In April 1916 the local newspapers were full of reports of men killed or missing in First World War combat.
Fatalities mounted as the war rolled on: the public, gripped by events overseas, devoured stories from the front no matter how brutal or inhumane the tale.
These letters, published in the Eccles and Patricroft Journal gave incredible insight into the reality of trench warfare.
Two Irlam soldiers: Lance Corporal Statham and Private E. Rigby, had joined the Kings Own Royal Lancaster Regiment shortly after the outbreak of war.
In a letter to the Secretary of the Local War Fund, Mr Joseph Cooke, the pair gave an insight into how casual some men had become about death, having seen sights they could not unsee.
They start by saying that they thought the people of Irlam and Cadishead would be pleased to hear of news from the front and how local men were coping.
Sadly it doesn’t seem as if they were coping that well.
They say that Sergeant Lowe – who used to help soldiers to write home – had left their battalion some time back through having a ‘mishap’ with a star pistol, and the rest of the boys have been killed or wounded!
He then goes on to pour out a list of names who have recently been killed or wounded. They include Clarence Allread, killed at a charge on the Ypres canal, and his pal Private Ogden, injured in the same battle.
On April 3 1916, they say, Private R. Hunt was killed and Lance Corporal Grindley was wounded, adding, “My word, it was a do!”
We then learn that Statham and Rigby’s battalion attacked the German trenches after a fierce bombardment: “Our Battalion made our charge, it was awful.
“As soon as we arrived at their trenches they were one huge heap of a ruin.
“There were dugouts on fire, helmets, rifles and bayonets strewn about, and dead Germans everywhere.
“Our bombers made life very uncomfortable for the remaining Germans who were left alive.
“We went over to attack the Boche in something like large pits, 80 foot long by 80 foot wide caused by our mines, but we succeeded in getting what we wanted: some 100 German trenches and a considerable amount of prisoners.”
The letter continues on in a similar grim vein with the news that Statham and Private Rigby are the only two men left surviving out of the intial eight who joined up from the Irlam area, but that they are looking forward to living through the war.
In a macabre postscript he lists the men who have been killed or wounded. The dead were Private Alldred and Private Moorcroft, while those wounded were Private G. Ogden, Private A. Hunt, Lance Corporal Grindley, and Sergeant Lowe.
I have no idea if Private Statham got his wish and survived the war, after experiencing the loss of so many of his friends I sincerely hope that he did.
