Skip to navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer

Key dates over May 1916

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: 0

9th May 1916 - 9th Battalion wounded brought down from Kut

Rolling Casualty Count: 3118

At the Front:

1st Batt: hostile shelling-about 50 shells in all- but no damage done.

2nd Batt: Two gas shells were sent over during the pm and fell near B Coy HQ.

3rd Batt: Return to trenches near Broadmarsh Crater.

9th Batt: The British wounded were brought down from Kut on board a hospital Ship.

On the Home Front:

Daylight Saving Sanctioned: The Daylight Saving scheme has received the approval of the House of Commons. By 170 votes to two the House on Monday adopted Sir Henry Norman’s resolution in favour of shortening the hours of artificial lighting by advancing clock time by one hour during the summer months of the present year…This measure, which the Government hope to see passed this week, will propose that all public clocks shall be put forward by one hour at 2am on Sunday, May 21, and that normal time shall be restored at 2am on Sunday, October 1. Notices to this effect are to be posted in all post-offices. All local authorities are to be asked to alter the public clocks and church authorities to put forward the church clocks, while the assistance of the Press will also be invoked to make the scheme generally known.

Worcestershire Farmers’ Protest: At a meeting of the Worcester Branch of the National Farmers’ Union, Mr Golledge raised the question of the Daylight Saving Order, asking how it would affect agriculturalists. The Chairman (Mr. J. Woodyatt) expressed the view that it would be a very great inconvenience to them, and added that it was monstrous that farmers, who were at work a quarter of the day before other people got up, should be obliged to put their clocks forward. They already began work as early as possible, but at haymaking time it was often impossible to do much, because of the dew, until 10 o’clock in the morning. They worked until 9 at night, but he was sure that the men would object to go on until 10 ... Mr. W.H. Faun said that if the city people wanted more daylight it would be easy for them to start work an hour earlier, without altering the clock and the railway service.

Concert at Battenhall Hospital: On Monday night the wounded at Battenhall Mount Hospital entertained themselves and the nurses and a few friends by arranging a concert. Among those in the Hospital there are some very versatile fellows – some can play, some can sing, and some recite, and some have ideas and ingenuity which indicate that they would have been as entertaining on the stage as they are in hospital…Pte. Lupton excited many a laugh by his quant “turn.” He appeared as a quick-change artist, disappearing behind a screen, and reappearing as remarkable personages dissimilar to himself in many ways, even as to stature and girth. This kind of quick-change went on until there emerged a ballet girl (displaying rather more muscular development than grace and some tattoo marks), who distributed flowers.

No More Matches for Troops: In future no matches will be permitted to be posted to our soldiers at the front in France. The concession to our troops has resulted in many fires, causing the destruction of a quantity of mails, hence the reason for the new order. It is now a punishable offence to send matches by post to any destination, either at home or abroad.

Information researched by the WWW100 team.