WW1 Medal pair – British War Medal & Victory Medal awarded to ARTHUR HOBSON of the 2/7th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion the Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) & later with the Labour Corps – Wounded in action – BULLACOURT 1917 interest

Stock Reference – MM-MED-0062

WW1 Medal pair – British War Medal & Victory Medal awarded to ARTHUR HOBSON of the 2/7^th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion the Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) & later with the Labour Corps – Wounded in action – BULLACOURT 1917 interest

You are looking at WW1 medal pair, British War Medal and Victory Medal, awarded to Private 266493 ARTHUR HOBSON of the West Yorkshire Regiment, who later went on to serve in the Labour Corps (service number 398703).

The medal is inscribed ‘266493 PTE. A.HOBSON. W.YORK.R.’

ARTHUR was born c1876/7 so he was older than most when he enlisted into the 2/7^th (Leeds Rifles) Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment, at Leeds, on the 1^st of June 1915.

His original service number was 3945, but with the renumbering of the Territorial Force infantry on the 1^st of March 1917, his new service number was 266493.

The 2/7^th Battalion were raised at Leeds on the 15^th of September 1914, and there was referred to as the ‘Leeds Rifles’, and during WW1, they remained on home soil until early 1917, before being deployed to Europe, landing at Le Havre in France on the 8^th of January that year......The battalion were in action at the Battle of the Ancre (February 1917), the Arras offensive, the Hindenburg Line and the Battle of Cambrai, and they suffered heavy losses during the war, being reduced to cadre strength on the 16^th of June 1918, and 3 x days later, on the 19^th of June, having returned to England, being absorbed into the 18^th Battalion the York and Lancaster Regiment.

ARTHUR’S name appears in the Leeds Mercury newspaper dated the 11^th of May 1917, listed within the wounded section, but in the ‘ROLL OF HONOUR - Official list of Yorkshire killed and wounded, and it was initially thought that he was involved in the disastrous BULLECOURT offensive that took place on the 10^th of April.

BULLECOURT - On the 10^th of April 1917, British (62^nd Division) and Australian troops, with support from tanks, that were going to lead an assault, were due to commence a pre-arranged attack on the German held Hindenburg Line. This assault was due to start at 4.30 am that morning, but poor weather conditions, including snow and blizzards, caused a delay in the arrival of the tanks with many breaking down on route, and the poor weather conditions also caused the Australians to ask for a 24 hours postponement....The attack was postponed as requested, but the message informing commanders of the delay was not received by those commanding the 2/7^th and 2/8^th Battalions of the West Yorkshire Regiment, who commenced their advance on the German lines as per the original orders, making their way into no man’s land and were cut down by enemy machine gun and artillery fire in the process, without any support from the other troops and tanks who they were expecting to be there with them....As a result, the two battalions sustained over 160 casualties and the disastrous British attack alerted enemy troops to what the allies were planning and put them onto a high alert.

The following day, the 11^th of April, the British High Command commenced their attack again, in what was to be known as the ‘Battle of Bullecourt’, but this also turned into a disaster, with the tanks that were to be used to surprise the enemy breaking down or being destroyed before reaching their objectives, and with communications again hampered by the weather....During the ‘Battle of Bullacourt’, Australian forces alone suffered well over 3,000 casualties, with over 1,000 troops taken prisoner, the largest number of Australians captured in one single action during the whole of WW1, leading to confidence in the British High Command, and the use of tanks on the battlefield, to be damaged significantly.

Within the Leeds Mercury list of Yorkshire soldiers killed and wounded, 13 x members of the 2/7^th Battalion and 6 x members of the 2/8^th Battalion of the WYR were listed as having been killed, 19 x in total of the 36 x members of both battalions who were killed in action during the disastrous assault on the 10^th of April 1917 according to the official Commonwealth War Graves Commission records....and at least 2 x other members of the 2/7^th Bn, whose names appeared alongside ARTHUR HOBSON in the wounded section, were later confirmed as having been killed on the 10^th of April.  

Consideration was therefore given to ARTHUR having been wounded on the 10^th of April, during the same disastrous event, however, he also appears in the admission and discharge records for the 11^th Casualty Clearing Station at Varennes, a village in the Somme Valley area, with the transcribed entry relating to his admission recorded as the 8^th of April.

ARTHUR was admitted to the 11^th CCS suffering from shrapnel wounds to his thigh and face, and this would suggest he sustained these injuries in a combat situation rather than by accident or through illness. He was discharged back to duty, presumably back to his battalion, on the 17^th of April.

There are issues with the 8^th of April date, however, in that the 11^th CCS records appear to work in blocks of 3 x days, so there are numerous entries for soldiers who were admitted under the 2^nd of April date, followed by the 5^th, the 8^th, and the 11^th of April, and there was at least 150 admissions in one block, over 180 in another.....Bearing in mind the fluid nature of casualty movement during WW1, there would not have been 150 x troops all arriving at No 11 CCS on just one day, so that number would have been split over the 3 x days within that block, and this is likely to have been the case with ARTHUR HOBSON, in that, although he is listed as having arrived on the 8^th of April, he could have arrived on the 9^th or 10^th of April also........But that said, through further assessment of the admission and discharge records, and from the 2/7^th Battalion war diary, we know the battalion was involved in an attack on German lines on the 6^th of April, with the diary suggesting 2 x men were killed and 4 x wounded, and the following day there was a further man killed and 7 x wounded, and with this in mind, taking all the information together, it is likely ARTHUR was wounded prior to the 10^th of April, possibly on the 6^th of 7^th of April, although the exact date cannot be established in the surviving records.    

In a later military record relating to wounded and sick NCOs and men from various Yorkshire regiments, Private 266493 A HOBSON of the 2/7^th Bn W.Yorks is listed with the medical condition ‘ICT.LEGS’, ICT meaning inflammation of connective tissue, and it is likely that this condition meant he was unable to continue serving on the front line and the reason why he went on to serve with the 788 Area Employment (AE) Company of the Labour Corps, with a offence / infraction record dated the 26^th of April 1918 showing him a member of the 789 Area Employment Company.

During the early part of 1918, both the 788^th and 789^th Area Employment Companies were believed to have been operating in the Somme and the Pas-de-Calais region of France, supporting British and allied troops, especially during the German Spring Offensive of March to April, and they were also in the Arras-Doullens area of Northern France.

ARTHUR  served with the Labour Corps until his discharge from the army on the 1^st of April 1919.

He was awarded the ‘Silver War Badge’ and received his army pension having been diagnosed with Myalgia, that was directly attributable to his war service. 

ARTHUR was married to CLARA HOBSON, and they lived at 17 Childers Street, New Wortley in Leeds, being listed in the Absent Voter’s List at this address.

SELLER NOTE = Supporting documentation obtained and / or created during this research will be provided.