coach companies in Holmfirth – we mostly used Baddeleys. Having found or been recommended a good boarding house, we went back year after year. With full board, you got a midday meal but were not expected to use your room on a rainy day. We always seemed “to get lucky” – good summers. Having settled in on Saturday lunchtime, the thing to do in the afternoon was to book for the various shows, which were on that summer, so you could be sure to get in – Arthur Askey, George Formby, Norman Evans, Albert Modley, Sandy Powell, Vic Oliver, whoever was on that season. My memory may be playing me false, but one year I think we saw Laurel & Hardy in Morecambe. Those were the days when a comedian could last a whole season with one routine. There was also a huge lido where the “Miss Morecambe “ competition was held.

Bridlington did not have the same range of venues but they did have the “Bridlington Belle”, a boat which did trips across the bay to Flamborough Head and the sea birds on Bempton Cliffs. The crossing could be quite choppy at times.

In the late 40s Walls ice cream was just becoming available again and I can remember buying blocks wrapped in paper and wafers to put the ice cream in.

Blackpool Tower Circus was in its pomp in those days. Two performances stick in my memory, on one occasion whilst the clowns were amusing us, attendants built a big cage around the ring before the lions came out with their “tamer”. Another year it was elephants – placing a foot on the head of the “trainer”. On another occasion the ring floor dropped, water poured in and we were treated to a water spectacular finale.

Haydn mentions his Aunt Kathleen, who was his father’s youngest sister and she appears in many of the photographs in this chapter.. She was married to Bill Woffenden, whose best man at his wedding was Jim Ellis, well known in the village for making walking sticks ( see article in the chapter ‘Portraits of people and events’). The photograph below , dated 1947, is of Kathleen’s wedding with her guests identified. From the back left : Emer Brook, groom’s brother in law, husband of Leila and father of Sheila : Jim Ellis, best man : Bill Woffenden, groom : Kathleen Boothroyd, bride : John Edward Boothroyd, bride’s father : William Boothroyd, bride’s brother. From the front left :Sheila Brook, groom’s niece : Jenny Hine, nine years old, bride’s niece : Leila Brook, groom’s sister, wife of Emer and mother of Sheila : Jane Boothroyd, wife of John and bride’s mother : Helen Bray, bride’s friend.

The next photograph shows Grandad and Dad with a studio portrait of them in their wedding suits with button holes.

Below are several more photographs of Aunt Kathleen. The first one, dated October 1942, was taken five years before she married. The second photo is dated October 1943.

She was obviously well-loved and close to Haydn’s mother as shown in the next two photographs. The first, from about 1937, is of Haydn’s mother holding him with Aunt Kathleen standing by her side. The second photo, taken in spring/summer shows the two friends sitting on a bench by the roadside, part way up Wolfstone Heights ( The bench is still there in 2020 ).

Kathleen had a deserved reputation for the quality of her cakes, probably learnt from her father when she worked in the bakery until its closure, and the photograph below from the Vicarage Party in July 1979, shows her on the left at her cake stall. She served in the Co-op and was a member of the WI.

The photograph above is of a very young Haydn.. He is about 18 months old sitting in a wheelbarrow in a field at the rear of Fox Cottage. In the background is Sands Farm, which seems to have changed little in 80 years. Haydn has added a few more memories of his time when he left the village.

After leaving  junior school I attended  Holme Valley Grammar School, as it was  called in those days, I left Netherthong in 1956 to go to University in London – the London School of Economics from 1956 to 1959. It was a major cultural shock to   leap from Moor Lane to the Festival Hall, West End and all the other attractions in London.  I spent 1959-60 at Reading University studying for a Diploma in Education which is where I met Jill who was on her way back south having studied French at Leeds. We married in October 1961 (half term!) and lived in Morden. During the 60s I taught at three London boys’ schools. Inner London had only recently “gone comp.” and the traditions of former grammar schools still persisted and teaching was no problem. I was introduced to marking geography examination papers for both Cambridge University Overseas School Certificate and the Metropolitan Regional Examinations Board for C.S.E. In 1970, I was successful in filling a new post with the East Midlands Regional Examinations Board here in Nottingham where my family have been ever since, through the growth of C.S.E. and then the establishment of G.C.S.E. Our three children were educated here and went on to higher education.

I retired early at Christmas 1995 and have since been involved with setting up a local Probus Club and a branch of U3A. A daughter lives in the South Lakes and we occasionally, in summer, cross the Pennines via Holmfirth having lunch at The Bridge Inn. I cannot get over how small the villages now seem with all the cars about – they were not built for the age of traffic!

