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Key dates over May 1916

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Lives lost on this day: 2

16th May 1916 - Conscription extended

Rolling Casualty Count: 3136

Second Military Service Bill extended conscription to married men.

At the Front:

1st Batt: just in front of the village was shelled the whole day. Working parties of 200 were employed in fine, warm weather.

2nd Batt: Right and centre Coys were bothered with small trench mortars. Batt was relieved during the evening by the 2nd RWF who came from billets in Montmorency Barracks. Batt marched to billets in Rue D`Aire at Bethune.

4th Batt: W Coy and Snipers used the Range in the morning and practised firing with gas helmets on.

Yeomanry/Cavalry: Orders were received for the 1st excursion called ‘special stunts’. This was to destroy the railway line between Asluj and El Auja which the Turks had built westward from Beersheba in 1915 for their attack on the Suez Canal. It was out of reach from fire of British warships.

On the Home Front:

Brothers undivided in Death: Mr. and Mrs. T. Mifflem, Park Cottage, Suckley, have received information that their two sons, Privates Albert and James Thomas Mifflem, of the Monmouthshires, previously reported missing from May 2 last year, are now reported killed in action. Albert was 19 and James 21…They both joined the same Territorial Battalion of the Monmouthshire Regiment. They trained together, and went out to the front together. Both were reported missing after an action on the same date, and now they are presumed to have been killed. They had been at the front about six months.

On Monday the Battenhall Mount V.A.D. Hospital completed the first year of its beneficent work (it was opened on May 15, 1916), and by way of celebrating the first anniversary the Staff and the soldier patients (affectionately called “the boys”) entertained their friends in Worcester and district to a concert…In a programme which contained many good things, Pte. Lupton, the irrepressible, was to the fore. He is an incorrigible humourist, and his quaint ways provoked many a hearty laugh. As Professor Whizz-bang some of his quick changes were - well a little too quick, as for instance, when his torpedo beard became tired of sticking to his chin…

Dangerous Dog: Frederick Lee Godfrey, Kempsey, was summoned for keeping a dangerous dog. Mrs. Jeynes of the Farmers’ Arms, Kempsey, said that the dog chased a ewe and killed a lamb. P.C. James said the ewe bore marks which looked like dog bites. Defendant said he had sheep and lambs of his own, and he had never seen the dog worry them or attempt to do so. The dog was only away from him a few minutes. The Bench made an order for the dog to be kept under control, and ordered defendant to pay the costs, 12s.

Cruelty to Fowls: Alice Mary Tombs, Plough Inn, Tibberton, was charged with not supplying fowls with water. P.C. Hilliard said the occupants of the inn were away, and his attention was called to some fowls which were left locked up. The found that they had no water, and that they had been left locked up from Monday till Thursday evening. Mrs. Tombs and her husband told him that she left the fowls plenty of food , but forgot to leave them water , Defendant fined £1.

Information researched by the WWW100 team.