The First Gallantry Awards to the 1/8th (Leeds Rifles) Bn, West Yorkshire Regiment

Second Lieutenant Eric Fitzwater Wilkinson - Military Cross

1266 Rifleman John Clough -  Distinguished Conduct Medal

Since it had arrived in France, and concentrated, with the rest of the 49^th (West Riding) Division in the area around Merville, the 1/8^th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion, the West Yorkshire Regiment had deployed to trenches in the Fleurbaix sector, and had moved, largely on foot, northwards to Belgium.

Despite it now being at the end of June and the beginning of July 1915, the weather, which greeted the battalion as it crossed the border, was unseasonably wet. The battalion war diary reports that the men marched in heavy rain towards Proven on 29^th June, where it would go into bivouacs. No doubt the men would have been relieved to find that next stage of their journey, to Elverdinghe, would be made by motor bus.

The area in front of Elverdinghe had recently been taken over by the British Army from the French. It had been necessary to move elements of the allied armies around so that they were no longer fragmented and intermingled, which made the defence of the line, and the logistical effort to support the troops in the lines, and behind them, much more coherent and efficient. The men of the Leeds Rifles went into the Reserve Line, behind 11^th Infantry Brigade, of 4^th Division in readiness for that brigade’s attack on German trenches on it’s left front on 5^th July 1915. The attack was a success, and the Leeds Rifles were not called upon to assist during the attack. They were, however, brought into the captured trenches later to carry out work to reverse the captured trenches, and make them ready for defence. This work would include moving the fire step at the bottom of the trench and altering the height of the parapet and parados to reduce the risk of the men on sentry and observation duties silhouetting themselves when having to look out of the trench.

The remainder of the first two weeks of July were spent in bivouacs, firstly at Elverdinghe Chateau, and then at the Chateau des Trois Tours at Brielen, and from here, the battalion provided routine working and carrying parties to serve the troops in the front lines.

On 13^th and 14^th July 1915, the battalion moved into the front line, occupying those newly captured trenches, and the war diary notes that for the third time since deployment, there were five battalions of the West Yorkshire Regiment side-by-side in the line. The battalion quickly settled into the routine work of battalions holding the line, and began sending out patrols across no man’s land to it’s front to clear the ground, and, if possible to gather intelligence on the enemy holding the trenches opposite. Although the patrolling work was routine, it was also highly dangerous, especially when the men were ordered to make patrols during the hours of daylight.

A three-man patrol crept out into no man’s land on 15^th July, under the command of Second Lieutenant Eric Wilkinson. The patrol was tasked with making a reconnaissance of the enemy trenches between Krupp Farm and No Man’s Cot to look for any weakness in defences, and to report on the alertness of the German soldiers on sentry duty there.

Map section showing the area where 2nd Lt Wilkinson's patrol approached German lines [28 NW2 from the McMaster University Collection]

If there had been any question as to how alert the Germans were in the trenches opposite the Leeds Rifles battalion, that question was soon answered, when the Germans illuminated no man’s land with flares. Rifleman Mudd dropped to his knees, but his movement attracted attention and he was shot through the chest by a German rifleman. As Frank Mudd cried out in agony, his cries attracted heavier rifle fire from the German line.

Any value in continuing the patrol was now gone, and all that remained for Lt Wilkinson and Rfn Clough to do was to try to make for their own trench before they too were hit by the heavy fire of the Germans, who were now fully alert, and manning their fire step observing for, and firing at any movement they saw. They would not, however, abandon the grievously wounded Rfn Mudd, and between them, they managed to carry him 120 yards back towards the battalion line. Their route back was blocked by British barbed wire defences, and this left the men exposed to increasingly heavy fire as the Germans determinedly tried to prevent the men reaching the comparative safety of their own trench.

Leeds Mercury, 20th August 1915

Rifleman John Clough volunteered to try to find a gap in the British wire, so that he could get back into the trench and obtain wire cutters so that he and Lt Wilkinson could make a gap wide enough to manoeuvre the dangerously wounded Frank Mudd through to get him into cover and have him evacuated to the Advanced Dressing Station at Essex Farm, about a mile to the rear.

John Clough was given the wire cutters he needed, and returned to his officer, and his badly wounded friend. He cut a gap in the wire, and the two men brought in Rifleman Mudd.

Unfortunately, Rifleman Mudd was too badly wounded to be evacuated, and he died shortly after being brought in off the battlefield. He was buried alongside the Pilkemseweg, quite close to Fusilier Farm, in what appears to have been a small burial plot made up of several other men who had died before reaching the advanced dressing station across the canal.

Google Streetview image of the patrol area as it appears today

Despite their efforts not being enough to save Rifleman Mudd, Lt Eric Wilkinson was recommended for the Military Cross, and Rifleman John Clough for the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and both men would receive the awards for which they were recommended. They were the first awards for gallantry for the battalion in the war. The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a level 2 award, being a level down from the Victoria Cross, while the Military Cross was a level 3 award. This difference in the grades of awards given to the two men suggests that the recommendations which were submitted praised the bravery of John Clough more highly than that of Eric Wilkinson, he had, after all, had to break cover to search for a gap in his own wire, and then return to his officer, being under heavy fire all the time.

Rifleman Frank Mudd's Grave in New Irish Farm Cemetery, Plot XVII, Row E, Grave 8.

A little over two weeks after the recommendations had been submitted, the Military Cross to Lt Wilkinson, and the Distinguished Conduct Medal to Rifleman Clough were confirmed via the Division’s Adjutant and Quartermaster General. Lt Wilkinson was granted leave to the UK, and he was approached for comment by the Leeds newspapers. In the quotes which appeared in print, Lt Wilkinson spoke more of the bravery of Rfn Clough than he did of his own. Lt Wilkinson’s MC was gazetted on 24^th August 1915, with Rfn Clough’s DCM being announced officially on 3^rd September.

While Rifleman Clough would survive the war, being promoted to sergeant, and transferring to the Army Ordnance Corps, Second Lieutenant Wilkinson would not survive.

Eric Wilkinson had made a name for himself as a poet, and had several pieces of his work published, firstly in the Leeds newspapers, and then as a collection in book form. He would add two Mentions in Despatches to his awards, and was also promoted to captain, taking command of a company.

The Military Cross

He was killed in action on 9^th October 1917, during an attack ‘west of Passchendaele’. In foul weather, the battalion had marched from Vlamertinghe to St Jean during the morning of 8^th October. On arrival at St Jean, the men were fed a hot dinner, and issued with the extra ammunition, grenades, sandbags, and stores that they would need to take into the attack that they would be leading the following day. At 5:00pm on 8^th October, the battalion began a march, in single file, along duckboard tracks towards their assembly positions, near Yetta Houses. The night was particularly dark, and while their route was marked, and the men getting lost was not a concern, moving a battalion in single file brought its own difficulties. Shelling had punched holes in the duckboard tracks, and the requisite halts on the march slowed progress, so that the lead platoon reached its assembly position after twelve hours, but the rearmost men did not file into the assembly point until only five minutes before the attack would begin. Remarkably, the long march had been achieved without any casualties, but the men were exhausted, soaked to the skin, and weighed down by their sodden clothing and equipment. The battalion war diary states ‘In spite of almost insufferable difficulties of weather conditions and ground, the battalion advanced under the barrage towards its objectives…’

Immediately the attack began, the battalion incurred heavy casualties, particularly among the officers and non-commissioned officers, and their position became insecure, forcing the remaining men to dig in after an advance of some 300 yards, but still short of its first objectives. A particularly heavy blow came early in the attack, when Lt Col Hudson DSO, the Commanding Officer, was killed, and command passed to his adjutant, Maj William Brooke MC, although that command now only included two other officers, and they had been wounded, but stayed at duty. Eight officers had been killed, a further eight were wounded, and one was missing. Among the other ranks, there were more than 300 casualties.

[For Remembrance: Soldier poets who have fallen in the war. Arthur St John Adcock]

Reinforcements from 1/6^th Bn, the West Riding Regiment, and 4^th NZ Rifle Brigade, bolstered the Leeds Rifles, but the men were still short of where they should have been. Such had been the losses suffered by the Leeds Rifles, that the battalion had to be withdrawn from the line and marched out to Wieltje. The damage done to the battalion ensured it would remain out of the line for the rest of October.

Captain Eric Wilkinson had been wounded at least three times prior to his death. He is reported to have had a gun shot wound to the back in the first days of the 1916 Somme Offensive, and he appeared in a casualty list in August 1917, but this is a delayed report of the casualties suffered by the battalion in the gas attack near Nieuport, the previous month.

In part because the ground the Leeds Rifles attacked over on 9^th October 1917 was not part of a larger advance, the officers and men who were killed could not be recovered at the time, and their bodies would lie out exposed to the weather and the subsequent fighting that would take place on this ground. This had the effect of destroying any chance of identifying the casualties when they could be recovered, and as a result, the majority of men who killed on 9^th October now have no known grave, and their names are listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial. Captain EF Wilkinson MC is listed among them.

Captain Eric Fitzwater Wilkinson's name as it appears on the Tyne Cot Memorial

John Clough DCM appears not to have been wounded during his service. He was transferred to Class Z of the Army Reserve on 2^nd April 1919, and returned to his wife, Lucy, whom he had married in late 1915, perhaps during his investiture leave, in Leeds. A daughter, Winifred, was born in November 1919.  

Before the war, John Clough had been a joiner in the manufacture of prams, but he later set up in business by himself, becoming a joiner and undertaker. When the Second World War began, he worked with the casualty service, presumably ensuring that an adequate supply of coffins was available to cope with casualties from air raids. Leeds, however, was not frequently, or heavily bombed during that war, so it may be that he was not called upon very often to provide his services outside of his normal business activities.

Lucy Clough died at the family home at Tynwald Mount, Moortown in March 1978, having survived her husband by seven years.

Rifleman (later Sergeant) John Clough's DCM group of medals