2018 was the centenary of the end of World War 1 and I carried out extensive research into trying to identify the names of soldiers with a Netherthong connection, who had fought in that war and survived. The chapter titled “Netherthong- details of soldiers who fought and survived WW1” was the result. I managed to find 163 survivors, one of whom was Norman Smith and I was fortunate to find a few details about him and the fact that he was awarded a medal for bravery. Then, in January 2020, I was contacted by his grandson who sent me some photographs and ephemera. He also mentioned that his grandfather had written his memoirs about his experiences during the war. This was sufficient justification for me to give Norman his own chapter.

  He was born in Scholes on 17 July 1895 . He moved to Upper Oldfield ( in the Parish of Netherthong ) sometime in 1901 which must have been after the date of the 1901 Census ( 31 March 1901 ), because that Census shows him still a resident in Scholes. He stayed at Oldfield and, until he was 15, his schooling years, ( as evidenced by his 1908 attendance certificate), were at Netherthong National School. When he was 15 years old in 1910, he must have moved away because in the 1911 Census his family is shown as residing at Golcar. This explains why his gold watch, citing his valour/MM, is inscribed as from the residents of Golcar. Because of those years in Netherthong, his name was included on the Parish Church ROH and listed as a Corporal in the 1/5 Battalion of the Duke of Wellington 49th. West Riding Regiment. He enlisted as a private on 19th.December 1914 and went to France in June 1915. During his service he was promoted to Corporal. When he was 21, he was awarded the Military Medal and ribbon for gallantly rescuing a comrade on the battlefield under fire. After the war he lived in Longwood, Linthwaite and Cowlersley/ Milnsbridge. The Golcar District Heroes’ Fund recognized his meritorious conduct by presenting him with a solid gold ten- guinea English- made watch ( see photo below ). In circa 1978 at the age of 83 he wrote  about his experiences as a Corporal in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment and these memoirs are held as Catalogue No. KX212 in Kirklees West Yorkshire Archive Service. The photographs and ephemera were supplied by his grandson ( January 2020).

In June 1986 the Huddersfield Daily Examiner carried an article about Norman’s memoirs of his experiences during the war. As they filled about 50 pages, the reporter, obviously limited by how many column inches he was allowed , used a combination of what he considered key points as well as quoting sections of Norman’s own words. There are a number of anomalies in the report particularly over dates.

I’ve included the article below.

The horrendous conditions endured by soldiers in the trenches of the battlegrounds of France during WW1 are graphically portrayed in the memoirs of a Huddersfield man. The writings of Mr. Norman Smith have only just come to light four years after his death at the age of 84. They were discovered by his daughter, Mary, at their family home for the last 58 years in Cowlersley. For four years before his death Norman had chronicled his memories of WW1. He was born in Scholes in 1895 and was the son of a weaver. He enlisted in December 1914 and during the next four years he was to witness death and destruction on a terrible scale and survived the battle of the Somme.

After only a few weeks basic training Norman left Southampton aboard a paddle steamer bound for France as a member of 2/5 Duke of Wellington Regiment .His pay was 1/- per day. After further training including guidance in the use of gas masks, he was sent to the front line trenches. He described his first night on sentry duty in a trench only 25 yards from the German lines. ” The trenches were dug about two feet into the ground with the rest of the depth being made by building sandbags up to about five feet high. Sentry duty, during the hours of darkness, was two hours on and two hours off during which time the infantrymen were expected to grab some sleep. Any show of smoke from the trenches would have brought shelling from the Germans and the men fried bacon and boiled water using “smokeless fuel.” Norman described the trenches being strewn with bodies and parts of bodies and yet men were expected to drink water that had collected in shell holes.

One of the communication trenches was named Colne Valley and it was whilst travelling down this trench that Norman experienced a mortar attack. ” You could hear the thud and then see them coming over, two of three in the air at the same time. They made a very large report. Going down the trench, pieces of timber could be seen marked ‘ unknown soldier buried here’. At one place a pair of leather jackboots were showing in the side of a trench-the feet of a German soldier. In the aftermath of such an attack, stretcher bearers attempted to reach the wounded – they had to crawl full length through the smashed trenches under file from German snipers. Another threat was that posed by the whizz-bangs, small artillery shells, fired at the trenches. They travelled at a very fast rate, the shells arriving over our trenches before we heard the report from the German guns.”

