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: 2

11th May 1916 - Anthrax fatality at Kidderminster

Rolling Casualty Count: 3121

At the Front:

1st Batt: There was a little shelling and hostile sniping but no casualties. Trenches still very bad and little work has been carried out on them since the Batt was last in them.

SMD RFA: Final relief of Brigade was completed and all men were now at the Wagon Lines at Couin.

On the Home Front:

Worcestershire Hunt: Earth Stoppers’ Dinner: This event took place at the Pack Horse Hotel, Worcester. It was given by the Master (Mr. Arthur Jones). On these occasions the keepers and earth stoppers are paid for their “finds,” v.z., for the foxes found and hunted from their respective coverts during the season. There was an attendance of about 44…Mr. Jones proposed “The Worcestershire Hunt,” and said they had killed a record number of foxes (631/2 brace). The sport was not carried on so much for hunting, but to kill the foxes and to keep it going for the young men who they hoped to see back from the war. He hoped that when they met again it would be in happier circumstances, and that this terrible war would be over…Horses from the hunting field were the best for the Army, and that was one good reason for it to be kept going.

An inquest was held on the body of Walter Richard Routley, aged 55, a carpenter, and a member for many years of the Borough Fire Brigade. His widow said deceased worked for Mr. Brown, builder of New Road, and had been working at Mr. Broome’s spinning mill. He had complained of a swelling in his neck, and she thought it was a blind boil. She poultice it after bathing it with boracic hot water. Then the neck had sunken. He was seen by the Matron, who thought it was a case of anthrax, and he was at once admitted to the Infirmary…Robert Durrance, engineer at Mr. Broome’s mill, said deceased was putting up a mess-room in a warehouse in which wool and yarn were stored. There was no dust at the end of the room where he was working, Wool was blended in the room, Indian and Persian, which came down through a trap door from a room above. The Coroner said that we know that dust gets all over the place. Witness said there had been cases of anthrax in the mills, one within the last month… The Coroner said it was a very sad case, had deceased been employed directly by either of the spinning firms, no doubt the boil would have been noticed and immediate treatment given it.

Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Conn, of Fernhill Heath, have received information that their son, Pte. Chas. Henry Conn, of the Worcestershire Regiment, has died from a wound in the back, caused by shrapnel. Pte. Conn joined the regiment 12 months ago. Previously to joining the Army he was employed by Messrs. E. Thomas and Sons, Worcester, where he was highly respected.

Cricketer Soldier: Mr. R. Pearson, the Worcestershire cricketer (formerly of Surrey), joined the Royal Engineers last week. He had previously attested under Lord Derby’s scheme.

Missing Yeomen: The following are officially reported missing: Trooper J. Burgess, who, before the outbreak of war, lived at Severn Terrace. He had been in the Yeomanry for three years, and at the front for 12 months; Trooper Hugo Fidoe, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. J.A Fidoe, Tan House,. Martley; Shoeing Smith Ralph Meadows, son of Mr. T. Meadows, The Court, Throckmorton, near Pershore. Previous to joining the Yeomanry he was employed by Mr. Barnard, of Bevere Green Farm. His youngest brother, Frank, is serving with a Territorial Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment.