Maple Copse 22.7.1915: CAPTS F. M. DICK, E. B. JOHNSON and LIEUTS J. S. SAMPSON and J. L. PERCIVAL joined from England having joined bivouac day before.
Casualties – wounded Officers nil – O.R. killed 3 wounded 19.
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
Frank Mackenzie Dick
Evelyn Brown Johnson – The Bourne, Ashover
John Stephen Sampson
John Lakeman Percival
The men killed in action were:-
All three men are buried in Maple Copse Cemetery.
Maple Copse 20.7.1915: Battalion stood to arms at night heavy bombardment.
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
Maple Copse 19.7.1915: HOOGE mine exploded – heavy bombardment.
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
Maple Copse 18.7.1915: Handed over trenches and 2 Companies (D & B) garrisoned R4, 5 & 6 in support SANCTUARY WOOD – A & C in MAPLE COPSE
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
No record in the War Diary [WO/95/2694]
1777 Pte Thomas Arthur Chatterton, a labourer from 35 Barn End Cottages in Thornset near to New Mills, suffered GS wound in the head and was admitted to 1st NMFA then transferred to the 50 CCS and 2 General Hospital. He re-joined the 1/6th Battalion on 30th July 1915.
Thomas enlisted in Whaley Bridge in January 1913 and served with “H” Company. He was the Son of Mr Moratio Chatterton of Thornsett and was employed at Waterside Paper Mill. He attended Thornsett Independent Chapel. 
Thomas was wounded five times, but on each occasion recovered and returned to duty. In total he returned to England 3 times for hospital treatment before returning to France.
Thomas served overseas in the 1/6th (Feb ’15 – May ’16), 1/5th (Dec ’16 – June ’17) and 10th () Battalions.
Page 1 of his Army service record recording that Thomas arrived in France on the 25th February 1915 and was first wounded on the 17th July 1915 with a GSW in the head. After returning to the 1/6th Battalion he was again wounded with a GS wound on the 12th September 1915 and transferred to Hospital in England.
Page 2 of his Army Service Recording that Thomas returned to the 1/6th Battalion in France with the 6th Reinforcement on the 4th March 1916. However, he again returned to England on the 11th May 1916 suffering from mayagia (muscle pain) and influenza.
He returned to France with the 25th Reinforcement on the 19th November 1916 and was posted to the 5th Battalion from the 14th Infantry Base Depot at Calais.
Thomas was wounded for the 3rd time on the 4th May 1917; but remained at duty.
He was wounded for the 4th time two months later on the 3rd June 1917, this time with a GSW in the back and was transferred to England.
It would seem that Thomas was arrested on the 24th September 1917, tired by a district court martial and sentenced to 2 years detention for deserting His Majesty’s Service.
However, Thomas returned to France with the 40th Reinforcement on the 19th October 1917 and posted to the 14th Infantry Base Depot in Calais. He was transferred to the 10th Battalion on the 24th October 1917 and killed in action on the 15th March 1918.
Thomas’s luck finally ran out when he was the only man of the 10th Battalion to be killed during a period of heavy bombardment by the Germans.
No record in the War Diary [WO/95/2694]
1563 Pte. Harry Depledge was killed in action and buried in Maple Copse. He was the first man of the 1/6th Battalion to be buried in this little copse, however, after the War his grave was lost, like that of 6 of his comrades and all of them are now commemorated on a special memorial with the grounds of the new cemetery.
Harry enlisted into the 6th Battalion on the 8th February 1912 aged 17. He lived at Shallcross Mill near Fernilee and was a collier by trade in the employment of Buxton Lime Kilms Company. He served with “H” Whaley Bridge Company.
The High Peak News records that Harry was ‘buried this morning in a little graveyard behind the trenches’.
Amongst the wounded was 2828 Pte. Edward Napier Mills, who was a cowhand from Wiltshire and served with “C” Company. He remained with the 1/6th Battalion for the duration of the War; later being prompted to Sergeant and finally disembodied on the 3rd March 1919.
No record in the War Diary [WO/95/2694]
1410 L/Cpl Pete White a miner at Alma Colliery in Clay Cross was wounded by shrapnel in the abdomen. He transferred to the 3rd British Red Cross Hospital, but died of blood poisoning nearly 6-weeks later and was buried in Abbeville. Picture courtesy of Peter Hoben.
No record in the War Diary [WO/95/2694]
| 1778 | Pte | Harry Hampson | 5.7.15 | Measles and admitted to 1st NMFA. Re-joined Battalion on 9.7.15. |
| 1928 | Pte | Harold Towndrow | 5.7.15 | Influenza and admitted to 10 CCS and 20 General Hospital. Transferred to England on 30.7.15. Returned to France on 4.3.16 with the 6th Reinforcement. |
Ypres 4.7.15: Working party of 200 men under Capt Edgar Horace Heathcote shelled on return. 9 killed & died. 21 wounded & 2 previously wounded.
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
The men killed were:-
For full details see here.
Captain Edgar Horace Heathcote of ‘Rockwood’ in Buxton.
Bivouac 3.7.1915: Lieut. & Qmr William North Broomhead rejoined from England.
War Diary [WO/95/2694]
William Broomhead had fractured his left elbow on the 16th March 1915 and had been transferred to England on the Hospital Ship “St David”. After a period of leave he returned to France on the 30th June and rejoined the Battalion 3 days later.
The following men reported sick on this day:-
| 1559 | Pte | Fred Garlick | 3.7.15 | Pyrexia and admitted to 1st NMFA, 24 General and 14 Stationary Hospitals. Transferred to England on 16.8.15. Returned to France on 3.7.16 with the 13th Reinforcement. |
| 1805 | Pte | Walter Evans | 3.7.15 | Contracted influenza and admitted to 1st NMFA, 10 CCS and 24 General Hospital. Transferred to NMD Base depot and re-joined Battalion on 7.10.15. |
| 508 | Pte | Albert Askey | 3.7.15 | German measles and admitted to 1st NMFA and Fever Hospital. Rejoined unit on 23.7.15. |
Derbyshire Territorials in the Great War 