Norman spent this period of the war near Ypres with four day stints on the front line. When the rains arrived and conditions worsened, some trenches were two foot under water and others were just streams and the men were issued with thigh boots. ” We had a very tough time during October, November and December 1915 although casualties were light but sickness was very heavy and, at the end of December, when we were relieved, the platoons were less than 20 men strong. To ward off trench foot, soldiers would rub whale oil on their feet.” After surviving the ordeals of Ypres, Norman and his colleagues began to join what was described to them as ‘a new army’. Their destination was the Somme. He described the preparations made for the Battle of the Somme. Two months before the attack it was quite obvious what was coming and was openly talked about by the officers, NCOs and men. Late on the night of January 30 1916, Norman, whose job was company runner, set out with his battalion in full marching order and carrying two days rations. Their first stop was in a trench near Aveloy Wood which was about one mile from the front lines.

About midnight on July 1 with the battle now raging, Norman got orders to move to near Thriepval. “The roads were choked with artillery and streams of captured German soldiers , many of them wounded. One German , laying on a stretcher, asked me very politely if I would give him a drink of water, which I did. He told me he had lived in London and looked old enough to be my father”. On July 2, stories began circulating of heavy Allied losses. One of the messages he had to relay said the 147 Brigade will not attack. Attack cancelled. For the next seven weeks, without a break, Norman was among those who held the front line. Nights were spent repairing the trenches and burying the dead. As fighting continued, B Company was reduced from 150 to 28. Relief came when Norman, now a corporal, was instructed to return to England and resume work at David Browns.

He was a civilian once again until April 19 1919, when he received orders to return to his unit in France. He was sent to join the 10th. Duke of Wellington Regiment, not in France but in Padua. He describes heavy fighting and loss of life and it was whilst he was in Italy that the Armistice was signed. His demobilisation came in early March and he returned to Huddersfield. Most of the rest of his life he worked at John Crowthers in Milnsbridge. He was awarded the Military Medal. Norman did not want his son to fight in WW2 and he went to work in the pits as a Bevin Boy.

His memoirs are titled :

Memoirs of Norman Smith MM, 1895-1980.

5th. Duke of Wellington West Riding Regiment and

18th. Duke of Wellington 23rd. Division.

They are far too long for me to include them in their entirety in this chapter so instead I have selected paragraphs in Norman’s own words that are especially interesting. At the end of his writings, he added what was effectively an addendum titled -Notes on different topics. They are so poignant that I have copied them and listed them after his memoirs.

“ During October, I was sent on a few days instructions on the Mills bomb. This was at a farm near Poperinghe. Before the Mills bomb, we had a bomb made out of empty jam tins, very poor. These were ignited by striking the fuse on a piece of sandpaper tied on the back of ones hand. During October and November our Colonel left us, it was said the trouble was nerves. Col. Headlam ( later on Major General ) was very strict, he started to smarten us up ( we needed it ). He noted a large number of hat badges were missing and gave the order that they had to be replaced. After this, anyone losing his cap-badge must go in front of him to explain the reason ( see photo of cap badge ). We were now doing more training, but also plenty of working parties. During October 1915 the rains came. Trenches were flooded , communication trenches became streams. The front line, in some places, was 2 feet deep in mud and water. The dug-outs were out of use. I think we went into the front line twice in those conditions. Afterwards we received thigh boots and the frontline period was reduced to 48 hours. There were saps of ours which went up to 25 yards from the German trenches. These were now withdrawn and the front line was manned by posts of platoon strength about 30 yards apart. The first time we went in with the thigh boots, we drew them at a place behind the Canal Bank, changed into these waders ( in the rain ) and then made our way over the top, as communication trenches were not usable. We carried over our own boots with us , and afterwards found the platoon we were relieving, who were in a short stretch of trench, perhaps one foot deep in mud and water.“

