World War I Roll of Honour - The Clove Club Hackney Downs School

The German trenches opposite our own were about two hundred yards away, and in some places
close to us the opposing trenches were only separated by a few yards. We had very little chance of
seeing the Germans themselves, as fighting just at our part of the line was fairly quiet. As I said
before, we have periods of rest after a spell in the firing line. Well, as a matter of fact, this so-called
“rest” was harder work than being in the trenches, as more often than not we were required to go and
dig in the reserve trenches, some distance behind the front line, for three or four hours, and it was no
light task either; first of all we had to get there through the wood, ankle deep in mud in some places;
then start digging out stiff clay. It was while we were going home single file to dinner about 1.30
p.m. on the 16th December, after one of these digging excursions, that a German shrapnel shell burst
near the rear of our party, knocking down over a dozen of us; six got hit and several were thrown
down by the concussion alone. I was one of the fortunate ones, having found a resting place in the
thigh for one of the bullets from the shell; these bullets are about half an inch in diameter, and there
are about three hundred and fifty in one shell. One of our sergeants, who was three yards behind me,
received a piece of shell in the back and died three days afterwards. It was not long before we were
taken on stretchers to the dressing station, about half a mile away, close to our billets, where we
received first-aid by the R.A.M.C. We were then conveyed by horse ambulance to the operating
theatre at Romarin. Fortunately, I did not have to undergo an operation, but I was told afterwards
that I had had a very narrow escape from having my leg amputated. A motor ambulance fetched me
from here to the base hospital at Bailleul. The next morning we were entrained for Rouen. I was
here three days before being sent to Havre, from which port I was brought to Southampton on the
large hospital ship “Asturias.” From Southampton I was taken to Exeter to a temporary hospital,
which before the war was a large girls’ school, and my ward was the gymnasium. All the patients
here had a thoroughly good time, enjoying motor car excursions to theatres, concerts, dinners and teas;
of course, this was for those poor chaps who could walk a little, but those in bed had a jolly fine time,
especially at Christmas. I was in bed then, and right well I shall remember it. I left there on the
20th January, since which date I have had extended sick furlough.
LCE.-CPL. WALTER READ (9619)
5th City of London Rifles
(London Rifle Brigade).
The same issue recorded:
Lance-Corporal W.S.Read, who was wounded at Ploeg Steert on December 16th, is now, happily,
recovered We are greatly indebted to him for his account of his adventures at the Front, published in
our last issue, and for his article on Trench Fighting which will be found on another page.
(Sadly, as will be seen from the list, Walter Read was to die in a later incident.)
The Hospital Ship “Asturias”, originally built for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company in 1907,
was torpedoed in March 1917 after landing wounded from the Mediterranean Theatre at Avonmouth.
35 lives were lost and the wreck was beached near Bolt Head. The Government acquired
the wreck and she was used as a floating ammunition hulk at Plymouth for two years before,
incredibly, being re-purchased by Royal Mail Lines, repaired and re-named until finally going for
scrap in 1933.