"........& 13 others wounded."

War Diaries are, of necessity, brief, and tend only to give the minimum of detail needed to establish a unit’s activities on a particular date. The fate of officers is usually recorded but ‘other ranks’ most often do not merit a mention, except as a tally. To my mind this has the effect of desensitising the reader to the events being described; ordinary men simply become statistics.

The 1st/4th Battalion’s War Diary entry from December 18th, 1915, gives the following detail:

At 11 A.M. 2/Lt Ward while demonstrating to class of beginners use of Grenade Hand No.1 exploded grenade, with result that he was badly wounded, one man killed & 13 others wounded. 2/Lt Ward died in evening at Corbie.

So, we know that the unlucky Second Lieutenant Ward died of his wounds but the other fatality and the thirteen wounded remain anonymous.

The ‘one man killed’ can be identified via various databases as 2452, Private James McQuade, of Barrow-in-Furness, but who were the others, and what became of them?

Fortunately, other sources are available to illuminate the human tragedy behind such scant detail. The following report is transcribed from the ‘Barrow Guardian’ of March 25th, 1916:

DALTON SOLDIER BLINDED.

A KING’S OWN SIGHTLESS BUT CHEERFUL.

RAN WITH EYE IN HIS HAND.

SHRAPNEL GOES THROUGH PRAYER BOOK.

        Sergt. William Kirkby is the first of the King’s Own Royal Lancasters to lose his sight in this terrible conflict. He is now at his home, 13, Cobden-street, Dalton, and when a “Guardian” reporter saw him last Tuesday he was agreeably surprised to find Sergt. Kirkby in a particularly happy frame of mind, and quite cheerful. There was nothing dull or pessimistic about this gallant fellow, who will carry his reminder of the great European war to the end of his days.

        He said he had been in the war zone nine months before the explosion of a bomb on December 18th, which caused such serious injuries that at first his life was despaired of. He remembers being struck in the right eye and on putting his hand to the place the eye dropped into the palm. He ran some hundreds of yards in that state until he fell through exhaustion. He also had a wound in the head, from which the doctors took a piece of shrapnel. He was removed to hospital, and though receiving every skilled attention the sight of the left eye gradually waned and left him sightless.

        On arriving in England he was treated with all care at the Second London Hospital, and is now well on his way to convalescence. He agreed that his recovery was marvellous and spoke in high terms of the treatment he received from the medical staff and sisters in the various hospitals, and also of the Red Cross Nurses. The soldier spoke in eulogistic terms of Captain Barrett, of Millom, and the other officers, non-commissioned officers and men of his battalion.

        His cheerfulness can be exemplified in his remark: “Well, I’m not so bad as thousands of my comrades. I am glad I’m alive. I have every opportunity for getting on in the world. I am going training to the Blind Institute at St. Dunstan’s, Regent’s Park, London, and hope soon to pick up a trade.”

        Mrs. Kirkby, who is delighted to have her husband home again, showed me a piece of shrapnel which had gone through Sergt. Kirkby’s clothing, past 30 rounds of ammunition, pierced through his infantry training book, his prayer book, and map, and lodged in his pocket wallet, going through letters and papers in the wallet, making a hole in the forehead of his brother’s photograph, also through the bust of his father’s photograph.

        Sergt. Kirkby has a brother, Pte. Ben Kirkby, now in France serving in the same regiment.

Sadly, the family was to experience further tragedy four and a half months later when Ben Kirkby was killed at Guillemont.

Maybe one day the other dozen wounded men will be identified................