“ On the day of the gas attack, which was on December 19, 1915, we were taken up to the Canal Bank. Our gas mask had now been improved, being a kind of bag made out of flannel, with the eye piece made of mica, and with a mouthpiece of rubber, to enable one to breathe out. The open end of the bag was tucked into the neck of the tunic. They were very uncomfortable although better than the other two types which we had. We passed through the hamlet of Brelin, although about two miles from the Canal Bank, it had still ladies who sold coffee, tea and biscuits. In this hamlet there was a smell of gas ( musty hay ) and we fixed gas masks, took them off after getting through the place. Only on this particular day did we go to the Canal in daylight. We had to crawl a certain distance before we reached the Canal safely. A number of gas casualties were laid out behind the Canal Bank, perhaps waiting for darkness to remove them. The only people I saw attending to them were two padres, some of them appeared to be very sick. We had to move on and man the reserve line on the top of the Canal Bank. I think we stayed there two days and then went up to the front line. Was in the line on Christmas day 1915, very quiet, bread and cheese for dinner. 49th. Division was relieved after Christmas and marched to Naours for a rest and refit. I visited the new Talbot House at Poperinghe, must have been one of the very first to do so, would be in the early part of December 1915 and I remember signing the Visitors’ book. One amusing thing was when we asked for a book to read, we had to hand over our caps. These were returned when we took the book back”.

“ It was very tiring marching to Naours, not very fit after all those weeks in the mud and water. While on the Canal Bank sometime during November, a rather amusing incident happened to me and my friend Claude. We were in the Canal Bank in reserve, and we two were detailed to take a dixie of rice pudding to the men holding the fron line. This would be about 10pm. There was no communication trench we could use, so had to go over the top and find the platoon. We were on the extreme left of the BEF where the front crossed the Canal, the French troops being on our left. We had to cross the canal by the bridge on our extreme left and this could only be used in darkness, as it was under observation by the Germans during daylight. At night they frequently turned their machine guns on the bridge. The procedure was to wait ( undercover ) until the Germans traversed the bridge with the gun, and when the gun stopped to get across as quick as possible. This we did but the Germans broke their sequence this time and turned the gun on the bridge when we were very near the centre. It was a very low bridge , no tow rails. We dropped down at once, the dixie fell into the canal. I had my head over the offside of the bridge and my cap fell into the canal ( steel helmets had not yet come ). As soon as the machine gun stopped, we ran back to the end of the bridge, where we had come from and where there was protection. Then we had a discussion on what to do, decided to go back to our dug-out and say no more about it. Never heard any more about the rice pudding, but I had lost my cap and worse still, my cap badge. I received a new cap without any problem but had to go in front of our CO about the badge, told them the truth. He never asked any word about the pudding, gave me four days C.B. and paid for a new cap badge. “

” One officer, whom I went out with acted rather strangely, playing with a Mills bomb and suggesting he would like to blow himself up. A few days later he was taken away ( mind ). It was during one of these patrols, that we came across two German soldiers and took letters we found on them, which I still possess. ( See photograph at the end of this report ). These bodies must have been lying there for several months, according to the dates on these letters. When relieved from this area we went back several miles to a village called Reincheval, reinforcements arrived and we soon found out what our next job was to be.”

” During the last of the four days, we were completely exhausted. Food had been short, raining all the time, and the Platoon Sergeant, one of the old brigade seemed to have drunk what little there was of the rum ration. On that 4th. day, I did something I regretted. After telling the Sergeant that I was going down a dug-out to have a few hours sleep before darkness, the dug-out was very deep and was joined at the bottom by the steps to another dug-out. The other one was for officers. The one I was in was for signallers. The dug-out was full of soldiers, did not see any from our platoon. I very quickly crawled under a wire bed to have a nap before the Sergeant came to waken me, but at that moment the new company officer came in with a revolver in his hand, turning everyone out except the signallers. He did not see me but I was out and up the steps as soon as he had gone back. I never saw anything like this before, but the officers spent a lot of their time in that dug-out. What a difference this might have made as I was given the Military Medal and received promotion.”

This last paragraph deals with Norman finally going on the leave he was due and avoiding the continuing carnage on the Somme, spending a year in civvy-street before being mobilised again and going to fight in Italy.

“In November 1916, I was expecting my 1st. leave home since coming out in the Spring of 1915. I was certainly overdue, I had not complained but our local press in Huddersfield took up the case and probably this came to the notice of our Adjutant. Order soon came I was to go on the next leave. Finally in March 1917, had to report to base and catch the ration train on its return journey and report to 49 Div. Base orderly room. I had to wait two days and then had to report to HQ, Huddersfield. After a few daysI received my transfer to Class W Army Reserves and was back working as a civilian at the firm ( David Browns ) which I had left when I joined the army. Carried on working there until April 1918 when I received telegram ‘ Mobilisation of Class W Army Reserves ‘. I had to report at once and proceed to unit in France. I reported to the Reserves Battalion at Ripon, and I was sent out to our 10th. Battalion Duke of Wellington Regiment, 23rd. Division. The train journey through France took five days , arrived at Padua ( Italy ). The front seemed very quiet compared with France. I left at the end of February 1919 for demobilisation. The band played us off with ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Tears came into my eyes, but they were tears of joy, and I did not want to see the army again. I was demobbed early in March. Work was waiting for me.”

