[1] There is a galley proof of the full article by 'Hambletonian' amongst Tom McCaskie's papers. This was presumably sent to Tom for his information or approval.
[2] Rugeley was one of two large Camps established on Cannock Chase. The other was Brocton Camp. There is an informative website on the Cannock Chase camps. Also of interest is Daphne Jones's book Bullets and Bandsmen: The story of a bandsman on the Western Front (Owl Press, 1992) which is about her father Erskine Williams and is illustrated with his drawings some of which are reproduced on Cannock Chase Camps website.
[3] GRO Marriage indices Jan-Mar 1913, Salisbury district, vol. 5a, p. 306; GRO Birth indices Jan-Mar 1914, Salisbury district, vol. 5a, p 297, and Oct-Dec 1915, Salisbury District, vol. 5a, p. 253. There are were two Reginald Lears - a private in the York and Lancaster Regiment (No. No. 33477) and a driver in the Royal Engineers (No. 60652) - and two Sydney Lears - a private in the Gloucestershire Regiment (No 201300) and a private in the Bedfordshire Regiment (No.206257) - who served in the army and survived the Great War.
[4] John Court's Service record (WO 363) shows that he was posted to the labour companies of the Seaforth Highlanders on 8th March 1917 and arrived in France on 17th March 1917. He was transfered to thr Labour Corps (No. 7227) on 14th May 1917. On 31st July 1917 he was evacuated to hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. He rejoined his unit on 8th August, and was promoted to corporal on 12th August 1917. He was granted home leave in December 1917. He served on the Western Front until he was transferred to the Home Establishment on 27th May 1918. He was discharged from the Army on 18th February 1919. He died in January 1920 one week short of his 52nd birthday. Before the war John Court had been a tailor, and he had married Bessie Matheson at Dornoch, Sutherland on 25th October 1901. In 1911 the couple with their six children were living in Leitholm Village just north of Coldstream.
[5] Stanley wrote a history of his brigade: The History of the 89th Brigade 1914-1918, Liverpool 1919. Stanley commanded the Brigade for much of its existence, but he was away from the Brigade on leave for three months in July, August and September 1917, and finally handed over command in early April 1918. He can provide some first hand knowledge of events during his time in command but relies on others for periods when he was away from the Brigade.
[6] The programme for the performace of 'Alladin' on 26th December 1917 'The Duds, which lists the cast, is included in the appendices to the Battalion War Diary for December 1917 (TNA WO 95/ 2334/2).
[7] Wyrall, The History of the King's Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919, vol 3, p 669, noted that "of twenty-three battalions of the regiment, which had disembarked in France since the beginning of the War, only fifteen remained on the 7th of August 1918."
[8] The 72nd, 73rd and 74th General Hospitals were based in Trouville in December 1918. The 6th Red Cross Hospital had been in Trouville from September to December 1918 but it is more likely that Thomas was in one of the three General Hospitals.
[9] One of the biggest problems faced by the British Salonica Force (BSF) was malaria which was endemic in Macedonia. The high incidence of malaria in the BSF put pressure on the medical services to provide large numbers of beds. Not only were there large numbers of cases of malaria, but those affected suffered recurrent bouts. 'By late 1917, the medical services of the the BSF could boast a total of 50,000 beds, a figure just over one third the size of the entire British Force in Macedonia' (A. Wakefield ad S.Moody, Under the Devil's Eye. Britain's forgotten Army at Salonika 1915-1918, Stroud 2004, p. 168). Under the 'Y' Scheme, which was introduced at the end of 1917 'all chronic malaria patients were sent home . . .. Under this scheme, in the ten months from January to October 1918, nearly thirty thousand men were sent home' (H. Collinson Owen, Salonica and After. The sideshow that ended the war, Hodder and Stoughton, London 1919, p. 188). Two RAMC officers, W. G. Willoughby and L Cassidy published Anti-malaria work in Macedonia among British troops, London, 1918.
[10] A transcript of the proceedings of the Court of Enquiry, including witness testimonies, has survived attached to the service records of No.105412, L Cpl Walter S Richardson (TNA WO 363). Ten witnesses gave testimony. For Lt Col Noel Barwick Charles Byam Grounds, see ‘A Diary of the Retreat from Mons, by Captain N B C B Grounds, 1st battalion, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment)’, Stand To! The Journal of the Western Front Association, No. 11, pp 44-49.