” I have had a good life, plenty of work and good health, happy family and am now nearly 80 years.

Addenda.

LIVING CONDITIONS. Very bad winter for infantry, particularly in the trenches, when out on rest during the winter, I remember sleeping on a concrete floor, just one blanket between you and the concrete. In February 16, we were sleeping in huts near Bousingcourt. The huts were boarded and covered with roofing felt. The sides were a wooden framework with green canvas with dirt floors. These were new huts.

FOOD. As regards myself, always on the short side- I suppose I had a good appetite, not easy to satisfy mostly bacon and bread for breakfast. Dinner nearly always stew, sometimes we might have a joint chiefly mutton. Sometimes rice pudding( not much sugar or milk ), sometimes we might have hard biscuits softened up and mixed with raisins.

TEA. Chiefly bread and margarine with jam or cheese. About once a month we would have a piece of cake with currants and raisins in. Bully beef was quite often used in the stews, a good stand-by, always seemed to be plenty of cheese, if we wanted supper, mostly bought by ourselves. Often tea would be about 4.30. Nothing else until 8 next day, even in the trenches. This was so , even though the weather might have been bad.

SHELL SHOCK. Very bad. They had my sympathy, morale got very low sometimes in our battalion, and there were a few self-inflicted wounds. Also there were some who ate the cordite from the bullet casing to bring on a high temperature. There were a number of accidents through carelessness.

NARROW ESCAPES. Was practising throwing of Mills Bombs, September 1916. The new man dropped the bomb when starting to throw and, foolishly, we were standing on a wooden foot board raised little higher than the bottom of the trench. The bomb fell underneath the board…. out of the trench and fell flat. Neither of us was wounded, but others who were standing quite a good distance away were wounded. Was ready to mark off in columns, perhaps on the second day of the battle of Italy, the Lewis gun section was just in front. On the command quick march, No.1 Lewis gunner ( they had not yet got their handcarts over the river ) threw his gun upon his shoulders and the gun let off a single round, just appearing to pass over my head.

THE TRENCHES. In the early days in the trenches we often had to cook our own meals. Nights appeared to be long and cold. If you did get a place to sleep, you would wake up cold and move about for a little to get warm. We were often troubled by louse.

SMELLS. Very bad in the trenches, particularly in warm weather or when you were digging and you struck a dead body.

THE TRENCH SYSTEM. Very bad in some places. During October, November and December we went into the front line for two day periods. No communication trenches, we had to go over the top and drop into what was the front line, up to the knees in water and mud. The Officer and Sergeant had a piece of corrugated iron to give a little protection. We remained in water and mud all the time.

CHURCH PARADES. Always appeared to me to be a mockery.

LATRINES. Sometimes very crude. In August 1915 in Warboy our latrines were on the side of the road on spare land. Just a trench about 18 inches deep with a canvas about four feet around the trench.

COURSES. Had courses on Mills Bomb 1915. Lewis Gun 1916. Sniping 1916, several NCO courses all these, courses taking place chiefly when the battalion was on rest. Watched Sir John French go by in car – December 1915. Watched Sir. D.Haig go by in car – September 1916. Marched past Lord Cavan in Italy – November 1918.

ARMY COMMANDERS. 2nd. Army was visited by General Plummer and given a speech after leaving his command – January 1916. 4th. Army – never saw Rollinson – 1916. 5th. Army – never saw Gough – 1916. 3rd.Army – never saw Allenby – 1916-17. 1st. Army – did not know who the commander was at that time.

CORPS. COMMANDERS. Lt. Allenby – never saw him in 1915. LT. General Moorland – never saw him 1916. Lt. General Snow presented me with colours, Military Medal – 1916. Lt. General Babbington – passed by in car – 1918. Never knew who Corps. Commander was in the 1st. Army.

LEAVE. Was out for 16 months before I got my first leave, was going on leave before the Somme offensive , but leave was cancelled in May 1916 for several, months.

ENTERTAINMENT. Our Division had its own concert party which visited occasionally. First going into the trenches, looked forward to going in but soon changed my mind.

OVER THE TOP. Knew we had to do it, forgot about oneself when in action, but while waiting a little worrying, looked forward later to receiving a slight wound to take us back to Britain.

GAS. Very uncomfortable wearing respirators of whatever type, the ones we used at Ypres in 1915 were smothering. I was company runner during early part of the Somme battle taking ………..

Norman made some ( small ) contributions to ” The First Day of the Somme ” by Martin Middlebrook, ISBN 0 7139 0194 2, published 1971. They were credited to Pt. N.Smith, Cowlersley Yorkshire.

His grandson informed me that Norman went back to Italy many years after the war. He also took his grandson, when he was 14, to the Somme battlefields and Thiepval Memorial to the Missing. This Memorial is dedicated to the 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen, who died at the battles of the Somme between 1915-1918, with no known graves. It may be pertinent that five soldiers from Netherthong are included in that list- they were Irvin Barrowclough, George Richard Gledhill, John Henry Hoyle, Edward Smith and John Roberts.

The photograph below is of the letter Norman found on the body of a dead German soldier plus a one Mark note.

The following set of four photographs show Norman’s uniform stripes and badges with a close-up of his cap badge ( which he refers to in his memoirs ). There is also his Disembodiment Certificate, which was the term used when a whole unit is stood down at the end of the war, lastly is a Certificate associated with the Medaille Commemorative des Batailles de la Somme awarded 1956.

Norman in common, I guess, with most if not all his fellow soldiers brought back ‘souvenirs’ from the battlefield. Below are four photographs of his items. The first is a shell nose, picked up at the battle of Ypres, which he mounted on a wooden base. It is a German Graze Action Percussion Fuse KZ14 which first entered service in 1914. It was fired from a 77mm FK96 or FK 16 field gun. The shell would have contained TNT or High Explosive + shrapnel or a chemical agent such as chlorine or phosgene. These gas shells were used at Ypres for the first time on 31 May 1915 and, as this one came from Ypres , it may well have been associated with the chemical attack. The second is an example of trench art of a ring, made from a brass ammunition casing and inscribed Ypres – no provenance. The third item , also with no provenance, is a corkscrew which was made from a bullet and dated 1916. The last item is a collection of Italian banknotes dated 1918 from his time in Italy.

In c.1968, Norman took his grandson on a visit to the Somme battlefields and they brought back a fragment of shrapnel – see photograph.

Charles Arthur Hudson was a Netherthong lad, who enlisted in 1914 to serve his country and was fortunate to survive the horrors. He is listed in my “Chapter, Details of soldiers who fought and survived WW1”, with what few details I was able to find.
He was born on 10/11/1894 and was baptised  on 06/01/1895 in All Saints Parish Church and his parents were John Henry and Ann,  who lived in the village. His father was a cloth finisher. He attended the village school and, like many of his friends ,he became a scout in the Netherthong troop.  His name appears in a list of soldiers in the Holmfirth Express Roll of Honour (ROH), issued January 9 1915, as serving in the Army. In the framed Roll of Honour in the Parish Church, he is listed as a Private in the 9th. Battalion of the Duke of Wellington regiment with his enlistment date given as October 17,1914.

, In the baptismal records for all Saints’ Church, his Christian names are given as Charles Albert and not Charles Arthur. His birth date appears correct as it tallies with him giving his age as 20 years when he enlisted. He did have an older brother, Harry, who was born on 17/05/88 and in the 1891 Census Harry is listed as being two years old. The baptismal records give another brother, Willie, who was born on 12/12/84, but who was not included in that Census.The same baptismal records show that his father, John Henry was born on 02/07/1860 but was not baptised until much later on 25/07/1869. His parents were John and Mary, who lived in Thongsbridge, and they would have been Charles grandparents.

I received the first photograph of Charles from Tim Parsons in August 2019 and he also sent a number of certificates and forms relating to Charles enlistment , service and discharge from the army. Unfortunately they were very badly damaged and, as can be seen in the images below, large portions are illegible. However they are important documents, as they would have applied not just to Charles and all his friends in village but to all the soldiers who enlisted in WW1. I have augmented the details by extracting additional information from Google.

Dave Pattern is involved in an ongoing project to index historical maps of the Huddersfield area. One relevant to Netherthong and District ( Thongsbridge, Deanhouse and Oldfield ) is titled Hudds. Exposed 1892 Honley, and is centered  on grid ref. SE 4145 4105. The accompanying chart features places from that map and details ( 2018) their current situation after 126 years.

Dave has very kindly agreed that I can use this information in  my website.